Miriam Rossi is an Italian-American chemist and the Mary Landon Sague Chair at
Vassar College. She works on
x-ray crystallography and chemistry education.
Early life and education
Rossi was born in Italy and moved to
New York City as a child. She studied
chemistry at
Hunter College, where she worked with David Beveridge. She was the first in her family to have attained a PhD degree. In fact, her parents, in Italy, had a 4th grade education, the maximum available at the time. Her older brother, Egidio Rossi, is a nephrologist in Parma, Italy. She joined
Johns Hopkins University for her doctoral studies, earning a PhD in
inorganic chemistry under the supervision of Tom Kistenmacher. She worked on the refinement of
1-methylcytosine.[2]
Rossi has been involved with teaching crystallography and chemistry throughout her academic career.[10] She is responsible for teaching structural chemistry and biochemistry. At Vassar she led the Culture and Chemistry of Cuisine course.[11] In the class, students learn about fermentation, leavening and the behaviour of starches.[11][12] She has worked with
The Culinary Institute of America on their culinary science program.[13] After being asked to speak about the nutritional benefits of the
Mediterranean diet, Rossi became interested in the scientific origins. She collaborated with an
olive oil producer in
California and found that olive oil limited the growth of
tumour cells and had strong
antioxidant properties.[14][15] Working with undergraduate students from Vassar College, Rossi investigated the health improving properties of
goji berries; using
X-ray diffraction to determine the structure of
β-ionone,
emodin and
cnidium.[16] She also looked at
hispolon, a compound that is found in
mushrooms from
East Asia.[16] She was made the Mary Landon Sague Professor of Chemistry in 2008.[17]
Rossi worked on initiatives to advance women faculty memberships into leadership positions.[18] She has developed mentoring schemes and cyber networking opportunities.[18] She looked at horizontal
peer mentoring for senior women at
liberal arts colleges.[19] In 2017 Rossi was named at the Diamond Level of the
Mid-Hudson section of the
American Chemical Society.[20]
Publications
Glusker, Jenny P.; Rossi, Miriam; Lewis, Mitchell (1994). Crystal structure analysis for chemists and biologists. Wiley-VCH.
ISBN9780471185437.
OCLC657726822.
Rossi, Miriam (1 October 2018). "Why Are Graphite and Diamond So Different when Both Are Made of Pure Carbon?".
Ask the Experts: Chemistry. Scientific American. Archived from
the original on 1 October 2018.
^Kistenmacher, T. J.; Rossi, M. (1977-12-15). "1-Methylcytosine: a refinement". Acta Crystallographica Section B. 33 (12): 3962–3965.
doi:
10.1107/S0567740877012618.
ISSN0567-7408.
^Rossi, Miriam; Rickles, Lori F.; Halpin, Wendy A. (1986-03-01). "The crystal and molecular structure of quercetin: A biologically active and naturally occurring flavonoid". Bioorganic Chemistry. 14 (1): 55–69.
doi:
10.1016/0045-2068(86)90018-0.
ISSN0045-2068.
^Caruso, Francesco; Monti, Elena; Matthews, Julian; Rossi, Miriam; Gariboldi, Marzia Bruna; Pettinari, Claudio; Pettinari, Riccardo; Marchetti, Fabio (2014-04-07). "Synthesis, Characterization, and Antitumor Activity of Water-Soluble (Arene)ruthenium(II) Derivatives of 1,3-Dimethyl-4-acylpyrazolon-5-ato Ligands. First Example of Ru(arene)(ligand) Antitumor Species Involving Simultaneous Ru–N7(guanine) Bonding and Ligand Intercalation to DNA". Inorganic Chemistry. 53 (7): 3668–3677.
doi:
10.1021/ic403170y.
ISSN0020-1669.
PMID24611608.
^Karukstis, Kerry; Gourley, Bridget; Rossi, Miriam; Wright, Laura; Hunter, Anne-Barrie (2010-01-01), "Development of a Horizontal Peer Mentoring Network for Senior Women Chemists and Physicists at Liberal Arts Colleges", Mentoring Strategies To Facilitate the Advancement of Women Faculty, ACS Symposium Series, vol. 1057, American Chemical Society, pp. 141–151,
doi:
10.1021/bk-2010-1057.ch010,
ISBN9780841225923
^"Other Recognition". Mid-Hudson SectionAmerican Chemical Society. Retrieved 2019-02-09.