News & Events
Chemistry & Biochemistry Department

Grants & awards

• Dr. Joslynn Lee, Dr. Jared Beeton, and Dr. Joanna Gordon-Casey were awarded $1.2 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to transform environmental science and environmental justice education at FLC.

Faculty recognition

• Fort Lewis College Featured Scholar Award – Dr. McFarlane
• Dr. Lamb was featured in the Bringing Chemistry to Life Podcast called “Shining a Photochemical Light on Undergraduate Research” produced by Thermo Fisher Scientific

Grants & awards

• Dr. Lee and collaborator Dr. Caporaso at NAU lead the Four Corners Science and Computing Club (4CSCC) and received funding through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to engage Native American middle school, high school, and college students in open-source scientific software development in the Four Corners region bringing $40,806 in funding to Fort Lewis College.
• The National Institute of Health awarded Dr. McFarlane a $100,000 supplemental equipment grant to purchase a stopped-flow spectrometer for measuring enzyme kinetics.

Publications

• Dr. Kenny Miller, Dr. David Blake, and FLC undergraduate students published in Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry on Improved synthesis of deoxyalpinoid B and quantification of antileishmanial activity of deoxyalpinoid B and sulforaphane.
• Dr. Jeff McFarlane, an FLC undergraduate student and collaborators at the University of Kansas, published on the Biocatalytic Furfuryl Alcohol Production with Ethanol as the Terminal Reductant Using a Single Enzyme in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.
• Dr. Joslynn Lee, Dr. Jennifer Lowell, and student coauthors published their work in the peer-reviewed journal Molecular Ecology Resources on Monitoring environmental microbiomes: Alignment of microbiology and computation biology competencies within a culturally integrated curriculum and research framework.  
• Dr. Callie Cole, her FLC undergraduate students, and local collaborator Ska Brewing published their work on Aroma Profile Development in Beer Fermented with Azacca, Idaho-7, and Sultana Hops in the journal Molecules.
• Dr. Jeff McFarlane along with collaborator Dr. Kenny Miller and six FLC undergraduate studies published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry on Kinetic and structural characterization of carboxyspermidine dehydrogenase of polyamine biosynthesis.
• Dr. Izzy Lamb lent his kinetic simulation and analysis expertise to a large collaborative project between FLC, Colorado State University, The University of New South Wales, AstraZeneca and New Iridium to publish on Halide Noninnocence and Direct Photoreduction of Ni(II) Enables Coupling of Aryl Chlorides in Dual Catalytic, Carbon–Heteroatom Bond-Forming Reactions in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Faculty recognition

• 2023 National Diversity in STEM Outstanding College/University Mentor Award – Dr. Lee
• Service to Fort Lewis College Award – Dr. Joslynn Lee
• Dr. Joslynn Lee was interviewed by NPR’s All Things Considered to discuss reclaiming education for Native people at a former boarding school
• 2023 Neuner Award for Excellence in Scholarly-Professional Publication “CTLs as University Change Levers”– Dr. Renee Beeton

Grants & awards

• Dr. Lee, along with Dr. Fenster, Dr. Gordon-Casey, and Sherri Springs, were awarded $377,800 from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Inclusive Excellence (IE3) Grant to increase capacity to support equitable and inclusive learning environments for introductory level students at Fort Lewis College.
• Dr. Miller received a $190,000 sub-award from the U.S. Department of Energy to fund research on clean energy technologies with PI Dr. Shane Ardo at the University of California, Irvine. This sub-award is part of a collaboration of more than 20 scientists in labs nationwide at universities and national labs that received $10.6 million to establish an Energy Frontier Research Center. The project is called “Ensembles of Photosynthetic Nanoreactors.”
• Dr. Cole, her Fort Lewis College research students, and collaborators at Ska Brewing received a $14,664 2022-2023 American Society of Brewing Chemists (ASBC) Project Grant to support their research collaboration on hops biotransformation.
• Dr. Collins received an NIH Biomedical Learning and Student Training (BLaST) sub-award of $64,327 to support undergraduate research on natural products as antivirals in honeybees.
• Dr. Lee received an Outdoor Equity Grant (OEG) of $25,020 to outfit diverse first-year students to access public lands in Durango, Colorado. With this support, Dr. Lee will take her First-Year Launch class, “Chemistry on the Trail,” and the new people of color hiking RSO out on local in-town trails and head up to two high-country trails.
• Dr. McFarlane's research lab received an NIH R16 award for studying polyamine biosynthesis in human gut microbes. This biosynthetic process is associated with colon cancer progression. The award is a collaboration between Dr. Miller and Dr. Cole at FLC and Dr. Moran at Univ. of Loyola-Chicago, and it will provide $500,000 in funding over four years.

Publications

• Dr. Renee Beeton, along with collaborators from the University of Denver, Colorado Mountain College, and Adams State University, published their work on CTLs as University Change Levers: Integrating Equity-Mindedness Into the Faculty Development Cycle in the Journal of Higher Education Management.
• Dr. Joslynn Lee and Dr. Jen Lowell hosted a microbiome data science workshop that combined work in the field and the lab.
• Dr. Ted Bartlett published in Synthesis, culminating 40 years of research with undergraduate students at FLC.
• Dr. Renee Beeton published her curricular redesign work in the Journal of Latinos and Education and The International Journal of ePortfolios.  
• Dr. Callie Cole, Dr. Kenny Miller, and their research students were featured in a video promoting the 2022 FLC Research Scholar Award Winners.
• Dr. Michael Grubb was featured in the Durango Herald for his work creating, organizing, and presenting at the FLC Science Open House.
• Dr. Callie Cole and FLC students published their work exploring the chemistry of hopping cider in Applied Sciences.
• Dr. Aimee Morris and FLC students published their synthetic research with collaborator Dr. Brian Newell at CSU in the special issue Traditional and Innovative Catalysts for Reactions of Industrial Interest in the journal Reactions.
• Dr. Callie Cole and FLC students published their work on the chemistry of apple varieties used in cider fermentation in the Journal of the American Society of Brewing Chemists.

Fall 2022

• Dr. Kenny Miller and FLC students published their work on the efficient total synthesis of three alpinoids in Tetrahedron Letters.

Grants & awards

• Dr. Miller and Dr. Collins received an NIH BLaST Equipment award to purchase new FTIR instruments for the organic chemistry labs.

Publications

Spring 2021

• Dr. Joslynn Lee was interviewed for the New York Times about training the next generation of indigenous data scientists.
• Dr. Jeff McFarlane and collaborating professors successfully received ASBMB accreditation for the FLC Biochemistry Major.

Fall 2021

• Dr. Joslynn Lee was featured in a Rocky Mountain PBS article and video describing her work on the FLC History Committee to remove inaccurate panels about FLC’s history as an Indian Boarding School.
• Dr. Kenny Miller, Dr. Nathan DeYonker, and FLC students published their computational insight into the rope-skipping isomerization of diarylether cyclophanes in Symmetry.
• Dr. Aimee Morris and FLC students published their work on ligand-anchored artificial metalloenzymes in Metamorphosis.
• Dr. William Collins published his work on honeybee viral loads and health in Applied Sciences.
• Dr. Callie Cole and her research students were featured in FLC Voices Magazine and the Durango Herald for their local research collaborations focused on fermentation science.

Faculty recognition

• Fort Lewis College Featured Scholar Award – Dr. Collins

Grants & awards

• Dr. Lee, Dr. Lowell and Dr. McFarlane received an NIH BLaST Equipment award to purchase a MacPro tower for data processing.
• FLC's Chemistry degree with a minor in Forensic Studies was named as one of the most affordable bachelor’s programs in Crime Scene Investigation and Forensic Science for 2020-21.
• Dr. Morris received an NIH Biomedical Learning and Student Training (BLaST) subaward in the amount of $52,785 to support undergraduate research on cobalt prodrugs.
• Dr. McFarlane received an NIH Biomedical Learning and Student Training (BLaST) subaward in the amount of $59,539 to support undergraduate research on polyamine biosynthesis in the human gut microbiome.
• Agilent Technologies has donated a $511,661 LC-QQQ to Dr. Cole’s research lab.
• Dr. Miller received an NSF-MRI Grant for a new FT-NMR.

Publications

Spring 2020

• Dr. Michael Grubb published his paper, "Identification of the Natural Origin of Waterproofing Pine Pitch in Historical Southwest Native American Basketry Through Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry" in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
• Dr. Callie Cole and FLC students published their cider fermentation research in collaboration with EsoTerra Ciderworks in the journal Beverages.
• Dr. Joslynn Lee was featured in Chemical and Engineering News about her career in both industry and academia.

Grants & awards

• Dr. Cole was awarded the Undergraduate Analytical Research Program grant through the Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh for $10,000 to support FLC student summer research on cider analysis.
• Dr. Cole was awarded the $20,000 American Society for Mass Spectrometry’s Research at PUI’s (Primarily Undergraduate Institutions) Award funded by Agilent Technologies to support undergraduate student research in mass spectrometry.
• Dr. Collins was awarded a $414,000 grant from the USDA to study natural products for honeybee immunity and disease resistance.
• Dr. Morris and Dr. McFarlane received an NIH BLaST Equipment award to purchase a Cary 60 UV/Vis spectrometer.

Publications

Spring 2019

• Dr. Collins and Dr. Blake published their work on bactericidal compounds against Paenibacillus larvae in Biomolecules.

Fall 2019

• Dr. Collins published his work on natural product medicines for honeybees in Insects.

Faculty recognition

• Fort Lewis College Kathy Wellborn Outstanding Teacher Award – Mr. Dickson
• Fort Lewis College Ginny Hutchins Teaching Award for New Faculty – Dr. Cole

Grants & awards

• Dr. Grubb and Dr. Paciaroni were awarded the National Science Foundation’s RENAU (Research Experience for Native American Undergraduates) grant for $388,486 to support undergraduate student research in energy-related research.

Publications

• Dr. Aimee Morris and FLC students published their work on a New Cobalt(III) Coordination Complex with Potential Prodrug Properties in Bioinorganic Chemistry and Applications.
• Dr. Michael Grubb and FLC students publish their work utilizing music to better understand quantum mechanics in this Journal of Chemical Education article.

Faculty recognition

• Fort Lewis College Achievement Award – Dr. Miller