{"id":145619,"date":"2022-04-11T10:14:11","date_gmt":"2022-04-11T14:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=145619"},"modified":"2022-04-22T12:53:39","modified_gmt":"2022-04-22T16:53:39","slug":"meet-the-bonney-science-center-places-and-faces-no-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2022\/04\/11\/meet-the-bonney-science-center-places-and-faces-no-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Bonney Science Center places and faces (No. 3): whiteboarding solid-state chemist; chemical hygienist; and organic lab teacher"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Here\u2019s the third installment of our series that profiles, in images and words, each and every resident of Bates\u2019 newest academic building, Bonney Science Center, as they begin to engage with their wondrous new home and the students they work with. This week\u2019s profiles feature:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Geneva Laurita, an assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry who takes advantage of all that whiteboard space;<\/li>
Jonathan Witt, a stockroom manager and safety technician, who is the college’s official “chemical hygiene officer;” and<\/li>
Lorna Clark, an assistant in instruction, who works closely with students and the laboratory equipment she trains them to use. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\nPhyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Geneva Laurita<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Title<\/strong>: Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Joined Bates<\/strong>: 2017 Date Photographed<\/strong>: Oct. 12, 2021 She says<\/strong>: \u201cThe new layout and upgraded spaces are allowing my lab to branch out into new directions that were previously limited.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Touch your hand to almost any wall in one of Bonney’s hallways, classrooms, offices or lab, and you’ll mostly be touching whiteboard or pinboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sure, there\u2019s traditional sheetrock, but the amount of wall space devoted supporting communication feels distinctive, and totally in keeping with the mission of the building to elevate the capacity of Bates folks to exchange ideas, create knowledge, and foster community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Early one afternoon last October, during a class session for the course “Advanced Topics in Inorganic Chemistry,” Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Geneva Laurita used the expanse of whiteboard and a projector during one lesson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A solid-state chemist, Laurita\u2019s research concentrates on materials with energy and electronic applications. Considering her new lab in Bonney, she says that \u201cthe layout and improved space are allowing my lab to branch out into new directions that were previously limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her lab explores, as she once said, \u201cwhat the structure of a material is, how atoms interact with one another, and how does that give rise to physical properties \u2014 for example, how does it conduct electricity or interact with light?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which brings us to ion conductors, the topic of Laurita’s October lesson. While maintaining their solid state, ion conductors have near-magical properties: allowing ions \u2014 atoms or molecules that have an electric charge due to the loss or gain of one or more electrons \u2014 to move through them. This flow-through capacity is the basis for how a lithium-ion battery works, among other applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During this lesson, Laurita and her students made observations on materials and consulted the scientific literature to develop a set of principles that could be used to design high-performing ion conductors for battery applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor this class in particular, we took advantage of the 360-degree whiteboards to compile all their findings,\u201d she says. \u201cFrom that, we were easily able to use the collective knowledge of the class to come up with our \u2018guiding principles\u2019 for new battery materials.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The other day, we saw three students working together in one of the otherwise empty classrooms. The whiteboards are sure convenient when it comes to studying, one said. “When you fill up one section, you just move to the next.”<\/p>\n\n\n\nPhyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Jonathan Witt<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Title<\/strong>: Stockroom Manager and Safety Technician Joined Bates<\/strong>: 2019 Date Photographed<\/strong>: Nov. 4, 2021, and Feb. 8, 2022 He says<\/strong>: \u201cIf we have it, don’t order it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cChemists used to die young,\u201d says Jonathan Witt, noting the goal of one half of his job title, safety technician for the natural sciences at Bates, including the work done by chemists, biochemists, biologists, and neuroscientists in Bonney Science Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We were talking about how, in the late 19th and early 20th century, chemists had a cavalier attitude toward the dangerous chemicals in their labs, touching, smelling, and tasting them. And they smoked in their labs. All of which led to early, and sometimes explosive, deaths for more than a few.<\/p>\n\n\n\nPhyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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