News & Events
Chemistry & Biochemistry Department

Grants & awards

• Dr. Miller received a $190,000 subaward from the U.S. Department of Energy to fund research on clean energy technologies with PI Dr. Shane Ardo at University of California, Irvine. This subaward is part of a collaboration of more than 20 scientists in labs across the country at universities and national labs that received $10.6 million to establish an Energy Frontier Research Center and the project is called “Ensembles of Photosynthetic Nanoreactors.”
• Dr. Cole, her Fort Lewis College research students, and collaborators at Ska Brewing received a 2022-2023 American Society of Brewing Chemists (ASBC) Project Grant in the amount of $14,664 to support their research collaboration on hops biotransformation.
• Dr. Collins received an NIH Biomedical Learning and Student Training (BLaST) subaward in the amount of $64,327 to support undergraduate research on natural products as antivirals in honeybees.
• Dr. Lee received an Outdoor Equity Grant (OEG) in the sum 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 to study polyamine biosynthesis in human gut microbes. This biosynthetic process is associated with colon cancer progression. The award is a collaboration with Dr. Miller and Dr. Cole at FLC and Dr. Moran at Univ. of Loyola-Chicago and will provide $500,000 in funding over 4 years.

Publications

Spring 2022

• Dr. Joslynn Lee and Dr. Jen Lowell hosted a microbiome data science workshop combining work in the field and in the lab.
• Dr. Ted Bartlett published in Synthesis, a culmination of 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 and 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 in 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 along 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