Thomas E. Vasquez Jr. Organic Chemistry Laboratory Coordinator, Pomona College

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E-mail: Thomas.Vasquez@pomona.edu Office: Seaver Chemistry Laboratory, Room 118 Telephone:  (909) 607-8974 Fax:  (909) 607-7726 Chemistry Department home page Pomona College home page

Professor Vasquez technically joined the department in June 1999 as a freshly reborn chemistry major and a student researcher for Professor Dan O’Leary. While working in the O’Leary lab, Professor Vasquez explored the detection of hydroxyl group arrays using nuclear magnetic resonance. After graduating from Pomona College with Bachelor of Arts in chemistry, Professor Vasquez interned at Amgen, Inc. at their Thousand Oaks, CA facilities. While at Amgen, Professor Vasquez developed a novel way to make pyrazoloquinazolinone libraries for drug research using a one-pot microwave assisted protocol. In September 2002 Professor Vasquez attended the University of California, Irvine for graduate school where he came to work in the lab of Professor Keith Woerpel. During his time in Professor Woerpel’s lab, Professor Vasquez investigated the [3 + 2] annulations of allyl silanes and its utility to establish multiple tetrasubstituted carbon centers. Professor Vasquez graduated from UC Irvine in June 2004 with his Master of Science in organic chemistry. Professor Vasquez then proceeded to briefly work in an industrial research lab before joining the staff of the chemistry department of Pomona College in June 2005.

As the Organic Chemistry Laboratory Coordinator, Tom is responsible for maintaining the working order of the organic teaching labs and he also teaches several of the lab sections. Above all else, Professor Vasquez’s responsibility is to make sure that the students receive an above average laboratory education. This is done by keeping the curriculum of the lab exercises up-to-date and thorough, while still making it understandable and fun.

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