Category: Hendingar
Trial lecture. Biofuels: Status, challenges and perspectives
MSc. Hilde Vik Halleraker delivers her lecture over given topic as partial fulfilment of the requirements for the ph.d. degree.
Title: . Biofuels: Status, challenges and perspectives.
Cecilie hjelper barista og promoterer kjemi
Som kjemikarar er vi godt kjent med at den molekylære samansetjinga til ei prøve er avgjerande for både fysikalske, kjemiske og sensoriske eigenskaper. Denne forståinga er ikkje like godt etablert i samfunnet ellers, og det var derfor gledeleg at Barista-Christian vende seg til Kjemisk institutt for å få innsikt i den kjemiske samansetjinga av mesterskapskaffien som han var så stolt over. 
Cecilie tok i mot utfordringa, og resultatet var både ein flott promoteringsvideo for kjemi, og ei sølvmedalje i Barista-NM for Christian. Så er det framleis eit stykke fram til det å utvikle den beste kaffien på basis av kjemiske analysar… Takk til kommunikasjonsgjengen på MN-fakultetet!
Congrat´s Dr Henrik!
Last Tuesday, Henrik Nicolay Sørgård defended, successfully and with great stamina, his thesis «Wetting in Porous Media: A Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Study» for the degree of ph.d. Stamina was surely needed, because only rarely has an opponent met better prepared than in this case — the number of well-designed slides exceeded 60. 
Congratulations are in order, and Henrik will surely enjoy his best summer vacation in years!
Nanoday is Today!
Have you ever visited an online poster session before? Today is your chance, when this year’s Nano100 students present their posters. The exhibition is open already, but the poster session with the presentees available to explain and elaborate starts at 1130 (waiting room opens at 1120). Welcome to all, and congrats to this year’s Nano100 students!
Kavli prize in nanoscience awarded
Today, the Kavli prizes for 2020 was awarded. Chair of the award committee for nano science, our colleague at the Physics department, professor Bodil Holst, had the honour of announcing the four winners.
This years winners receive the award because of their work to develop very accurate and aberration-corrected lenses for focusing electrons, thereby developing transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning TEM to sub-ångström resolution.
Dr Markus takes office
Last Wednesday, Markus Dörner was the first PhD candidate at our department to defend his PhD thesis at the comfort of his own home. The zoom-based event largely preserved the formal and timeless atmosphere of the physical dissertation ceremony and was a nice experience for active participants as well as spectators. The title of the thesis is «Investigation of the molecular and isotopic response to deposition, thermal maturity, hydrocarbon generation, and expulsion: A multidisciplinary approach based on the Cenozoic sequences on Svalbard.» Dr Dörner gave a very convincing performance in terms of presenting and defending his work. Congratulations!
Very welcome news: Funding for chemistry laboratories at RFB
The Norwegian government has allocated money to selected projects for upgrading physical infrastructure for eduction. In the words of the minister for research and higher education, Henrik Asheim, «studentene ønsker også mer undervisning der de deltar aktivt. Det krever at vi har auditorier, laboratorier, verksteder og andre undervisnings-lokaler som gir bedre mulighet for deltakelse.» UiB receives 25 MNOK for upgrading chemistry laboratories in the Science building, under the explicit condition that UiB allocates matching funds or more, to the same purpose.
UiB prioritizes upgrading of teaching and laboratory space at the Department of Chemistry
It is planned to build two new laboratories, HelseLab and EnergiLab, that will provide new opportunities for research and teaching. The measures liberate areas for student-active learning and will also involve upgrading parts of the technical infrastructure in the building.
Further reading:
Congrats Dr Sondre!
Today, Sondre Hilmar Hopen Eliasson successfully defended his PhD thesis Mechanistic insight for improved catalytic conversion of fatty acids to linear alpha-olefins. This is his contribution to the ongoing world-wide effort of developing chemical transformations for molecular resources of biological origin into modern commodity and platform chemicals. 
Sondre was first exposed to catalysis research in 2010 as part of the Nano100 experience, where he worked with Karl Törnroos to determine the structure of a Ru-based metathesis catalyst. After completing an MSc in nanoscience at the physics department he returned to chemistry and the Jensen laboratory, and today completed the circle by becoming Philosophiae Doctor. Congratulations!