Congratulations to our graduate award winners for this year! This was not an easy decision for the Graduate Awards, Seminar, and Library Committee (GASLC), speaking to the large number of outstanding students we have in the department.
ISU Research Excellence Award, for the top 10% of the graduating class, this year goes to: Uddhav Kanbur (Sadow Group) Obed Marcelino Varona-Ortiz (Anderson Group), and Lin Wei (Vela Group).
ISU Teaching Exellence Award, for the top 10% of graduate students involved in teaching this year goes to: Aleksei Ananin, Ranjan Behera, Rafael Blome, Yeongseo DiLorenzo, Miranda Emaus, Stasia Harycki, Mason Koeritz, Aparna Krishnamurthy, Searn Norris, Lucy Peterson, Nicole Stephens, Jason Thon, Hai Tran, and Ding Yuan.
Pictured are teaching excellence awardees that were able to attend the awards ceremony, from left to right: Hai Tran, Mason Koertiz, Nicole Stephens, Stasia Harycki, and Jason Thon.
Thanks to the generosity of individual and corporate sponsors, the Department of Chemistry is happy to be able to provide opportunities to recognize and award graduate students for their achievements in both academics and research. Below you will find a listing of the 2021 fellowship and award recipients.
Four finalist, for the Cotton-Uphaus Award were decided, in alpha order, Sean Norris (VanVeller Group), Darshna Pagariya (Anand Group), Gayatri Viswanathan (Kovnir Group), and Milad Zangiabadi (Zhao Group), at Open House I, held in March 2020. In October each gave a 10-15 minute talk, over Webex, covering their poster, all were excellent but ultimately Gayatri Viswanathan was determined the winner.
Althea Sleight Graduate Fellowship - Trevor Forsman (Lee Group)
Edward V. Sayre Chemistry Scholarships - Akalanka Tennakoon (Sadow Group) and Milad Zangiabadi (Zhao Group)
Frank J. Moore and Thoreen Beth Moore Fellowships - Janis Borchers (Anand Group), Carena Daniels (Vela Group), Mason Koeritz (Stanley Group), Sean Norris (Van Veller Group), Andrew Paulson (Lee Group), and Philip Yox (Kovnir Group)
Women in Chemistry Award - Yunhua Chen (Rossini/Vela Group) and Jingzhe Li (Smith Group)
Klaus Ruedenberg Theoretical Chemistry Award - Jorge Galvez-Vallejo (Gordon Group)
David N. and Minnie I. Wall Graduate Scholarship - Gourab Bhaskar (Zaikina Group), Philip Eor (Anderson Group), Eranga Gamage (Kovnir Group), Pradeep Shrestha (Winter Group), and Xun Wu (Huang Group)
Alpha Chi Sigma Research Award - Patrick Heintz (Huang/Stanley Group), Evan Larson (Lee Group), David Poole (Gordon Group), and Rui Zhang (Winter Group)
Noble Hines Endowed Fellowship - Shannon Lee (Kovnir Group)
Witiak Graduate Fellowship - Tori Cox (Zaikina Group)
Ching Ching Chiu Doctoral Fellowship for Women in Chemistry Award - Biying Zhang (Huang Group)
Chemistry Scholarship for Women - Melisa Alkan (Gordon Group)
Mary K. and Velmer A. Fassell Fellowship - Kira Rahn (Anand Group)
Joseph F. Nelson Scholarship - Ishani Bose (Zhao Group)
Henry Gilman Fellowship - Rick Dorn (Rossini Group)
Pictured here are those students that were recognized for their excellence in research, and were able to attend the ceremony, from left to right and top to bottom: Patrick Heintz, Hai Tran, Ishani Bose, Lin Wei, Uddhav Kanbur, Marcelino Ortiz, Gourab Bhaskar, Rick Dorn, Yunhua Chen, Milad Zangiabadi, Kira Rahn, Mason Koeritz, Janis Borchers, Pradeep Shrestha, Carena Daniels, Philip Yox, Eranga Gamage, Shannon Lee and Gayatri Viswanath.