Teaching and Research
All chemistry majors are strongly encouraged to participate in a research experience during their undergraduate years.
Chemistry faculty members maintain vigorous undergraduate research programs that include both summer and academic year opportunities. Information about Current Research Projects in the Macalester Science Division is available on the Science and Research Office (SRO) website.
Summer research is an integral part of the chemistry major for students anticipating entry into the chemical industry, graduate school, or medical school. The Science And Research Office (SRO) also has information about summer research opportunities in a variety of industrial companies, as well as at other universities and colleges throughout the U.S. and worldwide. Joan Toohey, director of SRO, is available for individual consultation.
Over the past five years, fully 75% of our chemistry majors have gained research experience as undergraduates, 85% of them doing research at Macalester itself.
Student-Faculty Joint Publications
- Liu, A. Y., Calicdan, X. A., Glover, G. N., Luo, X., Barroso, G. T., Hoppe, B. K., Boyle, K. M., Witus, L., S. Investigation of the Effect of Turn Residues on Tetrapeptide Aldol Catalysts with 尾-Turn Propensity. ACS Omega 2022, 7, 45336鈥45340.
- Liu, X.; Waters, R.; Gilbert, H. E.; Barroso, G. T.; Boyle, K. M.; Witus, L. S. The Role of 尾-Hairpin Conformation in Ester Hydrolysis Peptide Catalysts Based on a TrpZip Scaffold. RSC Adv. 2021, 11, 23714鈥23718
- Gest, A. M.; Aguiluz, E. M.; Mays, M. T.; Liu, X.; Neidhart, E. K.; Witus, L. S. A colorimetric competitive displacement assay for the evaluation of catalytic peptides. Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry 2017, 15, 10160鈥10163.
- Professor Ronald Brisbois, Alexandra Bergan (Century Community College), Aubrey Ellison 鈥12 (Plymouth, Minn.), Percy Griffin 鈥13 (Tema, Ghana), Kent Hackbarth 鈥13 (Wausau, Wis.), and Steven Larson 鈥13 (Ripon, Wis.) co-authored 鈥淭hermal, Non-catalyzed Huisgen Cycloaddition for the Preparation of 4,5-bis(trimethylsilyl)-1H-1,2,3,-triazoles,鈥 which appeared in Tetrahedron Letters in 2012.
- Professor Keith Kuwata, Professor Patrick Dussault, two other collaborators at the University of Nebraska鈥揕incoln, Solaire Finkenstaedt-Quinn 鈥10 (Eau Claire, Wis.), Ilhan Findik 鈥09 (Kyrenia, Cyprus), and Emily Sliz 鈥08 (Dripping Springs, Texas) co-authored 鈥淕eneration of Singlet Oxygen from Fragmentation of Monoactivated 1,1- Dihydroperoxides,鈥 which appeared in the Journal of Organic Chemistry in 2012.
- Professor Kathryn Splan, K.F. Speer 鈥10 (Philadelphia, Pa.), C.L. Cosimini 鈥09 (St. Paul, Minn.) co-authored 鈥淐haracterization of a Bivalent, Smac-based Peptide that features Sequences Specific to both the BIR2 and BIR3 Domains of the X-linked Inhibitor of Apoptosis Protein,鈥 which appeared in Biopolymers: Peptide Science in 2012.
- Professor Kathryn Splan, P.K. Goldberg 鈥11 (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and T.J. Pundsack co-authored 鈥淧hotophysical Investigation of Neutral and Diprotonated Free-base Bis(Arylethynyl)-porphyrins,鈥 which appeared in Journal of Physical Chemistry A in 2011.
- Professors Thomas Varberg and Keith Kuwata co-authored with Andrew Bendelsmith 鈥13 (West St. Paul, Minn.) a paper titled 鈥淢easurement of the Compressibility Factor of Gases: A Physical Chemistry Laboratory Experiment,鈥 which appeared in the Journal of Chemical Education in 2011.
- Professor Keith Kuwata, Brianna Kujala 鈥06 (Hastings, Minn.), Zachary Morrow 鈥08 (Niarada, Mont.), and Elena Tonc 鈥13 (Osijek, Croatia) co-authored 鈥淨uantum Chemical and RRKM/Master Equation Studies of Cyclopropene Ozonolysis,鈥 which appeared in Computational and Theoretical Chemistry in 2011.
- Professor Rebecca Hoye, Gretchen Anderson, 鈥05 (Minnetonka, Minn.), Susan Brown 鈥07 (Kingston, Jamaica), and Erica Schultz 鈥08 (Owatonna, Minn.) co-authored 鈥淭otal Synthesis of Clathculins A and B鈥 which appeared in the Journal of Organic Chemistry in 2010.