Stamps Scholars are selected based on academic excellence, leadership experience and exceptional character. UM freshmen in the Class of 2026 cohort are (front, from left) Mary-del Jansen, Amber Amis and Ryleigh Johnson; (second row) Yasmine Ware, Olivia Bacon and Dymond Mitchell; (third row) Jasmine Sanders, Layla Ashley, Carolena Graham and McKenzie Cox; and (fourth row) Ethan Roberts, Hayden Walker and Andrew Nichols. Photo by Bill Dabney/UM Foundation
The Stamps Scholars Program awards scholarships based on academic excellence, leadership experience and exceptional character. The program awarded 247 scholarships this year to students at 31 partner institutions across the U.S. and the United Kingdom. Jasmine Sanders, a biochemistry major from Prosper, Texas, is one of the 13 new scholars.
The new class brings the number of Stamps Scholars at Ole Miss to 58, making the university the second-largest in the program.
At UM, each scholarship covers the full cost of attendance, along with a $12,000 stipend for enrichment activities such as study abroad, academic conferences and leadership training.
The complete roster of freshmen UM Stamps Scholars is:
Amber Amis, an economics major from Clinton
Layla Ashley, a public policy leadership major from Chicago
Olivia Bacon, an English major from Atlanta
McKenzie Cox, a journalism major from Concord, North Carolina
Carolena Graham, a civil engineering major from Columbus
Mary Jansen, a mechanical engineering major from Brandon
Ryleigh Johnson, an international studies major from Olive Branch
Dymond Mitchell, a sociology major from Prosper, Texas
Andrew Nichols, a public policy leadership major from Monroe, North Carolina
Ethan Roberts, an engineering major from Paducah, Kentucky
Jasmine Sanders, a biochemistry major from Prosper, Texas
Hayden Walker, a public policy leadership and engineering major from Oxford
Yasmine Ware, an international studies major from Madison
Ashleen Williams, a fellow in the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College, serves as an academic mentor for the scholars. She said that this year’s class is poised to do great things.
“I hope that they will learn to ask big questions and seek answers to them, and to extend their ideas of what is possible,” Williams said.
Georgia native Roe Stamps and his late wife, Penny, launched the Stamps Scholarship in 2006. Though Penny Stamps died in 2018, her legacy continues through the Stamps Scholars community, which has grown into an international network of more than 2,600 scholars and alumni.
“The Stamps family and organization are true partners in helping identify students that want to think creatively and solve big problems,” said Katie Morrison, director of foundation relations and strategic partnerships at UM. “What we have been able to grow together – a supportive scholar community that enriches our whole campus culture – is a testament to what higher education should deliver.
“We appreciate their investment that has made the Ole Miss program the second-largest Stamps Scholars collective. Our students live out their dreams because of Roe and Penny Stamps’ vision and generosity.”
Largest academic building in university history to feature innovative lab spaces, TEAL classrooms
The Jim and Thomas Duff Center for Science and Technology Innovation, in the university’s Science District, is on track to open in fall 2024. Construction began a year ago and is approaching the halfway point.
Imagine standing in the atrium of the largest academic building in the history of the University of Mississippi‘s main campus. Looking up, four floors of laboratories and lecture halls are all dedicated to increasing STEM student success and teaching.
“This space will be a fantastic space,” said Chad Hunter, associate university architect. “It’s an incredible building because of its function, but also simply because of its size.”
The 202,000 square-foot facility will support science, technology, engineering and math-related endeavors at the university. It will include classrooms with low student-instructor ratios, as well as state-of-the-art undergraduate lab spaces. The building is anticipated to be one of the nation’s top facilities for STEM education.
Kurt Shettles, president and CEO of McCarty Architects, is the project’s architect of record. He said the center stands out among other buildings at Ole Miss because of its interdisciplinary nature and the broad audience that it will serve.
It is unique in many ways, one of which is the teaching style that it supports.
The Duff Center will include more than 50 TEAL classrooms, traditional labs and classrooms to accommodate some 2,000 students at a time. The building will be equipped with technology to support a range of teaching methods and support interactive learning.
“We’ve used the term ‘Swiss watch’ when referencing the science labs in the building,” Shettles said. “They are extremely intricate and designed for flexible teaching pedagogy.
“We have ‘TEAL’ classrooms, which are technology-enabled active learning classrooms. They support a different method of instruction with less lecture and more demonstration and participation. The students learn through the technology and the process of interacting and collaborating with each other, while the professor is more of a participant in that process, as opposed to just standing in front of the classroom lecturing.”
The Center for Science and Technology Innovation will include more than 50 TEAL classrooms, traditional labs and classrooms to accommodate some 2,000 students at any given hour throughout the day, Hunter said. It will also have a dedicated center for success and supplemental instruction, study rooms, a food service venue, more than 60 faculty offices and a 3D visualization lab, which is like a small IMAX theater.
The building is in the heart of the UM Science District. Construction is presently focused on the exterior – tasks such as installing windows, weatherproofing, waterproofing and laying brick. Once the exterior walls and roof are completed in the next couple of months, construction will begin on interior walls and finishes.
Cristiane Surbeck, chair and professor of civil engineering, can see the construction from her office window. She is eagerly anticipating the opening, which will have a major impact on her department.
“I’ve been taking a photo of it almost every day,” Surbeck said. “It’s going to provide a big upgrade to the teaching spaces that we have now. There’s going to be a specific room for civil engineering students to work on their senior design projects. It’s laid out for them to be able to work together in a space that is dedicated just for them.
“We are also going to have a water resources engineering and environmental engineering teaching lab that our students are really going to be able to take advantage of. It can even be shared among different departments if they have students who are doing experiments with water and environmental pollutants.”
The center will be an asset to the university community – especially its students, Surbeck said.
Among the many features of the Duff Center is an environmental engineering teaching lab that will provide a major resource for civil engineering students and anyone conducting experiments with water and environmental pollutants.
“I’m proud that we will have such a modern building that we are going to use to educate our engineering students,” she said. “I believe our engineering students are going to feel the same way. They are going to feel confident to go out and practice as engineers, having been educated in a such a high-quality facility.”
A new animated walk-through of the building’s interior gives viewers a better sense of the layout.
“You can see all four floors from the atrium; you can orient yourself by standing in it,” Hunter said. “The laboratories also have large windows, so you can observe what’s going on inside.
“It was designed this way on purpose to promote collaborative and interdisciplinary teaching and learning.”
Shettles said he hopes that once the center opens, students will find a home there.
“As designers, the best compliment we could receive would be to see students using this building even if they don’t have a class there,” he said. “We would love it to be a hangout destination for students simply because of the quality of the interior and exterior spaces, and because it promotes engagement and collaboration.”
Brothers Jim and Thomas Duff, of Hattiesburg, have committed $26 million to the construction of the building. The total project cost is $175 million, with $135 million in construction expenses.
Hunter has been part of the project since it was first imagined some 10 years ago.
“It’s a major honor to be part of this project,” he said. “To work so long on something and then seeing it actually being built is amazing.”
First-generation student Ember Suh, a senior chemistry major at the University of Mississippi, has been named a 2022 mentee for Toxicology Mentoring Skills Development and Training, a program that bolsters underrepresented populations in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. The program will allow the Southaven native to discover different applications of toxicology – the study of diagnosing and treating exposure to toxins – and find the niche she is most passionate about, Suh said. A member of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honor College majoring in forensic chemistry, Suh said she hopes to use the skills she picks up to help make a real-world impact on communities around her.
Ember Suh, a senior forensic chemistry major, has been named a 2022 mentee for the Toxicology Mentoring Skills Development and Training program. The Southaven native hopes to use the skills she picks up to make a real-world impact on communities around her and to encourage other minorities to consider STEM career fields. Photo by Thomas Graning/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services
“I actually was interested in lead being found in drinking water and other chemicals in water supplies in the past,” Suh said. “I became interested in that because I wanted to do something about the Jackson and Flint water crises.”
Suh took a toxicology class in 2021 under Kristine Willett, professor of pharmacology and environmental toxicology and chair of the Department of Biomolecular Sciences, in 2021. It was Willett who encouraged Suh to apply for the mentorship program.
“She stuck out among her classmates because she got a 100% on everything – nobody gets a 100 on everything,” Willett said.
As a part of the program, Suh will attend a workshop at the University of California at Davis, meet monthly with her mentor and, if successful, be awarded a certificate of completion at Tuskegee University.
Each participant in the 2022 class of 25 mentees is assigned a mentor in their field of study. Suh will shadow Mike Peterson in his role as a principal at Gradient, an environmental and risk sciences consulting firm.
Having an assigned mentor helps to bridge cultural gaps in education while alleviating some of the burden on underrepresented groups, Willett said.
“If you’re a first-generation or underrepresented student, you may not know all of the options,” Willett said. “If you happen to have one good mentor, they can do that for you. But that’s more of a luck, positional and potentially privileged thing.
“This will build community and help participants see the diversity of career pathways and options.”
Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Toxicology MSDT program provides career development opportunities for students of underserved backgrounds in the field, where there is a “critical lack” of diversity, the program’s description cites.
Eden Tanner, an Ole Miss assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry, said she has noted a lack of diversity in STEM fields, and that the lack of different voices in research can have real-world effects, particularly on underserved populations.
“Diverse teams are more creative, better at their jobs, and they’re better at science,” Tanner said. “A lot of what we do stems from that diversity. A lot of the great ideas that our teams have happened because team members bring different life experiences to the table.
“… The critical lack of diversity in many fields, including toxicology, has hugely deleterious effects on people, and it goes some way to explaining health disparities.”
Suh’s parents emigrated from South Korea in the 1990s.Growing up as a second-generation American and first-generation student, Suh said her South Korean background has influenced how she communicates with professors and peers.
“I’m still having problems talking with mentors and professors,” she said. “I think it’s a part of South Korean culture. If there’s someone older than us or in a higher position than us, we’re supposed to respect them.
“I think because of that mindset, I’ve been nervous talking to people older than me and in a higher position than me, especially professors. I think I’m still trying to find a way to relate to them and talk comfortably with them.”
This problem is rampant among many underserved populations, Tanner said. Not having generational knowledge about higher education – how to apply for scholarships and graduate schools, different fields of study available, even not knowing about office hours – means some students never take advantage of university resources.
Finding a good mentor, someone who can open doors for students and nurture their passions, is at best a matter of luck, and at worst a matter of privilege, Tanner said. Programs such as Toxicology MSDT take luck out of the equation by partnering students with mentors directly.
As a toxicologist, Suh hopes to continue advocating for minority and underprivileged populations.
During her graduate research, Suh said she wants to analyze airborne pollutants in the Memphis area. This interest arose after she heard of a recent finding of an EPA-classified carcinogen in the air there, she said.
“They may not know all of the resources they might have,” Suh said. “Having someone they can look to is one of the reasons I wanted to go into toxicology.”
Kwang S. Yun (1929-2022), an award-winning chemistry professor who taught at UM for 30 years, was known for his creative teaching methods and dedication to students. He received the Cora Lee Graham Outstanding Teacher of Freshmen award from the College of Liberal Arts, the 1981 Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award for the University (now known as the Elsie M. Hood Award), and the Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society’s Outstanding Teacher Award. Prof. KwangYun joined the Department of Chemistry in 1968 and taught general chemistry, physical chemistry, and graduate courses in quantum chemistry and statistical thermodynamics for 31 years. He was loved by his students and retired in June 1998, but still participated in physical chemistry divisional activities up until 2020.
Prof. Emeritus Kwang S. Yun (1929-2022)
Originally from Seoul, Korea, Yun received a B.A. in chemistry from Seoul National University before serving in the Republic of Korea Army from 1953 to 1955 and earning a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Cincinnati in 1960. “I had the great pleasure of teaching the freshman chemistry course,” Yun said. “Students in this class were mostly pre-med, pre-pharmacy or engineering students who were well motivated and eager to learn new and advanced concepts in chemistry. For more than 30 years of teaching this course, I have nothing but good memories.”
Prof. Emeritus Kwang S. Yun at a University of Mississippi commencement
Yun had several memorable moments from the classroom. “I gave weekly live demonstrations related to the subjects of the week,” he said. “Students enjoyed the demonstrations, but I had a few embarrassing moments with burning hair, burning neckties, falling from ladders and so on.”
The effectiveness of Yun’s teaching is evident. “More than 6,000 students passed through my freshman classes during my years of teaching, which generated many well-known doctors and pharmacists,” Yun said a few years ago. “I see them often.”
It was indeed a high priority for Yun to successfully convey the material that he was teaching. “I held weekly help sessions and enjoyed the recitations because it was a ‘free question-and-answer period’ where students felt comfortable asking any questions,” he said. “Because my main interest in teaching was to provide students knowledge and excitement in science, I always approached students not in terms of my level of understanding but at the student’s level. I used to say to myself, ‘If a student does not comprehend an idea, it is my fault and not the student’s.’” Prof. Randy Wadkins had Yun as a teacher while he was at Ole Miss as an undergraduate and a graduate student. Wadkins recently indicated that “What might not be appreciated is that Dr. Yun also taught math. I kept all the notes from his class all these years.” It is evident Dr. Yun holds a special place in the hearts of his former students and was well respected by his colleagues. He taught chemistry and helped many students prepare to pursue their careers in medicine, pharmacy, science, and other fields. He was a favorite teacher because he really cared about his students and was always willing to help them succeed.
Profs. Nathan Hammer and Kwang Yun in 2018
Prof. Dan Mattern was a colleague of Yun for a number of years in the department. Mattern recently said “I too am saddened by the loss of Kwang, who was always upbeat, enthusiastic, and smiling. He was also very precise in his teaching of chemistry, and his classes appreciated his careful explanations, and his consideration for his students. After he retired, he took up oil painting, with landscapes and scenes around Oxford–quite a switch from physical chemistry. A couple of years ago, he told me about his schooling under the Japanese occupation of Korea. All the instruction was in Japanese, and the teachers were rigid, but not mean. One day he went to school, and the entire teaching staff was gone. Japan had withdrawn from Korea, and that included leaving the schools, overnight. I’m always impressed with people who have to switch languages when they immigrate. Kwang had to switch from Korean to Japanese, and then to English. We will miss him.”
Long after his official retirement from the University in 1998, Yun continued to come to campus and check out books from the library to read. Prof. Nathan Hammer shared that Dr. Yun also continued to perform spectroscopy experiments alongside undergraduate and graduate students in his lab up until just a few years ago. Hammer said “Prof. Yun loved science and being in the lab. He gave lectures to our Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program on classical physical chemistry concepts and really enjoyed attending physical chemistry division social event. The students loved learning from his lifelong experiences and always looked forward to him bringing watermelons to our end of summer REU party.”
REU Faculty in Summer 2016 with Prof. Yun in the center.
Dr. Yun was also interviewed in 2019 by Bonnie Brown for HottyToddy.com and this interview is below.
Brown: Where did you grow up? Please talk about your childhood, family, and siblings.
Yun: I was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1929. I remember that I lived with my grandparents and my parents with five sisters. My sisters and I all emigrated to the United States. Two sisters are deceased. One lives near Chicago, one in Long Island, and the other in Detroit. My wife and I have one daughter who lives in Portland, Oregon.
Brown: Where did you go to school?
Yun: In 1936, I entered an elementary school near my home in Seoul several blocks away. I enrolled in a middle school (7th to 10th grades) which was about two miles away from my home. Those are from 1942 to 1946. Since Korea was a colony under the Japanese, we have to take the Japanese educational system; everything was taught in Japanese but I learned Korean from my parents.
Dr. Yun’s Family – April 1936 with his sisters, his parents (back row), Grandparents (middle row); Dr. Yun is pictured standing in the center.
In 1946, after the end of World War II, we became independent from Japan. I entered a preparatory school which was a part of the Seoul National University. This prep school was similar to a German gymnasium system (a type of school with a strong emphasis on academic learning) enforcing math and foreign languages. I had two years of high school just after the Japanese left Korea.
I advanced to an undergraduate program as a chemistry major and finished my undergraduate degree in 1952 which was during the Korean conflict. I was drafted and served two and a half years in the South Korean Army and was discharged in 1955.
I was admitted to the University of Cincinnati in 1956 and completed a Ph.D. degree in 1961.
Brown: How did you choose the University of Cincinnati?
Yun: From 1946 until 1952, Korea depended on U.S. aid in the national public schools. Much of that aid was in the form of army supplies—educational manuals used in the military. My freshmen through senior high school years, we studied English text. I didn’t know anything about the various colleges. But in my sophomore year, I took organic chemistry and the textbook author was from the University of Cincinnati, so I thought that would be a good place to study.
Brown: What subjects were hardest for you in school?
Mrs. Yun with Dr. Yun on the occasion of his retirement in 1998.
Yun: The difficult subjects for me were physics and mathematics.
Brown: Who influenced your career choice?
Yun: My father, who suggested that I should study science but not law. My father was a merchant who had two years of college. I was 27 when I started my graduate work at the University of Cincinnati. My wife went to LSU but later attended Ohio State.
Brown: Tell us how/when your Ole Miss “story” began? Who hired you? How long did you work at Ole Miss?
Yun: I had two post-doctoral positions—one at the University of Maryland and the second one at the Research Council Lab in Canada. Since the post-doctoral positions were not renewable, I began to look for a teaching position. I had several offers, but the offer from Ole Miss was the best. Dr. Robert B. Scott, Jr, Chair of the Chemistry Department hired me. Dr. Andrew Stefani recommended me. Dr. Scott was my Department Chair but he also became my friend. He and his wife, Russell, helped me and my wife a lot, teaching us about Southern culture. I joined the Department of Chemistry in 1968 and taught general chemistry, physical chemistry, and graduate courses in quantum chemistry and statistical thermodynamics for 31 years. I retired in June 1998.
Brown: What did you know about Ole Miss before you accepted a position here?
Yun: The only information I had was the information provided by the American Chemical Society. So I didn’t know much about the university before I arrived. When I came to Oxford, there were about 5,000 students. My wife and I lived in Northgate Apartments on campus (faculty and staff housing). I remember the first person who helped me was Mrs. Margaret Fields. She was very kind and very helpful.
L-R, Mrs. Yun, Dr. Yun, Connie Flake (Oxford artist) and her husband, Tim Flake.
Brown: Describe your most memorable days at work.
Yun: Teaching a large class of freshmen, fresh from their high school was challenging. That was some experience! For the first two years, I was assigned smaller classes because I was less experienced. However, after that I got the large freshmen classes.
Brown: What do you consider to be the highlight of your career?
Yun: In 1981, I received the Elsie M. Hood Outstanding Teacher Award. I also received the Cora Lee Graham Outstanding Teacher of Freshmen award from the College of Liberal Arts and the Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society’s Outstanding Teacher Award.
Brown: What accomplishment are you most proud of?
Yun: Teaching! There have been more than 6,000 students who went through my classes during my years of teaching, which generated many well-known doctors and pharmacists.
Brown: If there was something in your past you were able to go back and do differently, what would that be?
Yun: Be nice to under-prepared students. I didn’t mind repeating answers to questions. Repetition in the explanation is a virtue. I was willing to repeat it until the students understood the concept.
Brown: What is the best advice you ever received?
Dr. & Mrs. Yun pictured with one of his oil paintings. He has sold over 60 paintings.
Yun: Be patient and don’t jump to conclusions.
Brown: If you could have an all-expenses paid trip to see any famous world monument, which monument would you choose?
Yun: I’d travel to the Canadian Rockies. It’s so beautiful there! I lived in Canada and Boulder, Colorado. I loved visiting Estes Park and other sites each weekend.
Brown: What do you do to improve your mood when you are in a bad mood?
Yun: Listen to classical music.
Brown: Tell us something about yourself that not many people may know.
Yun: I used to do oil painting, landscapes. I took lessons from Oxford artist Connie Flake around 1985. I also enjoyed getting to know Clarksdale native Jason Bouldin, son of portrait artist Marshall Bouldin. Jason was a freshman in my chemistry class and came to me to tell me at the end of his freshman year that he was going to Harvard to major in art history. Jason has followed in his father’s footsteps and has become a noted artist in his own right. I no longer paint but I enjoyed it very much.
Brown: What gives you great joy?
Yun: Reading and listening to music. I like reading old classics. I like German novels of the 18th and 19th centuries. I like reading about human history, the creation of the university, etc. And I love listening to classical music.
Ethan Lambert, of Corinth; Reinhard “Matt” Knerr, of Paducah, Kentucky; and Alexandria “Ally” Watrous, of Lexington, Kentucky, all members of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College, have become the university’s 19th, 20th and 21st winners.
The Goldwater is one of the oldest and most prestigious national scholarships in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. It supports exceptional sophomores and juniors who show promise in becoming the next generation of research leaders in these fields.
This year, the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation awarded 417 scholarships from a pool of 1,242 outstanding undergraduates nominated by 433 institutions.
“Ethan, Matt and Ally have all presented an incredible commitment to a career in research, and a genuine display of intellectual curiosity,” said Vivian Ibrahim, director of the UM Office of National Scholarship Advisement. “This is the first time UM has had three Goldwater scholars. We couldn’t be more excited for them.”
In recent years, the office has had steady success in recruiting competitive students for the Goldwater, Ibrahim said.
Ethan Lambert, a junior from Corinth, is studying light-induced electron transfers to help improve solar energy technologies. He has been awarded a 2022 Goldwater Scholarship to support his studies and research. Photo by Thomas Graning/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services
An Annexstad scholar, Lambert is set to graduate in 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry with an emphasis in chemical physics and a minor in mathematics.
“I am thrilled to be named a Goldwater Scholar but this accomplishment would not have been possible without the incredible people around me in the lab,” he said. “They taught me new techniques, proofread and answered my questions at 2 a.m. when I couldn’t sleep.
“I would be a fraction of the person I am without them around me.”
Lambert hopes to apply for a graduate research fellowship from the National Science Foundation next year to fund a doctorate in chemistry with a focus on studying how to use light to induce electron transfers between small molecules. This work has potential real-world applications in solar energy conversion.
Already first author on three published research papers and co-author of a book, Lambert has been working with Nathan Hammer, UM professor of chemistry and biochemistry.
“It has been a joy mentoring Ethan in the lab,” Hammer said. “He truly has the love for science and the aptitude for research. I expect great things from him for the remainder of his time with us at UM and beyond.”
Knerr is a Stamps scholar who is pursuing a degree in biochemistry, with minors in neuroscience, biological sciences, environmental studies and psychology.
“I am fascinated by aging,” he said. “My time abroad – in Spain, Costa Rica and the Netherlands – has really shed light on different ways to approach how we age.
“In the future, I want to be able to look at aging from a scientific angle as well as a moral and humanistic one.”
Knerr has four published articles and has worked Joshua Bloomekatz, an assistant professor of biology.
“Matt is a dynamic student with a passion for research, who shows great promise as a physician scientist,” Bloomekatz said.
Ally Watrous, a sophomore from Lexington, Kentucky, already has published three peer-reviewed papers in computational chemistry. Her Goldwater Scholarship will provide funding for her junior and senior years at the university. Photo by Thomas Graning/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services
Watrous is the only Ole Miss sophomore to be awarded a Goldwater, which will provide funding for her junior and senior years at the university. She is pursuing bachelor’s degrees in chemistry with a chemical physics emphasis, in physics and in German with minors in French and mathematics.
In the long term, Watrous is interested in collaborating internationally while conducting research in computational chemistry.
“The whole national scholarship and Goldwater process reaffirmed that grad school is something I want to do and can achieve,” she said.
Watrous has three peer-reviewed papers and one cover article to date as part of the UM Computational Astrochemistry Group, headed by Ryan Fortenberry, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry.
“Ally is an absolute joy to have in our group, and I count myself lucky to be on her team through her education,” Fortenberry said. “Most often, about the time that students get trained, they leave. However, she’ll be around for a few more years, and I look forward to continuing my collaboration with her.”
For more information on the Goldwater Scholarships and how to apply for them, contact the Office of National Scholarship Advisement at onsa@olemiss.edu.
University of Mississippi chemistry professor Eden Tanner (front left) and her team of researchers are a diverse group, including one postdoctoral scholar, six graduate students and 18 undergraduates, who have majors ranging from chemistry and pharmacy to engineering.
A University of Mississippi Chemistry professor and her team of researchers are working on new ways to use red blood cells and platelets to transport chemotherapies and other medicines to specific areas of the body, which could greatly reduce patients’ side effects.
Eden Tanner, UM assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry, has been awarded a Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America’s Research Starter Grant in Drug Delivery for $100,000 to help fund the work. The grant, which is given to one winner annually, is designed for tenure-track faculty who are in the earliest stages of their careers to advance their research in drug delivery.
Tanner’s research interests focus on solving biomedical and bioengineering problems using physical chemistry and, particularly, ionic liquids and nanomaterials. She is working to figure out ways to use ionic liquids and nanomaterials to bond to the blood components and send medicines to specific areas.
“We are really excited about the potential that this technology offers,” Tanner said. “Currently, if you get lung cancer and surgery is not an option, basically you just get bathed in chemotherapy.
“It makes people very ill. It is not a very positive experience.”
The lab in Coulter Hall where she works contains vials of ionic liquids in varying viscosities, some of them looking like honey or maple syrup. Researchers are using different ones to determine which work best for different types of drugs.
She explains the concept of cellular hitchhiking using the example of someone being treated for lung cancer.
“If we could instead just target the lung, for instance, and not have it go everywhere, this means the side effect profile is much less severe and people aren’t as sick,” Tanner said. “Our technology could be used to hitch a ride on red blood cells, which then deliver our cargo to the lungs, as opposed to everywhere else in the body.”
Student researchers work in Eden Tanner’s lab in Coulter Hall. Tanner and her team are studying new ways to use red blood cells and platelets to transport chemotherapies and other medicines to specific areas of the body.
Tanner holds a bachelor’s degree in advanced science from the University of South Wales in Australia and a doctorate in physical and theoretical chemistry from the University of Oxford in England, where she was a postdoctoral fellow. She also served as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University.
Tanner said she will use the award to continue training the next generation of drug delivery scientists. The funding will help procure technologies for the experiments and to hire assistants for the work.
She is pleased with not only the strength of the group assembled, but also that they come from many different backgrounds. All bring different experiences, perspectives and special skills to the table, she said. Among them are one postdoctoral scholar, six Ole Miss graduate students and 18 undergraduates, who have majors ranging from chemistry and pharmacy to engineering.
Some 65% of the group are women or nonbinary people, and 40% are people of color, Tanner said.
“I have a large team of excellent students,” Tanner said. “It is a very collaborative group effort. This is not a ‘lone genius’ situation.
“We bring people together from chemistry and pharmacy and other areas because we need their expertise to help us advance this along.”
Karen Wong, a senior biochemistry and Chinese major from Gulfport, said her work focuses on targeting platelets within the blood. Working on the project has taught her the importance of such research.
It’s an exciting process, too, she said.
“Engaging in research has allowed me to gain an understanding of how important it is to the medical world because there are so many limitations and risks associated with medical procedures as well as drugs,” Wong said.
“In addition, it is a very meticulous and slow process to work toward advancing science, but one must be patient and never give up on it because you never know when you’ll have a scientific breakthrough!”
She’s also learning the value of teamwork in the lab.
“Each experiment requires a lot of preparation, and I learned the importance of teamwork because it makes carrying out large experiments more efficient because each one of us was responsible for synthesizing specific nanoparticles, splitting the tasks, and putting our work together, in the end, made everything go much smoother,” Wong said.
Joh’nis Randall, a junior pharmaceutical sciences major from Jackson, said the experience has been “nothing short of amazing.” The work has taught her much more than just the necessary parts she needed to learn.
Randall said she has grown during the process and appreciates Tanner and the rest of the team for pushing her to be her best.
“From the early mornings and late nights in the lab, preparing for the day of the bloodwork was always a tedious task,” she said. “Doing this project has gotten me out of my shell and has expanded my knowledge on different aspects of physical chemistry.
Randall wants to make a difference.
“I hope that we all make a breakthrough in scientific discovery that would one day change how medicine works,” Randall said.
The way the lab is structured creates many chances for collaboration, a skill important in any career, said Meghan Gorniak, a senior chemistry major from Glen Carbon, Illinois.
“This lab has pushed me to think critically and to understand the application of so many scientific topics,” Gorniak said. “I hope that my work on white blood cells can help further medical science discoveries.
“I cannot thank Dr. Tanner enough for being my mentor and teaching me how cool research can be.”
Daniell Mattern (standing), UM professor of chemistry and biochemistry, works with his students during a class in Coulter Hall. Mattern has been named the inaugural holder of the university’s Doctors Andrew Stefani and Eldon Miller Memorial Chair for STEM Teaching and Research. Photo by Logan Kirkland/ Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services
Daniell Mattern, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Mississippi, has been named to a new endowed chair established to bolster teaching and research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.
With a gift of $1.5 million, Dr. Rhett Atkinson and his wife, Elaine, established the Doctors Andrew Stefani and Eldon Miller Memorial Chair for STEM Teaching and Research in 2019 to honor Stefani, former professor and chair in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Miller, former professor and chair in the Department of Mathematics. Mattern is the inaugural holder of the position.
The Atkinsons’ gift provides income to the College of Liberal Arts to support the recruitment and retention of a top-tier scholar who demonstrates outstanding teaching in STEM and is also a productive researcher in biology, chemistry, biochemistry, mathematics, physics or astronomy.
“My wife and I strongly believe in education and academics, and we want to give back to the institution that gave me the background and the tools I needed to be successful,” said Atkinson, of Sedona, Arizona. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics from Ole Miss in 1970 and ’72 and graduated from the UM School of Medicine in 1979.
Mattern said he is delighted to be selected as the inaugural chair.
“I knew Andy Stefani, who was also an organic chemist and the department chair when the department hired me,” Mattern said. “I always admired his passion for teaching chemistry.
“I didn’t know Eldon Miller, although I did often see him around Oxford. He was also highly regarded as a teacher.”
Mattern is a great choice for the position, said Greg Tschumper, chair and professor of chemistry and biochemistry.
Daniell Mattern
“I cannot think of a more deserving candidate for the inaugural appointment to the Stefani-Miller Chair because Dr. Mattern’s pedagogical activities epitomize the very essence of the position,” Tschumper said. “He has received numerous awards for his teaching excellence.
“Over the years, he has had an incredibly positive impact on the education and lives of many, many Ole Miss students who have been fortunate enough to have him as a teacher and a mentor.”
Mattern said he already has plans for the stipend from his new position.
“I can certainly use it to help fund my undergraduate research students, but I am also looking for ways it might enhance my classroom teaching,” he said. “I’m several years into drafting an organic chemistry textbook, and it could be helpful in developing that project.”
A UM faculty member since 1991, Mattern is a previous recipient of the Elsie M. Hood Outstanding Teacher Award, College of Liberal Arts Outstanding Teacher of the Year, Alpha Epsilon Delta Outstanding Teacher of the Year and the Margaret Coulter Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and the university’s 25-Year Service Award.
“I’ve had the good fortune to teach the organic chemistry class, which means that I get a lot of great students,” Mattern said. “Most want to be doctors, or pharmacists, or engineers or even chemists, which means they arrive both capable and motivated.
“A surprising number of Taylor Medalists on Honors Day – the university’s highest academic honor for undergraduates – have taken my organic chemistry class.”
During the pandemic year of 2020-21, Mattern “flipped” his classroom.
“I made videos of all my lectures and put them online,” he said. “In class, instead of listening to me lecture, the students do problem-solving activities in groups of four.
“Now my most enjoyable class time is when I observe a group express a misconception, then watch them work through a problem and figure out the correct view by the end.”
After completing his bachelor’s degree at Kalamazoo College, Mattern earned master’s and doctoral degrees from Stanford University. He has been a postdoctoral fellow at Tufts University School of Medicine and the University of California at San Diego.
Mattern’s research interests includes organic donor-sigma-acceptor molecules, fatty acyl analogs of acarnidine and aromatic iodination.
The Doctors Andrew Stefani and Eldon Miller Memorial Chair for Stem Teaching and Research Endowment is open to gifts from individuals and organizations. Send a check, with the endowment noted in the memo line, to the University of Mississippi Foundation, 406 University Ave., Oxford, MS 38655, or give online at http://give.olemiss.edu.
For more information on supporting STEM teaching and research at the university, contact Charlotte Parks, vice chancellor for development, at cpparks@olemiss.edu or 662-915-3120.
And the winner is … Kendall Wontor! This year’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) overall winner is Kendall Wontor, a doctoral student in chemistry. Wontor’s research focuses on microplastics in oysters, with several different aspects to her overall research project.
Wontor spent most of her childhood in Texas, but most recently lived in Hawaii before relocating to Mississippi. Her time in Hawaii sparked her interest in microplastics.
“My favorite things to do were going to the beach and sailing,” said Wontor. “Whenever I would do either, it was pretty common to see small pieces of plastic in the sand and out in the ocean being tossed around in the waves. As a chemist, that really got me interested in the breakdown process of plastics and the problem of microplastic pollution.”
“Microplastics are a diverse suite of contaminants with different polymers, additives, sizes and morphologies,” explained Wontor’s advisor Dr. James Cizdziel, professor of chemistry and biochemistry and coordinator of forensic chemistry. “Microplastics can also attract other pollutants, such as heavy metals, potentially introducing them into the food chain as the plastic is caught on gills or mistaken for prey,” he added.
The first aspect of Wontor’s research is focused on developing new methods to extract microplastics from oyster tissue, and this was the main point of her 3MT presentation. An example of an extraction method is sonication. “By developing and validating this extraction method, I hope to increase the analysis speed and sustainability of microplastics research,” said Wontor.
In the second aspect of her research, Wontor uses chemical digestion to analyze oysters from ten sites across the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Here, Wontor is looking for any differences in the numbers, sizes, shapes, and polymer types of microplastics present in the oysters from the different sites. Wontor is also dissecting the larger oysters found to see if the microplastics are localizing in specific tissues, such as the gills, mantle, digestive system, or abductor muscle/heart.
“Microplastics are abundant in the Mississippi River and Mississippi Sound. Oysters are exposed to these small plastic particles. This is a concern because oysters are filter-feeders and the microplastics may interfere with oyster biology. Oysters are a foundational species in the Gulf and an economic resource to the region,” explained Dr. Cizdziel.
Wontor is no stranger to presenting her research. She presented “Microplastics in Oysters from the Mississippi Sound” at the National Environmental Monitoring Conference in a special session on “Analyzing Microplastics in the Environment: Striving to Better Assess Occurrence, Fate and Effects.”
Wontor will represent the UM Grad School at the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools’ 3MT competition in North Carolina in February 2022.
Six University of Mississippi chemistry majors have recently been welcomed into one of the oldest and most prestigious honor societies in the world.
The Phi Kapa Phi honor society’s mission is “to recognize and promote academic excellence in all fields of higher education and to engage the community of scholars in service to others.”
On a campus of about 19,000 students, it can be hard to stand out, but the newest members of the University of Mississippi chapter of the Phi Kappa Phi (PKP) national honor society are certainly able to do it.
“Phi Kappa Phi is the nation’s oldest and most selective honor society for all academic disciplines,” UM PKP President Jeremy Loenneke said. “Membership into Phi Kappa Phi is by invitation only and is open to those who have a consistent record of academic excellence.”
Approximately 560 students were invited to join the chapter for the fall of 2021. The chapter hosted its initiation ceremony in the Ford Center, Sunday, October 10, with Dr. Dave Puleo, dean of the UM engineering school, delivering the keynote address.
The UM chapter of Phi Kappa Phi has been a part of campus for more than 60 years, which Loenneke said speaks to the caliber of students and faculty at the university.
“The overall environment is also one that promotes and values academic excellence. All of this together fits right in with the mission and motto of Phi Kappa Phi, which is to ‘let the love of learning rule humanity,’” Loenneke said.
Phi Kappa Phi membership also comes with recognition on your college transcript and a chance to apply for a number of prestigious local and national scholarships. This fall’s new class of initiates includes student representatives from every school and college on the UM campus.
Loenneke said there are hundreds of UM students who should be feeling particularly proud of their accomplishments right now.
“To be selected for initiation is a great honor and means that you represent the very best of your class.”
Phi Kappa Phi has a long and impressive history. In 1897 at the University of Maine, 10 senior students, two faculty members and the school president created an honor society that was different from the few others then in existence- one that recognized and honored excellence in all academic disciplines. Under the leadership of undergraduate student Marcus L. Urann, the group formed the Lambda Sigma Eta Society, which was later renamed Phi Kappa Phi from the initial letters of the Greek words forming its adopted motto: Philosophìa Krateìto Photôn, “Let the love of learning rule humanity.”
At the University of Mississippi, notable inductees include former chancellor Robert Khayat, the late Senator Thad Cochran and bestselling author John Grisham. Presidents, senators, Supreme Court Justices, governors, Pulitzer Prize winners, even astronauts count themselves as members of Phi Kappa Phi.
Please join the department in welcoming these 2021-2022 chemistry majors to the Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society:
Nine University of Mississippi chemistry majors have recently been welcomed into one of the oldest and most prestigious honor societies in the world.
The Phi Kapa Phi honor society’s mission is “to recognize and promote academic excellence in all fields of higher education and to engage the community of scholars in service to others.”
“This semester’s inductees deserve so much praise and respect,” Phi Kappa Phi Ole Miss board member Dr. Debora Wenger said. “They remained committed to academic excellence despite a pandemic creating innumerable challenges for learning. These students are truly scholarly all-stars.”
Phi Kappa Phi has a long and impressive history. In 1897 at the University of Maine, 10 senior students, two faculty members and the school president created an honor society that was different from the few others then in existence- one that recognized and honored excellence in all academic disciplines. Under the leadership of undergraduate student Marcus L. Urann, the group formed the Lambda Sigma Eta Society, which was later renamed Phi Kappa Phi from the initial letters of the Greek words forming its adopted motto: Philosophìa Krateìto Photôn, “Let the love of learning rule humanity.”
At the University of Mississippi, notable inductees include former chancellor Robert Khayat, the late Senator Thad Cochran and bestselling author John Grisham. Presidents, senators, Supreme Court Justices, governors, Pulitzer Prize winners, even astronauts count themselves as members of Phi Kappa Phi.
Please join the department in welcoming these 2020-2021 chemistry majors to the Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society:
And the winner is … Kendall Wontor! This year’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) overall winner is Kendall Wontor, a doctoral student in chemistry. Wontor’s research focuses on microplastics in oysters, with several different aspects to her overall research project.
