The Chemistry Department is Growing!

BCC is thrilled to announce that Dr. Dunwei Wang and Dr. Jianmin Gao have joined the Boston College Chemistry Department as assistant professors in academic year 2007/08.

Professor Wang earned his B.S. in chemistry at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). He then moved to Stanford University, where he obtained his Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 2005, working in the laboratory of Professor Hongjie Dai. Before coming to Boston College as an assistant professor in the fall of 2007, he expanded his range of expertise through postdoctoral research with Professor James R. Heath at the California Institute of Technology.

Professor Wang’s research focuses on nanometer scale materials. He and his students are working to develop novel synthetic methods for the preparation of abundant, high quality, semiconductor nanomaterials at low cost. They also study the appealing chemical and physical properties of these materials and seeks to devise innovative applications for them at the forefront of scientific and technological developments in areas such as highly efficient, clean energy generation, storage and utilizations and in disease diagnostics and treatments.
Professor Gao, a chemical biologist, came to Boston College in the fall of 2007 from The Scripps Research Institute, where he conducted research as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Professor Jeffery W. Kelly. He obtained his Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 2004 at Stanford University under the direction of Professor Eric T. Kool and earned his B.S. in chemistry at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC).

The primary goal of Professor Gao’s research program is to understand the intimate details of how proteins fold and misfold. The proper folding of proteins is known to be absolutely essential for their biological functions. In contrast, the misfolding and aggregation of proteins have been implicated in a wide array of diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Type II Diabetes. Professor Gao and his students employ a multidisciplinary approach, integrating organic chemistry, protein engineering and biophysics, to probe the physio-chemical basis of protein folding/misfolding processes. Advances in this area are expected to provide new understanding of the pathologies of protein misfolding diseases and to foster the design of novel therapeutic strategies for disease treatment.

In academic year 2006/07, BCC welcomed the addition of three new faculty members to the department: Professors James Morken, Jason Kingsbury, and Kian Tan.

Professor James Morken was an undergraduate at UC Santa Barbara and received his Ph.D. in chemistry from Boston College in 1995.  After two years as a post-doc at Harvard, he launched his independent research career at UNC Chapel Hill, where he was awarded tenure and rose to the rank of full professor in 2005.  BCC played heavily on his abiding affection for Boston College to lure him back to our own faculty this year.

Professor Morken's research program focuses on the development of new metal catalyzed chemical reactions for the preparation of chiral organic molecules.  These products are important components of new materials, pharmaceuticals, and other commodity chemicals.  In addition to inventing these new reactions, his student colleagues examine their utility in the synthesis of structurally interesting, biologically active natural products.   

Professor Jason Kingsbury grew up in rural upstate New York, where hours spent tinkering with his father, a mechanical engineer and woodworker, fostered an interest in science and a hands-on approach to problem solving.  After majoring in chemistry at Hamilton College, he came to B.C. – eager to prepare himself for a career in teaching and academic research.  In early 2003, Professor Kingsbury received his Ph.D. and began three years of post-doctoral training in the labs of Nobel laureate E. J. Corey at Harvard. 

Now happy to call Boston "home," Professor Kingsbury has returned to BCC to begin an independent research program that applies the principles of catalysis to the asymmetric synthesis of highly functionalized, strained small molecules.  The reaction sequences of interest are the result of careful synthetic planning for complex natural products.  His research group aspires to making advances in this area that will have meaningful downstream effects on society, including less expensive medicines and decreased resource expenditure.

Professor Kian Tan received his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Virginia in 1999 and a Ph.D. in chemistry from UC-Berkeley in 2004.  He is joining our faculty this fall as an assistant professor, following two years of post-doctoral research at Harvard. 

Professor Tan's research program will aim at the development of new chemical reactions that use carbon dioxide as a building block for the synthesis of organic molecules.  He will also pursue the development of other metal catalyzed reactions that form new carbon-carbon bonds and will focus on probing and understanding the mechanisms of these reactions.