Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Steve Zimmerman @steveczimmerman.bsky.social · Jun 23

Thanks, Aoon! So great to work with you at Illinois and really appreciate your ongoing friendship.

Steve Zimmerman @steveczimmerman.bsky.social · May 21

My last three students at Illinois. Congratulations to Dr. Joel Roberts, Dr. Nafisa Ibrahim (co-advised by @jrl-electrochem.bsky.social), and Astarte Abbott. Three amazing students with a bright careers ahead!

Prof Steve Zimmerman in black cap and gown flanked by three students in blue cap and gowns standing in front of red brick building. All three graduates are holding their diplomas.

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Steve Zimmerman @steveczimmerman.bsky.social · Apr 5

Nice work!

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JRL EChem Lab @ Illinois @jrl-electrochem.bsky.social · Mar 20

Some of the wildest voltammograms we’ve seen! And how to avoid them (just soak!) See our recent grad Nafisa’s systematic redox copolymers - synthesis, CV, SEIRAS and bulk electrolysis tour de force - in collab with @steveczimmerman.bsky.social #chemsky #electrochem pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Synthesis, Voltammetry, and Spectroelectrochemical Characterization of Tunable Ferrocene-Jeffamine Redox-Active (Co)polymers: Controlling Redox and Ionic Interactions Through Composition

There is a critical need for predictably modulating the reactivity of redox-active polymers (RAPs) to improve their performance in applications such as catalysis, energy storage, and sensing. However,...

pubs.acs.org

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Reposted by Steve Zimmerman

JRL EChem Lab @ Illinois @jrl-electrochem.bsky.social · Mar 13

You beat us to the post 🥳 An absolute pleasure to work with Nafisa over these years! Pretty soon we will share her work on redox-active polymers!

Steve Zimmerman @steveczimmerman.bsky.social · Mar 13

Congratulations to ZGroup and RodriguezGroup student Nafisa Ibrahim on passing her PhD defense. Super proud of this amazing scientist and wonderful person! 🥳🤩👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Professors Joaquin Lopez Rodriguez and Steven Zimmerman standing on either side of Nafisa Ibrahim. All three smiling.

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Steve Zimmerman @steveczimmerman.bsky.social · Mar 13

Congratulations to ZGroup and RodriguezGroup student Nafisa Ibrahim on passing her PhD defense. Super proud of this amazing scientist and wonderful person! 🥳🤩👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

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Ivan Huc Group @akhuc.bsky.social · Feb 27

Please check out our Angew. communication on DNA mimic foldamers that can outcompete DNA itself in the binding of proteins! 🧬

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

DNA Mimic Foldamer Recognition of a Chromosomal Protein

Biomolecular mimics are intended to outperform their natural counterparts. However, B-DNA surface mimicry to target DNA-binding proteins has long remained underdeveloped. We have introduced helical a...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Steve Zimmerman

Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · Mar 4

The irony of my column on a promising new data on personalized mRNA-based vaccine for pancreatic cancer coming out the same day that Iowa gets closer to banning "gene-based vaccines" is not lost on me. gift link:

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Steve Zimmerman @steveczimmerman.bsky.social · Mar 4

Whether there is another election or not may well be irrelevant. Good chance they will have firm control of the election machinery by then so the dear leader can win in a popular landslide.

Chemjobber @chemjobber.bsky.social · Mar 4

The last one is, I think, basically baked in. I see no indication that Trump will voluntarily leave office after his term is up, and I predict he will make noises about a third term before December 31, 2026.

Daniel Drezner @dandrezner.bsky.social · Mar 4

I'm not sure there is a bound. I gave a presentation yesterday in which I predicted more airplane crashes, pandemics, and nuclear proliferation--and a nonzero chance Trump serves a third term. I don't think that last one is *likely* but given recent events I can't see why it should be ruled out.

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Steve Zimmerman @steveczimmerman.bsky.social · Mar 2

An organic reaction that is both interesting and highly useful.

Lemcoff Group Ben Gurion University @lemcoffgroupbgu.bsky.social · Mar 2

Can you guess the products of these reactions? check out our latest publication to find out!
chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
#OrganicChemistry #Stereospesific #Radicals

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Reposted by Steve Zimmerman

Matthieu Sollogoub @msollogoub.bsky.social · Jan 6

Here is a tentative Supramolecular Chemistry starter kit. Please let me know if you wish to be added ! #ChemSky
go.bsky.app/RjRgi6n

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Reposted by Steve Zimmerman

Stu Cantrill @stuartcantrill.com · Feb 27

Lots of RSC journals popping up on Bluesky (with proper domain names - well done!) including @chemicalscience.rsc.org; flagging for #Chemsky

a picture of a penguin with the word hello on it

Alt: A picture of a cartoon penguin waving 'hello'; with the caption 'hello' at the bottom of the gif

media.tenor.com

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Steve Zimmerman @steveczimmerman.bsky.social · Feb 26

Heartbreaking day in Israel as Shiri Bibas and her two sons Kfir and Ariel are buried in a single coffin. 😢

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Esther Johnston @estherjohnston.bsky.social · Feb 19

In our #ChemSci Pick of the Week today, Barry Carpenter argues that the "allowed" and "forbidden" classifications for electrocyclic reactions should be abandoned, based on NEVPT2 and DFT calculations.

Judge the evidence for yourself #ChemSky #CompChemSky 🧪! Read it free: doi.org/10.1039/D4SC...

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Steve Zimmerman @steveczimmerman.bsky.social · Feb 18

Great talk by Gabi Lemcoff showing how solid solution synthesis produces latent metathesis catalysts.

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Steve Zimmerman @steveczimmerman.bsky.social · Feb 18

Exciting time in Jerusalem - my first ICS meeting.

Lemcoff Group Ben Gurion University @lemcoffgroupbgu.bsky.social · Feb 18

Start of 88th ICS meeting. The whole Lemcoff group is attending.

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Katie Langin @klangin.bsky.social · Feb 17

Thanks to everyone who shared this request. We updated our new Trump Tracker blog today with the voices of some federal scientists who reached out. More to come.

www.science.org/content/arti...

Trump Tracker: Firings, lawsuits and U.S. science in chaos

Follow President Donald Trump’s impact on U.S. research and science globally

www.science.org

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Steve Zimmerman @steveczimmerman.bsky.social · Feb 9

Bailey was a founder of the Museum of Bedouin Culture at the Joe Alon Center at the Kibbutz Lahav which I had the good fortune to visit last week.

Picture of inside of museum of bedouin culture showing a Bedouin person sitting on a carpet with cooking implements

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Steve Zimmerman @steveczimmerman.bsky.social · Feb 9

Clinton Bailey, Who Documented a Vanishing Bedouin Culture, Dies at 88. What an amazing life! A series of chance meetings, including Ben Gurion's wife, and a curious nature leads to the extraordinarily important task of documenting Bedouin life.
www.nytimes.com/2025/01/22/w...

Clinton Bailey, Who Documented a Vanishing Bedouin Culture, Dies at 88

Armed with a camera and tape recorder, he spent decades preserving the ancient traditions of nomadic Middle Eastern tribes.

www.nytimes.com

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Carolyn Bertozzi @carolynbertozzi.bskyverified.social · Feb 8

Another assault on US competitiveness at a time when biomedicine is roaring with innovation, an own-goal in a high-stakes international tournament. Of course the real losers are American people needing medicines and cures.

www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

NIH cuts billions of dollars in biomedical funding, effective immediately

The move halts a large slice of money for most universities and research institutions virtually overnight, imperiling vital research in everything from cancer to heart disease.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · Feb 7

Black excellence: Twice as qualified, half as respected, and still passed over or labeled as a ‘DEI hire.’

Black folks have always known this because we’ve seen it happen to our own family members. I know I have.

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Steve Zimmerman @steveczimmerman.bsky.social · Feb 7

So sad. The retreat from excellence by a private foundation signals just how much the fear of these people is driving behavior.

Cliò Agrapidis @cagrap.bsky.social · Feb 7

🧪👩🏻‍🔬

Science Magazine @science.org · Feb 6

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the nation’s largest private funder of biomedical research, yesterday killed a $60 million program aimed at making universities’ STEM education more inclusive. scim.ag/3EtS0US

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Reposted by Steve Zimmerman

Lindsey R. F. Backman @lbackman.bsky.social · Feb 2

Only a couple years ago I learned that the structure of the alpha helix was solved by Herman Branson, a Howard professor who was doing a sabbatical with Pauling at the time, despite initial pushback from Pauling and Corey that his proposed helix model was much too tight. #BlackHistoryMonth

Picture of Herman Branson standing in front of equipment in his lab.

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Reposted by Steve Zimmerman

Fors Group @forsgroup.bsky.social · Jan 29

Oh my 2,3-dihydrofuran,
I don’t know know any monomer cooler than
Thee.

Your cyclic vinyl ether,
Makes thermosetting so much easier
For me:

You ROMP in the dark, Crosslink in the light,
Recycle to monomer under vacuum overnight.
Degrade in acid or with a lot of O2,
Oh DHF this is an ode to you.

Degradable thermosets via orthogonal polymerizations of a single monomer - Nature

Degradable thermoset multimaterials can be synthesized from a commercially accessible, biosourced monomer using orthogonal polymerizations in a single pot; after selective degredation, the resulting s...

www.nature.com

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Sarah Whorley, Ph.D. @dralgaegirl.bsky.social · Jan 28

Find out what the economic impact of the NSF is in your state new.nsf.gov/about/about-...

NSF by the Numbers

NSF by the Numbers provides statistical and funding information for awards, NSF-funded institutions, funding rate, proposals evaluated, and obligations by fiscal year

new.nsf.gov

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