Recent news from the Morgan group
2008
Dr. Morgan was appointed as a Sigma Xi
Distinguished Lecturer for 2008-2009 (see:
American Scientist 2008, 96(1), 83-86).
Dr. Morgan (with Dr. Gabor Patonay of Gaeorgia
State Unversity) organized a full day symposium,
"Analytical Chemistry for Crime Scene
Investigation” at the Pittsburgh Conference
on Analytical Chemistry & Applied Spectroscopy
(PITTCON 2008) in New Orleans, LA, 4 March
2008. The program, with 8 invited speakers,
was reported in the cover story of Chemical
& Engineering News, 86(12), 59-60 (24 March 2008).
2007
Dr. Morgan won a Distinguished Undergraduate
Research Mentor award at the University
of South Carolina, May 2007.
Amy
R. Stefan graduated with a PhD degree
in analytical chemistry from USC on 11 August
2007.
Jessica Michaud, a USC junior, was awarded
a 2007-2008 Magellan Undergraduate Research
Award ($3,000) for her proposal entitled
"Discrimination of Black Electrical Tape
using Attenuated Total Reflectance and Pyrolysis-Gas
Chromatography/Mass Spectroscopy."
Amanda C. Kesler, an undergraduate working
in the Morgan laboratory, won an award for
research ("Forensic discrimination of ballpoint
pen ink using UV/visible microspectrophotometry
and multivariate statistics") presented
at the University of South Carolina Discovery
Day undergraduate research poster competition,
20 April 2007.
2006
Rachel Hipp won an award in the category of Top Three Posters ("Chemical composition of latent fingerprints by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry") at the University of South Carolina Discovery Day undergraduate research poster competition, 21 April 2006.
A project on GC/MS analysis of fingerprint
residues in the Morgan lab by Brittany Baguley,
Rachael Hipp, and Neal Morgan was described
in the Chemical & Engineering News
issue on PittCon 2006. Click here
for the full article.
Rachel Hipp, a junior working in Dr. Morgan's
lab won the Sigma Xi Outstanding Undergraduate
Research Award in Chemistry and Biochemistry
for her paper "Characterization of
the Chemical Composition of Latent Fingerprints
by Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry"
at the SC Academy of Science Meeting in
Columbia, SC, on 24 March 2006.
An article about undergraduate research
at USC in the Carolinian Magazine,
spring 2006 issue, mentioned the work of
Rachael Hipp, a USC undergraduate junior
in the Morgan lab. Her work with Dr. Hanno
zur Loye was also mentioned. Rachael has
four research publications at this time
based on her work at USC.
The Morgan group presented three papers at the American Academy of Forensic Sciences Annual Meeting in Seattle, WA, 23 February 2006.
The Morgan group presented seven papers at PittCon 2006 in Orlando, FL, 15-16 March 2006.
2005
Click here
to see the article on our research in the
Fall 2005 issue of USC Chemist.
A new program
for student DNA analysis employment at SLED
has been funded. Click here
for more information.
Congratulations
to Allyson Wells, who received the College
of Science and Math Senior Year Scholarship
for 2005-2006.
Congratulations to Samantha N. Roberson
who won second place in the Physical Science
category at the University of South Carolina
Discovery Day undergraduate research poster
competition, 22 April 2005. Her poster presentation
was entitled "Combinatorial optimization
of extractions and capillary electrophoresis
for forensic analysis of dyes from textile
fibers." Samantha also won the Hiram
and Lawanda Award and the South Carolina
Section of the American Chemical Society
for performance as the Senior Outstanding
Undergraduate Chemistry Major.
The Morgan group presented five papers at the American Academy of Forensic Sciences Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA, 25 February 2005.
The Morgan group presented three papers at PittCon 2005 in Orlando, FL, 1-2 March 2005.
Dr. Morgan presented a paper at the Sixth International Conference on Forensic Statistics, Arizona State University School of Law, Tempe, AZ, 17 March 2005.
2004
Congratulations to Dr. Alex Nieuwland,
who successfully defended his PhD dissertation
entitled "Applications of Chromatography,
Spectroscopy, and Capillary Electrophoresis
to the Analysis of Forensic Samples."
(8 November 2004). Alex has accepted a job
at Voridian (Columbia, SC).
Congratulations! Dr. Morgan's proposal
to the FBI for the project entitled "Environmental
Effects on Textile fibers" was funded in
the amount of $670,201. (1 October 2004)
Dr. Morgan presented an invited paper at
SERMACS in Raleigh, NC, on 11 November 2004. Click here for a copy.
The following undergraduate research students
working in the Morgan laboratory have won
awards:
-- Elizabeth Enlow, second place in the
physical and biological science category
at the Discovery Day poster competition,
University of South Carolina, 23 April 2004.
-- Elizabeth M. Enlow, Hiram and Lawanda
Allen Award and the SC Section-ACS Outstanding
Senior Chemistry Major Award at the University
of South Carolina, 27 April 2004.
-- Samantha N. Roberson, College of Science
and Mathematics Senior Year Scholarship,
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry,
University of South Carolina, Spring 2004.
-- Demetria Ileana Strauch, Harper Award
for junior chemistry major, Department of
Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of
South Carolina, Spring 2004.
Alex Nieuwland, a 4th year graduate student
in the Morgan lab won the University of
South Carolina Physical Science Poster Presentation
on Graduate Student Day, 7 April 2004.
Elizabeth
Enlow was awarded an Honorable mention for
her 2004 NSF Graduate Fellowship application.
After working in the Morgan lab for the
past year and a half, Elizabeth is headed
to Chemistry graduate school in the Fall.
Jennifer Kenndey, another Honors College undergraduate who is writing her senior Honors thesis on discrimination of nylons by FTIR, has been accepted to medical school at University of Tennesee/Memphis.
The Morgan group presented five papers
at PittCon 2004 in Chicago, IL.
Dr. Morgan is teaching two ACS short courses
(Experimental Design, and Statistical Analysis
of Laboratory Data) at the 2004 Pittsburgh
Conference (Chicago, Il, March 2004) and
at the National ACS meeting (Anaheim, CA,
March 2004).
2003
Click here to see the Fall 2003 issue of USC Chemist. The issue includes an article on our research.
Our research proposal to the FBI for a
project entitled "Capillary Electrophoresis
Analysis of Fiber Dyes" was funded in the
amount of $791,961.00!
Chris Mubarak defended his Ph.D. dissertation
in July 2003. Dr. Mubarak acepted a job
as an analytical chemist at Hewlett-Packard
in Corvallis, OR.
The Morgan group is presenting five papers
at the FACSS meeting in Ft. Lauderdale,
FL, 20-22 October 2003. Five papers are
submitted for PittCon 2004 in Chicago, IL.
Four papers have ben published and a fifth
is currently in press for 2003.
A POSTDOCTORAL POSITION
is available immediately for an individual
with experience in capillary electrophoresis.
The research involves forensic analysis of
textile dyes using capillary electrophoresis
and Q-TOF mass spectrometry. Candidates must
be US citizens. Contact Dr.
Morgan for further information.
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