Letter from the Chair

Dear Alumni and Friends of the Department,

It is a great honor to be writing you as the new Chair of the Department of Chemistry. That’s right. In August, Alan Esker completed his term as Chair and some would say his smile grew three sizes that day. Due to the on-going pandemic, it became harder for the Department to communicate regularly with our alumni and friends, so I wanDear Alumni and Friends of the Chemistry Department,

As the 2023-2024 academic year kicks off, I am humbled by the outstanding accomplishments of our faculty, staff, students, and alums in recent months. In this issue, you will read about international recognition for our faculty, new awards for our assistant professors, and the complete list of departmental awards from the spring. You will also see that the Department lost one of our greatest advocates and former faculty members, Mike Ogliaruso. Through interactions with Mike during the Department of Chemistry Advisory Council (DCAC) meetings, I had the honor of witnessing his absolute dedication to our undergraduate program and students and the personal connections made to the Ogliaruso scholarship awardees. I will miss his wisdom, stories, and smile.

I want to highlight one specific award that, while listed on the final pages of this issue, is worthy of additional mention. As you know, graduate students play a central role in the success and growth of the chemistry department. They are the heart of our research mission. One of our graduate students, Eric Munyaneza, was recognized with the highest award given to a graduate student by the College of Science Deans Roundtable. Eric was selected to receive the Make a Difference scholarship at this year's College of Science award ceremony. Eric's work is centered on the development of methods to recycle polymers, namely polystyrene, polyethylene, and polypropylene. Beyond science, Eric is an inspirational individual, which was evident to the Roundtable during the scholarship interview process. We are so incredibly proud of his accomplishments.

This summer, we saw the retirements of two long-time colleagues and friends, Felicia Etzkorn and Victoria Long. Vicki is an alumnus of the Department, earning a master's degree with Tom Ward in 1987 when she met our dear former colleague, Tim Long. Upon returning to VT, Vicki held many roles in our laboratory curricula, but most recently was the constant for our general chemistry for non-major's laboratory. She saw us through multiple curriculum revisions and constantly incorporated experiments at the forefront of chemical research. Felicia was (and still is!) a pioneer in Green Chemistry. At Virginia Tech, she created our Green Chemistry course–one of the most popular electives for our undergraduate majors. She expanded this work beyond the walls of VT with both the ACS Green Chemistry Institute and Beyond Benign. Her advocacy for women in chemistry has made a lasting impression on the Department, with the creation of the Graduate Women in Chemistry Group and the Department's pregnancy policy. We will miss both tremendously.

We also saw the addition of new faculty and staff. We welcomed two tenure-track associate professors, Caroline Saouma from the University of Utah, Ming Chen from Auburn University, and one instructor, Rosie Tohidi–all featured in the following pages. We have also seen dramatic changes in departmental staffing. We welcomed a new Human Resources Coordinator, Leslie Cherry-Marshall, as our previous coordinator, Brandi Webb, was promoted to the College of Science. We also welcomed a new laboratory manager, a promotion from within the Department, Tabatha Gentry. Finally, we welcomed a departmental first, a dedicated Safety Coordinator, Drew Murphy. We are blessed to have one of the most dedicated staff cohorts in the University and are excited to welcome these folks into the Chemistry family.

Looking ahead, the Department has begun strategizing for the future. After an external review of our program by leading researchers from top programs across the United States in Spring 2023, it was made clear that the Department is on an incredible upward trajectory; a strategic plan is needed to support that growth fully. The Department held two retreats dedicated to the future of research and education, where we identified goals and milestones that will propel us to national prominence. We have a third retreat planned in the coming weeks, where we will identify our core values and strategic priorities around departmental culture. In partnership with the Department of Chemistry Advisory Council, we hope to unveil the strategic plan for 2024-2030 in spring 2024. We hope you will join us in achieving our goals and solidifying Virginia Tech chemistry as a world-leading destination for chemical research and education, as our alums' dedication through annual giving has placed us in a position of tremendous potential. Thank you for your continued support.

This fall, the Department welcomed our largest incoming graduate class in recent history, 38 students. We will be searching for three new tenure-track faculty members–potentially bringing our faculty total to 35, the highest in the Department's history. We are reinvigorating programs to actively recruit undergraduate students through partnerships with schools in Virginia and beyond. Great things are ahead–and we can't wait to tell you about them!

Sincerely,