Lectures to Focus on New Uses for an Ancient Technique in Chemistry
Dr. James D. Batteas of Texas A&M University will focus on new uses for an ancient technique in chemistry through two lectures while at Hope College on Thursday and Friday, March 10-11, through the college’s James and Jeanette Lectureship in Chemistry.
The public is invited to both talks. Admission is free.
Both of his presentations will discuss mechanochemistry, which is the application of mechanical force by grinding or shearing to drive a chemical reaction — such as through the use of a mortar and pestle. In his abstract, Batteas has described the method as a “simple approach of, in essence, doing chemistry with a hammer.”
His first lecture, “Mechanochemistry: From Antiquity to a Modern Approach for Sustainable Chemical Synthesis,” will be on Thursday, March 10, at 6 p.m. in Winants Auditorium of Graves Hall and is intended for a general audience. He will take a historical tour of mechanochemistry from ancient times to its modern applications, and consider ways that it is used or experienced every day, its implications for “green” chemistry since it doesn’t rely on solvents, and its potential not only on Earth but even for manufacturing on the moon and Mars.
His second lecture, “Mechanically Driven Reactions with Graphene: A Tale of Two Reaction Coordinates,” will be on Friday, March 11, at 4 p.m., also in Winants Auditorium of Graves Hall, and will be more technical in nature. He will discuss his research focused on further developing mechanochemistry for modern use.
Batteas is a Regents Professor and D. Wayne Goodman Professor of Chemistry and a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University (TAMU).
He is an expert in materials chemistry of surfaces and interfaces, with research activities spanning a broad range of fundamental surface and interfacial phenomena. These include studies of charge transport in organic molecular assemblies on surfaces, measured by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and modeled by density functional theory (DFT), nanoparticle catalysis, plasmonics, tribology, “smart” surfaces, and self-organizing nanoscale materials for device applications in optoelectronics and chemical sensing. His research in tribology focuses on the bridge between chemistry and mechanics, where his lab conducts atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies of atomic scale friction and wear of oxides and 2D nanomaterials. He had recently extended this work into fundamental studies of mechanochemistry and directs the new NSF Center for the Mechanical Control of Chemistry.
Batteas has been recognized twice by TAMU for excellence in teaching, receiving Association of Former Students Distinguished Teaching awards at both the college and university levels. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2012. He served as an associate editor (2011-14) and Editorial Board member of RSC Advances (2011-21), and presently serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of ACS Central Science.
He earned a B.S. in chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin in 1990 and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 1995.
The James and Jeanette Neckers Lectureship and Student Assistance Fund through which Batteas is speaking was established in 1984 by Dr. James W. and Jeanette Hoffman Neckers, members of the college’s Class of 1923, to support annual lectureships in chemistry. Through additional gifts from Dr. Neckers, the fund was expanded to include student summer research stipends and student scholarships.
James Neckers was chairman of the Department of Chemistry at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale for 37 of his 40 years at the university. Under his leadership, the department grew from a three-year offering in chemistry to granting the doctorate, and the faculty grew from three to 23. Jeanette Neckers died on June 10, 1992, and James Neckers died on May 8, 2004.
Audience members who need assistance to fully enjoy any event at Hope are encouraged to contact the college’s Events and Conferences Office by emailing events@hope.edu or calling 616-395-7222 on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Graves Hall is located at 263 College Ave., between 10th and 12th streets.