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 Miselis Professor and Chair Whitney King (dwking@colby.edu) received his B.S. in Chemistry from St. Lawrence University and a Ph.D. in Chemical Oceanography from the University of Rhode Island. He serves the department as an analytical/environmental chemist, teaches General Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry, and Analytical Chemistry, and is currently the Chair of the Chemistry Department. His research group studies the role sunlight plays in regulating the surface water chemistry of lakes and the ocean. Many of these studies require novel analytical tools. King's group is also actively involved in development of instruments for ultra trace analysis of Fe, Cu, Cr, Mn, H2O2, and O2- in the environment. Over twenty of these instruments are used by other investigators all over the world. Prof. King has also served as Department Chair and Director of Colby's Partnership for Science Education, which works with area schools to improve K-12 science education. |
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 Associate Chair of Chemistry Thomas W. Shattuck (twshattu@colby.edu) received his B.A. from Lake Forest and Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley. He has been at Colby since 1976, teaching Physical Chemistry, General Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Symmetry and Spectroscopy, and NMR Spectroscopy. He was recently successful in obtaining funding from the NSF for a departmental LC-MS instrument, which his research group is using for host-guest chemistry. His group is also using a wide variety of calculational tools following another successful proposal for a departmental computational facility. Prof. Tom Shattuck’s group looks directly at structure-function relationships in molecular recognition; how do molecules recognize and bind to each other? |
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 Dr. Gerald and Myra Dorros Professor Julie T. Millard
(jtmillar@colby.edu) received her B.A. in Chemistry and Neuroscience at Amherst College and her Ph.D. in Biochemistry at Brown University before working as a post-doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Washington and a Dreyfus Teaching and Research Fellow at the University of Richmond. Prof. Millard has taught General Chemistry, Biochemistry, and chemistry for non-majors at Colby since 1991 and recently completed a term as department chair. Her research is in the field of DNA-drug interactions, investigating how some small molecules cause cancer whereas others act as anti-cancer drugs. Many of Prof. Millard's students have appeared as co-authors on publications appearing in such journals as Biochemistry. She was recently named a Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar, and her research is also funded by the American Chemical Society. She is the author of a new textbook for non-majors called Adventures in Chemistry. Click here for more information on Prof. Millard. |
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 Associate Professor Rebecca R. Conry (rrconry@colby.edu) received her B.S. in Chemistry from Eastern Washington University and a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Washington. After an NIH postdoctoral at Johns Hopkins University, she spent seven years as a faculty member at the University of Nevada, Reno. Prof. Conry joined the Colby faculty in 2000 and teaches Inorganic, Inorganic Synthetic Laboratory, Symmetry and Spectroscopy, and General Chemistry courses. Prof. Conry has an established research program in bioinorganic and organometallic transition-metal chemistry. Research students under her direction extend their knowledge and capabilities in organic and inorganic synthesis including air-sensitive manipulations as well as a number of characterizational techniques. Students conducting these research projects synthesize new compounds that have the potential to be catalysts and/or to further our understanding of metal sites similar to those found in biological systems. Prof. Conry is in charge of the new CCD single-crystal X-ray diffraction system located in the Chemistry Department. Click here for more information on Prof. Conry.
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 Associate
Professor Dasan M. Thamattoor (dmthamat@colby.edu)
obtained a B.Sc. degree from the Government Arts and Science College, Karwar,
India and an M.Sc. from Karnatak University. Subsequently, he obtained a
Ph.D. from Princeton and was a Postdoctoral fellow at Notre Dame. A physical
organic chemist, Prof. Thamattoor joined the Colby faculty in 1999 and teaches
the introductory organic chemistry courses, the upper level course in
physical organic chemistry, and chemistry for non-majors. Professor Thamattoor's research, funded by an RUI grant from the National Science Foundation, involves the
investigation of reaction mechanisms, carbene chemistry, photochemical processes,
and the construction of molecules with unusual architecture.
Visit home page.
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 Associate Professor Jeffrey L. Katz (jlkatz@colby.edu) became fascinated by organic chemistry while working with Amos Smith at the University of
Pennsylvania. After receiving his B.A. in 1995, he moved to Harvard
University and earned a Ph.D. working in the laboratories of David Evans.
Prof. Katz teaches introductory and advanced Organic Chemistry and General
Chemistry. His research group is focused on the syntheis of nanoscale molecular scaffolds and supramolecular chemistry.
Analysis of solid-state conformation is a key component of this work, which
is greatly facilitated by the CCD single-crystal X-ray diffraction
system located in the Chemistry Department. Visit the Katz Group
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 Assistant Professor Kevin P. Rice (kprice@colby.edu) received his B.A. from Colby in 1996. In 2000, he received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison where he studied DNA pairing mechanisms of enzymes involved in homologous recombination. Professor Rice did postdoctoral work in the Chemistry Department of Yale University before becoming an Associate Research Scientist at the Yale Pharmacology Department. At Colby, Professor Rice teaches General Chemistry and Medical Biochemistry. His overall research interests include chemical biology and general enzymology. He is currently interested in the enzymatic consequences of the carbamoylating activity from anticancer sulfonylhydrazines. See Professor Rice's home page.
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 Postdoctoral Fellow Jay W. Wackerly (jwwacker@colby.edu) earned his B.S. at Winona State University in 2003. He subsequently joined the research lab of Jeffrey S. Moore at the University of Illinois where he worked on the synthesis of supramolecular foldamers and polymers for the use as sensors on nanostructured gold plasmonic devices. After receiving his Ph.D. during the summer of 2008, he started his post-doctoral position at Colby working in the lab of Jeffrey Katz. At Colby his research has focused on investigating the mechanism of oxacalixarene and poly(m-phenylene oxide) formation. This year at Colby he will teach a lab section of Organic Chemistry I and during Jan Plan will teach a new course for non-science majors called Origins of Life, Earth, and the Universe.
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 Senior Teaching Associate Brenda L. Fekete (blfekete@colby.edu) holds a B.S. in Medical Technology from Douglass College/Rutgers University with National Board Certification by the American Society of Clinical Pathologists, and another 33 credits in Industrial Hygiene and Safety Engineering (Utah State University) Ms. Fekete is a teaching associate and has been a part of the chemistry department for about ten years. She is responsible for the preparation and teaching of several laboratory sections. She is the departmental safety officer and works closely with the Colby Safety Director to keep the department in EPA/OSHA compliance. To implement the safety program, she is responsible for student safety training, chemical inventory, hazardous waste management, and updating departmental safety materials (MSDS sheets, training manuals, personal respirator forms, Satellite Accumulation Area forms, signs/charts, door labels).
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 Teaching Associate Lisa M. Miller (lmmiller@colby.edu) received a B.A. and M.S. in Geological Sciences from the University of Maine. Her primary role is teaching laboratories for General Chemistry and supervising and teaching the "crime lab" associated with Chemistry 118 (Chemistry of Life). Prior to returning to Colby, she worked at an environmental laboratory as an analytical chemist. This provided her with ample instrumental and methods experience to draw upon while teaching laboratories. She also is currently serving as the student employee coordinator.
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 Emeritus Teaching Associate Jean P. McIntyre (jpmcinty@colby.edu) received her B.S. degree in biochemistry from Cornell University. Before coming to Colby she was engaged in biochemical research at Michigan State University and at the Max Planck Institute for Cell Chemistry in Munich, Germany. Over the last 27 years, she was continually involved with the organic chemistry program, at various times teaching the fourth hour and discussion sections, and teaching the majority of the laboratory sections. For many years she was also a part of the general chemistry curriculum, teaching discussion sections and laboratories.
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 Emeritus Professor Brad Mundy (bpmundy@colby.edu) received his B.S. from SUNY Albany (1961), his Ph.D. from the Univ. of Vermont (1965), and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at U.C. Berkeley (1965-67). He taught at Colby from 1992-2002 after teaching for many years at Montana State University. His research specialty is organic chemistry, particularly the development of new methods for preparing natural products. His teaching focused on organic, general and non-majors courses. Prof. Mundy has been an active advocate of the "Education through Research" concept, both in bringing research ideas into the lecture hall as well as using the individual research motif to capture fundamental "instructional" ideas. He is currently developing useful educational tools for chemistry instruction at all levels through the development of textbooks and computer-based instructional materials. When he is not working on the revised edition of his book on organic synthesis, Dr. Mundy can be found relaxing with his wife Margaret at their camp on Great Pond. Visit home page. | | |
 Emeritus Professor Wayne Smith (wlsmith@colby.edu) received his B.A. in Chemistry from Hartwick College and a Ph.D. in Physical-Inorganic Chemistry (with Tom Wartik) from Pennsylvania State University. After postdoctoral research at the University of Michigan (with Bob Parry), rocket fuel research at Allied Chemical, and an assistant professor position at Carnegie Institute of Technology, he joined the Colby department as the first inorganic chemist in 1967. Over the years Prof. Smith taught senior inorganic chemistry, advanced physical chemistry (which evolved into symmetry and spectroscopy), general chemistry lectures and labs, industrial and environmental chemistry, and initiated the nonmajor's chemistry for citizens lecture and lab course. Smith's research interests, all of which involved Colby students, ranged from organoaluminum and heteroborane chemistry to transition metal carbonyl and nitrosyl compounds with a continual interest in chemical education, especially pertaining to chemical demonstrations. Smith served as department chair for eight years and associate chair for five years. He did numerous "chemical magic" shows for area grade school classes over the years. Currently, Professor Smith is refining his tennis game with his wife Louise at their new home on Great Pond.
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 Amy Poulin (ampoulin@colby.edu) is the secretary for the Department of Chemistry. She received a B.S. in Biology from the University of Maine, has a background in the chemical industry, and previously worked for the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. She manages the department office, serves as the purchasing agent for all equipment and supplies, and maintains accounting records for all departmental budgets.
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This page is maintained by
Julie Millard. Comments and contributions are welcome.
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