(TCLS= Thursday Chemistry Lunch Seminar: 12.15-13 @ Tripletten
For ALL employees at the Chemistry Department!
Sondre H. Hopen Eliasson has (re)joined the Department of Chemistry, now as a researcher. After finishing his master’s degree in nanoscience at the physics department he wrote his doctoral thesis on the subject of Mechanistic studies of organometallic catalysts for fatty acid conversion, under the tutelage of Professor Vidar R. Jensen. Their collaboration will now continue with Sondre refocusing on computational studies of homogeneous electrocatalysts for reduction of CO2 as a part of the Nordic Consortium for CO2 Conversion (NCCO2) project.
I started the bachelor program in nanotechnology fall of 2014, and advanced to the master program in nanoscience under supervision of Vidar Jensen, spring of 2018. During my masters, I worked on the development of E-selective Ru catalysts for olefin metathesis, and my master thesis was titled: Computational Studies and Design ofStereoselective Ruthenium-Based Catalysts for Olefin Metathesis. As a PhD-student, I will continue to work on olefin metathesis, where I will research catalyst stability. With the results from this study, I will try to predict new, more stable catalysts, both for selective and non-selective olefin metathesis.
Professor Nathalie Reuter, CBU and Dept. Chemistry, has been elected member of the PRACE Scientific Steering Committee! PRACE, short for Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe, is an organization set to enable high-impact scientific discovery and engineering research and development, by offering world class computing and data management resources and services through a peer review process.
Quoting a recent Sigma2 newsletter: The Scientific Steering Committee is composed of European leading researchers that are responsible for advice and guidance on all matters of a scientific and technical nature, which may influence the scientific work carried out by the use of the PRACE supercomputers. Nathalie Reuter (..) will through the Scientific Steering Committee advise PRACE on how best to exploit the PRACE facilities to maximize the benefits to European Science.
We congratulate Nathalie and PRACE!
Jonas Himmelstrup has joined the Department of Chemistry as a PhD student under supervision of Vidar R. Jensen. Jonas will be working on developing molecular catalysts for ammonia synthesis by combining computational methods and experimental insight in order to design and synthesise highly efficient catalysts.
Jonas holds a bachelor and master’s degree from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) in Lyngby. The title of his master’s thesis was «Atroposelective Synthesis with Homogeneous Gold Complexes”
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:
University Board Agenda 14/20, 20.02.20
På Høyden 17.02.20
Det skal avhodles valg til instituttrådet for gruppe B og gruppe D for perioden 01.08.2020-31.07.2021. Frist for å fremme kandidater til instituttrådet er 20. mars.
Har du lyst til å stille, eller kjenner du noen som har lyst til å stille til valg, så vil Kristin Farkas veldig gjerne høre fra deg!
The candidates will be elected for the term 01.08.2020 – 31.07.2021 and voting starts 18th May at 09:00AM and ends 22th May at 12:00PM. We hereby ask for nominations – deadline 20. March 2020.
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!
Sara Barranco Campos has recently joined the Department of Chemistry as a PhD student in organic synthesis and medicinal chemistry under Hans-René Bjørsvik supervision. The subject of the project is medicinal imaging dedicated to the design and synthesis of PET-precursors prepared for 11C labelling, in collaboration with the Bergen Tracer Development Centre (Bergen-TDC) financed by the Trond Mohn foundation and the Tromsø research foundation.
Sara holds a bachelor’s degree from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain) and a master’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Bergen. The title of her master’s thesis was “Synthesis of imidazole core based small molecules for the treatment of SMA”.
Last Friday, Solmaz Ghoreishi successfully defended her PhD thesis Large-scale conversion of lignin to liquid through formic acid assisted solvolysis in aqueous and ethanolic reaction media: comparison of yields and product compositions. 
Solmaz has made signficant contributions to upscaling of the lignin-to-liquid process from small- to large-labscale (5L) reactors, which is an important step toward making it a viable industrial option. Both Solmaz and the two opponents did very well, making the disputation ceremony an interesting and enjoyable event for those present. Congratulations!