Thanks to our generous donors, 19 talented undergraduates received departmental awards this year in recognition of their accomplishments in research and in academics.
The 2026 Chemistry & Biochemistry Undergraduate Departmental Awards were presented to our students at our annual Departmental Awards Ceremony on June 9, 2026. Congratulations to all the recipients listed below!
We are incredibly grateful to our donors whose generous gifts make these awards possible.
CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY DEPARTMENTAL AWARD
Flora Denton (Caram), Vanessa Lee (Weidhaas) and Itxhel Tenorio
ETHEL TERRY MCCOY AWARD
These academic awards honor chemists Dr. Ethel Terry McCoy and her husband Dr. Herbert Newby McCoy, who had successful careers at the University of Chicago and in industry.
Murphy Chuang (Aguilar-Carreno), Chaewon Han, Hyemin Kim, Isabella Lugoj, Catherine Pei, Sahar Tanara, and Samaira Chaddah
HOSMER STONE AWARD
This academic award was established in 1970 to honor the late Professor Hosmer Stone, one of the department’s first faculty members.
Lisa Roekyen, Kate Dunham, and Haeun Jang
MAX SHAW DUNN UNDERGRADUATE AWARD
This award honors the memory of Professor Max Shaw Dunn, UCLA’s first biochemistry faculty member, who joined the Southern Branch of the University of California in 1922. He was a strong and positive force in the development of UCLA until his retirement in 1962.
Seena Amin-Sanayei (Darvish), Siddharth Das (Schmitt), Andrew Huang (Kaner), Akshaj Tadiparthi (Eisenberg), and Sujanaa Srinivasa Raghavan (Petrovic)
UCLA CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY RESEARCH AND ACADEMICS AWARD
Rohan Thadwal (Athavale)
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!
Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, penjen@g.ucla.edu.
