Group News
- Buss Group F25 Update
December 6th – Our Group rang in the Holidays with a wonderful party hosted by Josh full of delicious food, libations, Mario kart racing and a ping pong tournament! Happy holidays to all!
November 8th – Graden was selected to give an oral presentation at the annual Ohio Inorganic Weekend, at Miami University. Great job, Graden!
The Buss group’s proposal to advance understanding of catalytic CO2 reduction and C–C coupling at surface-like copper clusters has been selected for funding by the DOE as part of the Early Career Research Program in Catalysis Science! This 5-year grant will enable group investigations of the early- (CO2 deoxygenation), mid- (C1 surface species), and late-stage (beyond C2 products) mechanisms of CO2RR. Way to go, team!
September 13th – Matt, Graden, and Kelsey presented posters, while Dylan was selected to give an oral presentation at the annual Michigan Inorganic Chemistry Symposium (MICS) hosted by Wayne State University. Way to represent the team, Dylan!
- Buss Group Summer 2025 Update
August 17th – Claire, Dylan and Graden all had the opportunity to present their research giving oral presentations at the fall meeting of the American Chemical Society in Washington, DC. Way to represent the Buss group on a national stage!
August 7th – Andrew rounds out the first cohort of students to graduate after another successful Ph.D. defense. His dissertation titled “A Molecular Tricopper Model System: Informing Mechanisms in Catalytic Reductions via Robust Structure-Property Relationships” is a tour de force in inorganic synthesis, catalysis, and thermochemistry. Way to go Dr. Beamer!
August 5th – The Buss group’s Early-Stage Investigator MIRA Proposal has been selected for funding by the NIH! This 5-year grant will facilitate research exploring metal-metal cooperativity both in complex enzyme active sites and as a design feature in next-generation molecular catalysts. This wouldn’t be possible without the tireless efforts of group members past and present.
July 31st –Matt, Dylan, Graden, and Kelsey all presented posters at the annual Karle Symposium. Congratulations to Matt on winning an outstanding poster award!
July 10th – Hayley quickly follows, defending her thesis and successfully earning her Ph.D. She will leave behind her awesome work on “Multinuclear Nickel Complexes Featuring Unusual Oxygenic Ligands: Hydrogen Peroxide Activation, Catalase Reactivity, and Efforts Toward C–H Activation” to begin her new career at Wacker Chemical. Way to go Dr. Lillo!
July 3rd – Michela became the first Buss group member to successfully defend her Ph.D. and earn the title of doctor, with her exceptional thesis entitled: “Synthesis, Characterization, and Reactivity of Molecular Metal Hydride Clusters.” Way to go Dr. Maiola!
June 9th – Although it took some time, Josh’s project highlighting the extraordinary glassblowing facilities here at UM Chemistry finally came to fruition. You can watch the full video here. The wait was worth it.
A big thank you to Roy Wentz for everything he does to facilitate our research.
- Buss Group 24/25 Update
6 May, 2025 – The group celebrates Dylan and Claire completing their 3rd year seminar at Bills Beer Garden. Congrats on another milestone down!
28 April, 2025 – Congratulations to Matt for completing his data meeting!
9 April, 2025 – Slam Dunk! Graden passed his gateway exam with flying colors, great work!
8 April, 2025 – Andrew and Michela were recognized for their terrific work with Chemistry Department Awards. Andrew garnered the Alumni Fund Outstanding Graduate Student Research Award and Michela was recognized with a Margaret & Herman Sokol Graduate Research Fellowship. Stupendous!
2 April, 2025 – Michela just published her metal-metal salt metathesis chemistry in Inorg. Chem. Frontiers. Check out the unique low-valent tantalum/gold clusters here. Great work Michela!
31 March, 2025 – Kelsey Zimmerman officially becomes the newest Buss group member, Welcome Kelsey, we’re excited to have you!
7 February, 2025 – Andrew published his copper NOx chemistry in an awesome ACIE communication. Check out the surface relevant reductive coupling of NO and denitrification of N2O here. Great work Andrew!
1 November, 2024 – Hayley and Michela were both recognized with prestigious Chemistry Department Fellowships to support their research efforts this upcoming winter term. Awesome job, you two!
18 August, 2024 – Andrew, Michela, Hayley, Matt and Claire got the chance to present their work to a diverse scientific audience at the ACS fall meeting in Colorado.
26 July, 2024 – Graden, Claire, Dylan, Matt and Andrew are selected for Poster awards at the departmental Karle Symposium. Way to go team!
8 July, 2024 – Hayley published her nickel peroxycarbonate chemistry in chemical communications. Check out the unique peroxide and CO2 coordination chemistry here. Great work Hayley!
