Tom Wenzel, Dana Professor of Chemistry, poses with three students whom he recently brought to the 27th International Chirality Conference in Boston, which he chaired. Shown from left are biochemistry major Anna Berenson ’16 of Topsfield, Mass.; Wenzel; neuroscience major Tayla Duarte ’17 of Dorchester, Mass.; and Caroline Holme ’16 of Winnetka, Ill., also a biochemistry major. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

If you’re listing ways that ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ is distinctive, here’s another.

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ was the only undergraduate educational institution to take part in a recent international conference dedicated to research in an intriguing branch of chemistry.

Tom Wenzel, Dana Professor of Chemistry at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, chaired the 27th edition of the International Symposium on Chiral Discrimination, aka Chirality 2015, in Boston June 28–July 1. The event attracted some 250 scientists representing 24 countries.

“It’s highly unusual for a science faculty member from an undergraduate institution to be asked to chair a conference of this stature,” says Wenzel, only the second researcher from a U.S. undergrad school to chair the chirality event, founded in 1988.

Wenzel brought nine current and former ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ students along. All the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ students helped Wenzel with conference operations, and seven of them presented research. The ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ contingent’s travel and participation were paid for by a combination of college funds, an alumni gift, and Wenzel’s own National Science Foundation grant.

Considered the premier conference in the field, the chirality symposium is dominated by research universities. “Usually when I attend this conference, I’m the only attendee from an undergraduate institution,” Wenzel says, “and any students of mine who present are the only undergraduates at the conference.”

Yolanda Rodriguez ’15 of North Miami Beach, Fla., was one of the students Wenzel invited. “It was cool to see how there was a community,” she says. “It was interesting to see how most of the researchers at the conference knew each other and how they collaborate, because I think there were some collaborations that even began there.”

A chemistry major, Rodriguez presented research that she had done with Wenzel, assisted by Tayla Duarte ’17 of Dorchester, Mass. Her classmate and fellow chem major William Patton of Asheville, N.C., presented research as well.

“It was similar to a Mount David Summit experience,” Patton says, “but with people who knew everything you are talking about — plus way more.”

“It was great to be with a group of people that are so highly regarded and at the top of their field, a field that’s of interest to me.”

The entire ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ contingent poses at Chirality 2015. Back row, from left, William Patton ’15, Mira Carey-Hatch ’14, Yolanda Rodriguez ’15, Tom Wenzel, Alison Dowey ’15. Front row, from left, Tayla Duarte ’17, Cira Mollings Puentes ’16, Caroline Holme ’16, Brielle Dalvano ’16, and Anna Berenson ’16.

Also showing research at Chirality 2015 were Mira Carey-Hatch ’14 of Laconia, N.H.; Alison Dowey ’15 of Pound Ridge, N.Y.; Brielle Dalvano ’16 of Wyckoff, N.J.; and Cira Mollings Puentes ’16 of Kingston, Jamaica.

Anna Berenson ’16 of Topsfield, Mass., and Caroline Holme ’16 of Winnetka, Ill., two rising seniors who work with Wenzel’s chemistry department colleague Paula Schlax, joined the seven Wenzel protégés as they helped with myriad on-site organizational details.

And what is chirality? Pronounced kai-RAL-ity, it’s a phenomenon in which two molecules are mirror images of each other, like your hands. In some cases, such compounds have significant reactive differences.

Wenzel is known internationally for his research in the field. His work has resulted in more than 150 publications and attracted more than $2.9 million in external grants, including seven rounds of research funding from the National Science Foundation.

During Wenzel’s time at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, 125 students have collaborated in his research and 77 have co-authored peer-reviewed publications about the work (four high school teachers have also co-authored Wenzel publications). He has been particularly active in involving students from groups historically underrepresented in the sciences in his work.

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College chemistry professor Thomas Wenzel has received the American Chemical Society’s 25th Award for Research at an Undergraduate Institution.

Wenzel, a Lewiston resident who came to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ in 1981, is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Chemistry. The ACS award recognizes faculty at undergraduate institutions whose research has been widely recognized and who have contributed significantly to both the field of chemistry and the professional development of students.

The ACS award “is the single largest honor that a chemical researcher at an undergraduate institution could hope for,” says Rachel Narehood Austin, chair of the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ chemistry department. “For Tom, it’s a profound recognition of his substantial accomplishments over a very vibrant career.”

The award, including grants of $5,000 to Wenzel and $5,000 to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, bestows priceless professional validation. It acknowledges the distinctive challenges of conducting meaningful research at undergraduate institutions, in contrast to large research universities that offer extensive infrastructure, big budgets and the assistance of experienced graduate students in the lab.

As an analytical chemist, Wenzel conducts research on the development of methods to identify and quantify chemicals in mixtures.

Specifically, he studies techniques for discerning chirality — a phenomenon in which two molecules are mirror images of each other. In some cases, such compounds have significant reactive differences. A “right-handed” molecule of a given chemical might have beneficial medical properties, but its “left-handed” equivalent will be toxic.

Wenzel is known internationally for this research that has resulted in more than 120 publications and attracted some $2 million in external grants, including six rounds of funding from the National Science Foundation.

During Wenzel’s time at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, 107 students have collaborated in his research and 76 have co-authored peer-reviewed publications about the work. He has been particularly active in involving students from groups historically underrepresented in the sciences in his work.

“The student is involved in all the stages of implementing a project,” he says. “Students are expected to become equal partners — offering suggestions, going through the literature, sorting out problems along the way.”

Courtney O’Farrell, a 2007 ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ graduate in biochemistry, is a former Wenzel student and research collaborator now researching anti-cancer drugs and pursuing a doctorate at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She spent a summer in Wenzel’s lab designing and testing molecules for use in nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer analysis.

“Tom had five students in his lab, and we all had our own projects, which really allowed us to gain confidence and independence,” she says. “He was good about being available for questions and advice, but also gave me the independence to come up with experiments on my own. It was the perfect balance.”

She adds, “Tom was an amazing mentor. He taught me how to have confidence in myself and to be an independent thinker.”

Wenzel calls the ACS award doubly gratifying, honoring both his direct contribution to chemistry — his ongoing research — and the ripple effect created by inspiring students to pursue careers in science.

He and ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ are a good match in this regard, he explains, citing the level of support and encouragement the college gives to student research. People, he says, are “inherently interested in how things work in the world. That’s what science really is. In doing research, students really start to participate in exploring the unknown.”

Thurston won a $500 I.M. Kolthoff Award from the American Chemical Society to present her research at the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry’s annual conference in San Francisco. Thurston is one of 10 undergraduate students nationwide to receive a Kolthoff Award and an invitation to present research.

Thurston and her senior thesis adviser, Tom Wenzel, Dana Professor of Chemistry, have co-authored an article on their research to be published in the ACS’s Journal of Organic Chemistry.

Thurston has proven that tetracarboxylic acid and its ytterbium (III) complex can be used as chiral resolving agents in a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer to split the left- and right-hand sides of amino acids. Each side of an amino acid may have different chemical influences on the human body, and Thurston’s process may be used to separate the wheat from the chaff in pharmaceutical research. There are other methods for splitting amino acids, but Thurston’s method is the most efficient, according to Wenzel, because it allows the direct examination of many compounds without intermediary chemical processes.

Thurston said she’s thrilled her discovery will be recognized by the chemistry world, but she said, “I’m more interested in how the science will help people.” To that end, Thurston plans to attend graduate school after taking a couple years to work on cancer research at the Sloan-Kettering Institute.

Thurston is captain of the women’s basketball and soccer teams at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½. Wenzel said that although Thurston earned the highest grade in her first course with him, she stood out because he kept reading her name in the sports pages of the local newspaper. Curious to see what the fuss was about, Wenzel attended one of Thurston’s basketball games.

“It was apparent to me that if she showed anything approaching the intensity toward a research project that she exhibited on the basketball court, she would be an outstanding student to have in the lab,” said Wenzel, who invited Thurston to work with him at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ through last summer with funding he received from a National Science Foundation grant.

“She’s a rare student with incredible drive and focus, keen observational skills and a remarkable ability to carry out the mundane activities that accompany a research project with precision,” Wenzel said. “I have not had a student whose data I trusted more than hers.”

Thurston, a dean’s list student and Charles A. Dana Scholar whose research will culminate in writing an honors thesis, has found as much success on the playing fields and courts as captain of the women’s basketball and soccer teams. She has been named to the New England Small College Athletic Conference All-Academic team four times. She is currently 10th in all-time women’s basketball scoring at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, and has been named to all-conference teams in both basketball and soccer.

Thurston, a graduate of Thetford Academy, is the daughter of Elwood and Darlene Thurston, 1139 Barker Road, Post Mills, Vt.