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Faculty Ronald Brisbois Staff Barbara Ekeberg Emeritus Faculty Truman Schwartz
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Ronald G. Brisbois Professor of Chemistry (Chair)B.A., Hamline University, 1985 Professor Brisbois, an organic chemist, joined the Macalester College Chemistry Department in September 2000, after initiating his career with a two year experience at Davidson College followed by eight rewarding and productive years on the Faculty of Hamline University (his undergraduate alma mater). To date, his primary teaching activities have focused on introductory organic chemistry, advanced organic chemistry, and general chemistry. Along with undergraduate student coworkers, Professor Brisbois engages in curriculum development efforts designed to improve the laboratory experience associated with introductory organic chemistry, especially in terms of experimental techniques and reactions illustrative of the contemporary state of organic chemistry. Professor Brisbois and his undergraduate student coworkers also conduct a variety of science outreach efforts particularly aimed at helping elementary school students understand some of the fundamental and exciting aspects of physical science important to their daily lives. Through his Ph.D. thesis research at MIT, Professor Brisbois developed an abiding interest in leveraging the power of modern synthetic methodology for the synthesis and design of organic natural products and theoretically interesting unnatural products. Integral involvement of undergraduate student coworkers as fully vested partners in these research efforts is reflected by the fact that Professor Brisbois has supervised 40 student research projects since 1990. Together, Professor Brisbois and his students have prepared a variety of novel cyclophanes, complex supramolecular self-assemblies, chiral ligands for transition metal-based catalyst design, and members of a new family of red fluorescent molecules. Several of these projects are conducted in collaboration with colleagues at Ph.D. granting institutions, imbuing the overall research experience with professional interactions not available at Macalester. Professor Brisbois has presented many invited lectures showcasing these undergraduate research efforts, with recent visits to MIT, University of Arizona, University of California-Irvine, UCLA, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Rochester. His varied research interests include synthetic methodology development, natural product total synthesis, ligand and catalyst design, cyclophane construction and transition metal-mediated supramolecular self-assembly. On a sabbatical in the Biomaterials Technology Center at 3M, he initiated and is now continuing investigations regarding highly fluorescent heaazaanthracene derivatives. In 1993, President Clinton designated him a Presidential Faculty Fellow, a five-year award given to support teaching and research efforts. Professor Brisbois is originally from Hibbing, Minnesota, on the Mesabi Iron Range. Away from the classroom and laboratory, Professor Brisbois enjoys fishing, golf, and hockey (i.e. the official Minnesota religion). The White Earth Indian Reservation, where his dad was born and raised, is his favorite retreat from the ebb and flow of the academic calendar. He is married (Jennifer), has two children (Jamie and Caroline), and has two dogs (Pippin--rat terrier and Merry--italian greyhound). A devoted fan of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and William Shakespeare, he has most recently become a Harry Potter fan and hopes to arrange his next sabbatical at the Hogwarts School for Wizards. Email: brisbois@macalester.edu |
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