On June 9, 2026, we celebrated the many accomplishments of our alumni, faculty, postdoctoral researchers, students, and staff at our annual departmental awards ceremony.
Each year at this event, we gather together to celebrate the accomplishments of our department members in the university’s primary missions: research, teaching, and service. We also recognize our staff members for their outstanding contributions to the department and honor our distinguished alumni with the Alumni Legacy Award.
A photo gallery from the event can be viewed here, and select photos can be viewed below.
The following awards were presented at the 2026 Departmental Awards Ceremony. Congratulations to all the recipients!
2026 ALUMNI LEGACY AWARD
This award honors distinguished UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry alumni in recognition of their achievements in life and generous support and service to UCLA. An article with details about the award recipients will be linked here soon.
Four loyal UCLA alumni – Captain David Barrows, M.D., Larry Davis, Nancy Davis, and Sona De – are the recipients of the 2026 Alumni Legacy Awards.
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.
Professor Soumitra Athavale was honored as the recipient for this year’s Herbert Newby McCoy Faculty Award.
THE 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.
This year’s recipients of the Hanson-Dow Award for Excellence in Teaching are Professors Dory DeWeese, Martin Riu, and Jose Rodriguez.
In addition, Professor Thomas Mason was presented with the Hanson-Dow Distinguished Lifetime Teaching Award.
FACULTY INCLUSION AND MENTORING AWARD
This award highlights a faculty member who has gone above and beyond in the mentorship of our students.
This year’s recipients of the Faculty Inclusion and Mentoring Award are Professors Osvaldo Gutierrez and Danielle Schmitt.
At the end of the program, Spokoyny recognized Professors Abby Kavner and Ellen Sletten for working tirelessly alongside him during his time as the department chair. “Both have given exceptional service as our Vice Chairs for Graduate Education. Abby served in this vital role from 2023 to 2025, and Ellen served during this academic year,” he said. “As Ellen steps down from her role at the end of this month, I want to take this opportunity to recognize both of them for their contributions, personal sacrifice, and outstanding dedication to our department.” Kavner was unable to attend the event.
JULI FEIGON HELPING HANDS AWARDS
This award, initiated by Professor Juli Feigon in 2024, is awarded to postdoctoral fellows, research staff, and graduate students who are primary caregivers of dependent children or other family members, to be used for anything that helps relieve their domestic burden. The goal is to provide them with extra time and resources to pursue their scientific careers. Congratulations to the following recipients!
Dr. Melinda Balbirnie, who is a project scientist in Professor David Eisenberg’s lab, and Dr. Thomas Louis-Goff, a postdoctoral scholar in Professor Alex Spokoyny’s lab, received the 2026 Juli Feigon Helping Hands Awards.
POSTDOCTORAL AWARDS
Postdoctoral researchers play a crucial role in our department. Congratulations to the following recipients!
Dr. Arpit Arora (Narang group), Dr. Emily Been (Narang group), Dr. Jiaming Ding (Garg group), Dr. Simone Gallarati (Doyle group), Dr. Ching Ching Lam (Houk group), Dr. Rajib Mandal (Athavale group), Dr. William Munizzi (Narang group), Dr. Varun Tej Raviprolu (P. Weiss group), and Dr. Yuqing Wang (Caram group) are recipients of this year’s Postdoctoral Awards.
NORMA STODDART PRIZE FOR EXEMPLARY CITIZENSHIP AND EXCELLENCE IN GRADUATE RESEARCH
This prize was established through an endowment at UCLA from the Stoddart Family Trust in honor of Norma Stoddart, wife of the late Sir Fraser Stoddart. It recognizes a recent Ph.D. recipient for superior research accomplishments described in the doctoral dissertation and meritorious contributions to the life of graduate students in the department and beyond.
Dr. Luca McDermott Catena (Ph.D. ‘25, Garg group), currently a postdoctoral scholar with Professor Richmond Sarpong at the University of California, Berkeley, was presented with the 2026 Norma Stoddart Award for Exemplary Citizenship and Excellence in Graduate Research. He gave the Stoddart Lecture earlier in the day.
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!
Carbon Award – Harold Gonzalez
Hydrogen Award – Mimi Baik and Jackie Herrera
Oxygen Award – Rebecca Letts
Technical Staff Excellence Award – Tyler Kerr
CHEM Honoree – Dr. Kathleen Micham
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 with details about the awards and photos of the recipients can be viewed here. Congratulations to the following recipients!
CHARLES J. PEDERSEN EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH AWARD
Tucker Allen (Neuhauser group), Yisi Chen (Liu group)
DAFNI AMIRSAKIS MEMORIAL AWARD
Elizabeth Croll (Kwon group)
DR. YUH GUO PAN EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH AWARD
Christina Rivera (Garg group)
HERBERT NEWBY MCCOY MENTORSHIP AWARDS
Stephanie Jimenez (Schwartz group), Ryan Lai (Maynard group), Katherine McCarthy (Chen group), Aldo Munoz (Rodriguez group), Nithesh Perumal (Backus group), Silvana Reid (Tang group), Pathorn (Henry) Teptarakulkarn (Shafaat group), and Lina Zarnitsa (Nava group)
IMMANUEL WILK AWARDS FOR MENTORSHIP, INCLUSION, AND SERVICE
Bohan Chen (Zhang/Loo groups), Katarina Cohen (Schmitt group), Natalie Leon (Lawson group), Rebecca McAlpine (Tolbert group), Daniel Min (Doyle group), Daniela Prochazkova (Conway group), Miguel Reyna (Tolbert group), Ethan Savage (Tolbert group), and Michelle Thaxton (Lawson group)
IMMANUEL WILK LEADERSHIP AWARD
Maya Cornejo (Koehler group)
SAMANTHA T. MENSAH DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION AWARD
Miguel Reyna (Tolbert group)
JIM AND BARBARA TSAY EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH AWARD
Pujan Ajmera (Alexandrova group) and Shawn Chiu (Alexandrova group)
JOHN M. JORDAN EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH AWARD
Matthew Krieger (Koehler group) and Bradley Kroes (Kaner group)
JOHN STAUFFER EXCELLENCE IN SECOND-YEAR ACADEMICS AND RESEARCH AWARDS
Alexia Andrikopoulos (Schmitt group), Justin Bossenbroek (Athavale group), Braden Chaffin (Doyle group), Allison Clark (Garg group), Neyci Gutierrez Valencia (Doyle group), Ben Janda (Garg group), Katie Vineall (Schmitt group), and Janet Zhong (Feigon group)
MAJETI-ALAPATI EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH AWARD
Nathan Incandela (Conway/Houk groups) and Alexander Maertens (Doyle/Houk groups)
MICHAEL E. JUNG EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING AWARDS
Gray Carson (Kaner group), Rehan Chagla (Conway group), Izaiah Cole (Lawson group), Isabelle Davis (Kaner group), Teagan Dean (Schmitt/Teslaa groups), Noah Gilbertson (Garg group), Hang Chi (Calvin) Ho (Doyle group), Jasmine Keane (Tolbert group), Jae Lee (Caram group), Aimee Long (Garg group), Mark Mancini (Tolbert group), Ben Miller (Maynard group), Shervin Nia (Zhou group), Kyle Schultz (Athavale group), Matt Scurria (Conway/Gutierrez groups), AuDuyen Trinh (Nava group), Jason Tuermer-Lee (Kwon group), Roland Ullrich (Tolbert group), and Lissy Wood (Bouchard group)
RALPH & CHARLENE BAUER GRADUATE STUDENT AWARDS
Erin Bucci (Doyle group), Flora Fan (Doyle group), Diego Garcia Vidales (Schwartz group), Wenyu Han (Tang group), Giulianna Miseo (Garg group), Vicki Rubio (Spokoyny group), Lilith A. Schwartz (Kamariza/Sletten groups), Abigail Slimp (Tolbert/Schwartz groups), and Zach Walters (Garg group)
ROBERTS A. SMITH EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH AWARD
Jack Scully (Schmitt group)
CHRISTOPHER S. FOOTE SENIOR FELLOWS
Braden Chaffin (Doyle group), Allison Clark (Garg group), Alexander Maertens (Doyle/Houk groups), Giulianna Miseo (Garg group), and Christina Rivera (Garg group)
THOMAS L. AND RUTH F. JACOBS EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH AWARD
Hashim Al Khunaizi (Spokoyny group)
UPJOHN EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH AWARD
Nima Adhami (Spokoyny/Rodriguez groups), and Taras Khvorost (Alexandrova 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 with details about the awards and photos of the recipients can be viewed here. Congratulations to the following recipients!
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY DEPARTMENTAL AWARD – Flora Denton (Caram group), Vanessa Lee (Weidhaas group) and Itxhel Tenorio
ETHEL TERRY MCCOY AWARD – Murphy Chuang (Aguilar-Carreno group), Chaewon Han, Hyemin Kim, Isabella Lugoj, Catherine Pei, Sahar Tanara, and Samaira Chaddah
HOSMER STONE AWARD – Lisa Roekyen, Kate Dunham, and Haeun Jang
MAX SHAW DUNN UNDERGRADUATE AWARD – Seena Amin-Sanayei (Darvish group), Siddharth Das (Schmitt group), Andrew Huang (Kaner group), Akshaj Tadiparthi (Eisenberg group), and Sujanaa Srinivasa Raghavan (Petrovic group)
UCLA CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY RESEARCH AND ACADEMICS AWARD – Rohan Thadwal (Athavale group)
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS
These research fellowships make it possible for budding scientists to gain invaluable research experience and pursue their dreams. An article with details about the fellowships and photos of the recipients can be viewed here. Congratulations to the following recipients!
ARTHUR FURST UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP – Giacomo Berti (Alexandrova group)
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY ALUMNI UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP – Cameron Berg (Athavale group) and Leilani Krantz (Kwon group)
CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP – Parker Powers (Barber group)
DANIEL E. ATKINSON AND CHARLES A. WEST UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP – Chloe Schnell (Lawson group) and Jonathan Shirley (Koehler group)
DANIEL KIVELSON UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP – Oliver Burkes (Fay group), Maggie De Leon (Bouchard group), and Kathryn McGovern (Caram group)
DR. RAVI AND APARNA BIKKINA FAMILY UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP – Ambika Chhikara (Athavale group) and Dimeera Kadiwala (Torres group)
EVELYN PAN UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP – Ilinca Flacau (Lindert group) and Tyler Hsu (Nava group)
GOLD FAMILY UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP – Piper Singleton (Petrovic group)
JAMES BLAINE RAMSEY UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP – Karch Borsa (Nava group), Angeles Mccullough (Harran group), and Linh Ninh (Andrews group)
PAUL BOYER UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP – Anton Baranov (Clarke group), Zhang Bryan (Kappel group), Danny Chen (Chen group), and Jaiden Ha (Kappel group)
TGD UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP – Alyssa Hasson (Andrews group) and Jax Milasincic (Andrews group)
UCLA CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP – Claire Chang (Nava group), Pingyao Liu (Petrovic group), Amaar Siddiqui (Garg group), Skylar Whitley (Caram group), and Mario-Steven Estrada (Gutierrez group)
WEILLER FAMILY UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP – Ethan Huntington (Kaner group) and Jonathan Ibarra (Spokoyny group)
WHITCOME UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP – Luna Liang (Tinoco group) and Tony Nguyen (Tinoco 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, cbchair@ucla.edu, (310) 825-3958. Your gift of any size will directly impact one of our world-class students and aspiring scientists!
If you find any errors in this article, please email Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, penjen@g.ucla.edu.
Photos by Penny Jennings and Isabella Luo.
