CHEMSEM 5 - New Frontiers in Cosmic Carbon
The faculty, students and staff of the Andrews University Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry are pleased to invite all to view a Zoom lecture by Brett A. McGuire, PhD, on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021, at 4:30 p.m. EST on New Frontiers in Cosmic Carbon. See the attached poster.
This is the fifth installment of the Dwain L. Ford Lecture Series in the Andrews University Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry 2021 spring seminar program. Everyone is invited to view the lecture at https://andrews.zoom.us/j/92307867479. The meeting ID is 923 0786 7479.
Teachers are encouraged to announce this lecture in their classes and/or forward this email to their classes. Please share and encourage your colleagues, friends and others to tune in online. This lecture is free and open to all: students, high school through college, and everyone in our community and general public.
The Dwain L. Ford Lecture Series is co-sponsored by the Andrews University Office of Research & Creative Scholarship, Berrien RESA Math Science Center and the Chemistry Honors Society.
Seminar Zoom Protocol:
- Mute your sound.
- Everyone can ask/write a question in the chat.
Abstract:
The detection of the aromatic molecule benzonitrile (C6H5CN) in the cold, dark, starless interstellar cloud TMC-1 has opened a new window onto a previously disregarded regime of carbon chemistry at the earliest stages of star formation. Recent work by the GOTHAM collaboration has revealed that benzonitrile is only the tip of the proverbial molecular iceberg in TMC-1, hinting at a new source for interstellar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). PAHs, by some accounts, are a reservoir of as much as 25 percent of all interstellar carbon, making a thorough understanding of their formation and evolution essential to unraveling the tangled web of cosmic molecular evolution. Our work has also shown that aromatic carbon chemistry—including PAHs—is apparently ubiquitous throughout the early star-formation cycle and into the protostellar phase. Here, I will discuss the extent of this previously hidden reservoir of carbon and its potential implications on the chemistry of forming star and planetary systems.
Speaker’s Bio:
Brett A. McGuire, professor, received his BS in chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2009 and his PhD in physical chemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 2014. He was a National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) Jansky Fellow and then a NASA Hubble Fellow from 2014–2020 at the NRAO and the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. In 2020, he started as an assistant professor of chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research in the McGuire Group uses the tools of physical chemistry, molecular spectroscopy, and observational astrophysics to understand how the chemical ingredients for life evolve with and help shape the formation of stars and planets.
PR
pr@andrews.edu
