Dr. Holly J. Lawson
Associate Professor of Chemistry
201 Houghton Hall
SUNY College at Fredonia
Fredonia, NY 14063
Tel: (716) 673-3285
Fax: (716) 673-3347
Schedule
Holly.Lawson@fredonia.edu

B.S. Alfred University (Glass Science), 1982
Ph.D. SUNY Buffalo (Inorganic/Organometallic Chemistry), 1988

Research Interests
Our research activities have focused on the synthesis and characterization of ruthenium compounds. Initially, we focused on the synthesis of cyano-bridged compounds to study intermolecular electron transfer. This work led us to investigations into the bonding of ruthenium clusters to C₆₀ and C₇₀. We have synthesized ruthenium cluster-fullerene compounds which appear to have one and two clusters bounded to a fullerene. Electrochemical studies of these compounds are still in progress. Newer work has focused on the synthesis of water soluble ruthenium compounds to use as DNA metallointercalators. These research projects allow our students to gain experience in both synthetic and analytical techniques. Our molecules are characterized by ¹³C, ¹H, ³¹P and 2D NMR, IR, HPLC, cyclic voltammetry, visible spectroscopy and diffraction studies.

Teaching Interests
Dr. Lawson teaches a variety of chemistry courses ranging from general education classes to general and organic chemistry, general and inorganic laboratory and senior seminar. Currently Dr. Lawson is Coordinator of Interdisciplinary Science Education. Working with a teaching collaborative composed of faculty from the other science departments (Drs. Lash (Geoscience), Pendyala (Physics) and Yunghans (Biology), Dr. Lawson has developed an interdisciplinary science course sequence for elementary education majors. The Science for Elementary Educators suite of courses involves two semesters of interactive learning "lecture" courses and a separate laboratory course.