Message from the Chair

The Year in the Chemistry Department

Thanks for reading and welcome to our annual Chemistry Department Newsletter! First, a few quick announcements.

• We are running a search this fall for a tenure-track biochemist. If you are interested in the position, please see the job ad and feel free to contact us if you have any questions. Also, please forward the ad to anyone you think might be interested!

The 2022 – 2023 academic year took us one step closer to pre-pandemic times with fewer COVID cases and no formal disruptions. All classes and labs were held exclusively in-person, and we resumed certain pre-pandemic traditions. For example, after a two-year hiatus we restarted our Musselman Visiting Scientist lecture series in March by welcoming Prof. Andy Borovik from the University of California, Irvine. Read more about his visit in the “Visiting Speakers” section.

Additionally, two students presented their research independently. Meem Noshin Nawal Khan (’24 Chem) presented at the Commonwealth Chemistry Poster Event sponsored by the Royal Society of Chemistry while she was studying abroad in England in the fall, and Bryn Werley was invited to give an oral presentation at the Gulf Coast Undergraduate Research Symposium at Rice University, for which she won first prize!

In the summer of 2023, we had ten students doing research with four faculty. In addition to taking part in the usual X-SIG-sponsored programming (e.g., weekly informal research updates, graduate student panel, employed alumni panel, Saturday morning hike), the Chemistry students and faculty had some fun by going miniature golfing and attending a Harrisburg Senators minor-league baseball game on City Island. Overall, the 2023 X-SIG summer research program had more than 70 students doing research in the sciences with with 27 faculty advisors in 7 science departments!

Faculty in the Chemistry Department have been modifying and updating our curriculum over the last few years. As research becomes more interdisciplinary (both between subdisciplines of chemistry and between chemistry and other fields), we want to ensure that our students are getting the appropriate training. For example, we have been running two X-Labs (cross-disciplinary lab-only courses)—typically one each spring—since the spring of 2015, which are co-taught between a Chemistry Department faculty member and a faculty member from another science department. Inspired by these courses, this academic year we removed the labs from all of our 300-level courses (other than Biochemistry) and in their place began offering a series of I-Labs (integrated lab-only courses), which are co-taught between two Chemistry Department faculty members with different subdisciplinary backgrounds. These CUREs (course-based undergraduate research experiences) allow students to gain laboratory experience by working on a research project from multiple perspectives. In the fall, Profs. Mike Wedlock and Luke Thompson taught I-Lab: Gold and Lasers, and in the spring Profs. Kate Buettner and Don Jameson ran I-Lab: Heavy Metals and Drugs. Over the next few years we will continue to offer new I-Labs focused on different types of research projects.
– Prof. Timothy W. Funk, Department Chair 2017-2023

A Note from the New Department Chair:
As the incoming chair for a two-year term, I’d like to give the most enthusiastic thanks for the work that Tim has done for the past six years.  The Department has moved forward on a number of important initiatives and Tim has been at the forefront of all of them.  His current sabbatical is a most well-earned one!  I would like to add to Tim’s encouragement to stay in touch with us and extend an invitation to our Department reception on the Friday of Homecoming weekend (4-8 PM on the Science Center patio).
– Prof. Donald Jameson, Department Chair 2023-2025

We love hearing from alumni and friends of the Chemistry Department, so please keep in touch with us as you move through your careers and your lives!

Here are some ways you can reach us:
On-line form:
Use the form at this link to share memories of your time at Gettysburg College or update us on what’s happening in your life!

By mail:
Chemistry Department
Gettysburg College
300 N. Washington Street
Campus Box 393
Gettysburg, PA 17325

By e-mail:
Prof. Donald Jameson, Department Chair, at djameson@gettysburg.edu
Lea Czar, Administrative Assistant, at lczar@gettysburg.edu
Or.  to any of the Chemistry Department faculty.  You can find our email addresses through the departmental web page

Be sure to scroll back to the top of this page to find a menu with links to more news about the Chemistry Department in the last year and our future plans!