Chemformation

The Weekly Newsletter of the MIT Chemistry Department

Volume 15, Number 34

Friday, December 10, 1999

Chemformation is published by the Office of the Department Chairman. Please convey items of interest (or mailing list changes) to Cliff Brown, Room 18-390, Department of Chemistry, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, 617/253-4080; 617/258-7500 (fax) or e-mail to dab@mit.edu. Back issues of Chemformation can be accessed via the Chemistry Department Website.

Join us for the music, fun and festivities of the annual Chemistry Department Holiday Party, which will be held this coming Thursday, December 16, 1999 from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the Sala de Puerto Rico at the MIT Student Center. A four-piece ensemble of players from the White Heat Swing Orchestra will provide live, seasonal music during the party. There is no admission charge. Please bring families, significant others and friends.

Professor Frederick D. Greene Named AAAS Fellow Frederick D. Greene, MIT Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, has been awarded the distinction of Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Professor Greene was so honored in recognition of his investigation of mechanisms of organic chemistry and his distinguished editorial work on behalf of the scientific community. The Association's new Fellows will be honored at the AAAS annual meeting, which will take place on February 19, 2000 in Washington, D.C.

Plan to join us for the MIT/Bruker Symposium on Structural Chemistry: Crystallographic Chemical Analysis and NMR to be held on Saturday, January 8, 2000 beginning at 8:45 a.m. in Room 6-120 and ending at 4:00 p.m. The Symposium's featured speakers will be: Dr. Charles Campana and Dr. Roger Durst from Bruker AXS, Professors Daniel Nocera and Harald Schwalbe from MIT, and Professor Paul Williard, Brown University. The symposium will also include a poster session, with the best entry receiving a $300 prize. Inquiries can be directed to Dr. Bill Davis at wmdavis@mit.edu or Cliff Brown at cab@mit.edu.

Building 18 Renovation Update: December 1999

The planning and design for the renovation of Building 18 are entering their most intensive phase as 1999 draws to a close. Chemistry Department faculty, staff and students have continued to meet with the design team led by Boston-based architects Goody, Clancy & Associates through the Summer and Fall, reviewing the emerging design for the laboratories, lab services and reconfigured office areas. Representatives of each research group in Building 18 constituted a Working Group, chaired by Professors Danheiser and Jamison, which provided valuable input to the design process regarding the particulars of researchers' detailed requirements. A Steering Group of faculty members has been overseeing building-wide strategies for space allocation, construction sequence and design approach. During the next six months, the architecture/engineering team will be preparing detailed construction documents to enable the Construction Manager, Kennedy & Rossi, to finalize the determination of construction cost and then begin actual demolition and construction activities.

The renovation design will dramatically improve the interior environment of Building 18, creating first-class research space that will meet the Department's needs for the next thirty years. Among the key design features are:

• Labs will be reoriented and opened up at both ends to gain access to daylight.
  
  
• Desks will be moved out of labs and clustered, along with break rooms and kitchenettes, along the east side of the building near the exterior wall.
  
  
• The typical fume hood allotment of 5 feet per person will be increased to 7 feet per person.
  
  
• New cross-corridors in mid-lab will permit researchers to move between adjacent laboratories without using the public corridor.
  
  
• Waste solvents will be consolidated in a holding depot on each floor, improving safety and freeing up space in each lab.
  
  
• Inert gases (argon and/or nitrogen) will be provided to the labs from several "tank farms" on each floor, thus reducing the amount of cylinder movement into and out of labs.
  
  
• A modular approach to lab support areas will provide improved long-term flexibility.
  
  
• All-new fume hoods and casework will be provided, and will include custom features reflecting the state-of-the-art of academic and corporate chemistry lab design across the country.
  
  
• All building systems will be replaced, from air supply and exhaust to lab services, such as vacuum, compressed air and pure water, plus electrical and fire protection. Strategies to improve safety and flexibility are being incorporated in the design, in order to facilitate change in the future with minimal disruption.
  
  
• The main lobby will be expanded and improved.
  
  
• Overall building code compliance will be assured and access for persons with disabilities improved.

This will be one of the most logistically complex renovations ever undertaken by MIT, as Building 18 will remain approximately 2/3 occupied throughout the 3-year construction period. A phasing sequence has been developed which minimizes the number of moves each research group will be required to make on its way to occupying completely renovated space. To finalize this "musical chairs" strategy, staff from Goody Clancy will be meeting once again with each research group during December and January.

In order to compensate for the minimal availability of "swing space" into which to move people and labs during construction, temporary Faculty Offices will be constructed immediately adjacent to the building. The first step is for Headquarters to move into this space in late Spring of 2000, freeing up space for lab support functions, as a precursor to actual construction. Immediately following this step, the decommissioning of labs to be renovated during Phase I will occur, and then asbestos abatement, demolition and construction. Each of the three phases will last a bit less than a year, and will follow this same pattern. In a subsequent phase, all of the faculty will be moved out of the building to permit the southern portion of each floor to be renovated.

Special precautions are being taken to isolate areas under construction from occupied zones of the building throughout the construction process, and to avoid disrupting the Laser Lab and NMR facility. The Construction Manager and MIT will schedule temporary utility shutdowns carefully with the Department, and are developing contingency plans. Safety for the building's occupants comes first.

In subsequent newsletters, we will provide continuing updates on important scheduled events as we head into construction.

-- Roger Goldstein (MIT '74), GC&A

Applications for most faculty positions should consist of a curriculum vitae, outline of research interests, and three letters of recommendation to be sent directly to the specific university or college. You will find more detailed information regarding these and other positions in a binder located at departmental headquarters.

University of Cincinnati has an opening for a tenure-track position in the field of Mass Spectrometry to start September 1, 2000. Candidates should have strong instrumental interests and skills. Contact by December 15: Professor Thomas H. Ridgway, Search Committee Chair, Department of Chemistry, P.O. Box 210172, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0172.

New College/University of South Florida seeks applicants for a tenure-track position in Physical Chemistry starting August 2000. A strong commitment to undergraduate teaching and to a research program with undergraduates is essential. Contact by December 31: Profesor Paul Scudder, Division of Natural Sciences, New College of USF, Sarasota, FL 34243-2197.

Mills College seeks applicants at the Assistant Professor level in the area of Analytical/Environmental Chemistry. Contact by January 15: Professor John Brabson, Chair, Chemistry Search Committee, Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94613.

University of Missouri-Columbia seeks applicants for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Nutritional Sciences. Successful candidates will be expected to demonstrate readiness to undertake innovative research using radioisotopes to investigate in-born errors of metal metabolism, metal ion transport, metal-related regulation of gene expression, or metalloprotein biochemistry. Research is funded in part by the Food for the 21st Century Program. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Contact: Dr. David J. Eide, Search Committee Chair, Department of Nutritional Sciences, 217 Gwynn Hall, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211.

University of Houston seeks applicants for two positions in Organic Chemistry to begin in the 2000-2001 academic year. One position is the M.D. Anderson Chair in Organic Chemistry, and the other is at the Assistant Professor level. Contact: Professor B.M. Pettitt, Chairman, Departmentof Chemistry, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-5641.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory seeks applicants in the fields of Chemistry, Materials Science or Chemical Engineering for the Lawrence Livermore Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program. Awards are made for a two-year period. Detailed information is available at: http//www.llnl.gov/urp/LLNLPostDoc/LLNLPostDoc.htm. Contact: Professor Glenn A. Fox, Director, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Division, C&MS, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, phone: 925-422-0455.