Content will be added on this page as alumni submit updates, so check back periodically! If you have an update, please let us know. Last update: 11/13/2024
1950s
Richard Gordon (B.S. 1951) was memorialized by the Gordon Elementary Book Club in a picture book about him published by the group at the school named after him. Read the coverage by Tyler Shuey, "Student-led effort leads to picture-book about local astronaut."
1970s
Christopher A. Pohl (B.S. 1973) was awarded the 2025 Lifetime Achievement in Chromatography Award from LCGC International. (November 2024)
1980s
Dan Jaffe (Ph.D. 1987) is Professor of Environmental Chemistry at the University of Washington in Bothell. His research on outdoor air pollution is often in the news, and recently, his work on indoor air pollution was featured in UW News.
1990s
Steve Alley (Ph.D. 1996) was appointed as chief scientific officer of MBrace Therapeutics, Inc. Read more about Steve in the Business Wire/Yahoo! Finance press release, March 5, 2024.
Roy Diaz (M.S. 1996, Ph.D. 2002) was featured by the University of Washington Magazine as one of 20 extraordinary alumni. Diaz has found his niche as an intellectual property attorney and adviser. His volunteer work includes serving as trustee and past president of the UW Alumni Association, past president and board member of the UW School of Law Alumni Association and trustee for Seattle Children’s. In June, he joined the UW’s Presidential Search Advisory Committee to help the University find its next leader. (added December 20, 2024)
Jerry Riener (B.S. 1996) owns and operates Guardian Cellars with his wife Jennifer Sullivan and was featured in a story in the Salisbury Post, December 1, 2024, when they visited the Salisbury Wine Shop in Salisbury, North Carolina.
2000s
Kevin Kittilstved (Ph.D. 2006) just moved back to Washington to join the chemistry faculty at Washington State University as a full professor after going through the ranks of Assistant, Associate and Full Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for thirteen and a half years. (added October 2024)
2010s
Emily Barker (B.S. 2014) graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in Autumn 2023 with a PhD in polymer chemistry. Emily is now a research chemist at Contraline in Charlottesville, VA, designing hydrogels for reversible, non-hormonal male contraceptives. (added May 2024)
Dane deQuilettes (Ph.D. 2017) had a paper published in the journal Nature Energy. “This is the first paper that demonstrates how to systematically control and engineer surface fields in perovskites," says Dane in an MIT news release published by AAAS EurekAlert! Dane is now co-founder and chief science officer of the MIT spinout Optigon. Compound Semiconductor also published an article, "Study unlocks perovskite's nanoscale secrets," on March 6, 2024.
Kevin Felt (B.S. 2018) had a paper published in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology on the structural basis for partial agonism in type-3 serotonin receptors in January 2024. He will earn the PhD in autumn semester 2024 from the Case Western Reserve University Department of Physiology and Biophysics and will begin a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Andrew Kruse at Harvard Medical School to study GPCR signaling and pharmacology. (added October 2024)
Sean Fischer (Ph.D. 2013), a Regulatory Review Scientist in FDA’s Office of Food Additive Safety, will be giving a talk titled "Regulatory Considerations for the Use of Recycled Plastics in Food Packaging" at a symposium hosted by Michigan State University on October 2, 2024.
Jonesy (Alisha Jones, Ph.D. 2015), now a professor at NYU, was named one of C&EN's Talented 12! Read her super cool featurette published on May 17, 2024. (added June 2024)
Aurelia Honerkamp Smith (Ph.D. 2010) was awarded tenure as a faculty member in Physics at Lehigh University. Professor Sarah Keller, Aurelia's Ph.D. adviser, visited her in spring 2024, and they are pictured below (added October 2024)
Julian Rees (Ph.D. 2016) is the CEO and co-founder of HOPO Therapeutics, a privately-held, clinical-stage pharmaceutical company developing treatments for heavy metal poisoning and pioneering novel methods for directed radioisotope delivery. They were awarded a contract valued at up to $226 million from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to advance development of their flagship drug candidate HOPO-101 to treat exposure to heavy metals. Read the press release, October 28, 2024.
2020s
Cailin Cain (Ph.D. 2024) was presented with LCGC International’s Rising Stars of Separation Science Award for Outstanding Achievement in Gas Chromatography, sponsored by Organomation, at the 34th International Symposium on Chromatography in Liverpool, United Kingdom. (added October 7, 2024)
Lizzy Canarie (Ph.D. 2021) was promoted to Scientist II, Protein Sciences at Aptevo Therapeutics, Inc. (February 2024)
Emma Cave (Ph.D. 2023) received the 2023 Leadership in the Promotion of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Respect from the ACS Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholar Recognition Program for her contributions to mentorship as a graduate student. (added March 2024)
Emily Dieter (Ph.D. 2020) is starting a new position as Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Gettysburg College. (added July 2024) Congratulations to Emily on her selection to the Joint Genome Institute's 2025 Community Science Program Annual Call. The CSP Annual Call is focused on large-scale genomic science projects relevant to the DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) missions in sustainable biofuel and bioproducts production, global carbon and nutrient cycling, and biogeochemistry. (added September 2024)
Christopher Fellin (Ph.D. 2021) was a panelist for the Careers in Health Sciences Alumni Panel hosted by UW's Career & Internship Center on February 21, 2024. He is a biomedical engineer for the Henry Jackson Foundation studying the development of novel biomaterials for DLP 3D printing and the treatment of peripheral nerve injuries. Prior to his role at HJF, he spent a year at an industrial adhesive company as a research scientist.
Avijit Hazra (Ph.D. 2021) won the Research Award for Underrepresented Chemists of Color from Merck in 2023. As a part of the award, Avijit went to Merck's Rahway site and engaged in a two day symposium. This year, he just won an INSPIRE faculty fellowship supported by the Department of Science and Technology, India. This will allow Avijit to start his independent academic career at an Indian institution. Avijit is currently working with Professor Matt Sigman at the University of Utah at the interface of mechanistic understanding, data science, and electro-analytical chemistry to understand how low valent Ni(I) complexes activate organic electrophiles.
Cholpisit "Ice" Kiattisewee (Ph.D. 2023) received the 2023 Leadership in Mentoring award from the ACS Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholar Recognition Program for his contributions to mentorship as a graduate student. (added March 2024)
Alumni Communities
Huskies in London: In July 2024, Huskies in London held their first in-person event in several years, hosting UW chemistry professor David Ginger, who spoke about his work as chief scientist at the UW’s Clean Energy Institute.
Alumni Communities include U.S. Huskies and International Huskies. Find your regional group!
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See also Alumni Updates from 2023.
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