Chemistry Faculty Member Awarded BRIN Collaborative Research Grant (August 30, 2002)

Dr. T. Christian Grattan, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, in collaboration Dr. Daniel Reger, Professor of Chemistry at USC, has been awarded a $25,000 EPSCor/BRIN Collaborative Research Program Grant that is being partially funding by the University of South Carolina.  Winthrop's share of the grant is $13,360. The grant supports research from June - December 2002 on the Synthesis of Supramolecular Structures of Coordination Polymers formed from Fixed Geometry Linked Ligands.  The project focuses on investigation of novel ligands that have historically been difficult to synthesize and that have potential utility to link metal ions together to form single or multidimensional frameworks through self-assembly processes occurring on the nanoscale level.

The Collaborative Research Program is a statewide effort to build research infrastructure at primarily undergraduate institutions throughout the state.  The program requires collaborative partnerships between faculty at primarily undergraduate schools and research university faculty who are currently the Principal Investigator on another major funded research grant.

15 of the 43 proposals submitted to the CRP were competitively selected for funding after a series of external peer reviews.

Dr. Grattan's grant provides funding for student and faculty research and for research supplies.  The research grant has already resulted in the awarding of a summer research fellowship for a current Winthrop student, Monica Smith, who worked at USC on this project during the summer. The USC portion of the grant also funded a summer research fellowship for a May 2002 Winthrop chemistry graduate, Derek Elgin, who has enrolled in the Ph.D. program at USC.

Dr. Grattan's project will directly involve several Winthrop research students and could lead to additional funding next year.  Two abstracts for the upcoming Southeastern Regional meeting of the American Chemical Society have been submitted for work accomplished this summer.

Dr. Grattan is a B.S. Chemistry graduate of Allegheny College where he served as president of his senior class.  He completed his Ph.D. in 2000 at USC under the direction of Dr. Reger.  After teaching for a year at Davidson College as a Visiting Assistant Professor, Christian joined the Winthrop faculty in August 2001.  He has been actively involved during this past summer as a member of Winthrop's Science Area General Education Committee.