Chemistry graduate student Sena Noaman was selected to participate in the 74th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Chemistry, which took place from June 29 to July 4, 2025. Only young scientists up to the age of 35 are eligible to apply to participate and selection is a once in a lifetime opportunity, as attending a past meeting renders an applicant ineligible for future consideration. Doctoral students who are selected must show a genuine interest in science and research, show a strong commitment to interdisciplinary work as well as their principal field of study, receive strong support of their application by their academic advisor, belong to the top 5 percent of their class, show excellent academic accomplishments, and have produced some very good research work. Congratulations to Sena for this remarkable achievement!
What Matters Most: Reflections from the 74th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting
by Sena Noaman
“What’s your proudest accomplishment?” asked one Young Scientist in the crowd at an Open Exchange Session with Moungi Bawendi, who won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on quantum dots, now used in LED lights and television screens. He smiled before replying, “My daughter.”
What struck me most about the Nobel laureates I encountered at the 74th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Chemistry was that their Nobel Prizes weren’t the focus of their attention. Instead, they demonstrated unwavering patience and dedication to their research, excitement for the work of Young Scientists, and a passion for their families and other personal pursuits.
Some Nobel laureates in attendance were so excited by new discoveries that they didn’t even discuss their Nobel work. They were delighted to join in group discussions, eager to listen to students share their research. Their general advice was not to seek a Nobel Prize; it came to many of them along their scientific journeys, but winning the Prize wasn’t the end for any of them either. I left the Meeting realizing that clear focus and curiosity are the true keys to success, both personally and professionally.
As a rising third year PhD student, I’m still at the beginning of my scientific journey. Yet I had the honor of being one of the 606 Young Scientists from across the globe chosen to attend the 74th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Chemistry this summer in Germany. Thirty-three Nobel laureates were in attendance, and the Meeting hosted a variety of activities to interact with them, including lunches, walks, lectures, and exchange sessions.
In addition to gaining a broader perspective from the laureates, it was also incredible engaging with Young Scientists just a little further along in their careers than me, from graduate students to postdocs and beyond. I met so many people from different countries. Though our experiences differed, we were united by our scientific passions. The enthusiasm of my fellow Young Scientists left me itching to get back to the lab to make the next big discovery!
I highly recommend this experience to any graduate student or postdoc. It was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. It’s rare for many Nobel laureates to gather in one place, and the international nature of this meeting was marvelous, especially to experience as a graduate student. I want to thank the UW Department of Chemistry for supporting me through the George H. Hitchings Endowed Scholarship Fund and the German Research Foundation for their financial support.
UW Chemistry Alumni Among Lindau’s Global Community
Prior to Sena’s attendance, UW Chemistry was most recently represented at the Lindau Meeting in 2023 by alum Johanna Schwartz ’17. Says Schwartz, “It was an honor to be able to attend the 71st Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Chemistry. As a postdoctoral researcher from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, it would not have been possible for me to attend without the nomination and sponsorship from the UC Presidential Meeting Fellowship. Never have I been to such a diverse conference, with over 611 international young scientists from over 91 countries (and 32 Nobel laureates)!”
Other Lindau Meeting alumni from the Department of Chemistry include Stephen Oja ’16 (65th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting Interdisciplinary: Physiology/Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, 2015), Alisha Jones ’15 and Joan Bleecker ’08 ’12 ‘15 (63rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Chemistry, 2013), Jonathan Litz ’15 (62nd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Physics, 2012).