July 16, 1997 Contact Ross West (541) 346-3134 Editor's Note: You may contact two of the University of Oregon students featured in this story this summer at the following numbers: Mike Bell, (406) 273-2617, and Manuel DeLeon, (541) 338-7579. Professor Michael Haley can be reached at (541) 346-0456; e-mail, haley@oregon.uoregon.edu. EUGENE--Three University of Oregon undergraduates have achieved what many veteran scientists and professors have only dreamed about. The trio, along with two UO researchers, co-authored a scientific paper recently published in America's top chemistry journal, the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Their peer-reviewed journal article describes breakthrough techniques the group developed that enable scientists to build many new molecules that may be used to create a wide variety of useful materials. "It was very exciting to be published in such a prestigious journal," says Mike Bell of Missoula, Mont., one of the undergraduate research authors. "It was something I thought only grad students got the opportunity to do." Bell, who is enrolled in the UO Honors College, is majoring in general science with an emphasis in chemistry. He has worked for about one year in the laboratory of Michael Haley, assistant professor of chemistry. "It is one thing to hear a lecture or do class-related lab work," Haley explains, "but it is much more engaging and exciting to do real cutting-edge research under the direction of a professor. I got my start doing undergraduate research, and now I can give that opportunity to students working in my lab." Undergraduates working for Haley are usually junior or senior level students or occasionally even exceptional freshmen or sophomores who have completed preparatory courses such as organic chemistry. With Haley's approval, the students sign up for the advanced research class, Chemistry 401, and for the work they perform receive academic credit toward their degree. But credit hours are not the only benefit for signing up for "Chem 401." "It gave me the chance to be a scientist," says Bell, who will begin medical school at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland in the fall. "It gave me an opportunity to apply all that I have studied and gave me a glimpse of what being a scientist is all about." Also appearing as authors of the paper were Jamieson English, a chemistry major from Portland; Charles Johnson, a chemistry major from Ridgecrest, Calif.; and Timothy Weakly, UO research associate. The undergraduate scientists helped Haley investigate the promising chemistry of carbon-rich molecules. This rapidly evolving area of research was recognized in last year's Nobel Prize award in chemistry given to chemist Richard Smalley, the discoverer of carbon-rich "Buckeyballs," soccer-ball shaped molecules composed of 60 carbon atoms. "With a buckeyball, you have a large molecule of one set shape with a number of interesting properties," Haley says. "In contrast, our group is interested in building up lots of different large molecules with lots of different and potentially useful properties from smaller pieces. It's almost like snapping together Legos." Large molecules--polymers, such as the common plastics, polystyrene and polyethylene, that are used to make everyday items such as kitchen containers, molded packaging and foam cups, are made up of large numbers of styrene and ethylene components, Haley explains. When banded together, these components form materials that are remarkably useful and versatile. Haley's group has developed ways to band together whole new sets of components. Among other duties, his undergraduate scientists synthesize the component pieces from which these new molecules are being "snapped together." "These molecules simply could not be created using old methods," Haley says. "The paper we published shows how to make these molecules using our technique." With Bell and the rest of last year's student-researchers now graduated, Haley is restaffing his lab with a new group. Among them is Manuel DeLeon, a junior biochemistry major from Gresham, Ore. "This experience is helping me put into practice the things I've learned in my classes," DeLeon says. "I am learning useful skills and techniques from Mike [Haley] and the graduate students in the lab that I expect to be very useful in graduate school and beyond." -30- #F-7301/Local,OrDailies,OrSci,hometowns