Professional Notes
Randy Knoche, College of Arts and Sciences (Mathematics Department), has coached the St. Paul Central High School Science Bowl team for the past nine years. His team won the regional Science Bowl competition Jan. 23 at Macalester College. Their prizes include a trophy, $1,000 for Central's science department and an all-expenses-paid, six-day trip to the National Science Bowl competition in May in Washington, D.C. This will be Central’s second trip to nationals, where last year they placed in the Sweet Sixteen.
Dr. William Ojala, College of Arts and Sciences (Chemistry Department), is the author of a paper, “Bridge Orientation as a Selector of Intermolecular Interactions in a Series of Crystalline Isomeric Benzylideneanilines,” published in Crystal Growth and Design, a journal of the American Chemical Society. The paper describes the solid-state structures of compounds of interest in the design of new materials. Co-authors of the paper are current and former UST chemistry students Kendra Lystad, Tera Deal, Jessica Engebretson, Jill Spude and Barjeta Balidemaj, as well as Ojala’s brother Charles Ojala, a member of the chemistry faculty of Normandale Community College.
Dr. Scott Wright , College of Arts and Sciences (History Department), was elected to a two-year term on the board of the Dakota County Historical Society Jan. 31 at its annual meeting.