Letter from the Department of Chemistry Head,

Linda Peteanu

The last few months have been unlike any we have ever experienced or could have expected, as I’m sure they have been for you. I have truly been amazed by the creativity, generosity and resiliency that our faculty, staff and students have shown in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and approaching the move to online learning and research.

In this issue, you can read about how virtual labs and online courses developed by Professor David Yaron are being used to help high school and higher education teachers faced with the challenge of remote instruction. This is one of many ways the Department of Chemistry is helping. We look forward to telling you more about how we have addressed COVID-19 on the research and education front in our e-newsletter that you will receive at the end of the year.

While sometimes it seems hard to remember life before COVID-19, much has happened within the Department of Chemistry since our last issue that I am excited to tell you about. Our faculty and students continue to be recognized at the highest levels, being elected to the National Academies and winning Fulbright and Goldwater Scholarships. We are creating the future of science by bringing artificial intelligence and automation to chemistry and providing unique educational and research opportunities for our students.

As always, thank you for being part of our community. As with our faculty and students, our alumni are making a real difference in this world. We’d like to thank all of you who have given back to the department in one way or another over the last year. If you would like to connect with us, please feel free to reach out.

I hope that you enjoy this issue of The Initiator.