The University's model of reflective teaching and scholarship empowers the faculty and students in the College of Arts and Sciences to form a community of learners, teachers, and enquirers that is committed to active learning inside and outside the classroom. Research is part of the institutional culture, with an especially strong emphasis in the sciences, including chemistry, and scholarship requirements for rank and tenure decisions include submission of proposals and publication in peer-reviewed journals.
The chemistry faculty counts laboratory research as a vital component of chemical education and strives to educate our students beyond mastery of facts and laboratory skills toward a willingness to take the risk of asking questions whose answers are unknown. We work directly beside our students to teach by example the focused diligence necessary to reveal those answers.
Practice of such research is challenging and rewarding! Over the last ten years, the chemistry faculty, including seven tenured faculty and five instructors/lecturers, has conducted, presented, and published research with more than 300 undergraduates; all seven tenured faculty have received grants supporting their research within the last three years; all seven have published peer reviewed papers with undergraduate co-authors in the last three years.
Dr. Kevin Cantrell received his M.S. and Ph.D. from Oregon State University and his undergraduate degree from Furman University. He started teaching in 2000 at Willamette University and joined the University of Portland Faculty in 2001. Dr. Cantrell teaches courses in general chemistry, analytical chemistry, and environmental chemistry, and his research interests include environmental chemistry, chemical sensors, chemometrics, and automated methods of analysis. His current work is focused on the development of inexpensive and robust sensor materials and methods using consumer-grade digital cameras and scanners for quantitative chemical measurements.
Grants & Awards
Dr. Sylvia Daoud Kinzie teaches general chemistry lecture courses and labs, and her research interests aim to understand the role of manganese ligand residues in the active site of GTP cyclohydrolase-IB from pathogenic bacteria by carrying out a full spectroscopic and kinetic characterization of wild-type and mutant enzymes using UV-Vis, fluorescence, radiochemical assays, study state and transient kinetics, and HPLC analysis searching for intermediates to help uncover the mechanism of the GTP cyclohydrolase-IB enzyme reaction.
Dr. W. Paige Hall holds a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Northwestern University and a B.S. in biochemistry from the University of Notre Dame. She joined the faculty at UP in 2018 and teaches physical chemistry, analytical chemistry, and general chemistry. Her laboratory research focuses on the use of gold and silver nanoparticles for energy applications, optical sensing, and color generation. Her pedagogical research is focused on developing new ways to incorporate climate change topics into the chemistry curriculum.
Grants & Awards
Dr. Rachel Hutcheson came to the University of Portland in 2015 and can be found teaching Biochemistry Lecture and Lab. Her research interests include bioinorganic chemistry, specifically enzymes that utilize metal cofactors, enzyme mechanisms, and use of enzymes in bioremediation. She is currently working on investigating uncharacterized radical SAM enzymes, which are involved in reactions as varied as enzyme activation, complex cofactor synthesis, vitamin biosynthesis, DNA repair, viral inhibition, antibiotic synthesis, modification of translational machinery, sulfur insertion, and production of antitumor compounds.
Grants & Awards
Dr. Steve Mayer received his Ph.D. from Oregon State University and his undergraduate degree from Pacific Lutheran University. He began his academic career in 1999 at Susquehanna University and joined the University of Portland in 2002. Dr. Mayer teaches courses in general chemistry and physical chemistry and his research interests are in the areas of optical spectroscopy and the dialog between faith and science. His current experimental work involves the rapid evaluation of smoke exposure in grapes and wine by Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering and machine learning. His current theoretical work involves investigating questions at the confluence of science and faith.
Grants & Awards
Dr. Elizabeth (Beth) Morton came to University of Portland in 2015 and teaches mostly General Chemistry classes & laboratories and is the General Chemistry Laboratory Coordinator. Dr. Morton’s focus is on fostering inclusive learning environments where all students have the ability to succeed and feel a sense of belonging in chemistry. She earned her bachelor’s degrees in Chemistry and Forensic Science from University of New Haven prior to pursuing a Ph.D. in Chemistry at Penn State University. Her graduate research involved how small biomolecules interact with inorganic nanoparticles.
Dr. Buck Taylor joined the University of Portland faculty in 2017 and teaches organic chemistry and computational chemistry. His research is in organometallic catalysis, including cross-coupling and olefin metathesis reactions. Students in the Taylor group use computational modeling to analyze and design new catalysts for selective carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions. These catalysts enable more efficient methods for constructing commodity chemicals, polymers, lubricants, or pharmaceuticals.
Grants and Awards:
Dr. Eugenijus Urnezius received his Ph.D. degree from Case Western Reserve University, and his undergraduate degree (Diploma in Chemistry) from Vilnius University in Lithuania. Prior to joining the University of Portland he taught at Michigan Technological University (2001-2009). Dr. Urnezius teaches lectures and labs in General Chemistry and in Inorganic Chemistry. His research interests include syntheses and investigations of redox-active coordination compounds.
Grants & Awards
Dr. Edward J. Valente is interested in design and synthesis of new compounds, identifying them by spectroscopic and crystallographic methods. Continuing work focuses on warfarin, analogs and derivatives. We combine spectroscopic methods with crystallography to look at solution equilibria in complex systems like warfarin, which has as many as 40 tautomeric forms. We determined the activation energy barrier to the open-cyclic interconversion in a warfarin analog by dynamic nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Similarly, we work with a class of pseudoacids, or cyclic oxocarboxylic acids, and their derivatives. This group of understudied compounds have chemistry that parallels that of typical carboxylic acids, but the pseudoacid (lactol) function is chiral. So also are the pseudoacyl derivatives in the corresponding categories of pseudoesters, endo- and exocyclic pseudoamides, and symmetrical and asymmetrical pseudoanhydrides. Recent work in the group has shown that pseudoacids from aldehydo-acids are also “pseudoaldehydes”, with a chemistry that leads to another new class of materials. Additionally, the group is interested in supramolecular design using compounds which show multiple, complementary Hydrogen-bonds. The design, structure and thermal properties of these materials are under active investigation.
Grants & Awards
Dr. Valerie Walters received her M.S., M.Phil., and Ph.D in Chemistry from Yale University, her M.S. in Library and Information Science from Drexel University, and her undergraduate degree from Kalamazoo College. Prior to teaching at UP, she taught at Lafayette College, where she achieved the rank of Associate Professor, and Haverford College. At UP, Dr. Walters has taught general chemistry lecture and lab courses and a core curriculum course in Chemistry in Art. Her research has primarily involved the use of spectroscopic methods to identify pigments in medieval paintings in Mallorca, Spain, and to determine the elemental composition of various materials (Roman coins, soil in tombs) collected during the archaeological excavation of the Roman city of Pollentia. Ongoing research involves the analysis of pigments and inks in medieval illuminated manuscripts in Clark Library at the University of Portland.
Grants & Awards
Dr. Warren Wood enjoys teaching organic chemistry courses and joined the University of Portland faculty in 2007. His research interests include organic synthesis and medicinal chemistry. His current work is focused on the synthesis of compounds with antimalarial properties.
Grants & Awards
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