“People have known about protein interactions since the 50’s. But at the same time, these protein interactions—the ways in which we were able to target and think about them as molecular targets—have really evolved in the past decade or two,” Sawyer said.

In this faculty mini-lecture, he breaks down his research and explains how his work can make a difference.

“Protein interactions are involved in every living system and disease,” Sawyer said. “We can pick and choose what we study, and we’re trying to go after things that are important to people.”

“This fund will directly give students opportunities to feed their souls and bodies with nourishment in the form of meals, conversations, and retreats,” said Carol Gibney, director of solidarity and leadership in Campus Ministry. “I’m thrilled for the students who will be the beneficiaries of Theresa’s generous donation.”

Mao, now 85, is a retired chemist, businesswoman, and philanthropist who grew up in Taiwan and moved to the U.S. when she was 18 years old. In 1964, she was hired by one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, Exxon Mobil Corporation, then known as Esso Research, as the company’s first female chemist with a Ph.D. When she was 46 years old, her husband, Peter T.H. Mao, M.D., a pathologist, suddenly died from a heart attack. She became a single mother who raised their two daughters, then a junior at Rice University and a first-year student at Harvard University. In order to provide a living for herself and her family, she switched her career to investment in real estate, which included citrus farms, vineyards, and a fruit packing house. Both daughters followed in their father’s footsteps in medicine: The oldest is an ophthalmologist in Florida; the youngest is a pediatric infectious disease specialist in Massachusetts. 

Mao was raised in a family of Presbyterians, including a grandfather and two uncles who served as ministers. But she became a devout Catholic as a teenager in Taiwan. One day, she encountered a Catholic priest on a long bus ride. Seven months later, she sought refuge in a mountainside church during a thunderstorm—coincidentally, the same priest’s church. The next summer, she studied under his wing and learned what it means to be Catholic. In August 1952, she was baptized by that same priest, John T.S. Mao, who would provide a scholarship for her to attend Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas. In 1962, she married Father Mao’s youngest brother, Peter T.H. Mao. 

When she was a young woman in her 20s, she was accepted to teaching assistant programs at three schools in New York City—Columbia University, New York University, and Fordham. She said she was impressed by the reputation of the first two schools, but she chose Fordham because of its Catholic background; she wanted an education that would strengthen her own faith.  

“I probably value my religion as a Catholic more than a person who was born Catholic,” Mao said earlier this year, “because I picked it.” 

Mao loved her years at Fordham, but she was disappointed that there were no religious events or retreats for graduate students. Mao was also an international student who couldn’t afford to fly home to Taiwan during holiday breaks. Life on campus could feel isolating, she said. 

“Undergraduates meet each other a lot more. Graduate students are different. They come in; they go. There’s so little time to meet each other,” she said. 

Mao took matters into her own hands. One day after a late-night chemistry experiment, she suggested to her classmates that they eat dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant together. That one dinner turned into bimonthly meals with up to 20 students. They piled into cars—sometimes seven students in one vehicle—and shared meals at local Chinese restaurants, where Mao introduced them to Cantonese-style roast duck and baos. Their special dinners expanded to include Italian restaurants on Arthur Avenue and trips to roller skating rinks and musicals in Manhattan. 

“Everybody just loved to go. We started with a small group, and then later on, everybody wanted to join in. We got to know each other a lot better … Now I want to help [today’s graduate students] develop their relationships,” said Mao, who earned a master’s degree in chemistry in 1960 and a doctorate in physical chemistry in 1964.

This year, she established the Theresa Lim Mao Graduate Student Retreat Endowed Fund, which will support an annual retreat program and dinners for graduate students at Fordham who want to deepen their relationships with their classmates and their faith. 

“Retreats are a way to literally retreat from everyday life and step aside from busy schedules, particularly for students,” said Gibney, who will help coordinate the inaugural events this spring. “They offer students an invitation to deepen their understanding of who and what feeds their spirit, their relationships with others and God, with our rich Ignatian history and spirituality as a compass and guide.” 

Mao’s fund is part of a planned gift that designates Fordham as a beneficiary of her individual retirement account. She is beginning to add funding to her endowment fund annually, to support the initiative now. Mao said she wants students to pay it forward, the same way she has done throughout her life. 

“All of us can contribute to society by doing something for other people. If we contribute something to society instead of just making money and serving ourselves, in a small way, we can make the people around us happier,” said Mao, who now lives in Florida near her oldest daughter. “If all of us can do a little bit of that, that would be really wonderful.”

Chemistry Department Chair Ipsita Banerjee, Ph.D., said the addition of these two scientists will expand not only the department’s ability to provide specialized research opportunities to students, but also the scientific community’s knowledge of important areas like solar energy and genetic diseases. 

“Dr. Schneider’s field of research is in the area of design and synthesis of novel organic semiconductors for building devices such as solar cells,” said Banerjee. “Dr. Thrall’s research may further advance our understanding of the mechanistic processes involved in diseases like cancer and provide more information about how a lack of proper DNA repair mechanisms are involved in genetic disorders.”

In time, these are things that Fordham undergraduates will learn, too. 

“The types of research that we’re doing—the techniques we’re using and the problems we’re investigating—are really cutting edge. These are things that are getting done at top graduate schools across the country,” said Thrall, a two-time Ivy League graduate. “These are approaches that [our]  undergraduates can learn.” 

A Long Line of Chemists

Thrall is an assistant professor of chemistry who started teaching at the Rose Hill campus this September. A Philadelphia native, she comes from a family of chemists. Her grandparents, especially her grandmother Jean Simmons who earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Chicago in the late 1930s and taught at women’s colleges, inspired her to become a chemist. Her other inspiration was the science itself. 

“Not to sound cheesy, but chemistry is the central science; it extends into biology and physics,” she said. “I’ve always enjoyed the breadth of topics you can explore as a chemist.” 

Her lab at Fordham specializes in single-molecule biophysics: a field that explores how biological systems function by analyzing the behavior of biological molecules, one at a time. The goal is to understand how DNA replication and repair work. 

“It’s remarkable that we can look inside a living bacterial cell and see a single molecule moving around. If you watch the movies that we record in my lab, you’ll see a single spot of light bouncing around rapidly in this small cell. That’s a single protein in the cell,” said Thrall, who has published work in several publications, including Nature Communications. 

Thrall served as a National Institutes of Health National Research Service Award postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard Medical School for six years. She earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and physics from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in chemical physics from Columbia University.

This semester, she is teaching a physical chemistry lab for juniors and seniors; next spring, she plans on teaching a lab course and a physical chemistry lecture. Two undergraduate student researchers recently joined her lab. 

A Pastry Chef Turned Chemist 

Schneider is an assistant professor of chemistry who joined the Fordham faculty last fall. She was born in Paris, France, to a French mother and an American father. What drew her to chemistry was the ability to create something new—something that no one has seen before. 

“Every new molecule, every new structure can have new properties,” Schneider said. “There’s a ton to discover.” 

She said chemistry reminds her of her days as a pastry chef in Boston, where she concocted chocolate lava cakes, handcrafted ice cream, and Boston cream pies on a daily basis. 

“It’s nice making something, and then someone eats it at the end of the day. You served a purpose,” she said. “[Similarly,] I love organic chemistry because you get to make something.” 

She earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Southern Connecticut State University and a Ph.D. in chemistry from McGill University, where she was a Vanier Scholar. From 2016 to 2018, she served as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she collaborated with visiting researchers as part of the Mitsubishi Chemical Center for Advanced Materials. 

At Fordham, she teaches organic chemistry I and II labs to sophomore students, who learn how to identify, purify, and separate different compounds. Last summer, she mentored her first three undergraduates through University research grants. They began by setting up her new research lab and then started on the synthesis of a new organic semiconductor. This fall, Schneider and those three students—her new lab mentees—will continue to tackle that project. 

Schneider’s lab specializes in organic electronics. She has extensive experience in solar cells and transistors, but she now works on illuminating the structure-property relationships that drive these devices. 

“Through organic synthesis techniques, we can make materials with any properties we want. So if we want something to make a solar cell, we can design it to absorb light and give us electrons. If we want something to emit light, like an OLED [organic light-emitting diode]on your phone, we can design a molecule that makes that color,” she explained.  

Not all the materials may work, but they will teach us more about the behavior of organic semiconductors. 

“As we discover new properties, maybe that particular molecule won’t be super useful right away,” said Schneider, “but who knows what application it may have in the future.” 

The radioactive man-made substance would later aid in the development of the atomic bomb. But the accomplished chemist, who died in 1983 at the age of 74, seldom made this scientific breakthrough the topic of discussion, according to those who knew him.

“Mike was quiet, friendly, and not outspoken—which was somewhat different from most of the faculty,” said Richard W. Franck, a former chairman of the chemistry department. “I knew of his important work on the Manhattan Project, but he rarely spoke of it, probably because much of it was classified.”

In commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the isolation of plutonium, Fordham ‘s chemistry department is organizing a mini-symposium to honor Cefola’s contributions to science. The event, which takes place on Wednesday, October 11 from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in Flom Auditorium in Walsh Library on the Rose Hill campus, will honor the work and life of Cefola, who taught at the University from 1950 until 1975.

Preserving the past, looking toward the future

On rare occasions, Diana Bray, a professor emerita who studied analytical chemistry under Cefola during the late ‘60s, said she was among the lucky students who got some insights into his notable role in the Manhattan Project.

She recalled an amusing story he told her class about an “important visitor” who wanted to see the plutonium the team had been working on in the University of Chicago’s Metallurgical Laboratory, a research branch of the Manhattan Project where scientists studied and extracted the new element.

“There was no way on earth they were going to put this very rare element on display for anybody to look at,” said Bray.

Instead, the chemists created a green ink solution and showed it to the prying visitor.

“They went away thinking they had seen the plutonium, and the scientists knew their plutonium was safe,” said Bray. She said that despite his accomplishments, Cefola was “the most humble person you could ever want to meet.”

Cefola’s son Michael Cefola, FCRH ’71, recalls days when Cefola, a staunch Yankees fan, would take him to the Rose Hill campus as child and show him around his laboratory. The Bronx-bred chemist was particularly passionate about helping to develop the next generation of scientists at Fordham, he said.

“At the time, dad was just dad, throwing baseballs in the backyard with me. And other times, he was my father the professor, who was buried in his work and his studies,” he said. “He took incredible pleasure working on the papers of his graduate students.”

Cefola, who immigrated to the United States in 1918 from Barile, Italy, worked alongside some of the world’s greatest scientists in the Chicago-based lab.

“He was a leader in microchemistry and he developed methods for weighing small, microscopic quantities of substances,” said Donald Clarke, a colleague and professor of biochemistry at Fordham.

Nobel Prize winner Glenn Seaborg, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, recruited Cefola for the famed Manhattan Project in 1942. The group also included Nobel Prize-winning physicist Enrico Fermi, who built the first nuclear reactor.

“People who are here now don’t often know about the accomplishments of faculty who were here in the past,” said Carla Romney, associate dean for STEM and Pre-Health Education. Romney said the event will commemorate the work of faculty and students in the chemistry department who have helped to sustain Cefola’s legacy over the years.

In addition to featuring Cefola’s former students and colleagues, Romney said the October 11 event will include a reading from Free Ferry, a book of poems by Cefola’s daughter-in-law, Ann Cefola. Using classical mythology, Free Ferry juxtaposes Cefola’s work in nuclear chemistry with the nuclear family.

“Underneath this narrative is the extraordinary story of, and intrigue around, the isolation and weighing of plutonium—a visual ‘undercurrent’ that impacted daily life some 20 years later, in the 1960s,” said Ann Cefola.

For Romney, this event provides a unique opportunity to meld the humanities and the sciences, while creating broader awareness of the little-known contributions that Cefola made in science.

“It’s a notable achievement in chemistry and a great opportunity to bring everyone together.”

This all-day symposium will provide an opportunity for these students to present the results of their research, which encompass all areas in the realm of chemistry, such as nano and surface chemistry, biological chemistry, physical chemistry, analytical chemistry, green chemistry, organic chemistry, polymer chemistry and chemical education.

The keynote speaker is Fordham alumna Jin Kim Montclare, Ph.D., an associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the New York University Tandem School of Engineering. Ipsita Banerjee, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry, served as co-chair of the student activities committee for the NYACS.

“The event will bring prestige and recognition to Fordham University and is especially timely, given that we are celebrating our dodransbicentennial,” said Banerjee.

Montclare, who graduated with honors from Fordham in 1997, is performing groundbreaking research in engineering proteins to mimic nature and, in some cases, work better than nature. She works to customize artificial proteins with the aim of targeting human disorders, drug delivery and tissue regeneration as well as create nanomaterials for electronics.

Montclare is director of graduate studies of her department, associate director for Technology Advancement at the NYU’s Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, and a 2015 recipient of the Agnes Fay Morgan Research Award from Iota Sigma Pi, the National Honor Society for Women in Chemistry.

The event is open to the public.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $113,000 grant for the acquisition of a high-resolution atomic force microscope for interdisciplinary nanoscience research. With chemistry professor Ipsita A. Banerjee, PhD, as principal investigator, a group of faculty from the departments of biological sciences, physics and engineering, and chemistry cooperated on the grant to obtain equipment which they will share.

“This award is really exciting, especially since the NSF’s Major Research Instrumentation Program only funds about one-fourth of the applications it receives, and this is the second MRI award we’ve gotten in two years.” said Kris Wolff, director of the Office of Sponsored Programs. The 2015 grant, for a liquid-handling robot, went to Jason Munshi-South’s lab in the biological sciences department.

The Russo family has provided more than $180,000 in funding towards purchasing a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Robert D. Russo, MD, FCRH ’69, is a member of the University’s President’s Council and Fordham’s Science Council, which aims to promote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in part by modernizing the University’s technological capabilities.

The gift honors Russo’s father, Robert D. Russo, Sr., MD, FCRH ’39, and Louis R. Del Guercio, MD, FCRH ’49. Dr. Russo refers to his two predecessors as “physicians for others.”

“A donation like this has a ripple effect,” said Robert Beer, PhD, chair of the chemistry department. “We were able to get the instrument, which attracted a new faculty member, and it shows that we’re an institution that is serious about upgrading technology and research.”

In addition, by trading in an older instrument, the University received a donation from the pharmaceutical company Roche and a $40,000 grant from TA Instruments, and was able to purchase a thermal gravimetric analyzer and rheometer. This summer the department also acquired an X-ray powder diffractometer at a cost of nearly $120,000.

Christopher Koenigsmann, PhD, assistant professor of chemistry, said that the new resources will help further distinguish Fordham’s research capabilities.

The SEM uses electrons rather than visible light. As typical wavelengths of visible light are 400 to 800 nanometers, said Koenigsmann, light microscopes cannot perceive an object, for example, that is two nanometers. The electron microscope’s much smaller wavelengths allow it to perceive objects with diameters as small as one to two nanometers—equivalent to the diameter of double helix strand of DNA.

The X-ray powder diffractometer looks at material composed of small crystallites. The instrument detects the material’s elements and how they are organized in the crystal structure.

“It’s a tremendously powerful instrument and it’s one of the essential characterization tools in chemistry,” said Koenigsmann.

He said that his lab is involved in a few projects to examine renewable energy technology. He is interested in increasing the cost-effectiveness and performance of solar cells and fuel cells in order to harness the energy of sunlight.

“In nanotechnology, synthesis is important,” he said. “But what’s equally important is being able to characterize the properties and be able figure out exactly what you have.”