Sep 13, 2010 - Claremont, CA -

Two recent grants from the National Science Foundation will support student and faculty research at Harvey Mudd College.

Associate professor of chemistry Adam Johnson’s project, “Asymmetric Catalytic Hydroamination of Aminoallenes by Chiral Tantalum Cyclopentadienyl-amide-alkoxide Complexes,” addresses fundamental needs in current synthetic methodology: a readily prepared chiral catalyst for asymmetric hydroamination and stereospecific lactide polymerization. Johnson said, “The project will provide students with opportunities to examine modern problems in synthetic organometallic chemistry. They will synthesize and purify new compounds and perform the necessary catalytic reactions.”

A second grant, in support of associate professor of physics Vatche Sahakian’s work on “Aspects of Non-Local Dynamics in String Theory,” will aid in the exploration of non-local dynamics in physics and black hole physics in quantum gravity. Sahakian said, “Students will look at toy models illustrating non-locality in the context of string theory in an effort to unravel many ill-understood though fundamental aspects. Applications we will consider include black hole formation and modeling the primordial plasma of the Big Bang.”