On June 14, the UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry hosted this year’s commencement ceremony to celebrate the graduating class of 2025.
At the ceremony, 37 of our students received Ph.D. degrees, 21 students received Master of Applied Chemical Sciences degrees, six Departmental Scholars received Master of Science degrees, and 295 undergraduate students received bachelor’s degrees. Congratulations to the Class of 2025!
The ceremony, held in the Court of Sciences, began with a welcome address by Department Chair Professor Alex Spokoyny. Dean of Physical Sciences Professor Miguel García-Garibay then presented the UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry 2025 Alumni Award to Dr. Jeffrey E. Miller ‘87, founder and CEO of Invivoscribe, who delivered an inspiring commencement address.
In his commencement address, Miller shared his insights into how to have a happy and prosperous life. “Surround yourself with people who are better skilled or smarter than you,” Miller said. “It’s the best way to learn and improve, and the best way to quickly appreciate your limitations.”
A photo gallery from the graduation can be viewed here, and select photos appear below. The link to the full video of the event can be found here.
After Miller’s address, incoming Vice Chair of Graduate Education, Professor Ellen Sletten, recognized the Ph.D. and MACS students who received commencement awards and announced the hooding of the Ph.D., MACS, and Master’s degree recipients.
Following the hooding portion of the ceremony, Spokoyny recognized Dr. Thomas Scott Griffin, who finally received his doctoral hood more than five decades after earning his Ph.D. in Natural Products Chemistry from UCLA in 1970. Griffin completed his dissertation under the mentorship of Professor Theodore Geissman. However, he was unable to attend his graduation, having been called to active duty during the Vietnam War. Read more about Dr. Griffin here.
Spokoyny then recognized the undergraduate commencement awardees, followed by the presentation of the bachelor’s degree candidates, which were presented by Professors Danielle Schmitt and Hung V. Pham.
Following the ceremony, graduates posed for photos with faculty, fellow students, friends, and family.
Before the Commencement ceremony, a reception was held in Boyer Hall for the students who received Commencement Awards.
The following graduate students, Masters 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 very grateful to our generous donors who made these awards possible!
GRADUATE STUDENT COMMENCEMENT AWARDS
HERBERT NEWBY MCCOY COMMENCEMENT AWARDS
Kelsey Feustel (C. Clarke group), Andrew Goring (Clubb group), Michael Guile (C. Clarke group), Spencer Hamilton (Kaner group), Kaitlin Hartung (Sletten group), Susan Ju (Tolbert group), Robert Lavroff (Alexandrova group), Giang (Jessie) Le (Loo group), Barry (Yangtao) Li (Neuhauser/Caram groups), Shiyun Lin (Diaconescu group), Luca McDermott Catena (Garg group), Casey Morrison (Deming group), Yessica Nelson (Spokoyny group), Eric Pang (S. Clarke/Rodriguez groups), Heting Pu (Duang/Huang groups), Hootan Roshandel (Diaconescu group), Arismel Tena Meza (Garg group), Niko Vlahakis (Rodriguez group), Sining (Cindy) Wang (S. Clarke group), Sibo Wang (Duan group), Quintashia Wilson (Sletten group), Dominick Witkowski (Garg group), Yin-Pok Wong (Diaconescu group).
MASTER OF APPLIED CHEMICAL SCIENCES (MACS) AWARDS
EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH AWARD
Katherine Zhang (Torres group), Abhi Bagchi (Nava group), and Haemin Oh (Maher El-Kady/Kaner group)
OUTSTANDING CAPSTONE RESEARCH AWARD
Riddhi Kaley (Sriastava group), Reanne Coutinho (Spokoyny group), Qijia Zhou (Diaconescu group), and Min Kyu Lee (Kaner group)
UNDERGRADUATE COMMENCEMENT AWARDS
ACS Award for Outstanding Senior in Inorganic Chemistry
Miguel Medina Lopez (Nava group)
ACS Award for Outstanding Senior in Organic Chemistry
Ashley Michel (Harran group)
ACS Award for Outstanding Senior in Physical Chemistry
Tim Duong (Neuhauser/Caram groups)
Daniel E. Atkinson and Charles A. West Commencement Prize
Meixuan Li (Feigon group)
Dolores Cannon Southam Commencement Award
Joelle Darrouj (Backus group)
Gold Family Commencement Prize
Anna Sargsyan (Schmitt group)
Howard Reiss Commencement Award
Nilya Moushiabad (Barber group)
James Blaine Ramsey Commencement Prize
Lizandro Chan Camaal (Divakaruni group), Celeste Elkort (Kaner group), Daniel Torres Pomares (Spokoyny group), Brandon Van
Leonard Greiner Commencement Award
Hiran Jayasekara (Alexandrova group)
Maria Rebecca and Maureen Bellettini Award
Giselle Brown (Doyle group), Megan Chen (Clubb group), Helen Elmer (Gelbart group), Suzy Matinyan (Kaner group)
Max Shaw Dunn Commencement Award
Peter Fernandez (Koehler group) and Frederick Alex Meckes (Lawson group)
Raymond and Dorothy Wilson Commencement Award
Jongha Choi (Tolbert group), Maximilian Floridia (P. Weiss group), Gregory Kislik (Pellegrini group)
Susan Elizabeth Baumgarten Commencement Award for Excellence in Science Education
Joshua Baer, Connie Karanovic, and Ana Luiza Sardenberg (Srivastava group)
The Department is extremely grateful to our generous donors and alumni whose support makes these many 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 impact one of our world-class students and aspiring scientists!
Photos by Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, penjen@g.ucla.edu.
