The first annual Donald S. Matteson Symposium in Organic Chemistry was held at Washington State University Saturday, September 13th in Pullman, Washington.  More than 80 people attended this inaugural event that honored Professor Matteson’s lifetime contributions to synthetic organic and organoboron chemistry. 
Distinguished organic chemists from around the world delivered plenary lectures at the symposium.  Keynote speakers were Professor Bill Roush, Scripps-Florida; Professor Ed Vedejs, University of Michigan; Professor Norio Miyaura, Hokkaido University; Professor Paul Blakemore, Oregon State University; and Professor Victor Snieckus, Queen’s University.

In attendance at the symposium were several of Professor Matteson’s former students, including Professor Levente Fabry-Asztalos, Dr. Jianhui “Jenny” Lu, Dr. Oliver Ho, Dr. Byung Ju Kim, Dr. Hon Wah Man, and Dr. Davis Maliakal.  In addition, faculty members from outside of WSU were in attendance including: professors Nick Natale, University of Montana; Richard Williams, University of Idaho; Candace Kristensson and Neal Yakelis, Pacific Lutheran University; Matt Cremeens and Tommaso Vannelli, Gonzaga University; Don Warner, Boise State University; Takashi Tomioka, University of Mississippi; and Stephen Chamberland, Central Washington University.  Six undergraduate travel grants were awarded to Mycah Uehling and Alayna Linde, Pacific Lutheran University; Emma McInturff, Lisa Young, and Alina Schimpf, Boise State University; and Kellie Mullen, Central Washington University.
 

Seattle area biotech was represented by Dan Rock and Jan Wahlstrom (Amgen) and Alex Rudolph (Gilead Science).

This symposium was funded by generous contributions from Dow Chemical, Pfizer Global Research & Development, Ray & Shirely Mah, Jeanne McHale, Ralph & Valerie Yount, Peter & Victoria Mattschei, Bob & Mary Beth Moody, James & Norma Waldbillig, Oliver & Ling Ling Ho, Maurice Windsor, Jeff & Carolyn Joswig-Jones, Tai Chun Cheng, Dilinie Fernando, Mark & Eileen Peterson, and the WSU College of Sciences and the Department of Chemistry. 

Next year’s symposium program is being expanded to include undergraduate poster competitions.  Program suggestions are appreciated and may be made via email to matteson.symposium@wsu.edu.  Additional Symposium information may be found at http://organic.wsu.edu.
 

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