Hasan Al Ba’ba’a, visiting assistant professor of mechanical engineering, published a research paper in Mechanics Research Communications entitled "Active elastic metamaterials with equidistant solely resonant bandgaps". The research explores how elastic metamaterials, which are materials with embedded resonant substructures, are capable of reducing low-frequency vibrations by creating locally resonant bandgaps. Additionally, their periodic structure can create Bragg-scattering bandgaps, which may differ in width and frequency ranges when compared to their locally resonant counterparts. Controlling bandgaps' type, frequency range, width, and pattern of emergence can be proven advantageous for applications requiring precise control over bandgaps. To this end, a mathematical approach for designing active elastic metamaterials is proposed, enabling resonant-only bandgaps that are evenly spaced, identical in width, infinite in number, and periodically located in the frequency spectrum.
Four professors (Mary Carroll, Ellen Robertson, Lee Pedzisa, and Christopher Whitehead) and thirteen students (Devin Batheja, Ella Brinkley, Braman Cronin, Raquel Dueñas, Francis Fan, C'Lannye James, Kyra Lum, Chau Tran Minh, Shams Qureshi, Rubab Raza, Sasha Stark, Jun Chun Young, William Zimmer) attended the American Chemical Society (ACS) Spring 2024 Meeting. The conference had more than 14,000 attendees. It was held in New Orleans, LA from March 16 - 21.
Mary K. Carroll '86, the Dwane W. Crichton Professor of Chemistry, is the 2024 President of the American Chemical Society. Among other activities, she participated in meetings of the ACS Board of Directors and its committees, gave introductory remarks at the Opening Reception for the conference, the Presidential LGBTQ+ Reception, and several presidential symposia, including the Kavli Foundation keynote lectures, and presided over both the ACS National Awards Ceremony and the ACS Council Meeting.
Ellen Robertson, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, presented a talk titled "Role of gold nanoparticle diameter and ligand properties in the formation of peptoid nano-sandwiches". (Union undergrads that contributed to this research were Raquel Dueñas, Shams Qureshi, and Chau Tran Minh.)
Christopher Whitehead, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, presided over a session entitled, "Undergraduate Research at the Frontiers of Inorganic Chemistry" within the Division of Inorganic Chemistry.
Ella Brinkley '24 presented a poster titled "PGM-containing alumina reference materials for use in the evaluation of catalytic aerogels". (Research directed by Mary Carroll '86, Duane W Crichton Professor of Chemistry; Ann Anderson, Agnes S. MacDonald Professor of Mechanical Engineering; Bradford Bruno, Professor of Mechanical Engineering)
Devin Batheja '24 and Kyra Lum '24 presented a poster titled "Robust and direct synthetic method for potential S. commune metacapspase inhibitors". (Research directed by Joanne Kehlbeck, Professor of Chemistry; Kristin Fox, Florence B. Sherwood Professor of Physical Sciences)
Braman Cronin '24 presented a poster titled "Capability study of laser-reduced graphene oxide electrochemical sensors". (Research directed by Yijing Stehle, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering)
Raquel Dueñas '25 presented a poster titled "Assembly and properties of peptoid nanosheets formed with 10-nm gold nanoparticles functionalized with either polystyrene or octadecanethiol ligands". (Research directed by Ellen Robertson, Assistant Professor of Chemistry)
Size (Francis) Fan '25 presented a poster titled "Potential application of laser reduced graphene oxide as force sensitive sensor". (Research directed by Yijing Stehle, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering)
C'Lannye James '25 presented a poster titled "Incorporating octanethiol-functionalized gold nanoparticles into the interior of bilayer peptoid nanosheets". (Research directed by Ellen Robertson, Assistant Professor of Chemistry)
Chau Tran Minh '25 presented a poster titled "Regulating interparticle gap distances in peptoid nanosheets by modifying gold nanoparticle surface ligands". (Research directed by Ellen Robertson, Assistant Professor of Chemistry)
Shams Qureshi '25 presented a poster titled "Functionalized gold nanoparticle embedded peptoid nanosheets: Tuning the packing density of nanosheets by altering ligand length via ligand exchange". (Research directed by Ellen Robertson, Assistant Professor of Chemistry; Christopher Whitehead, Assistant Professor of Chemistry)
Rubab Raza '24 presented a poster titled "Synthesis of dual CCR5/CXCR4 inhibitors in the prevention of HIV infection". (Research directed by Lee Pedzisa, Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry)
Sasha Stark '25 presented a poster titled "Solid phase synthesis of amphiphilic peptoid sequences for assembly into gold nanoparticle-embedded peptoid nanosheets". (Research directed by Ellen Robertson, Assistant Professor of Chemistry; Caroline Proulx, Associate Professor of Chemistry at North Carolina State University)
Jun Chun Young '25 presented a poster titled "PMG-containing alumina reference materials for use in the evaluation of catalytic aerogels". (Research directed by Yijing Stehle, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering; Ellen Robertson, Assistant Professor of Chemistry)
William Zimmer '24 presented a poster titled "Detecting heavy metal pollutants in water using ZnS quantum dot derivatives". (Research directed by Christopher Whitehead, Assistant Professor of Chemistry)
Rubab Raza '24, as the past president of the Union College Chemistry & Biochemistry Club, accepted the ACS Commendable Student Chapter Award from academic year 2022-2023 during the annual Student Chapter Awards Ceremony. (This is the second highest award that a chapter can obtain.)
Three professors (Kristin Fox, Colleen Connelly, and Brian Cohen) and six students (Emily Stein, Morgan Truesdell, Davis Richard, Morgan Malinow, Hannah Shames, and Arundhati Gore) attended the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Annual Meeting. It was held in San Antonio, TX from March 23 - 26.
Colleen Connelly, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, presented a poster titled "A Chemical Biology Approach to Investigate Alternative Structures in Cancer Relevant Precursor MicroRNAs". (Union undergrads that contributed to this research were Sophie Hurwitz, Emma Devaney, Morgan Duffany.)
Emily Stein '24 presented a poster titled "Investigating the Anticancer Properties of Schiff-Base Containing Complexes: Synthesis, Characterization, and Biological Activity". (Research directed by Colleen Connelly, Assistant Professor of Chemistry; Laurie Tyler, Professor of Chemistry)
Morgan Truesdell '24 presented a poster titled "Investigating the calcium binding mechanism of Schizophyllum commune Type Ia metacaspases using circular dichroism spectroscopy". (Research directed by Kristin Fox, Florence B. Sherwood Professor of Physical Sciences)
Davis Richard '24 presented a poster titled "Investigation on the impact of sphingolipid disrupting agents on follicle-stimulating hormone receptor function". (Research directed by Brian Cohen, Senior Lecturer in Biological Sciences)
Morgan Malinow '24 presented a poster titled "Mutations in Caveolin Binding Motif Alter Human Follicle Stimulating Hormone Receptor Signaling". (Research directed by Brian Cohen, Senior Lecturer in Biological Sciences)
Hannah Shames '24 presented a poster titled "Investigating the Role of Caveolin in Human FSH Receptor Activity". (Research directed by Brian Cohen, Senior Lecturer in Biological Sciences)
Arundhati Gore '24 presented a poster titled "Co-immunoprecipitation of the human follitropin hormone receptor (hFSHR) with caveolin". (Research directed by Brian Cohen, Senior Lecturer in Biological Sciences)
Johanna Dicerbo '24, Allison Malatesta '24, and Ryan Nowak '24 each presented their research last week at the Northeastern Natural History Conference in Albany, NY. Johanna's poster was titled: "The effects of black locust removal on soil nutrient concentrations in the Albany Pine Bush Preserve"; Allison's was titled: "Analyzing street tree diversity over discriminatory districts in Schenectady, NY"; and Ryan's was titled: "Assessing efforts to control giant hogweed in New York State". All three are conducting Biology Honors Thesis research with Professor Jeffrey Corbin.
For over a decade, Union College engineers have participated in the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Aero Design competition. Students compete against other national and international universities to design, build, and fly a small remote controlled airplane with challenging design goals. This year’s team competed in the Micro Class which required building a small (roughly 3 foot wingspan) plane that could carry a payload of 2 liters of water while also meeting other design requirements like minimal plane weight and short take off distance. Held in Van Nuys, CA, this year’s SAE Aero Design West competition – one might expect – should have had blue skies and calm weather. Instead, the team persevered through high winds and cold rainy conditions eventually getting their plane to fly even as many teams never got off the ground. The crowning moment was the team receiving 3rd place for their design report over dozens of larger universities. Aero team advisor, Visiting Professor Jaron Kuppers of the ME Department says of the students, “I am so proud of the team! They worked incredibly hard to design and build this plane, work together as a team, and put together their reports and presentations for competition. The team essentially fell apart during Covid years, so winning 3rd prize is even more incredible given that this group of students has also been tasked with rebuilding the team.” Not even a week later, the team is already deep in planning for next year. If you see a team member in the halls please wish them congratulations!
Chad Orzel, the Gordon Gould Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, was the featured speaker at an event for World Quantum Day on April 13 held at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. His talk "The Quantum Physics of an Ordinary Morning" described some of the ways that quantum mechanical phenomena show up in ordinary, mundane activities like making toast or looking at digital photos. This was part of a broader community event hosted by the Illinois Quantum Information Science and Technology Center.
Michael Sitvarin, visiting assistant professor of biology, recently released a publication entitled, "Quantifying How Natural History Traits Contribute to Bias in Community Science Engagement: A Case Study Using Orbweaver Spiders."
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