Ken Burtis, faculty adviser to the chancellor and provost, welcomes new CAMPOS faculty scholars Marie Cuevas Heffern, Kara Rudolph and Miriam A. Nuño. (Karin Higgins/UC Davis)
2023-24
Professor R. David Britt is the 2024 Distinguished Alumnus Awardee for the NC State University College of Sciences! Congratulations!
UC Davis Graduate Studies recently named nine College of Letters and Science faculty as recipients of 2022 Graduate Program Advising and Mentoring Awards, including Associate Professor Kyle Crabtree of Chemistry! Congrats!
Professors Jesús M. Velázquez and Louise A. Berben are part of the newly established Carbon Capture and Conversion Center, a multicampus grant with more than $10M in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy under its Energy Frontiers Research Center program, with more about the annoucment here.
Congrats to Professor R. David Britt, the 2023 American Chemical Society Award recipient of the Alfred Bader Award in Bioinorganic or Bioorganic Chemistry as shared in C&E News!
Professor Dean Tantillo was named as one of the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award recipients, part of the 2023 American Chemical Society Awards announced in C&E News. Cheers!
Congratulations to Professor Dean Tantillo for being awarded a 2022 ADVANCE Scholars Award! This program recognizes two faculty who advance diverse perspectives and gender equity in STEM through their teaching, research and service.
Ashlee Hauble (Kauzlarich Lab) has won the graduate student poster prize for Solid State Chemistry in the ACS Inorganic Chemistry Division. Congratulations!
Professor Mark Mascal has been named to the prestigious Jefferson Science Fellows program, and will spend one year in Washington D.C. advising the U.S. Department of State on matters of sustainability.
Erin Doherty (Beal Lab) was just notified that she will be receiving an NIH F31 Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award, a highly prestigious, nationally competitive pre-doctoral fellowhship from the NIH. Congratulations!
Assistant Professor Marie Heffern has won an NSF CAREER award for her proposal titled "CAREER: Elucidating the Interaction Dynamics of Soil Metals with Flavonoids in the Plant Rhizosphere". Congratulations!
Madeleine Bright '21, a member of Professor Sheila David's research group, is recognized as the top graduating senior at UC Davis. Congratulations!
The 2021 Paul Saltman Young Investigator Awardees are Assistant Professor Marie Heffern and former Britt lab postdoc Dan Suess (currently Assistant Professor at MIT). This prestigious award is given in honor of Paul Saltman, a pioneer in understanding the roles of metals in human health, and comes with an Award Lecture at the Metals in Biology Gordon Research Conference. Congratulations!!
Congratulations to Croix Laconsay (Tantillo Lab) for being selected to receive the Chemical Computing Group Excellence Award! Croix will participate in the CCG awards poster presentation session at the Fall 2021 ACS meeting.
Distinguished Professor Emeritus Bill Jackson has received the National Science Board's Public Service Award in recognition of his leadership in chemistry research as well as being a mentor and advocate for increasing minority participation in science. Congratulations and well deserved!
Assistant Professor Kyle N. Crabtree has received a notice of award from the NSF CAREER program to study reactions of complex organic molecules in interstellar clouds. Congratulations!!
Dr. Yuan Ping, a Ph.D. graduate from the our department and currently an Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UC Santa Cruz, is a recipient of the OpenEye Outstanding Junior Faculty Award from the Computers in Chemistry (COMP) division of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
Distinguished Professor R. David Britt has been elected a Fellow of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance (ISMAR), the only international scientific organization that represents the whole range of the important research field of magnetic resonance (MR). ISMAR elects only four Fellows each year, thus Professor Britt is joining a highly rarefied group of the world's leading researchers. Congratulations!
Congratulations to Assistant Professor Jesús M. Velázquez, who has received a notice of award from the NSF CAREER program. His project is entitled Blueprint for Unlocking New Energy Conversion Functionality in Chalcogenide Frameworks through Precisely Designed Composition, Electronic Structure and Surface Coordination.
Congratulations to the Heffern Lab for receiving the top honor within the College of Letters and Science for the 2020 UC Davis Lab Safety Awards!
Bill Jackson (Professor Emeritus) was awarded the American Physical Society’s Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize “for outstanding contributions to fundamental chemical physics and spectroscopy associated with asteroids and comets, and for exemplary teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as lifelong service and inspiration to a diverse community."
Congratulations to Assistant Professor David E. Olson on recently being named the 2020 recipient of the Jordi Folch-Pi Memorial Award from the American Society of Neurochemistry!
Congratulations to Jayashri Viswanathan, currently an undergraduate researcher in the Olson Lab, for winning the prestigious Barry Goldwater Scholarship!
Congratulations to Professor Delmar Larsen for being awarded a California Education Learning Lab Innovation Grant award of up to $1,000,000!
Graduate student Robert van Ostrand (David Lab) was recognized as the Honoree Veteran and received the Crown Royal Award at the Sacramento Kings' Salute to Service Night.
Assistant Professor of Teaching Chemistry Ozcan Gulacar has won the 2019 ACS Committee on Environmental Improvement award for incorporating sustainability into chemical education. Congratulations!
Graduate student Sommer Johansen (Crabtree Lab) won the 2019 Rao Prize and the inaugural Snyder Award at the International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy for her talk on the rotational spectrum of the cyanovinyl radical. Congratulations Sommer!
2018-19
Bryan Enderle has been awarded for Excellence in Teaching by the College of Letters and Science; congrats!
Undergraduate students Virginia Johnson (Koski Lab) and Karina Targos (Franz Lab) have been awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowships.
Dr. Shunda Chen (Donadio Group) has been awarded 2019 UC Davis Award for Excellence in Postdoctoral Research.
Congratulations to several of our chemistry majors being recognized this year with campus awards for their undergraduate research!
Niklas Kraemer (Kurth Lab) has received the Hanson Family Undergraduate Research Publication Award.
Virginia Johnson (Koski Lab) and Karina Targos (Franz Lab) have received Honorable Mentions for the distinguished Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research.
Kimberly Maldonado (Fisher Lab) was awarded the ACS Scholars Fellowship.
Graduate student Jackson Zhu (Kurth Lab) has been selected to receive the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Research.
Best Poster Award (Undergrad) - Alex Pell (Olson Lab)
Chemical Science Poster Book Award, Royal Society of Chemistry - Jayashiri Viswanathan (Olson Lab)
Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry Poster Book Award, Royal Society of Chemistry - Lee Dunlap (Olson Lab)
Graduate student Kasey Devlin (Kauzlarich Lab) has been awarded and ACS-DIC Student Travel Award to present a talk at the 2019 Orlando ACS spring meeting entitled "YbACdSb2 (A = Ca, Sr): Zintl phases with low thermal conductivity and high Seebeck coefficient.”
The UC Davis ACS Chemistry Club was named an 2017-18 Outstanding Student Chapter. This is the second consecutive year running that our club has received this national honor.
Graduate student Kabian Ritter (Velazquez Lab) has been awarded the Richard and Joy Dorf Engineering Fellowship.
Dr. Yudong Qiu (Wang Group) has been awarded a Software Fellowship from the Molecular Sciences Software Institute (MolSSI) sponsored by NSF. These prestigious awards will recognize advanced graduate students and postdocs pursuing the development of software that will benefit the broader field of computational molecular sciences, including molecular simulation, quantum chemistry, and materials science.
Graduate Student Zachary Buchanan (Crabtree Lab) has been awarded a Chateaubriand Fellowship. This Fellowship is offered by the Embassy of France in the United States and supports outstanding Ph.D. students from American universities who wish to conduct research in France for a period ranging from 4 to 9 months.
Graduate student Chris Colla (Casey Lab) has been awarded the Allen G. Marr Prize in honor of superior dissertation work.
Distinguished Professor R. David Britt has been recognized with the 2018 Zaviosky Award. The Zavoisky Award is awarded by the Kazan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences and recognizes truly outstanding applications or developments of electron paramagnetic resonance in any field of science.
Professor David Olson has been selected to receive the University Honors Program Faculty Award for Outstanding Mentorship.
Undergraduate students Alexandra Greb (Pharmaceutical Chemistry), Khoi Tran (Chemical Physics), and Ming Yin Quan (Chemistry) have been awarded UC Davis Outstanding Senior Awards, recognizing "graduating seniors who have made significant contributions to the dynamic intellectual life at UC Davis."
Graduate student Sommer Johansen (Crabtree Lab) has been selected for the 2018 NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship in Astrophysics. She was one of 8 Fellows selected in Astrophysics (out of 177 applicants).
Graduate student Lucy Luong (Balch Lab) has been selected as a 2018-19 ARCS Scholar. The ARCS Foundation provides financial awards to academically outstanding U.S. students in science, engineering and medical research.
Incoming graduate student Jessica Ortiz, a previously participant in the UC Davis ChemEnergy REU program, has been awarded the highly competitive NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF-GRFP). Current students Nina Howard (Shaw Lab), Croix Laconsay (Tantillo Lab), and Xander Wilcox (Fisher Lab) received Honorable Mention.
R. Bryan Miller Graduate Student Fellowship - Lee Dunlap (Olson Lab) and Jackson Zhu (Kurth Lab)
Francesca Miller Undergraduate Award - Alexandra Greb (Olson Lab) and Noreen Bar (Franz Lab)
Best Poster Award (Undergraduate) - Arya Azinfar (Olson Lab)
Best Poster Award (Graduate) - Shabnam Jafari (Lam Lab), Chandrima Majumdar (David Lab), and Christina McCulley (Tantillo Lab)
Dr. Bryan Hunter, a postdoc in the Britt Lab, has won the 2018 ACS Inorganic Division Young Investigator Award for his PhD work with Harry Gray at Caltech. He will give a talk on this work at the Boston Fall ACS Meeting.
Dr. Mark Nesbit, a postdoc in the Britt Lab, has been awarded an NIH F32 postdoctoral fellowship to support his research into metalloenzyme mechanisms.
Professor Sheila David has been recognized with an ADVANCE Scholar Award. This program encourages research leadership and outreach to underserved communities and/or mentorship of underrepresented students, and highlights and celebrates the contributions of women STEM faculty.
Distinguished Professor R. David Britt has been selected as the first Chemistry Department recipient of the new NIH R35 MIRA - Maximizing Investigators' Research Award, which provides five years of funding for his group’s research on metalloenzyme reaction mechanisms using electron paramagnetic resonance and other spectroscopic tools.
Undergraduate student David-Dominguez Aguilar (Koski Lab) has been awarded Special Merit at the CAMP Statewide Undergraduate Research Symposium. Alma Perez (Franz Lab) and Matthew Culberson (Shaw Lab) received Honorable Mention.
Maria Wong Chang (Velazquez Lab) and Jeanelle Smoot (Franz Lab) have been awarded Provost's Undergraduate Fellowships, which support undergraduate students doing research or creative projects under the guidance of UC Davis faculty members.
Graduate student Joe Perryman (Velazquez Lab) has been awarded the 2017 ITS-Davis Chevron Fellowship.
Professor Stephen Cramer has been awarded the 2018 Eastern Analytical Symposium Award for Outstanding Achievements in Vibrational Spectroscopy.
Graduate student Nicole Nunez (David Lab) has been named a Keller Fellow. The year-long program provides women, cross-disciplinary researchers and other underrepresented university-based entrepreneurs a foundation for developing their business ideas.
Professor Marie Heffern was recently inducted as a CAMPOS Faculty Scholar, a program recognizing "exceptional scientists in a STEM discipline." ("CAMPOS Scholars Boosting Diversity" from University News)
Professors Bill Casey and Jared Shaw have been newly elected as 2017 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Professor Oliver Fiehnhas been named by Analytical Scientist magazine to its “Power List 2017” in the categories “Omics Explorers” and “Mentors.” Fiehn is the director of the West Coast Metabolomics Center at the Genome Center and recently was appointed the Paul K. and Ruth Stumpf Endowed Professor in Plant Biochemistry in the College of Biological Sciences.
Flora Rutaganira, formerly an undergraduate who worked in the Shaw Lab in 2010, has been recognized as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Hanna Gray Fellow. After graduating from UC Davis, Flora went on to complete her Ph.D. in chemistry and chemical biology at UCSF and is currently doing post-doctoral work at UC Berkeley. Flora's research focuses on using chemical tools to decipher the roles of key signaling networks in choanoflagellates, single-celled organisms that are the closest living relatives of animals.
Four Ph.D. students have been selected to be 2017-18 funded trainees of the Chemical Biology Program: Samantha Hartanto (Fisher), Diedra Shorty (Lam), Angela Zhang (Atsumi) and Cindy McReynolds (Hammock, Pharmacology). The program is supported by a NIH T32 Training Grant and is under the direction of Professor Pete Beal.
Professor Marie Heffern has been selected as one of C&EN's Talented 12 for uncovering the roles of trace metals in hormone biology.
Graduate student SeHee Park (Beal Lab) has been selected for the "KMC Undergraduate/Graduate Study Award" from the Education Department of the Korean Methodist Church. This scholarship is awarded each year to two full time Korean students studying in foreign countries in STEM fields.
Professor Davide Donadio was recently awarded a Hellman fellowship for his research project, "Molecular characterization of ice surfaces as catalyst of ozone depletion reactions."
2016-17
Our Chemistry Club has been awarded the 2016-17 Outstanding Student Chapter Award. This award, the highest given to a student chapter, recognizes our community service as well as student outreach programs that have occurred this past academic year.
Professor Dean Tantillo has been selected as an ACS Fellow for his contributions to science and the ACS community, including developing approaches for increasing accessibility of chemical research for blind students.
Professor Emeritus Marilyn Olmstead has been selected to be a 2017 Fellow of the American Crystallographic Association.
Professor Kirill Kovnir has been admitted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Ph.D. alumnus Henry "Hoby" Wedler and Professor Dean Tantillo have been awarded the Inclusion and Diversity Prize by the Royal Society of Chemistry for their development of chemistry camp activities, study aids, and research tools that increase the accessibility of chemistry for blind and visually impaired students.
Professor Susan Kauzlarich has been awarded the Chancellor's Award for Mentoring Undergraduate Research.
Graduate student Stephanie Hare (Tantillo Lab) was selected as a 2017-18 ARCS Scholar. The ARCS Foundation provides financial awards to academically outstanding U.S. students in science, engineering and medical research.
Professor Jesús Velázquez has been selected as a Scialog Fellow to participate in Scialog: Advanced Energy Storage- "a program of search and discovery for truly transformative energy storage systems.
R. Bryan Miller Graduate Student Fellowship - Stephanie Hare (Tantillo Lab)
Francesca Miller Undergraduate Award - Alexandra Greb (Olson Lab)
Best Poster Awards - Alexandra Greb (undergraduate, Olson Lab) and Heesung Shim (graduate, Wulff Lab)
Graduate student Joya Cooley (Kauzlarich Lab) has been selected for a Travel Award from the Division of Inorganic Chemistry of the American Chemical Society to attend the Spring 2017 ACS Meeting in San Francisco.
UC Davis alumna (B.S. Chemistry, 1977) and Professor of Chemistry at Harvard University Cynthia Friend received the ACS Award in Surface Chemistry.
Recent Ph.D. alumna Lizhi Tao has been awarded the 2016 National Scholarship for Excellent Self-Sponsored Studying Abroad Students. The award program is sanctioned by the Ministry of Education of The People's Republic of China. The award comes with a certificate and $6,000. Lizhi was awarded for her work in conducting EPR measurements on an enzyme that makes manganese oxide under the guidance of Professors Britt and Casey.
Graduate student Nhu Nguyen (Tantillo Lab) was awarded a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship to study at Oxford University.
Professor David Olson has been selected as a recipient of the 2016 Dean's Award for Excellence in Mentoring at Early to Mid-Career Level in the area of Research. He was nominated by his students Lee Dunlap, Alexandra Greb, and Guoliang Zhang.
Professor Susan Kauzlarich has been appointed Chair-Elect of the AAAS Section on Chemistry.
Professor Jesús Velázquez was recently inducted as a CAMPOS Faculty Scholar. This program recognizes "exceptional scientists in a STEM discipline." Click here for more information.
2015 Ph.D. alumna Lisa Anderson (Franz Lab) received a New England BioLabs Passion in Science Award for her work on biofuels and "Green Lab" intiative as a postdoc at MIT. She credits UC Davis and the Department of Chemistry in her award presentation.
Three new funded trainees were recently selected for the Chemical Biology Program (CBP) at UC Davis: Calvin Ly (Olson Lab), Andrea Coleman (Ames Lab) and Kori Lay (David Lab). All three are Ph.D. students in the Department of Chemistry.
Our Chemistry Club and ACS Student Chapter received a Commendable Award for their program and activities conducted during the 2015-16 academic year.
Professor Frank Osterloh has been named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Gabby Nepomuceno (2015 alumna from the Shaw Lab) was recognized on August 1st by the California State Assembly and State Senate, alongside the rest of the 2016 CCST Science and Technology Policy Fellows, for her contributions and accomplishments as Capitol staff.
Juli-Anna Dolyniuk (Kovnir Lab) was awarded an Alfred H. and Marie E. Gibeling Fellowship for the 2016-17 academic year, which recognizes outstanding graduate students in the areas of advanced materials research or energy conservation techhologies.
2015-16
Recent Ph.D. graduate Kathy Lee (Kovnir Lab) was selected to receive this year's "Outstanding Chemistry Dissertation Award" from the Department. Her dissertation is titled, "Synthesis and Characterization of Tetrel Pnictides and Compounds in the Lithium-Tetrel-Arsenic System."
Professor Kyle Crabtree was named a 2016-17 UC Davis Hellman Fellow. The Hellman Family Foundation contributed funds to establish this program to provide support and encouragement for the research of promising Assistant Professors who exhibit potential for great distinction in their research and who have documented a need for funding.
Professor Ozcan Gulacar was selected to receive a Committee on Research grant. This research award program is intended to provide seed funds that will lead to outside grant applications, support new collaborative research that crosses departmental or college boundaries, as well as provide continued support for ongoing research activities.
Graduate student Brandi Hudson (Tantillo Lab) was selected to receive the Allen G. Marr Prize "in honor of superior dissertation work." Her dissertation is titled, "Non-Covalent Interactions and Complex Reaction Mechanisms of Organic Molecules."
Professor Annaliese Franz was selected to receive an ADVANCE Scholar Award in honor of her outstanding research and mentorship. ADVANCE is an Institutional Transformation grant supported by the National Science Foundation, which aims to increase the participation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers.
Teaching laboratory specialist Jillian Emerson received Honorable Mention in the Individual Teaching Award category of the UC Davis Staff Assembly Citations of Excellence program. The award nomination reads, in part, "This nominee provides in-depth training to her laboratory assistants and student workers. She has high expectations of them and gives them opportunities to work on interesting projects, as their abilities progress. She has equally high expectations for herself and is always willing to take the extra step to provide excellent support and service to our department."
High school student Colin Unger (Kovnir Lab) was awarded "Best Student Presentation" at this year's Larock Conference for presenting outstanding work on the syntehsis of transition metal cholride formate compounds. Second prize was awarded to Sahana Rajan (Ames Lab) for her groundbreaking studies on L-type Ca2+ channels in the brain. Third prize was shared by Sydnee Green (David Lab) for her work on DNA repair enzymes and Andrew Teuthorn (Kurth Lab) for his studies on benzoisoxazoles. Sahana, Sydnee and Andrew are undergraduate students at UC Davis.
Undergraduate student Ada Kwong (Shaw Lab) was selected as a 2016-17 Beckman Scholar, one of the most prestigious undergraduate science fellowship programs on campus.
Graduate student Joshua Greenfield (Kovnir Lab) was selected as a 2016-17 ARCS Scholar. This honor comes with a $10,000 award that may be used for fees, stipend and/or research funds. He is the second student from the Kovnir Lab to receive this award.
Graduate student Nhu Nguyen (Tantillo Lab) was selected to receive the R. Bryan Miller Graduate Summer Fellowship.
Undergraduate student Anna Johnston was selected as this year's recipient of the Adams Award for Leadership by the UC Davis Center for Student Involvement, recognizing her outstanding contributions as President of Chemistry Club.
Undergraduate student Jensen Spear (David Lab) was awarded a UC Davis Outstanding Senior Award, which recognizes "graduating seniors who have made significant contributions to the dynamic intellectual life at UC Davis."
Graduate student Nova Tasnima (Chen Lab) was selected to receive a NSF EAPSI award (East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes for U.S. Graduate Students) to conduct research in Taiwan this upcoming summer.
Graduate student Brittany Anderson was selected to receive an ACS Women Chemists Committee Travel Award, sponsored by Eli Lilly & Company, to support travel to the ACS 252nd National Meeting & Exposition in Philadelphia, PA.
Graduate students Charles Benson (Olson Lab) and Austin Carroll (Atsumi Lab) were recently named by the National Science Foundation as recipients of awards from the Graduate Research Fellowship Program, while Kasey Devlin (Kauzlarich Lab) received Honorable Mention.
Graduate student Juli-Anna Dolyniuk (Kovnir Lab) has won the 2016 Iota Sigma Pi Anna Louise Hoffman Award for Outstanding Achievement in Graduate Research. Iota Sigma Pi is a national honor society for women in chemistry, and the award is given to only one graduate student per year.
Graduate student Juli-Anna Dolyniuk (Kovnir Lab) was selected to receive an ACS Division of Inorganic Chemistry Young Investigator Award. She will present a 30-minute talk at the Fall ACS Meeting in Philadelphia.
Professor Kirill Kovnir was selected to receive a Faculty Development Program Award for 2016-17. Administered through the Office of the Provost, these quarter-long awards "release recipients from teaching duties and service responsibilities for one quarter, thereby allowing them to give undivided attention to scholarly or creative pursuits."
Graduate student Josh Greenfield (Kovnir Lab) was awarded a UCD Dissertation Year Fellowship for the 2016-17 academic year by the Office of Graduate Studies.
Graduate student Nicole Nuñez (David Lab) was awarded a Floyd and Mary Schwall Dissertation Year Fellowship in Medical Research for the 2016-17 academic year by the UC Davis Office of Graduate Studies.
Professor Bill Casey was selected by the Geochemical Society as this year's recipient of the Clair C. Patterson Award. This award recognizes innovative breakthrough of fundamental significance in environmental geochemistry.
Undergraduate staff adviser Perry Gee was awarded a Certificate of Recognition in Exceptional Efforts to Support Study Abroad by the UC Davis Study Abroad Program.
Graduate student Doug Banda (David Lab) was selected as a trainee on a National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Training Grant (January 2015 - December 2016).
Professor Louise Berben was selected as a UC Davis Chancellor's Fellow. This program was established in 2000 to honor the achievements of outstanding faculty members early in their career.
Professor Xi Chen was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Chen is among four UC Davis researchers and 347 AAAS fellows nationwide for 2015 honored for their contributions to innovation, education and scientific leadership.
Our Chemistry Club received an Honorable Mention Award by the ACS for their program and activities conducted during the 2014-15 academic year. There are over 900 student chapters nationally, and commendable awards were given to 99 chapters.
Graduate students Christina "Nina" McCulley (Tantillo Lab) and Cody Palumbo (Beal Lab) were recently selected as two of this year’s funded trainees for the new Chemical Biology Program at UC Davis.
Professor Bill Jackson was selected to receive the 2016 UC Davis Distinguished Emeritus Award for his continuing involvement in teaching and mentoring and his dedication to equal opportunity and diversity. He will be honored at the Chancellor's luncheon in late January.
Professor Dave Britt was selected to receive the Royal Society of Chemistry Bruker Prize.
2014-15
Department manager Jessica Potts was chosen for the Chancellor's Staff Appreciation and Recognition (STAR) Award for her outstanding contributions to the UC Davis campus and community. This award is presented annually by Chancellor Katehi to individuals whose achievements go "above and beyond" in support of the campus' core values.
The following graduate students were selected as GAANN (Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need) fellows for the 2014-15 academic year: Hoby Wedler (Tantillo), Stephanie Hare (Tantillo), Joya Cooley (Kauzlarich), Talia Loewen (Berben) and Rachel Welch (Osterloh). These prestigious fellowships were made possible by a grant awarded to us by the U.S. Department of Education. They are intended to support graduate students with excellent records who demonstrate financial need and plan to pursue the highest degree available in their course of study. 33 of our students since 2006 have been designated as GAANN fellows.
Professor Frank Osterloh received the Richard A. Glenn Award from the ACS Energy and Fuel Division for presenting a paper (''Charge generation and transport in nanocrystal water splitting photocatalysts: Insights from surface photo voltage spectroscopy") at the Dallas 247 ACS meeting. He also credited his student Jing Zhao for conducting the experimental work. The results were published in JPCL earlier this year: J. Zhao and F. E. Osterloh, J. Phys. Chem. Lett, 2014, 5 782-786, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jz500136h.
Professor Justin Siegel led his Undergraduate Research Team to win the grand prize in the 2014 iGEM Competition. Click here for the article.
Graduate students Kathy Lee (Kovnir Lab) and Kamran Ghiassi (Balch Lab) each received a $10,000 scholarship from the ARCS Foundation (Achievement Awards for College Scientists) for 2015-16.
2013-14
Professor Shota Atsumi has received an NSF CAREER Award, which supports "junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations."
Professor Louise Berben was awarded the ACS 2014 Organometallics Young Investigator Fellowship.
Professor Dave Britt won a Gold Medal from the International EPR Society.
Professor Justin Siegel was awarded a prestigious Sloan Research Fellowship for "designer enzymes." Click here for the article.
Professor Susan Kauzlarich was awarded the prestigious Francis P. Garvan-John M. Olin Medal for her 25+ years of work in Zintl phase compounds, significant scientific contributions in the field of soild state chemistry and her accomplishments in mentoring. Click here for the article.
Professors Carlito Lebrilla and Xi Chen and their collaborators received the Dean's Team Award for Excellence by the UC Davis School of Medicine.
Juli-Anna Dolyniuk, an inorganic chemistry Ph.D. student working in the Kovnir Lab, was selected for a 2014 Ludo Frevel Crystallography Scholarship Award from the International Centre for Diffraction Data. The $2,500 award is designed to support the education and research program of promising graduate students in crystallography-related fields.
Professor Kirill Kovnir was selected by the Younger Chemists Committee (YCC) of the American Chemical Society (ACS) for a Leadership Development Award to support his participation in the YCC Leadership Development Workshop. This program recognizes emerging leaders in the profession and helps them prepare for leadership opportunities at volunteer organizations, such as ACS, and in their professional careers.
Professor Stephen Cramer has received a Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The Foundation grants up to 100 research awards annually, each valued at 60,000 EUR. Click here for the article.
Professor Stephen Cramer was elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The following graduate students were selected as GAANN (Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need) fellows for the 2013-14 academic year: Toby Sherbow (Berben), Cindy Pham (Cramer), Ryan Pemberton (Tantillo), Elyse Towns (Land), Michael Di Maso (Shaw), Kathy Lee (Kovnir) and Kellan Lamb (Shaw). These prestigious fellowships were made possible by a grant awarded to us by the U.S. Department of Education. They are intended to support graduate students with excellent records who demonstrate financial need and plan to pursue the highest degree available in their course of study. 33 of our students since 2006 have been designated as GAANN fellows.
Graduate Student Hoby Wedler (Tantillo) received the HSC Foundation Advocates in Disability Award for his work in founding and organizing a chemistry camp for blind high school students. Listen to his interview on Capital Public Radio here.
2012-13
Melvin Lorenzo, a sophomore majoring in Mechanical Engineering and working in the Balch Lab, presented his research at CAMP-NSF, where he received Honorable Mention for Physical Sciences and Engineering. CAMP is a UC statewide symposium dedicated to UC undergraduate acheivement in STEM.
Professor Annaliese Franz was selected to receive the 2013 Outstanding Mentor Award by the Consortium for Women and Research at UC Davis.
Professor Matt Augustine has been awarded the 2013 Distinguished Teaching Award for Undergraduate Teaching. This is one of the most prestigious awards given on campus and recognizes outstanding teaching and commitment to student success.
Professor Louise Berben has been selected by the Chemical Communications Editorial Board as the winner of the ChemComm Emerging Investigator Lectureship 2013. As the winner of this high-profile award, she will present a lecture at three different locations over the course of 12 months, including an international venue.
Aimee Bryan, an organic chemist in the Power Lab, received an award to attend the 63rd Lindau Nobel Laureates Meeting. Since 1951, Nobel Laureates in chemistry, physics, and physiology/medicine convene annually in Lindau, Germany to have open and informal meetings with students and young researchers.
Joel Hwang (Chen Lab), Gabe Rodriguez (Atsumi Lab), Lisa Anderson (Franz Lab) and John Oliver (Atsumi Lab) each received awards at the 2013 IGPS (Interdisciplinary Graduate and Professional Student Symposium. More than 200 students from every professional school and academic college gave short talks, presented posters, etc., to highlight their work. The list of winners is available here.
Professor Xi Chen was selected as the winner of the Carbohydrate Research Award for Creativity in Carbohydrate Chemistry 2013. Given every two years, the award was established in 2001 by the Editors and Publisher of Carbohydrate Research and consists of a check for US $1,000, a certificate and a complimentary subscription to the journal for two years. Professor Chen has also been invited for a plenary lecture at the 17th European Carbohydrate Symposium (ERUOCARB17) in Tel Aviv, Israel this summer.
Professors Jackie Gervay-Hague and Dave Britt were elected as fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in October 2012 for their contributions to science and technology. Our department now has nine AAAS fellows.
Professor Toby Allen was selected to be a 2012-13 Chancellor's Fellow. The program was established in 2000 to honor the teaching and research achievements of outstanding faculty early in their careers.
Professor Kirill Kovnir secured his first grant of 3-year funding from the Department of Energy to pursue his thermoelectric interests.
The Directorate for Math and Physical Sciences of the National Science Foundation announced the selection of Professor Jackie Gervay-Hague as the Division Director of Chemistry. She will assume the responsibilities of this position in July 2013.
2009 Ph.D. alumna Jessica Koehne (of NASA) was named by President Obama as a recipient of the 2011 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PACASE). The PECASE awards represent the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers. They recognize recipients' exceptional potential for leadership at the frontiers of scientific knowledge and their commitment to community service as demonstrated through professional leadership, education or community outreach.
2011-12
Senior Larissa Miyachi has been selected to receive the 2012 University Medal, the highest honor for graduating undergraduate students at UC Davis. Larissa is working on a project of developing a nanoscale drug carrier that can be triggered with X-rays to release drugs at tumor sites. She also won the first prize of Larock Undergraduate Research Conference in 2011.
Graduate student Henry "Hoby" Wedler has been selected as a Champion of Change for STEM for people with disabilities, as part of President Obama's "Winning the Future" initiative (whitehouse.gov/champions). On May 7, Hoby will be honored at the White House as a leader who is making a positive impact in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math for people with disabilities in the areas of employment and education. Hoby was quick to acknowledge the UC Davis Department of Chemistry, Professor Dean Tantillo and the Tantillo group for all of their everlasting support.
Graduate student Tim Newman (Augustine Lab) has received an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, which recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines pursuing research-based Master's and doctoral degrees at accredited United States institutions.
Graduate student Rene Johnson (Casey Lab) received the "Best Presentation Award" at the International Uranium Biogeochemistry Conference in Switzerland.
Several of our graduate students received fellowships from the UC Davis Graduate Studies Internal Fellowship competition. Charles Grove (Shaw Lab) received a Flloyd and Mary Schwall Dissertation Year Fellowship in Medical Research, while Greg Allen (Kelly Lab), Rachel Chamousis (Osterloh Lab), Osvaldo Gutierrez (Tantillo Lab) and Darlene Tan (Shaw Lab) each received a UC Davis and Humanities Graduate Research Award.
Professor Sheila David was elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Professor Bill Casey has been selected to receive the Herbert A. Young Society Dean's Fellowship in the UC Davis Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences. This award is funded with private contributions to the College of Letters and Science Annual Fund and the Herbert A. Young Foundation and is intended to be used for teaching research and service activities.
Professor Louise Berben has just been named a 2012 Sloan Fellow. The Sloan Research Fellowships seek to stimulate fundamental research by early-career scientists and scholars of outstanding promise. These two-year fellowships are awarded yearly to 118 researchers in recognition of distinguished performance and a unique potential to make substantial contributions to their field.
Professor Frank Osterloh has received the Scialog Collaborative Innovation Award for 2012. This grant from Research Corporation will allow his research team to fabricate and test Fractal Shaped Solar Cells with improved performance. This is a collaboration between the Osterloh group and the groups of Richard Tailor (Physics, U Oregon), Boaz Ilan (School of Natural Sciences, UC Merced) and Sean Shaheen (Physics and Astronomy, U Denver).
