Chemistry and Biochemistry

About
Program Highlights
Faculty

The chemistry and biochemistry majors at St. Mary’s University receive excellent preparation for graduate school, professional school, or a career in industry. The program places a strong emphasis on critical problem solving. Students learn to work as part of a laboratory team, yet also develop the ability to work independently. The chemistry and biochemistry program promotes versatility and prepares students for a wide range of options after graduation. Majors select a minor from one of the degrees offered within the School of Science, Engineering and Technology.

Many students take advantage of the department’s biochemistry program to prepare themselves for medical school or the biotechnology field. The program stresses not only the fundamentals of chemistry, but the development of the intellectual skills necessary to apply them. The department offers small class sizes, close interaction with the faculty, and a variety of tutoring options.

The biochemistry major introduces students to the chemistry of living organisms. It provides an excellent preparation for medical, dental, veterinary and allied health schools, as well as for students who choose to pursue graduate degrees in biochemistry, molecular biology or pharmacy, or careers in biochemistry and biotechnology.

The biochemistry major allows students to pursue a broad liberal arts program, yet retains a strong science foundation. This is an excellent program for students who enjoy chemistry and biology and who feel comfortable with quantitative approaches to problem solving. A high percentage of St. Mary's biochemistry students have been accepted into medical school.

The program stresses not only the fundamentals of chemistry, but the development of the intellectual skills necessary to apply those fundamentals in the field. The department offers small class sizes, close interaction with the faculty and a variety of tutoring options. The laboratory program is based on guided inquiry and discovery modes, while the classroom emphasizes interactive learning.

Program Highlights

Chemistry majors are encouraged to seek summer research opportunities after their sophomore year. Many programs sponsored by the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health are available. St. Mary’s also has programs designed to encourage women and minorities to consider research careers in the health fields, such as the Minority Access to Research Careers and the Undergraduate Research Office.

Past students have participated in such programs at NASA and at universities and medical centers throughout the United States. Students are highly encouraged to participate in student leadership opportunities such as the Chemistry Club, Chemical Society, undergraduate research, work-study, and community service opportunities offered through the University’s Service Learning Center.

Biochemistry majors are encouraged to seek summer research opportunities after their sophomore year. Many programs sponsored by the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health are available.

Faculty

Frederick L. Alvares, Ph.D.

Professor
Office: Garni Hall 210
Phone: (210) 436-3733
falvares@stmarytx.edu

Full Bio Details

Oversea School Certificate, University of Cambridge (U.K.), 1951
B.Sc., St. Xavier's College, 1957
M.S., University of Wisconsin at Madison, 1966
Ph.D., University of North Dakota School of Medicine, 1972

Frederick Alvares, Ph.D., joined St. Mary's University in 1988 after an already accomplished career. After earning his doctorate degree he served as a research fellow at the University of Wisconsin at Madison in the Institute of Enzyme Research. He later served on the faculty of the University of North Dakota School of Medicine as a Research Associate, and was a NIH/NRSA Research Fellowship Awardee at Stanford University, School of Medicine. Alvares also served as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Wyoming, Laramie (1985-1986) and was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Delaware, Newark (1986-1987).

Alvares developed the undergraduate major in Biochemistry at St. Mary's University, and instituted the Advanced Biochemistry course series in 1991. He continues to teach all five courses on a four-semester rotational basis.

Alvares is also an Adjunct Full Professor in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. He has also published extensively, including three full length papers in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. His research pioneered the elucidation of the biochemical and physiological significance of the phosphotransferase activities of the multifunctional membrane-bound enzyme, glucose-6-phosphatase. He has presented his research in poster presentations and symposia at national meetings of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the American Institute of Nutrition. Other research, in collaboration with and hosted by Russel J. Reiter, Ph.D., focuses on the relationship between the pineal hormone melatonin and the activities of the enzymes of gluconeogenesis: phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase and the multifunctional enzyme, glucose-6-phosphatase.

Bro. Charles Cummiskey, S.M., Ph.D.

Professor
Office: Garni Hall 308
Phone: (210) 436-3740
ccummiskey@stmarytx.edu

Full Bio Details

B.S., University of Dayton, 1944
M.S., Northwestern University, 1952
Ph.D., Notre Dame University, 1956

Brother Cummiskey took his first vows with the Marianists in 1941. He has been at St. Mary's since 1955. Cummiskey's many activities include a long involvement with the Marianists' Summer Boys' Camp, TECABOCA, in Kerrville, and serving as a CLC mentor. He has served as Chair for the San Antonio local ACS section and is currently an Alternate Councilor.

Bro. Cummiskey was selected as a Piper Professor in 1979, for his outstanding teaching and research. He has also been a Robert A. Welch Foundation grantee and has served as an ACS-NSF Visiting Scientist to high schools.

He research has been on the chemical effects of radioactive decay, ion exchange methodology, specific ion electrodes, and the determination of stability constants of complexed ions.

Michael D. Losiewicz, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Office: Moody Life Sciences Center 213
Phone: (210) 431-5015
mlosiewicz@stmarytx.edu

Full Bio Details

B.A., Rhode Island College, 1984
Ph.D., University of Massachusetts-Lowell, 1992

After earning his doctorate, Michael D. Losiewicz, Ph.D., was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the National Cancer Institute, in the National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda, Md., from 1992 to 1998. In this position his research focused on cyclin dependant kinases and signal regulated kinases of the MAP family as potential targets for anti-cancer drugs. He routinely presented this research at the annual meetings of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). Losiewicz also authored several papers on these studies. His research interests remain in the area of cancer drug targeting.

After serving as a guest professor for a year at a small college outside of New York City, Losiewicz joined St. Mary's in August 1999. He teaches several different lecture and laboratory courses in the Department of Chemistry/Biochemistry. Besides his teaching, he is also the faculty advisor to the American Chemical Society of Students (ACSS), the student chemistry organization which welcomes students of all majors.

Susan P. Oxley, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Office: Garni Hall 303
Phone: (210) 431-6798
soxley@stmarytx.edu

Full Bio Details

B.S., Davidson College, 1998
Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2003

After earning her doctorate, Susan P. Oxley, Ph.D., was a postdoctoral research associate and visiting faculty member at Trinity University in San Antonio from 2004-2007. Oxley joined the faculty at St. Mary’s in 2007, and is responsible for teaching general chemistry, analytical chemistry and instrumental analysis.

Oxley’s research interests are in the general field of surface chemistry. Her graduate studies involved generating and characterizing surface composition gradients by the electrochemical control of self-assembled monolayers on gold. She characterized the gradients using surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy. She also modified thiol gradients with the extracellular matrix protein fibronectin for studies of cell motility.

At Trinity University, Oxley studied thin films ( ~1 µm thick) of low-temperature molecular solids using infrared spectroscopy. She studied the isotopic exchange of H2O and D2O on the surface of ice and hydrogen-bonding in mixtures of H2S and D2S at 70 K. At St. Mary’s, Oxley has on ongoing project studying the affect of surface confinement on the acid/base properties of thiol molecules.

Kenneth Pohlmann, Ph.D.

Professor
Office: Garni Hall 304
Phone: (210) 436-3237
kpohlmann@stmarytx.edu

Full Bio Details

B.S., University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1967
Ph.D., University of Missouri-Kansas City, 1976

Kenneth Pohlmann, Ph.D., has been with St. Mary's University since 1983. Throughout this time he has taught Organic Chemistry, an integral course for all pre-professional students. He served as Department Chair from 1988 to 2008 when he stepped down to devote more time to his teaching. Pohlmann participated in the University’s London program, a time during which he traveled to London, England with a group of students for the entire fall 2008 semester. During his tenure, Pohlmann has served on numerous university committees and continues to do so. Pohlmann has presented a number of papers at national and regional meetings on his teaching methods.

Jeff R. Schoonover, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Office: Garni Hall 209
Phone: (210) 431-4249
jschoonover@stmarytx.edu

Full Bio Details

B.S., University of California Davis, 1981
Ph.D., Arizona State University, 1988

After earning his doctorate, Jeff R. Schoonover, Ph.D., held a research and teaching post-doctoral fellowship at Arizona State University. He later held the position of Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Moorehead State University, Ky., for two years. Schoonover joined the faculty at St. Mary's University in 1992.

Schoonover's primary teaching duties are General Chemistry and Physical Chemistry. However, he is also available on demand to teach special topics (Physical Biochemistry, Quantum Chemistry and Spectroscopy, Computational Chemistry and Solid State Chemistry), CH 4330 (Statistical Thermodynamics) and CH 4340 (Advanced Inorganic Chemistry). He is always interested in working with students on projects or undergraduate research.

Schoonover’s primary area of research is Chemical Education. However, his research background and interests (as time allows) include theoretical chemistry, non-linear kinetics, solid state reaction kinetics and mechanisms, solid-solid phase transformations, ceramic materials preparation and processing, thermodynamics of solid solutions, and spectroscopy of rare earth compounds.