Judges
Professor Katie Bichler
Concordia University
Profile
Dr. Katie Bichler is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Concordia University Wisconsin in Mequon. She received her B.S. from Carroll College in 1990 with an American Chemical Society (ACS) approved major in chemistry and minors in biology and German. She earned her Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Northwestern University in 1994, working under the direction of Dr. Rick Silverman, 2003 Arthur C. Cope Senior Scholar of the ACS and a leader in the field of rational design of possible medicinal agents based upon determination of the mechanisms by which targeted enzymes function. While at Northwestern, Dr. Bichler synthesized three fluorinated analogues of a known anti-epileptic agent, γ-vinyl GABA, tested their efficacy at inhibiting the enzyme GABA aminotranferase, and studied the mechanisms by which those inhibitions took place. Her thesis was entitled, "Mechanisms of Inactivation of Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid Aminotranferase by Monofluorovinyl Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid Analogues." While in graduate school, Dr. Bichler was awarded a prestigious Training Grant in Molecular Biophysics, coauthored several papers, and gave many presentations on the work she was doing.
After completing her degree at Northwestern, Dr. Bichler taught at Carthage College in Kenosha for three years before she began teaching for the University of Wisconsin Colleges, first at Manitowoc, then at Sheboygan. For the UW Colleges, she taught the first two years of the professional chemistry program-general and organic chemistry, advised several students and student organizations, and served on several committees. She was awarded the Advisor of the Year Award at Carthage in 1996, the Student Senate Appreciation Award from UW-Manitowoc in 1999, a Division of Design and Development Association for Educational Communications and Technology Outstanding Practice in Instructional Design Award in 2003, and the UW-Sheboygan Teaching Award in 2008.
Dr. Bichler's main professional focus at this time is the development of a standardized exam for the purpose of assessing student learning in the laboratory. She was recently involved with a team of chemists from across the country in determining the feasibility of a standardized laboratory exam and the next stage of this project-the actual writing and developing of the standardized exam-has recently been approved. Dr. Bichler is honored to have been chosen as a part of the team making this important tool a reality.
Professor Joseph Piatt
Carroll College
Profile
Joseph J. Piatt is an associate professor of Chemistry and Environmental Science at Carroll University in Waukesha, Wisconsin. He came to Carroll in the fall of 1998 after completing a post-doctoral appointment (1997-98) and Ph.D. (1997) at the University of Arizona in the Department of Soil, Water, and Environmental Science. He received his M.S. in Civil Engineering- Environmental Engineering Sciences (1993) from the University of Minnesota and B.S. degrees (1989) in chemistry and mathematics from Marquette University. Dr. Piatt teaches courses in analytical and environmental chemistry, instrumentation, and soil and water resources. His main research interests are in soil and water quality as related to the fate, transport, and remediation of contaminants in the environment, with special interest in subsurface systems. Most recently, he has been investigating the occurrence of human pharmaceuticals in wastewater and their potential impact on surface water and soil/sediment system
