2023 Departmental Awards Ceremony

Posted on

On May 31, 2023, we celebrated the many accomplishments of our alumni, faculty, postdocs, students, and staff at our annual departmental awards ceremony.

A photo gallery from the event can be viewed here and select photos can be viewed below.

Each year at this event we recognize our faculty, postdocs, and students for their accomplishments in research and teaching, two of the primary missions of our university. We also recognize staff members for their outstanding contributions to the department. Finally, we honor our distinguished graduate alums with the Alumni Legacy Award this year the award was presented to Karen Timberlake (M.S. ’65) and William Timberlake (M.S. ’66) (pictured above).

Congratulations to all the award recipients list below!

(Left) Drs. Karen and Bill Timberlake and their friends and family listen as the 2023 Alumni Legacy award is announced. (Right) The Timberlakes are presented the award by Department Chair Professor Neil Garg and Professor Catherine Clarke.
2023 Alumni Legacy Award recipients Drs. Karen and Bill Timberlake (center) with Department Chair Professor Neil Garg (left) and Professor Catherine Clarke (right).
Department Chair Professor Neil Garg announces the  inaugural Sammy T. Mensah Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Awards.
Recipients of the inaugural Samantha T. Mensah Graduate Student Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Awards – (from left) Zerina Mehmedovic (Schwartz group), Hayden Montgomery (Maynard group), Arismel Tena-Meza (Garg group), AJ Addae (P. Weiss group), and Caitlyn Fick (Srivastava group).
(Left) Over 200 guests attended the ceremony. (Right) Professors Ellen Sletten and Robert Clubb, recipients of the 2023 Hanson-Dow Award for Excellence in Teaching awards, and Professor Jorge Torres, recipient of the inaugural Sammy T. Mensah Faculty Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award.
(Left) Professor Juli Feigon with members of her group who received awards. (Right) Recipient of the 2023 Herbert Newby McCoy Faculty Award, Department Chair Professor Neil Garg with Chair’s Council Members Priscilla and Walt Kasha.
(Left) Students pose for a photo with their awards. (Right) Professor Sarah Tolbert with her group members who received awards.
Professor Ellen Sletten and the award recipients from her group.

The following awards were presented at the 2023 Departmental Awards Ceremony:

2023 ALUMNI LEGACY AWARD

This award honors distinguished UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry graduate alumns in recognition of their achievements in life and generous support and service to UCLA. An in-depth article about the Timberlakes will be posted soon.

Karen Timberlake (M.S. ’65) and William Timberlake (M.S. ’66) (pictured above).


FACULTY AWARDS

The Herbert Newby McCoy Faculty Award
Each year, this award is given to the UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry faculty member who has made the greatest contributions of the year to the science of chemistry and biochemistry. An in-depth article about the recipient and his research will be posted soon.

Professor Neil Garg for his group’s work on enantioselective synthesis of lissodendoric acid A using strained cyclic allenes. This research was published in Science earlier this year, appeared on the journal cover, and was featured in many media outlets.  We would also like to acknowledge the co-authors of the paper.  They are Dr. Francesca Ippoliti, Dr. Nathan Adamnson, Laura Wonilowicz, Daniel Nasrallah, Dr. Evan Darzi, and Dr. Joyann Donaldson.

Hanson-Dow Award for Excellence in Teaching
This award was established in 1986 as a means to celebrate outstanding teaching within the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry. The award recognizes our ladder and/or non-ladder faculty members for their efforts in classrooms and laboratories, in overseeing undergraduate student research, and preparing exceptional teaching materials. An in-depth article about the recipients will be posted soon.

Professor Robert Clubb is honored as one of our most dedicated and inspirational instructors and mentors.  Highlights of his teaching include his development of a new course introducing undergraduates to structural biology, combining his expertise in biochemistry and structure to give undergraduates, many for the first time, a look at the specific catalytic active sites of the enzymes that they studied in the Chem 153ABC year-long series. Clubb has also been a linchpin member of our graduate program.  Students have commented about his engaging, humorous, and patient demeanor, and being able to speak to students in simple and understandable terms.  They have also commented about his role in encouraging their intellectual growth and instilling confidence in them during their academic journey.

Professor Ellen Sletten lectures with brilliant clarity and fosters constructive and empathetic personal interactions with her students. She has created new classes, as well as undergraduate and graduate tracks in Chemical Biology and has built a culture of excellence and expertise for undergraduates and graduates in her research labs. Sletten creates, organizes, teaches, counsels, and administers in ways that have inspired and educated students and have generally elevated the educational excellence of the UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.


STUDENT, STAFF, AND FACULTY AWARDS FOR DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

This year, we have established the inaugural Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Awards to recognize and reward the extraordinary DEI efforts that are ongoing in our department and recognizes staff, faculty, and students who have demonstrated extraordinary leadership, innovation, and creative accomplishments within DEI initiatives. An in-depth article about the awards and the recipients will be posted soon. Congratulations to the following recipients!

Samantha T. Mensah Graduate Student Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Awards

The awards honor graduate student Samantha “Sammy” T. Mensah who passed away in March of this year.  Sammy did many remarkable things during her time at UCLA, including co-founding BlackInChem in 2020. This is a nonprofit organization that helps Black chemists network and support each other with the aim of boosting diversity in the sciences. Sammy was recognized with many awards and honors, such as UCLA’s prestigious Graduate Student Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award, The Inclusion & Diversity Prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry; and The Winifred Burks-Houck Graduate Leadership Award by the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers or NOBCChe.  An in-depth article about the awards and recipients will be posted soon.

AJ Addae (P. Weiss group), Caitlyn Fick (Srivastava group), Zerina Mehmedovic (Schwartz group), Hayden Montgomery (Maynard group), Arismel Tena-Meza (Garg group)

Staff Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion AwardDr. Stephanie Hotz

Faculty Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion AwardProfessor Jorge Torres


POSTDOCTORAL AWARDS

Postdocs play a crucial role in our department and our faculty award committee were delighted to learn about the countless accomplishments of our postdoctoral scholars in making the award selection this year. Congratulations to the following recipients!

Dr. Nathan Adamson (Garg group), Dr. Brendan Mahoney (Clubb group), Dr. Yang Yuan (Feigon group), Dr. Chengzhang Wan (Duan group).


STAFF AWARDS

Since 2018, these awards have been given to UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry staff members in recognition of the wide-ranging positive impact they have on the many areas of the department. Congratulations to the following recipients!

Chem Honoree – Nick Baerg, Carbon Award – Jackie Herrera, Hydrogen Award – Marla Gonzalez, Oxygen Award – Isaiah Gutierrez, Technical Staff Excellence Award – Dr. Yu Chen.


GRADUATE STUDENT DEPARTMENTAL AWARDS

Each year we recognize our graduate students for their accomplishments in research and teaching, two of the primary missions of our university. An article about the awards with photos of the recipients can be viewed here. Congratulations to the following recipients!

Michael E. Jung Excellence in Teaching Awards
Will Borrelli (Schwartz group), Gabriella Cooper (Harran group), David DeLuca (Spokoyny group), Jeremy Dworkin (Bunnell group), Winston Gee (Alexandrova & Doyle groups), Jordan Gonzalez (Garg  group), Emma Greene (Harran group), Prairie Hammer (Sletten group), Yongjia He (Narang group), Susan Ju (Tolbert group), Grace Kim (Tolbert group), Eric Lee (Yeates group), Helen Lin (Sletten group), Richard Liu (Caram group), Xinyu Liu (Rubin group), Kara Lo (Schwartz group), Alek Lotuzas (Harran group), Emily Mobley (Sletten group), Georgia Scherer (Garg group), Holly Senebandith (Srivastava group), Katherine Snell (Maynard group), Sibo Wang (Duan group).

John Stauffer Excellence in Second Year Academics and Research Awards
Spencer Hamilton (Tolbert group), Kaitlin Hartung (Sletten group), Robert Lavroff (Alexandrova group), Barry Li (Caram group), Yessica Nelson (Spokoyny group), Eric Pang (S. Clarke group), Kayla Rich (Torres group), Hootan Roshandel (Diaconescu group), Sining (Cindy) Wang (C. Clarke group), Dominick Witkowski (Garg group), Carolyn Wu (Quinlan group).

Ralph & Charlene Bauer Graduate Student Awards
Yuto Katsuyama (Kaner group), Luca McDermott Catena (Garg group), Noelle Alexa Novales (C. Clarke group), Austin Ready (Spokoyny group), Natalie Schibrowsky (Rodriguez group), Katie Spence (Garg group).

GRADUATE STUDENT EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH AWARDS

Charles J. Pedersen Excellence in Research Award
Eric Lin
  (Sletten group)

Dafni Amirsakis Memorial Award
Jingyu Wang
(Liu group)

Dr. Yuh Guo Pan Excellence in Research Award
Nikolas Burton
(Backus group)

Evelyn Pan Excellence in Research Award
Matthew McVeigh
(Garg group)

George Gregory Excellence in Research Award
Nadine Bradbury
(Neuhauser group)

Jim and Barbara Tsay Excellence in Research Award
Claire Dickerson
(Alexandrova group)
Zisheng Zhang (Alexandrova group)

John M. Jordan Excellence in Research Award
Tianyang Yan
(Loo group)

Roberts A. Smith Excellence in Research Award
Benqian Wei (Loo group) 

Saul and Sylvia Winstein Excellence in Research Award
Joseph (Billy) Treacy
(Houk group) 

Theodore A. Geissman Excellence in Research Award
Ana Bulger
(Garg group)              

Thomas and Ruth Jacobs Excellence in Research Award
Aamir Shah
(Duan group)

Christopher S. Foote Junior and Senior Fellows
Arismel Tena-Meza (Garg group), Andrew Palmer (Backus group), Jacob Kim (Kwon group), and Paris Dee (Doyle group).


UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT DEPARTMENTAL AWARDS

Our talented chemistry and biochemistry undergraduates received departmental awards this year in recognition of their accomplishments in academics and in research.  An article about the awards with photos of the recipients can be viewed here. Congratulations to the following recipients!

Chemistry & Biochemistry Award for Excellence in Academics
Blake Williams 

Ethel Terry McCoy Award
Madison Frances Bang, Michelle Chen, Beyza Duymayan, Haley Jane Gauer, Sara Charlotte Lorentzen Jones, Hannah Liu, Allie Yoon.

Evelyn Pan Scholarships for Excellence in Academics
Tiffany Xiu Lien, Yidou Long, Silvi Rose Lybbert, Juan Carlos Moran Hernandez, Jeff Qu, Harrison Sihan Wang, Sophia Jade Westerkamp, Blake Williams.

Gold Family Foundation Award
Enrico Arambulo
(Koehler group), Michael Jia Chen Pung (Liu group), Emil Dominguez (Backus group), Morgan Gee (Yeates group), Nika Gladkov (Yeates group), Coco Li (Gelbart group).

Hosmer Stone Award
Rima Alsabah, Sydney Seung-Ah Choi, Rachel Anne Ford, Kewei Le, Chaewon Lee.

Susan Elizabeth Baumgarten Chemistry Endowed Student Award
Giselle Brown
(Doyle group)

The Robert E. Biskowski Chemistry Scholarship
Emma Villinski
(Tolbert group), John Amores (Tolbert group).

Verne Schumaker Award for Excellence in Research & Academics
Rose Witte, Akash Jain
(C. Clarke group), Jasmine Zhang, Isabella Machado (Liu group).


SUMMER UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS

These summer research fellowships make it possible for budding scientists to gain invaluable research experience and pursue their dreams. An article about the fellowships with photos of the recipients can be viewed here. Congratulations to the following recipients!

Alumni Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowships
Celeste Medina-Seymoure
(C. Clarke group), Ashley Mendez (Sletten group), Leo Morag (Diaconescu group).

Arthur Furst Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Linnea Shu
(Harran group), Varun Gupta (Garcia Garibay group)

Boyer Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (have group photo)
Enrico Arambulo (Koehler group), Junyang Michael Sun (Danielle Schmitt group), Coco Li  (Feigon group), Neha Ajjampore (Feigon group), Michael Rebelo (Spokoyny group), Sabrina Galvan (Feigon group).

Daniel Kivelson Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowships
John Cao
(Caram group), Rachel Ma (P. Weiss group), Lauren Vuong (P. Weiss group), Angel Hernandez (Tolbert group).

Department of Energy (DOE) Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships
Zach Danner
(Clubb group), Megan Chen (Clubb group)

Dr. Ravi and Aparna Bikkina Family Scholarship
Aditya Desai
(Kwon group), Sangeeta Kelkar (Sletten group), Maya Vasisht (Diaconescu group)

Lorraine H. and Masuo Toji Summer Research Fellowships
Max Floridia
(P. Weiss group), Jonathan Gaffney (Sletten group), Ella Ghazinouri (Sletten group), Tania Peymany (Nava group), Mabel Song (Clubb group).

Ramsey Summer Fellowship
Zhouxi (Michelle) Chen
(Kwon group), Tim Duong (Neuhauser group), Brock Hosier (Maynard group), Ashley Michel (Harran group).

Raymond and Dorothy Wilson Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Miguel Jr Medina Lopez
(Nava group), Anne Nguyen (Nava group)

Susan Elizabeth Baumgarten Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Isabella Machado
(Liu group), Kasey Parks (Schmitt group)

The Robert E. Biskowski Chemistry Summer Fellowship
Giselle Brown
(Doyle group), Daniel Torres Pomares (Spokoyny group)

The Weiller Family Research Scholarship
Celeste Elkort
(Kaner group)

Whitcome Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships
Kyle Anderson
(C. Clarke group), Zoe Yeh (Chanfreau group)

The Department is extremely grateful to our generous donors and alumni whose support makes these many fellowship and 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, chair@chem.ucla.edu, (310) 825-3958. Your gift of any size will directly impact one of our world-class students and aspiring scientists!

Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, penny@chem.ucla.edu.