Dear friends,
The spring semester here at IUPUI started with some sense of normalcy; although the omicron variant was raging through the country, classes were mostly held in-person with some held in hybrid mode. Our laboratory courses were similar to pre-pandemic time. With safety protocols in place, most students felt comfortable to come back for in-person classes. The mask mandate was still in place when we started the semester and it was lifted in the middle of the semester. The organic chemistry courses were offered in a flipped model. We finished the semester strong – avoiding classroom and laboratory closures and without any significant disruption.
This year we are graduating 27 BS, 33 BA, 3 MS, and 5 PhD students. We wish them much success and congratulate them on their graduation. We hope that the experience they persevered through the past two years will make them stronger. This year four chemistry students and 10 Peer Led Team Learning (PLTL) leaders were recognized as IUPUI’s ‘Top 100’ undergraduate students, and one graduate student (Carolina Vega) was recognized as one of the Elite 50 graduate students!
Dr. Rajesh Sardar has been promoted to the rank of Full Professor, and Gina Londino-Smolar was promoted to the rank of teaching professor. Dr. Ian Webb also successfully completed his 3rd year review.
This semester, several new grants came in including prestigious NSF CAREER awards to Drs. Deiss and Webb, an NIH Small Business Innovation Research and a Department of Defense grant to Dr. Manicke. In addition, IUPUI was selected to receive funding from the prestigious Beckman Scholars Program, which will support undergraduate research. The faculty collectively published 30 peer reviewed articles in 2021 and applied for patents.
This is your department, and because of your success, IUPUI and the department are successful. Please feel free to reach out with updates at czinski@iupui.edu or connect with us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter @ChemIUPUI or @ParthaBasu_Chem. We are always interested in learning about your whereabouts. Please keep us informed and visit us when you can.
The ongoing pandemic has reminded us of the value of science in our lives, and Chemistry will continue to play a central role. Very importantly, please stay safe and stay healthy.
Best regards,
Partha Basu, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair