Each year, members of our faculty nominate students to be presented with a certificate of merit from the American Chemical Society in each of the traditional divisions of chemistry. We congratulate the following students recognized for the 2021-2022 academic year:
The ACS Undergraduate Award in Analytical Chemistry has been presented to Hannah Lea in recognition of her research. Hannah Lea graduated in March 2022 with a B.S. in biochemistry with college honors. Hannah has spent the last four years in the group of Assistant Professor Ashleigh Theberge studying a range of topics including cytokine stabilization, vasodilation in blood vessels, and idiopathic male infertility. Hannah began her doctoral studies at Yale this month in the Department of Translational Molecular Medicine, Pharmacology, and Physiology. She is interested in doing clinical and translation research on pediatric brain tumors.
The ACS Undergraduate Award in Inorganic Chemistry has been presented to Steven Yu in recognition of his research. Xiaorui Steven Yu graduated in June 2022 with a B.S. in chemistry and a B.A. in photomedia. He helped in the research group of Assistant Professor Alexandra Velian with the synthesis of clusters and optimizing trimetallations. This autumn, he begins his studies in the field of General Art in photography and related media and wishes to utilize the inorganic chemistry research skills in new forms of art crafting.
The ACS Undergraduate Award in Organic Chemistry has been presented to Reuben Allen in recognition of his research and coursework. Reuben Allen is a rising senior pursuing a B.S. in biochemistry. During his high school years, he worked for the biomedical devices company ReValve Solutions, where he developed computer vision software for the characterization of orthotropic materials. Since joining the group of Professor Champak Chatterjee in the fall of 2021, he has worked to identify the effects of cancer-associated mutations in a histone-modifying enzyme complex on its ability to bind to chromatin through protein-protein interactions. Reuben plans to continue his studies by attending graduate school in chemical biology.
The ACS Undergraduate Award in Physical Chemistry has been presented to Shenwei Wu in recognition of his coursework. Shenwei Wu graduated in 2022 with majors in chemistry, mathematics, and physics. Research became a key component that transformed Shenwei’s undergraduate education. Shenwei valued his time in Professor Brandi Cossairt’s inorganic chemistry lab, where he worked on the synthesis and characterization of colloidal nanomaterials with his mentor, Hao Nguyen. Shenwei was also passionate about teaching, for which he worked as a CLUE math tutor as well as a chemistry and physics teaching assistant. Shenwei is grateful for the support of Prof. Cossairt and Hao, as well as the academic advisers Tim and Casey who have greatly contributed to his academic journey.
Thank you to the American Chemical Society for providing this opportunity of recognition for our outstanding students!