Staff and student awards and achievements
Honor & Services
Assoc Prof J.J. Vittal was a Keynote speaker at the 37th International Conference on Coordination Chemistry (37th ICCC) held at Cape Town, South Africa, in August 13-18, 2006.
Asst Prof Chen Ping has accepted the invitation from Journal of Materials Research to be the principal editor in the hydrogen storage related areas.
NUS Chemistry, in partnership with SNIC, has successfully secured the right to host the 41st International Conferences on Coordination Chemistry (ICCC) in 2014. ICCC, which was established in 1950, has never been hosted by Singapore or any ASEAN countries. At least 1,000 delegates will be targeted - the biggest ever chemistry conference in Singapore. The Singapore bid was unanimously supported by 57 countries.
Prof Andy Hor and Dr V Suresh have been granted the UK-Singapore Partners in Science "Collaborative Development Awards". The purpose of the grant is to enable researchers to spend time with potential partner institutions to gain an in-depth understanding of their research and formulate proposals for future collaborative research, which can then be put to funding bodies.
Prof Lee Hian Kee has been awarded the prestigious Outstanding Researcher Award (ORA) 2006 by NUS. He is one of the two winners covering all fields in this university-wide honor. (http://www.nus.edu.sg/uawards/2006/win6.htm)
Prof Andy Hor and Prof Goh Suat Hong are among the 11 who won the Annual Teaching Excellence Award 2004/2005. This award is given by the University to recognise teachers who have shown a high level of commitment to, and achievement of, good teaching.
In the Safety Excellence Awards for Laboratories (SEAL), A/P Chuah GK's and A/P S Jaenicke's lab S5-04-04 has won the first prize worth $2000, whereas A/P JJ Vittal's lab S8-05-15 has won the second prize worth $1000. Altogether there are 4 first prizes and 4 second prizes awarded in the Faculty of Science. This is part of the strategy of the Faculty to ensure the highest safety standards in our laboratories and workshops.
Dr Chin Wee Shong is one of the 2 members from Faculty of Science (and of 4 members from NUS) to win the NUS Quality Service Award 2005. The awards were presented to the winners during the Centennial Quality Service Day on 05 Jan 2006.
Professor Lee Hian Kee was appointment an editor of Analytica Chimica Acta.
Dr Chanbasha Basheer, a research fellow working with Dr Suresh Valiyavettill and Professor Lee Hian Kee, won a poster award at the 8th Asian Conference on Analytical Sciences (Asianalysis VIII), held from October 16-20, 2005, in Taipei, Taiwan.
Dr V. Suresh and Prof Andy Hor (with Dr Huynh Han Vinh) received the 2005 OLS Cross-Faculty Research Grant Award.
Assoc Prof Stefan Kasapis was invited in February 2005 to join
the Editorial Board of a major journal in carbohydrate chemistry:
Carbohydrate Polymers.
Professor Lee Hian Kee was invited by the journal Analytica Chimica
Acta to edit a special issue focusing on the work of Young Faculty
in Asia.
Assoc. Professor Richard Wong was elected to be an international
board member of the Asian Pacific Association of Theoretical & Computational Chemists (APATCC).
Assoc. Professor Richard Wong was an invited speaker at the 7th
World Congress of Theoretically Oriented Chemists (WATOC 2005),
January 16-21 2005, South Africa.
Assoc. Professor Richard Wong was an invited speaker at the American
Chemistry Society 229th National Meeting, special symposium
in Honour of late Nobel Leaurate Sir John Pople, March 13-17 2005,
USA.
Asst Prof Toh Chee Seng has been appointed the Chairman, Local
Organising Committee, ISE Spring Meeting 2006, April 17-20
2005, Singapore.
Professor Lee Hian Kee was an invited speaker at the United
Nations International Symposium on Ecosystem Impacts of Persistent
Organic Pollutants, May 26-27 2005, Thailand.
Dr Leong Lai Peng was an invited speaker for the First International
Symposium on Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals, June 13-14
2005, Thailand.
Dr. Huang Dejian gave an invited speech in the Second International
Congress on Antioxidant Methods, June 22-24 2005, USA). He addressed
the issues on standardization of antioxidant capacity assays. His
lab is one (the only one outside the USA) of the participating labs
for multi-lab validations of total phenolic assay and oxygen radical
scavenging capacity (ORAC) assay. This collective efforts is to
establish the assays as AOAC official methods in measuring antioxidant
capacity.
Asst. Prof. Martin J. Lear will be acting as the Discussion Leader
for the Methodology and Total Synthesis II session at the prestigious
Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Natural Products, July
24-29 2005, USA.
Professor Lee Hian Kee was invited to present an invited paper
at the 11th Asian Chemical Congress, August 2005, Korea.
Professor Lee Hian Kee was invited to present an invited paper
at the 8th Asian Conference on Analytical Sciences, October
2005, Taipei.
Professor Lee Hian Kee was invited to co-organise an analytical
chemistry symposium at Pacifichem 2005 to be held in Hawaii
in December 2005. Asst Prof Ryan P A Bettens was also invited as
a speaker for the event.
Professor Lee Hian Kee was invited to give a presentation on "Liquid-Phase
Microextraction" at the Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical
Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy (PittConn) 2006 , March 2006,
USA.
Prof Hor Tzi Sum, Andy has been appointed the Chairman, 9th
International Symposium by Chinese Organic Chemists and 6th
International Symposium by Chinese Inorganic Chemists, Dec 17-21
2006, Singapore.
Assoc Prof Stefan Kasapis secured the 9th International Hydrocolloids
Conference for the Department of Chemistry to be held in June
2008.
Highlights on Publications and Patents
A/P Yao SQ's latest research is published and featured as "hot Paper" in Chem. Commun..
For more information, see the following sites http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/Journals/cc/index.asp and http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/Journals/cc/News/B609446E_Yao_040906.asp.
Our adjunct faculty member Dr Mark S Butler is featured in Essential Science Indicators (ESI) Special Topics for his fast breaking paper "The role of natural product chemistry in drug discovery" published in J Nat Prod (2004, 67(12), 2141-2153). Citing URL is http://www.esi-topics.com/fbp/2006/april06-MarkSButler.html.
A paper by Prof. Goh Suat Hong's group (D. C. Wu, Y. Liu, C. B. He and S. H. Goh. Blue Photoluminescence from Hyperbranched Poly(amino ester)s. Macromolecules 2005, 38, 9906-9909) is among the five most-accessed articles published in Macromolecules in the fourth quarter of 2005.
One of the papers published by Dr V Suresh's group (Ajikumar P. K. et al. Mimicking the function of eggshell matrix proteins: the role of multiplets of charged amino acid residues and self-assembly of peptides in biomineralization. Published online 1 August 2005 Angew. Chem. Intl Edn) was highlighted in the Nature Physics update 18 August 2005 issue.
The recent paper by M.T. Ng, C. Boothroyd and J.J. Vittal entitled, "Shape and size control of Ag2Se nanocrystals from single precursor [(Ph3P)3Ag2(SeC{O}Ph)2]" published in Chem. Commun., (2005) 3820-3822 (hot article) has been highlighted in the following. The September, 2005 issue of MRS Web Bulletin in the Research/Researchers section in www.mrs.org/connections/researchnews/200508_1.html Highlights in Molecular Torch, an Internet webpage dedicated for nanotechnology on the nano Ag2Se work in www.moleculartorch.com/2005_08_01. Excerpts: " I have known Dr. Vittal, the primary author, since is early days as a crystallographer at the University of Western Ontario in London Ontario Canada. It is wonderful to see his research is moving towards applications of his skills in crystallography to nanocrystal growth."
The article "Topochemical photodimerization in the molecular ladder metal coordination polymer [{(CF3CO2)m-O2CCH3)Zn}2(m-bpe)2]n (where bpe = 4,4'-bipyridylethelene) via single-crystal to single-crystal transformation," by N.L. Toh, M. Nagarathinam and J.J. Vittal which appeared in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl., 44 (2005) 2237-2241 is highlighted in cover page of the 3rd April issue (No. 15) Angewandte Chemie. The authors thank Prof. Tan Eng Chye, Dean of Science for the cover page expenditure.
J.J. Vittal and E.R.T. Tiekink have edited a book on 'Frontiers in Crystal Engineering' (ISBN: 0-470-02258-2). This will be published by Wiley in March. 2006. For more information please see http://as.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470022582.html
U.S. Patent 6,855,765 (Heat and hot water resistant polyurethane
sealant) has been issued on 15 February 2005 to Assoc Prof Michael
Chew Yit Lin (Department of Building), Prof Goh Suat Hong (Department
of Chemistry) and Dr. Zhou Xu (former Ph.D. student of Prof Goh).
The patent discloses the invention of a two-component polyurethane
sealant with improved resistance to degradation by heat and hot
water.
Dr. Huang Dejian and coworkers published a review article entitled
"the chemistry behind antioxidant capacity assays" on
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (2005, 53(6), 1941-1856),
the premier journal in food science and technology. In this review
the pros and cons of current antioxidant assays are analyzed. Based
on this paper, the American Chemical Society released a white paper
(J. Agri. Food Chem. 53(10); 4290-4302) and recommended the two
methods suggested in the review article as the methods of choice
for antioxidant capacity quantitation. The review article generated
broad interests as Dr. Huang has received many inquires for reprints
from various countries.
Staff awards and achievements (Oct - Dec 2004)
Student achivements
Teo Peili (student of Prof Andy Hor) gave an oral presentation at the Inaugural A*GA-NGS Graduate Symposium on 21st Sept 2005.
First Graduate Congress, 21st Sept 2005: Bellam Sreenivasulu (student of A/P J.J. Vittal) was awarded the best poster presentation in Chemistry. His poster "A Staircase Coordination Polymer Encapsulating Helical Water Chain: A Model for Aquaporin Water Channel" was based on a paper he and Professor Vittal published in Angewandte Chemie, and selected by a panel of judges comprising vice-deans and assistant deans in the faculty. Many congratulations, Bellam! A total of 59 poster submissions were received for the Congress, but only 45 were accepted.
Ng Meng Tack (student of A/P J.J. Vittal) has been awarded the FoS Graduate Research Award. He was shortlisted by the graduate committee and selected by a selection committee in Deanery. Meng Teck's research project is related to the chemistry of nanoparticles, and his recent paper "Shape and size control of Ag2Se nanocrystals from a single precursor [(Ph3P)3Ag2(SeC{O}Ph)2]; Meng Tack Ng, Chris Boothroyd, Jagadese J. Vittal; Chem. Commun., 2005 (30) 3820-3822" published in Chemical Communications was a Hot Article of the journal. Meng Tack will deliver a talk in the Postgraduate Congress on 21st Sept 2005.
Bellam Sreenivasulu (Supervisor: A/P J.J. Vittal) has won the scholarship
to attend the 2005 ACA Small Molecule Course at the Indiana University
of Pennsylvania, August 7-17 2005. The scholarship covers tuition,
boarding and lodging for the entire 10 day period. These scholarships
are awarded based on the student's scientific ability, expected
benefits from the course and skills in English.
Others
The FST Programme has established an MOU with the New Zealand Institute for Crop & Food Research Ltd on 20 June 05.
Zhong Youjia (SRP student of Dr V. Suresh) won an award at the ISEF 2005.
|
