Chemistry professor spends summer in Australia

Dr. Jeff Weidenhamer, professor of chemistry, was selected for the Fulbright Specialists Program as an agricultural science specialist and spent six weeks this summer hosted by Charles Sturt University in New South Wales, Australia. While in Australia, he presented invited lectures at CSU, in a symposium on root zone interactions at the International Botanical Congress, in a symposium on root-soil interactions hosted by the E.F. Graham Center, and to the Plant Industries group of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in Canberra, which is Australia's national science agency. His paper at the International Botanical Congress was co-authored by Associate Professor of Chemistry Dr. Brian Mohney. While in Australia, Prof. Weidenhamer and his wife BethAnn were able to take in some of Australia’s amazing flora and fauna including humpback whales (above), many birds (kookaburra, below) and the Minnamura rain forest. Earlier in the summer, Dr. Weidenhamer spent 2 weeks in Germany to visit the lab of Dr. Matthias Rillig at the Free University of Berlin and presented an invited lecture. He and Dr. Mohney have collaborated with Dr. Rillig and his postdoctoral researcher Kathryn Barto on studies of the transport of chemicals released by plant roots in soil.