St.

Olaf College

May 2, 2003 Honors

Day Science Symposium

May 2003
Faculty: Bob Hanson
Editors: Karen Renneke and Anna Henry

Spring 2003 Awards The Chemistry Department also recognizes Cory Fix
for being the graduating senior who has attended the
Senior chemistry majors were honored with special awards most departmental seminars. Cory attended 27 semi-
at the Chemistry Senior Banquet, held at the Buntrock nars. He received a certificate and appropriately some
Commons on the evening of May 8, 2003. The awards doughnuts. Doughnut Award
and awardees are as follows.
Departmental Service Award this year goes to:
Merck Awards: to Robert Hillard and Paul Tlucek, the
Cory Fix Erin May
two highest-ranking GPA students. Merck & Co., Inc
sponsors this award. Each Awardee receives an inscribed Madeline Pearson Rajan Vatassery
copy of the Merck Index.
Kate Terebova Theresa Herbers
The American Institute of Chemists Foundation
Neal Olson Jared Anderson
Award: to Cory Fix. This award sponsored by the Ameri-
can Institute of Chemists honors a graduate who has a They will each receive an ACS mug from the Chemis-
demonstrated record of ability, leadership and professional try Department.
promise. A certificate and a one-year membership in the
AIC are awarded.
Gary Spessard
The 2003 Undergraduate Award in Analytical Chemis- showing off his
try goes to Jake Bullard. This award consists of an eight- new bike hel-
month honorary membership in the American Chemical met donated to
Society Division of Analytical Chemistry, as well as an him from
eight-month subscription to Analytical Chemistry. SOCS.
HyperCube, Inc. sponsors the HyperCube Scholar
Award.
This year's recipient is Matt Christianson. He will re-
SOCS Update—Officers for 2003-4
ceive a soft-key version of the HyperCube software pack-
age "HyperChem". Co-Presidents: Amanda Johnson and Kathy Van Heu-
velen
Courtland and Ellen Agre, in 1981, gave money to be Treasurer: Dan Honl
used as senior awards to a high-ranking student going on in Lab Sales Manager: Al Bateman
medicine and a high-ranking student going on to graduate Senior Banquet Managers: Sara Leitner and Andrea
school in chemistry. This year's recipients of the cash Martin
prizes are Justin Seningen and Erin May. Social Coordinators: Ania Urban, Abby Sprenger, Brett
Aplin, Stephanie Barron, Caitlin Harris, Matthew Pat-
Chemistry department faculty member Robert Hanson do- terson
nated a signed edition of his book “Molecular Origami” Executive Advisor: Emily Breen
to a student going on in K-12 education. This year’s re- Congratulations to all of you and we are looking for-
cipient is Brent Bly. ward to another successful year of SOCS.
 More Photos from the Senior Chemistry
Banquet

Dr. John Walters was the honored guest speaker for the
Senior Banquet. After his talk, Dr. Walters was hon-
ored by the Chemistry Department for all his years of
dedicated service to the students and the department.
Brent Bly gave a
There was an intense game of Chemistry BINGO using great speech,
the periodic table. Rumor has it there were a couple which was both
professors using very small pocket periodic tables to funny and infor-
help win??? mative. Turns out
he became a
Chem Major to
get girls? Instead
he is going to be-
come a teacher?

Madeline Pearson and Cory Fix ( SOCS officers), were

part of the crew that helped put on this gala event.
Thanks for the great night!

Chemistry Majors Class of 2003

Page 3 Chem Mess

ACS Report on the 2002 Salary and Employment Survey

The Chemical & Engineering News magazine published the ACS Salary and Employment Survey in the
April 7, 2003 issue. Here are some very interesting results to note.

All of these figures were taken from the Chemical and Engineer-
ing news magazine. This the rest of this article can be found
online at http://www.cen-online.org in the April 7, 2003 archive.
 Future Plans – Chem Majors 2003 Peder Thoen: Next year I plan to take courses at the University
of Minnesota.
Neal Olson: Currently seeking gainful employment. Contem-
Stephanie Maling: I'm planning on doing research for a year
plating going to grad school or medical school.
and then hopefully going on to medical school.
Brent Bly: I turned down all my internship offers to work at
Matthew Christianson: I will be going to the University of
Dunn Bros. Coffee shop this summer and pursue some interests.
Wisconsin-Madison to start work on a Ph.D. in inorganic chem-
Then it's on to get my teaching degree at St. Thomas.
istry.
Jess Aldinger: After graduation I will be working full time at
Theresa Herbers: For the next year, I will be working for a
Walgreen’s in Richfield, MN as a Pharmacy Technician. After
veterinarian in Kansas City doing lab tech-type work and learn-
working for a year or so I hope to go to Pharmacy School at the
ing the ropes of the small-animal vet business. I also hope to
University of Minnesota.
volunteer at the Humane Society and the zoo. I will be applying
Madelyn Pearson will be attending the University of Minnesota for vet school for the fall of 2004 at the University of Missouri,
School of Dentistry in the fall (and hopefully squeeze in a little University of Minnesota, and maybe some other schools as well.
time for dance classes!)
Jay Eidem: Will be attending the University of Minnesota Col-
Mike Purnell: I am currently looking for jobs at labs in the cit- lege of Pharmacy and working towards a Pharmacy Degree.
ies, in particular pharmaceutical labs that utilize analytical
Gregg Sydow: This fall I will be attending either Southern Illi-
chemists for quality control.
nois University School of Medicine in Springfield, IL, or Uni-
Laura L. Uridil: I will be returning home to work and find out versity of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine.
what it is that I want.
Jessica Thomes: I will be working this upcoming year, and in
Mrijesh Shrestha: Go back home to Nepal and attend medical the following, attend medical school, preferentially at the U of
school. M, but neither a specific company nor school are known.
Lukas Nystrom: I will be attending the University of Minnesota Nicole Oetjen: I will get back to you on this?
- Duluth School of Medicine in the fall.
Michael Blackwell: Going to school to become a paramedic.
Kyle G. Halvorson: I am hoping to attend medical school in the
Lisa Eidenschink: I will be attending University of Washing-
fall, but unfortunately at this time I don't know exactly what is
ton's chemistry graduate program
going to happen with that. I may wind up in Chicago, Omaha,
or Minneapolis-- I'm really not sure. Nick Holmes: Graduate school, uncertain of where as of yet.
Erin May: I plan to attend Iowa State University in Ames, IA in Paul Tlucek: I am planning on attending medical school at the
the Fall (just like Mary!!!!), where I plan to major in physical University of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City.
chemistry.
Justin Seningen: Future in medical profession.
Jake Bullard: have accepted a job as an analytical chemist at
Mike Donohue: I hope to get a research job in a lab at the Uni-
Cima Labs in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. I plan to work for a
versity of Minnesota. Following a year of work I hope to attend
few years and then possibly go to graduate school in chemistry.
medical school... somewhere.
Raj Vatassery: I am planning on working in an organic or ana-
Jared Anderson: Work for a year in a lab, make money, go
lytical lab for a year and studying for the GRE. I will be return-
back to school in Pharmacy or grad school.
ing to school for a PhD in physical chemistry.
Cory Fix: I will be at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in
Robert Hillard: I will attend the University of Missouri Medi-
the graduate Chemistry program for analytical chemistry. It'll be
cal School next Fall
the first time living in the Eastern time zone for me!
Ekaterina Terebova: I am going to Purdue (IN) next fall to
Matt Gibbs: Trying to find this survey on the web?
start a program in medicinal chemistry. I'm very excited.
Yvone Yang: Thinking about it, needing some quiet time?
Michelle Richards: I have no idea. Probably I will end up
working in a tollbooth on I-90. Jenni Olson: Heading for physical therapy school.

Bryan Cole: Graduate school in Marine Biology at the Hopkins CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF YOU AND
Marine Station, Stanford University. I will be working with Dr. BEST WISHES FROM THE
David Epel.
FACULTY AND STAFF!
 Most Memorable Moments on the
Chemistry Floor 2003
Rob Hillard turning on the hot plate underneath the hot
plate that was holding his beaker, and almost burning
down the whole Orgo lab.
It was a Tuesday afternoon just like any other in instru-
mental lab. Jay was attempting to program the robot,
Mike, who had been mild-mannered most of the year.
Little did he know, Mike had turned evil. I'm not sure
which happened first, it's little robot friends coming alive
and bringing havoc down on the lab or the slinging of
buffers and reagents across the lab. One thing was for
certain: there was no stopping him. Still, in the midst of
the chaos, I came to the rescue. Throwing cans of diet
coke from Doc's secret storage, I subdued the beastly
robot and his minions. True story.
All the fun my lab bench had in Organic lab.
Making SOCS signs and posters with Cory Fix - P-chem ing out butts off on the polymer report, I accepted a dare
lab with Kate! (And our futile attempts to not break any- and stapled myself, which I think is the one thing most
thing!!)
When Bob used a blast shield to demonstrate in 126.
My most memorable moments of chemistry classes are
how long the tests are! I once spent five hours working of us.
on an organic test. My first test as a college student be-
gan at 7:30am with Paul Fisher, and I received a 67%
(my lowest test grade up to that point). But I pulled
through! ☺☺ Gotta love Chem 125 first thing in the
morning with bow ties!
Socializing with the exceptionally nice faculty on a day ture turn into a pizza party!
to day basis.
Doing experiments in the Physical Chemistry lab. 2)
Memorizing the Krebs Cycle in Biochemistry I
In organic lab I dropped a round bottom crucible with
ALL of my partner's and my product inside of it. It shat-
tered on the lab bench. As I was looking over the dam-
age there was one large piece of glass that still had al-
most all of my product sitting on it unharmed. Most of
my recent memorable moments on the chemistry floor
come from my interacts with my peers while doing sum-
mer research. Justin Seningen and I had a blast while
working together and it made the summer go by really
fast. Adding to that Dr. Jackson's sense of humor always
made analytic lab go quickly.
Jared Anderson showing up to instrumental lab as an
orange crayon on Halloween.
In analytical lab last year my partners Matt Gibbs and
Prashanth Rao were so efficient that we consistently fin-
ished hours before the other groups and got the best re-
sults. Also all the lab and TA work I've done and meet-
ing the people there.
The day I showed up for Chem 126 and my desk com-
pletely broke from under me -- I was really embarrassed!
Last year during one of our orgo labs, the reactants
started on fire, and we had to evacuate the lab. At the
time it was scary, but now my friends and I laugh about
it.
During p-chem, when Tony Frattalone and I were work-
people in my p-chem class will remember me for more
than anything else.
When my lab partner added the concentrated hydrogen
peroxide too quickly, causing it to explode all over both
Instrumental analysis class and lab! Lab was always
great with my fellow Bravo Company partners. A high-
light was definitely writing a LabVIEW VI together over
instant messenger! The semester ended with the unfor-
gettable experience of watching Doc's last chemistry lec-
We always enjoyed playing around with the intercom
system in Analytical lab under the watchful eye of 'upper
management' and focusing the closed-circuit camera on
our TA so we could watch him on TV.
All were memorable. I'll never forget carrying out the
Ferrocene synthesis outside of the hood in Organic lab
while everyone else was working in the hoods. That was
with my trusty lab partner Peder Thoen. All I can hope
for is that scientist find a cure for cancer soon. oops.
That would be Organic Synthesis 254, when John Grau
and I were refluxing with a round bottom flask and a wa-
ter cooled condenser with a stopper on. I assembled all
reagents, and John put together the apparatus. We forgot
to communicate as a team, when I gave him the flask to
heat I forgot to tell him to remove the stopper, and need-
less to say, we made liquid-works from our reaction and
flames from the splatters. Dr. Riley came flying in with a
fire extinguisher, and lab was stopped for around a half an
hour. Pearson, our lab instructor was in his room and
showed up after the fact, wondering what had happened.
The best part was that we were still able to finish the reac-
tion in the correct manner and characterize our product.
Getting an A on a pchem test, I thought it was truly a
miracle.
My first class in the chemistry department was fairly
memorable. I remember thinking "Do all chemistry pro-
fessors write in their own font?" (I had Dr. Miessler)
I remember taking organic synthesis lab in the summer.
My group was waiting for a one-hour reaction to take
place, so we went to The Cage and had ice cream. It was
a summer afternoon at St. Olaf, so we basically had the
whole place to ourselves. It was great!
Getting the Bronze lab correct on three metals in analyti-
cal lab. We were excited.
Whatever you do, do with INTEGRITY.
Wherever you go, go as a LEADER.
Whomever you serve, serve with CARING.
Whenever you dream, dream with your ALL.
And never, ever give up."
Nominate for 2003
Raj. We were trying to get NMR specs of our polymers
in Pchem on the old NMR. I don't remember exactly how
it happened, but he broke it. Then he tried to fix it by
fiddling with the weird adjustment things that only D.
Hanson knows how to use. Of course, everyone knows
those are just for ornamental purposes. The NMR was
glowing green and growling at that point, and he called
Dr. Hanson. After some adjustments and some cursing,
everything worked out.
Most times in a row a CD can possibly be played during
summer research: Tie Between Gregg Sydow (ZZ Top's
Greatest Hits) and Kyle Halvorson (a mixed cd with the
song 'Goldfinger' from James Bond)
I would, but I haven't decided yet. I'll get back to you on
this.
Madelyn Pearson--she has the weirdest majors combina-
tion--chemistry and dance. Not only is she is the first Ole
to do it, but also she did really well at both those majors.
She always had goggles and dance clothes in her bag, al-
ways running from labs to company dance classes or
meetings.
Jake Bullard-mad scientist
Jess Thomes gets the Nobel Prize for inventing a new
explosive and blowing up her experiment in lab last year
in organic labs.
...Paul Tlucek... because he's the best 500 player ever
Other 2003
I like chocolate. And diet coke.
Thanks so much to the chem faculty and staff for 4 amaz-
ing years. Congrats and good luck to fellow seniors!!
I have had a wonderful time here at St.Olaf.
Thanks! It's been awesome!
Thanks for a great four years!
Chemistry rules
Thank you to the professors. You are part of the reason
why I didn't transfer after my sophomore year
I run Track at St. Olaf. I
It's grand to be a senior!
It has been a great four years with a great department. 11. When subjects didn't behave as predicted, he de-
Thank all of you guys for your hard work! leted them from the sample.

There are people behind the scenes in the department that 12. He rarely came to class, just told students to read
the Book.
every successful chem major should get to know. Those
specific two people are Karen and Michelle. They are 13. Some say he had his son teach the class.
both as sweet as can be, and everyone who is privileged 14. He expelled his first two students for learning.
enough to get to know them is the luckiest chem major at 15. Although there were only ten requirements, most
St. Olaf. students failed his tests.
I really enjoyed my time here at St. Olaf majority of 16. His office hours were infrequent and usually held
which is due to this chemistry department. Whatever on a mountaintop.
they're doing, it should be kept up after I leave.
Summer Birthdays
Paul Jackson June 30th
Now we say good-by to all our Chem Majors
Michelle Howe July 4th Class of 2003, you have made your mark and
John Walters July 4th you will be remembered!
Karen Renneke July 9th
Wes Pearson July 10th
Don Tarr August 1st
Bob Hanson August 26th
Ken Kaul August 31st

A Word from Karen

Why God never received tenure

Some academic careers just never take off...
Why God never received tenure at any university:
1. He had only one major publication.
2. It was in Hebrew.
3. It had no references.
4. It wasn't published in a refereed journal.
5. Some even doubt he wrote it himself.
6. It may be true that he created the world, but what has
he done since then?
7. His cooperative efforts have been quite limited.
8. The scientific community has had a hard time repli-
cating his results.
9. He never applied to the Ethics Board for permission to
use human subjects.
10. When one experiment went awry he tried to cover it
up by drowning the subjects.
 You Know that You Are a St. Olaf Chem
Major If?
If you know why a tree (used to) appear at the top of the
first page of the Chem Mess.
If your picture is on display on the third floor and you're
not really wanted for anything. (Unless your picture's not
there, then you're Karen's ten most wanted list)
If the word third floor brings a tantalizing mixture of aro-
mas to mind.
If you can look at yourself in the mirror after lab and be
sure that the rings around your eyes don't mean you're
evolving into a raccoon.
the old Muppets Show.
If you know that the politically correct way to refer to left-
handed people is as chirally challenged.
If all you can think of at this point is, "My God, that
speech sure has a lot of entropy" and you're right!
If you know that SOCS isn't just some Washington D.C.
inside the beltway acronym for "Senate OKs Clinton Sex"
If you know that 32-16-12-31 doesn't have anything to do
with the annual Sorts Illustrated swimsuit issue.

If you can find plenty of space in the caf line and a table
all to yourself after you've been in synthesis lab all after-
noon.

If you know that role-playing doesn't mean a food fight in

Stav Hall with your buddies using dinner rolls.

If you know that it's Friday by the tie a certain faculty

member wears.

If you've seen a test tube and know that even in the biggest
ones a baby really couldn't grow in there.

If you know that Krebs cycle isn't the name of a mountain

bike shop.

If you know that it's a periodic table (not per'iodic table)

but that it's per'iodic acid and not periodic acid.

If you know that a PC won't perform like an ATM ma-

chine even if it has a CaCHE program.

If you know that the instruction to digest a sample doesn't

mean that you should start the process by drinking it.

If you know that free energy doesn't mean that you no

longer need to be concerned about gasoline prices.

If you look at a piece of sheet music and all you can think
of as you're looking at the lines in the staff are energy lev-
els.
If you know that the three laws of thermodynamics really
are: you can't win, you can't break even, and you can't
even get out of the game.
This is the last Chem Mess for this year, and I want
to take this time to thank Anna Henry. Anna has
been my student worker for 3 years and co-editor of
this publication. I will miss her next year, but
know she is on to bigger and better dreams. Thank
you Anna, and God Bless You.
Sincerely,

If you know that a beaker is an open-topped glass labora- Karen Renneke, AAA Chemistry Department
tory vessel and not the bumbling figure in a white coat on