“Advanced Materials,” the premier scientific journal for materials chemistry, featured an article submitted by a Denison professor and student on the cover of its May, 2018 edition.

Associate Professor of Chemistry Joe Reczek was the lead corresponding author, and one of his Denison students, Madeline Van Winkle ’18, is the first author on the paper, titled “Laser Rewritable Dichroics through Reconfigurable Organic Charge-Transfer Liquid Crystals”

“It is very rare for a paper in this caliber journal to have an undergraduate as the first author,” said Reczek. “And to have earned the cover was an unexpected honor.”

Reczek is interested in developing new organic materials, potentially for use in molecular electronics, and specifically for use in low-cost solar cells. His research integrates organic synthesis and characterization of self-assembling liquid crystalline materials along with the actual fabrication and testing of devices. He has published multiple leading papers in his area and received several prestigious research grants to support his work, including two from the National Science Foundation. Reczek is a passionate advocate for the value of engaging undergraduate students in high-quality faculty-student research. He has worked with over 45 Denison students on his research to date, and he is an engaged member of the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR).

Van Winkle was awarded a National Science Foundation fellowship, which funds the next three years of her post-graduate work. She attends U.C. Berkeley, where she also was awarded a Chancellor’s Fellowship.