Michael Wentzel has been named the inaugural Terry ’73 and Janet Lindstrom Endowed Professor of Chemistry at Augsburg University, effective June 1, 2024.��

“We are so fortunate to have Michael Wentzel on our faculty,” said Paula O’Loughlin, provost and senior vice president for academic and student affairs. “He is an extraordinary teacher and an outstanding scientist. Even more significant is his generosity as a colleague and mentor. By engaging undergraduate students as partners in his own impressive research program, he helps students unlock possibilities they never imagined before, both for themselves and for a more sustainable future.”��

Wentzel is an organic chemist whose research focuses on the growing field of green chemistry, a systems-based approach that incorporates sustainability considerations into the the design, development, and implementation of chemical products and processes. As one of the first green chemists to be named a fellow by the Science Communication Network in 2018–19, he also works to help students and other researchers communicate their methods and findings to the public more effectively.��

Wentzel received a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Minnesota in 2011. He joined Augsburg’s chemistry department in 2013, where he currently oversees STEM summer research and serves as department chair. He also serves as interim director of Augsburg’s Office of Undergraduate Research and Graduate Opportunity.������

“Michael Wentzel’s approach to teaching and scholarship is exactly the kind of leadership Terry and Janet Lindstrom desired to support with their transformative investment in our new School of Natural Sciences,” said Augsburg President Paul Pribbenow. “Whether in the lab, in the classroom, or on the chemistry club intramural basketball team, he is steadfast in his commitment to hands-on learning and in saying ‘yes’ to helping our students reach their goals.”

The Terry ’73 and Janet Lindstrom Endowed Professorship of Chemistry was established in 2024. Terry Lindstrom, a current member of Augsburg’s Board of Regents and a retired distinguished research fellow at Eli Lilly and Company, holds numerous patents supporting life-changing drugs, including Evista and Cymbalta. Together, the Lindstroms have provided generous philanthropic support to Augsburg students for more than 40 years.

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An organic chemist with a focus on systems-level thinking, Associate Professor Michael Wentzel is out to make science more sustainable.

“Chemistry doesn’t have to be the solution to the problems it created—it could just not create them,” he says in the June 2022 cover story in Private University Products and News Magazine.

to learn more about Wentzel’s path from his family’s Iowa hardware store to chairing Augsburg’s chemistry department, how green chemistry is “benign by design,” and why he’s on a mission to improve science communication.

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Augsburg College is joining a research group tasked with exploring the benefits and potential risks of nanotechnology.

Augsburg��has been added as a partner to the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology, a multi-institutional research center based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.��Supported through a nearly $20 million award of National Science Foundation funding over the next five years,��the CSN includes 15 innovative faculty members from research institutions��across the United States.

Z. Vivian Feng, associate professor of chemistry, is leading Augsburg’s participation in the center.

Nanotechnology involves the use of materials at the smallest scale, including the manipulation of individual atoms and molecules.

Products that use nanoscale materials range from beer bottles and car wax to solar cells and electric and hybrid car batteries. If you read your books on a Kindle, a semiconducting material manufactured at the nanoscale underpins the high-resolution screen.

While there are already hundreds of products that use nanomaterials in various ways, much remains unknown about how these modern materials and the tiny particles they are composed of interact with the environment and living things.

Feng first became involved in the CSN during the final��year of its first grant phase, which corresponded with her 2014-15 sabbatical. Her expertise in characterizations of nanomaterials and model membranes, as well as analytical method development will contribute to the understanding of various interactions at the highly complex nano-bio interfaces.

In particular, Feng will lead a��team of undergraduate researchers in exploring the various toxicity mechanisms of nanomaterials to environmentally-beneficial bacteria to provide insight to redesign nanomaterials that are benign in the environment. Under Feng’s direction, Augsburg College students Hilena Frew ’17, Lyle Nyberg ’17, and Thu Nguyen ’16��contributed to the CSN’s initial research phase. Frew and Nguyen will continue working as undergraduate researchers with the support of a stipend from the new NSF grant in the coming year. Find additional information about Feng’s research interests and mentorship on her .

Along with UW-Madison and Augsburg, research partners on the grant include the University of Minnesota, the University of Illinois, Northwestern University and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Tuskegee University, the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Iowa, and Georgia Tech.

CSN funding is provided by the NSF Division of Chemistry through the Centers for Chemical Innovation Program (CHE-1240151).

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Read and watch his posts on the “On Campus” blog here:

• ��– A few noteworthy and newsworthy items about Augsburg

• ��– Meet President Paul C. Pribbenow and his passion��for bow ties, commitment to Augsburg students, and vision for the College’s future

• ��– Experiments in the organic chemistry class taught by Assistant Professor Michael Wentzel really shine — or, rather, glow

• ��– Beatboxing Auggies Matthew Kukar and Connor Doebbert demonstrate��their talents

• ��– Friedrich takes in Velkommen Jul

• ��– An overview of lunchtime in the Commons

• ��– Norwegian traditions abound in special Daily Chapel service

• What an Augsburg apartment looks like��– A peak inside Luther Hall

• ��– The ins and outs of breakfast at Augsburg

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Augsburg College is honored to announce that it has received an unrestricted $10 million philanthropic gift from a 1965 alumnus.

The donor’s generous contribution will support a new academic building that will house a number of the College’s academic programs including biology, business, chemistry, computer science, math, physics, psychology, and religion.

“This tremendous gift will make possible our continued commitment to academic excellence, to the hands-on learning that is one of the hallmarks of the College, and to the continued best-use of our 23-acre campus,” said Augsburg College President Paul C. Pribbenow. “Augsburg is a 143-year-old anchor institution in the heart of Minneapolis’ Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. This gift puts Augsburg on the path of being a college for the 21st century, and one that continues to deliver academic excellence in the liberal arts and professional studies.”

“Augsburg College has found many ways to innovate and evolve since I was a student—while at the same time maintaining the core values that were so appealing to me,” said Augsburg College Regent Steve Wehrenberg ’78, chief executive officer of Campbell Mithun. “This gift will ensure the College remains a caring, inspiring, and delightful place for students of all kinds to learn and grow.”

New building fund exceeds $23 million

The $10 million gift brings to more than $23 million the total funds for the new building. The Augsburg College Board of Regents will continue to monitor progress on the campaign and the College’s cash position and debt capacity to determine when to set a date for groundbreaking on the first stage of the building. The total cost of the building is estimated at more than $60 million.

“In May 2012, the Regents set calendar year 2014 as a target for beginning construction, a goal they believe is feasible, especially given the excitement this lead gift will engender with other prospective donors,” Pribbenow said.

The donor, who asked to remain anonymous, is a long-time supporter of the College and graduated with bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and business administration.

Augsburg College is set in a vibrant neighborhood at the heart of the Twin Cities, and offers more than 50 undergraduate majors and nine graduate degrees to nearly 4,000 students of diverse backgrounds. Augsburg College educates students to be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders.��The Augsburg experience is supported by an��engaged community��that is committed to intentional diversity��in its life and work. An Augsburg education is defined by excellence��in the liberal arts and professional studies, guided by the faith and values��of the Lutheran church, and shaped by its urban and global settings.

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Edelen was awarded both BA and BS degrees on Saturday with majors in environmental studies, chemistry, and biology. She was also called to the podium to accept the Marina Christensen Justice Award, presented to the graduating senior who best exemplifies Augsburg’s motto, “Education for Service,” and has demonstrated a dedication to community involvement. The award honors 1965 graduate Marina Christensen Justice, who lived in Chicago and reached out to serve disadvantaged people and communities.

An Honors Program graduate, Edelen was a Sabo Scholar in civic engagement and a Peace Prize Forum Peace Scholar. Throughout her four years, she challenged herself to find opportunities that would provide her knowledge across disciplines and hands-on learning. She seeks a career that combines application of science to public policy decisions that will improve the lives of people in countries lacking services, equal access to resources, and just policies.

Edelen decided against a medical career as she discovered how treating disease can ameliorate its symptoms but doesn’t remove the underlying structural causes. As an intern in both rural India and Uganda, she saw how lack of access to clean water extenuates the effects of disease and poverty. This led to internships with the White House Task Force on Climate Change and Energy Policy and with local environmental groups to learn how to translate and bring science to community issues, and how to build common interest to create change in public policy.

For almost three years as a Sundquist Scholar and with national grants, Edelen carried out research in atmospheric chemistry with Professor David Hanson, investigating the oxidation mechanism and atmospheric interactions of isoprene, a volatile, organic compound. She presented the research in the student session at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting and is awaiting a decision on publication.

For the next year, Edelen’s Fulbright will take her to Oslo, Norway, continuing research that she began last summer as a Peace Prize Forum Peace Scholar at the Oslo Peace Research Institute. She’ll study the relationship between lack of access to water and armed conflict in the world.

Edelen received word last week that she has also been awarded a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship for the following year, 2012-13. The scholarship covers all expenses for one year of graduate study.

She does not yet know at which of the five institutions she selected—in England, New Zealand, South Africa, Denmark, and Egypt—she will be placed. All five programs study environmental management and policy, some focusing specifically on water resources. Her first choice is Oxford University’s Master of Science in Water Science, Policy, and Management.

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Barbara A. Baird is the Horace White Professor and chair of chemistry and chemical biology at Cornell University. She received her BA in chemistry from Knox College and her PhD in chemistry from Cornell University. Her postdoctoral studies were carried out as a Damon Runyon Fellow in the immunology branch of the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health before she joined the Cornell faculty in 1980.

The Baird research laboratory integrates biochemical, biophysical, and nanotechnology approaches to investigate basic mechanisms of cell surface receptors for mediating transmembrane signals in immune responses, particularly the IgE receptor (FceRI) on mast cells. Baird has served on the Council of the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and on scientific advisory/review committees for Los Alamos National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and several universities. She is Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Monday, April 11, 2011

7:30 p.m.

Hoversten Chapel, Foss Center

How Cells Sense and Respond to Their Environment Zooming in to Understand and Intervene

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

11 a.m.

Hoversten Chapel, Foss Center

Making a Contribution in a Complicated World Individual Passion and Collaborative Power

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Celebrate and hear more about Brian’s accomplishments at a community-wide gathering on Thursday, Dec. 4 in the Oren Gateway Center Atrium. Refreshments will be served and a brief program will begin at 2:30 p.m.

Augsburg’s first Rhodes Scholar

Brian Krohn arrived at Augsburg with plans of being a film major. He eventually became a chemistry student. And when he graduates next month, Krohn will have a new title.

Augsburg’s first-ever Rhodes Scholar.

Krohn, a native of Cloquet, was one of 769 initial U.S. applicants from 207 colleges and universities for this year’s collection of Rhodes Scholars. After making it through an interview process Saturday and being selected, Krohn becomes one of just 32 Americans who will begin studying at Oxford University in England next fall. There, Krohn will study environmental change and management in order to combine public policy expertise with the scientific knowledge he has gained at Augsburg.

“I’m surprised,” Krohn said. “The other applicants were some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met.”

That, however, can also be said of Krohn.

In the summer of 2006, Krohn began research into new ways to produce biodiesel. Krohn acknowledges that he didn’t really expect to break any new ground, but he wanted to give it a shot.

There would be no failure here. The combination of Krohn’s research, the teaching of chemistry professor Arlin Gyberg and Augsburg alum Clayton McNeff led to the discovery of the Mcgyan Process to produce biodiesel in a cleaner and more environmentally friendly way.

“For me, Brian’s work on the biodiesel project is a great liberal arts story,” Augsburg President Paul C. Pribbenow said. “There’s a connection between a student with a question, a faculty member and an alum. They work on a problem and come out with a response that, in this case, is pretty ground breaking.

“Brian stands for the well-rounded education that we provide for all of our students. We’re proud of him and proud that his Augsburg education prepared him.”

In addition to his work with biodiesel, Krohn is a Goldwater Scholar who was a founder of the Honors Review, a new journal for student scholarship at Augsburg. He organized the inaugural Agre Challenge, an event in which teams were challenged to build a catapult that would fling a 20-pound sandbag various distances.

In his letter of recommendation for Krohn, Pribbenow wrote that he is “proud of Brian and what he represents for our college. He is resilient, perceptive, spirted, smart and engaged.”

Krohn — who said he ended up writing more than 15 different drafts of his 1,000-word personal statement for the Rhodes application — didn’t really know what to expect when he entered the weekend that would end up changing his life.

After a cocktail hour Friday night in which Krohn and the other finalists got to know each other, he had the critical interview shortly after noon Saturday at Macalester College.

Krohn had spent several weeks preparing for the interview with Dixie Shafer in the URGO office and communication studies professor Bob Groven. When the interview was over, Krohn had no regrets.

“I felt good about it,” he said. “I felt I did as well as I could do.”

By about 3 p.m. Saturday, the five Rhodes judges pulled the candidates together, told them that any of them would make fine Rhodes Scholars and named Krohn and University of Michigan student Abdulrahman El-Sayed would be the Rhodes Scholars from the region that includes Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.

On Saturday evening Krohn celebrated with his family and the family of his girlfriend. Because El-Sayed wasn’t going to fly back to Michigan until Sunday morning, Krohn invited him along as well.

Two other students at Minnesota schools were also named Rhodes Scholars. Ashley Nord of Rapid City, S.D., will graduate from the University of Minnesota next month with a triple major of physics, astrophysics and global studies. Last week, Jamaican student Michael Wuhl of Macalester was named a Rhodes Scholar in the international part of selection process.

Krohn now has a fat stack of papers to read and fill out for the Rhodes Scholarship. But being selected did save him a little bit of work. If he hadn’t been selected, Krohn was going to apply to graduate school, a task that he no longer has to complete.

He should, however, spend a few days this week working on self-defense moves.

“My older brother has promised to rough me up a little when I come home for Thanksgiving so I don’t get a big head,” Krohn said with a laugh.

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