Welcome to Chemistry, Biochemistry, Physics, and Geology at Winthrop University

Achieving national excellence in science

 

Department Newsletters: 2020 2019 2018  

 

Faculty

Biochemistry: FernandezGrossoehme  Hurlbert  Sumter

Chemistry:  Calloway Gelabert Grattan  Hanna Harris  Hartel Lammi  Owens  Snyder

Geology:  Boyer  Daley  Werts

PhysicsAmir Mahes 

Students

2022 Student Accomplishments

2019 Student Accomplishments

2018 Student Accomplishments

2017 Student Accomplishments

2016 Student Accomplishments

2015 Student Accomplishments

 

Chemistry at Winthrop Gains American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Accreditation

ASBMBAugust 31, 2014 Rockville, MD - The American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) has added Winthrop to its roster of institutions offering ASBMB-accredited programs. Winthrop’s ACS Biochemistry Degree Track in Chemistry is South Carolina's first accredited ASBMB program. Winthrop is currently one of only 14 schools nationwide with this distinction: Goucher College, Hendrix College, Hope College, Northeastern University, Otterbein University, Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University, Roanoke College, Texas State University, University of California Davis, University of Tampa, Villanova University, Virginia Tech and Winthrop University!

 

Jeff Myers Wins South Carolina's 2012 Dwight Camper Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award

3/30/2012 Columbia, SC - The South Carolina Academy of Sciences announced the selection of Winthrop chemistry major Jeff Myers as the sole recipient of the 2012 Dwight Camper Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award. The Dwight Camper Award honors an undergraduate student or team that has performed outstanding research as an undergraduate student in any of the scientific fields supported by the SC Academy of Science whose research has contributed to a science publication.  This award consists of an honorarium of $300 and a handsomely framed certificate that was presented in a special ceremony at the South Carolina Academy of Sciences annual meeting on April 14. Following the ceremony Jeff made a 20 minute research presentation to the Academy on organic synthesis research findings conducted at Winthrop under the mentorship of Dr. Jay Hanna, Associate Professor of Chemistry. Upon graduation from Winthrop in May 2012, Jeff will matriculate into the Chemistry PhD program at the University of Virginia.

 

 

Winthrop Biochemistry Professor Nick Grossoehme Receives Grant for Emerging Scientists

5/23/2011 TUCSON, Ariz. -  Research Corporation for Science Advancement will award Winthrop chemistry faculty member Nicholas Grossoehme a $35,000 grant as part of its spring 2011 Cottrell College Science Awards to support 48 early career scientists at undergraduate institutions. Grossoehme, an assistant professor of chemistry, received the award to conduct research on the "Biophysical Characterization of Metal Homeostasis in Multiple Antibiotic Producing Streptomyces coelicolor." The financial support provided by the grant will allow Grossoehme and undergraduate research students to investigate how one organism of medicinal interest, Streptomyces coelicolor, maintains the optimal concentration of critical metals. In addition to potential scientific advances, the grant will give several Winthrop undergraduates invaluable experience working in a laboratory and carrying out their own research project to better prepare them for graduate school or a career in a related field.

 

Winthrop Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Awarded $2.6 Million NIH Biomedical Research Grant

September 30, 2010.  Ten Winthrop chemistry and biochemistry faculty (Calloway, Grattan, Grossoehme, Hanna, Harris, Hurlbert, Lammi, Owens, Snyder, & Sumter) were notified that the National Institutes of Health will be funding South Carolina's proposed INBRE II biomedical research initiative that includes $2.6 million for Winthrop. During the 2010-2015 period, Winthrop's role will focus on strategic initiatives to demonstrate INBRE I sustainability, to further expand biomedical research capacity, and to staff and implement a science initiative to recruit, educate, and train even greater numbers of students from diverse groups for biomedical graduate research programs. Over the past five years, 20 Winthrop chemistry and biochemistry students have entered PhD programs as an outcome of their undergraduate research.

Zach Curry's Research Paper Wins 1st Prize at St Jude Children's Research Hospital Oncology Education Program

September 26, 2010.  Winthrop chemistry junior Zach Curry has been notified by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital that his summer research paper "Peptide Ligand Binding Studies of the HtrA2/Omi PDZ Domain using NMR and Circular Dichromism Spectrometry" was the sole first prize winner in basic science for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital summer 2010 Pediatric Oncology Education (POE) Program.  Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the POE program offers opportunities for ten weeks of research for students preparing for careers in the biomedical sciences, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, psychology, or public health to gain biomedical and oncology research experience. There were approximately 500 applicants and 36 undergraduates selected for the program this year. Zach's research faculty mentor was Dr. Jie Zheng from Structural Biology; his laboratory work was also mentored by St. Jude researcher Cristina Guibao.

 

Biochemistry Professor Takita Sumter Wins First NIH AREA Grant Ever Awarded to a Winthrop Faculty Member

Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: takitaMay 21, 2009.  Based upon the recommendation from a peer-review panel of biomedical scientists, the National Cancer Institute has awarded Dr. Takita Sumter a $232,500 grant for her cancer research "Structure Function Studies of the HMGA1 Functional Domains Involved in Malignant Transformation." Since its founding in 1886, this is the first NIH AREA grant ever awarded to a Winthrop faculty member.  During the 1990s, President DiGiorgio sparked an initiative to make investments in infrastructure to establish national caliber undergraduate science programs at Winthrop.  Dr. Sumter was one of the outstanding science faculty recruited to Winthrop as an outcome of these investments.  Since her arrival in 2004, Dr. Sumter has been a PI or co-PI on several major NSF and NIH grants.  She is the co-PI on Winthrop's INBRE II proposal and serves on the national ASBMB committee for undergraduate biochemistry education and minority affairs.

Chemistry Professor Robin Lammi Awarded First Major NSF-RUI Research Grant in Winthrop University's History

Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: robin INBREMay 20, 2009.  The National Science Foundation notified Winthrop President DiGiorgio today that Dr. Robin Lammi, Assistant Professor of Chemistry and INBRE target faculty, was awarded $251,274 for her proposed undergraduate-centered research project "Probing Early Events in Amyloid-beta Association by Single-Pair Forster Resonance Energy Transfer." The grant provides materials, summer and academic year student stipends, and funds for conference presentations over the next three years.  At Winthrop, Lammi and her students have assembled one of the few single molecule spectroscopy setups in the Southeast and have begun exploiting this capability to better understand physical processes that occur at the molecular level during early stages of Alzheimer's disease.  Two of Lammi's former Winthrop research students are enrolled in PhD chemistry programs at Clemson and USC.  A third is headed to reknown SHERP science writing... More

 

Bethany Bush Wins National Undergraduate Student Research Competition at 2009 ASBMB Meeting in New Orleans

April 19, 2009. Chemistry major Bethany Bush won the top undergraduate research award in cell signaling at the 13th Annual Undergraduate Student Research Poster Competition held during the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) meeting in New Orleans.  Bethany's research, conducted over the past three years in Sims under the mentorship of Dr. Takita Sumter, centered on linking increases in High Mobility Protein Group (HMGP) expression with cell mutations that occur during early stages of colon cancer.  Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the US. A better understanding of HMGP's role in colon cancer may ultimately lead to more effective colon cancer treatment and therapies.  This fall, Bethany will begin graduate studies with Harvard Medical School's PhD program in Chemical Biology.

2008 Lemelson-MIT Prize Winner, UNC Chemistry Professor, and 2008 Tar Heel of the Year Speaks at Winthrop

Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: JoeDeSimoneFebruary 18, 2009.  Dr. Joseph DeSimone, Professor of Chemistry at UNC Chapel Hill, presented an inspiring talk today on "Engineered Drug Therapies Enabled by Fabrication Processes from the Electronics Industry" to an overflowing chemistry lecture room packed by more than 100 enthusiastic Winthrop chemistry students and faculty. Dr. DeSimone outlined how technology was now driving basic science research and described exciting applications of microelectronic fabrication techniques that were providing, for the first time in human history, monodispersed nanoparticles with specifically designed shapes, charges, sizes, and chemical properties to allow targeted drug delivery to cancer cells.  The seminar was followed by a reception for Dr. DeSimone hosted by the Student Affiliate of the American Chemical Society (SAACS) and by the Winthrop student chapter of the National Organization for Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE)... More

 

Lisa Kingsmore Selected to First-Team Academic All-American Division I Women's Softball

May 27, 2008. Chemistry major Lisa Kingsmore is one of 11 Division I softball student-athletes nationally chosen to First-Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American Women's Softball Team. Lisa is a rising senior completing Winthrop's ACS-approved Biochemistry program next year followed by funded graduate work in chemistry or biochemistry...More

Aaron Hartel Awarded First ACS Petroleum Research Fund Grant in Winthrop's History

April 15, 2008.  The American Chemical Society has announced that Dr. Aaron Hartel has been awarded Winthrop's first American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund Grant.  The $65,000 grant is for 40 months and will...More

 Winthrop University Fall 2007 Alumni Magazine Features Chemistry Student Research and Achievements

"In this issue of the Winthrop Magazine, I encourage you to read about the thriving Department of Chemistry program that emphasizes advanced faculty-student research and rigorous academic course work, all of which have resulted in numerous prestigious national awards for several recent graduates."

Anthony J. DiGiorgio, President, Winthrop University

 

Sarah Wengryniuk Is One of Nation's Five "Women in Chemistry" Merck Index Scholarship Recipients for 2007

Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: sarahacsChemistry major and recent graduate, Sarah Wengryniuk, is one of five students nationwide selected as a 2007 Merck Index "Women in Chemistry" scholarship recipient.  Awards were presented during the Women in Industry breakfast at the Boston ACS meeting in August.  The five recipients later made presentations on their undergraduate research during a special award symposium.  Sarah's talk centered on organic synthesis involving silyl-lithium reagents to selectively reduce alpha, beta-epoxycarbonyls.  The results Sarah presented in Boston were from research conducted on the third floor of Sims over the course of three academic semesters and one summer under the mentorship of Dr. Aaron Hartel.  Merck is providing Sarah with a $5,000 graduate scholarship.  In August, Sarah began a Ph.D. in chemistry at Duke; the other four Merck recipients recently began graduate studies in chemistry at Princeton, Cal-Berkley, Stanford, and MIT.

 

Wake Forest, Winthrop & WCU Chemistry Team Earn Homeland Security Funding

Aug. 29, 2007. ROCK HILL, S.C. - The National Science Foundation recently announced that a team of researchers from Wake Forest, Winthrop University (Cliff Calloway), and Western Carolina...More

Chemistry Faculty Awarded NSF Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Grant

August 14, 2007.  The National Science Foundation recently announced that chemistry faculty Jason Hurlbert, Cliff Calloway, Takita Sumter, and Chasta Parker have been awarded $282,309 to   More

Dr. Sumter Awarded Largest NSF Research Grant in Winthrop's History
February 2, 2006. The National Science Foundation announced today that Dr. Takita F. Sumter, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, has been awarded a $167,428 Research Initiation Grant (RIG) .....More

Winthrop Biochemistry Program Gains ACS Approval
January 11, 2006.  The American Chemical Society (ACS) Committee on Professional Training (CPT) has added Winthrop University to the institutions offering ACS-approved programs in biochemistry....More

 

Winthrop Chemistry Faculty Awarded $2.4 Million NIH Biomedical Research Grant
Nov 9, 2005.  A team of five Winthrop chemistry faculty (Calloway, Lammi, Owens, Parker, & Sumter) were recently notified that the National Institutes of Health will be funding their proposed five year initiative to increase biomedical research capacity on campus. Over the next five years, Winthrop University will receive nearly $2.4 million from the NIH to assist in accomplishing this goal...More
 

Winthrop Chemistry Programs Gains ACS Approval
Sep 22, 2004 The American Chemical Society (ACS) Committee on Professional Training (CPT) has added Winthrop University to its roster of institutions offering ACS-approved programs in chemistry. More...  

 

Anna Vagstad is South Carolina's Selection for 2004 NCAA Woman of the Year
Sep 14, 2004.  Chemistry major and Winthrop volleyball player Anna Vagstad has been named as South Carolina's Selection for the NCAA Woman of the Year. More. ..

 

Virtual Chemistry
Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: VRMLExperience chemistry through VRML, ideal for viewing molecular models. Visit the VRML page to view our collection.

 

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