Stories

Robert Hugh Neilson (Bob) passed away on December 17, 2020 after a seven month battle with glioblastoma. He was born on January 24, 1948 and grew up in Pittsburgh, PA. As he grew older, his early boredom with school turned into a career in education and research. Neilson attended Carnegie Mellon University where he majored in chemistry and was a part of the Army ROTC program.

Eric Simanek, Robert A. Welch Chair of Chemistry, released a novel entitled, “The Whiskey Thieves: An American Adventure in 1871.” The novel was self-published through Amazon and is now available for purchase.

Due to social distancing regulations, National Chemistry Week looked a little different this year, but was a success nonetheless. For the past 10 years, DFW Chemistry Organizations have come together to serve the local community through a collaborative effort at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History (FWMSH). Thanks to volunteers from universities and high schools in the area, these organizations have served more than 27,000 museum guests.

The online, six-week program was offered free of charge, and was designed for students to work at their own pace. The faculty and student leaders provided 1-2 hours of lecture and office hours each week.

Carolina Granthon ’12 (MS ’15) graduated with bachelor’s degrees in biology and chemistry and a minor in French. Originally from Peru, Granthon took a year off to pursue an internship in the Peruvian rainforest before returning to TCU and receiving her master’s degree in biology in 2015. During her internship in Peru, Granthon learned to capture tropical birds in nets (mist-netting) and find their nests, as well as monitor nesting macaws.

Barrington Hwang ’14, a Dallas native, graduated from TCU as a triple major with degrees in chemistry, economics and biology. He also received a Fulbright grant for a yearlong position in Taiwan as an English Teaching Assistantship post-graduation.

Vincent Michaud ‘84 takes his double major in chemistry and environmental sciences to places “out of this world,” through his role at NASA.

What originated as a group of five aspiring scientists referred to as, “TCU Chemistry Club,” is now a community outreach group, bringing science and a momentum of higher education to the Fort Worth-Dallas area for more than a decade.

Tim Schwartz is a chemistry major from Trabuco Canyon, California. Schwartz was the first author on the paper “Electronic influence of substitution on the pyridine ring within NNN pincer-type molecules,” published in the academic journal Dalton Transactions on January 28, 2020.