On June 13, the UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry hosted its commencement ceremony to celebrate the graduating class of 2026.
At the ceremony, 66 students received Ph.D. degrees, 24 students received Master of Applied Chemical Sciences (MACS) degrees, six Departmental Scholars received Master of Science degrees, and 292 undergraduate students received bachelor’s degrees. Congratulations to the Class of 2026!
For the first time in many years, the ceremony opened with a faculty procession from Boyer Hall to the Court of Sciences. Department Chair Professor Alex Spokoyny welcomed attendees before presenting the UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry 2026 Alumni Award to Dr. Jeffrey Stafford ’84, CEO of 858 Therapeutics and a veteran biotechnology executive and scientist. Stafford then delivered an inspiring commencement address.
In his commencement address, Stafford encouraged graduates to embrace lifelong learning and never stop challenging themselves. “To the Class of 2026, I encourage you to never stop being a student,” he said. “Step outside of your comfort zone often and develop new skills. They may one day become your most valuable assets.” He also reminded graduates that “your degree in chemistry is never a limitation. It is a foundation.”
A photo gallery from the ceremony can be viewed here, and select photos appear below. The full video of the event is available here.
After Stafford’s address, Vice Chair of Graduate Education Professor Ellen Sletten recognized the Ph.D. students who received commencement awards and announced the hooding of the Ph.D. and master’s degree recipients.
Professor Paula Diaconescu, director of the Master of Applied Chemical Sciences (MACS) program, recognized the students who received commencement awards and then announced the hooding of the MACS graduates.
Sletten then conducted the hooding ceremony for those earning a master’s degree from the Departmental Scholars Program.
Spokoyny then recognized the undergraduate commencement awardees, followed by the presentation of the bachelor’s degree candidates by Professors Anne Hong-Hermesdorf and Hung V. Pham.
The following Ph.D. students, master’s students, Master of Applied Chemical Sciences (MACS) students, and undergraduate students were recognized for their achievements at the ceremony. An in-depth article about the commencement awards can be viewed here. Congratulations to all the recipients!
We are grateful to our generous donors who made these awards possible!
GRADUATE STUDENT COMMENCEMENT AWARDS
HERBERT NEWBY MCCOY COMMENCEMENT AWARDS
Mai Abdusamad (Torres group), AJ Addae (Caram/P. Weiss groups), Nesibe Akmansen Kalayci (Tolbert group), William Borrelli (Schwartz group), Belle Coffey (Caram group), Gabriella Cooper (Harran group), Brady Dehnert (Kwon group), Jeremy Dworkin (Kwon group), Caitlyn Fick (Srivastava group), Jordan Gonzalez (Garg group), Emma Greene (Harran group), Prairie Hammer (Sletten group), Grace Kim (Tolbert group), Paige Kotowitz (Sletten group), Eric Yu Lin (Sletten group), Helen H. Lin (Sletten group), Xinyu Liu (Rubin/Tolbert groups), Aleksandras Lotuzas (Harran group), Lajoyce Mboning (Bouchard/Pellegrini groups), Emily B. Mobley (Sletten group), Ethan T. Ng (Sletten group), Glenn Nurwono (Park/Tang groups), Eileen Olivares (Loo group), Judah Raab (Doyle group), Madeline Ruos (Doyle group), Georgia Maxine Scherer (Garg group), Zachary Schuman (Liu group), Jingran Shan (Garcia-Garibay/Houk groups), Jingwen Sun (Liu group), Kodi Thurber (Tolbert group), Sophia Uemura (Kaner group), Shelby Danielle Vexler (Chen group), Carolyn Wu (Quinlan group), Zhiyin (Tara) Yang (Sautet group), Qingyang Zhou (Houk group), Ling Lan (Katie) Zhu (Sletten group).
MASTER’S STUDENT COMMENCEMENT AWARDS
EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH AWARD
Matthew Hendrickson (Athavale group), Kilmer Bennewitz (Diaconescu group), Xiangbeier Li (Nava group)
OUTSTANDING CAPSTONE RESEARCH AWARD
Christian Dueñas (Kaner group), Fengya Jin (Kaner group), William Prater (Andrews group)
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT COMMENCEMENT AWARDS
ACS DIC UNDERGRADUATE AWARD IN INORGANIC CHEMISTRY
Colin Leong (Shafaat group)
ARTHUR FURST COMMENCEMENT AWARD
Hannah Auchynnik (Spokoyny group), Cheyenne Fernandes (Sletten group), Doyeon Han (Tolbert group), Nicholas Machin (Rodriguez group), Gus Mantone (Athavale group), Donovan Southall (Rodriguez group), and Jane Spellman (Petrovic group).
DANIEL E. ATKINSON AND CHARLES A. WEST COMMENCEMENT AWARD
Anna Chassion, Madeline Hoekstra (Jacobsen group), and Lillian Ott (Mohanty group).
DOLORES C. SOUTHAM COMMENCEMENT AWARD
Soobin Lim (Tinoco Valencia group), Idaly Maldonado (Gutierrez group), Sydney Nguyen (Petrovic group), Kasey Parks (Schmitt group), Jackson Parr, Kieran Pearson (Diaconescu group), Henley Roy (Petrovic group), Margaret Sasere, Tiffany Thai (DeWeese group), Jon Trujillo.
JAMES BLAINE RAMSEY COMMENCEMENT AWARD
Josh Hong (Rubin group)
MARIA REBECCA AND MAUREEN BELLETTINI COMMENCEMENT AWARD
Isabel Rosales (Diaconescu group), Joanna Sung, Lauren Van Auken (Garg group), Anna Yan (Schmitt group).
The Department is extremely grateful to our generous donors and alumni, whose support makes these award programs possible.
To learn how to contribute to our student departmental award funds or to establish a new named award or fellowship, please contact the Chair’s Office, cbchair@ucla.edu, (310) 825-3958. Your gift of any size will directly support our world-class students and aspiring scientists!
Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, penjen@g.ucla.edu.
Photos by Penny Jennings and GradImages.
