Distinguished Kenneth N. Trueblood Professor Neil Garg has been named one of three UCLA faculty members to receive the 2026 Faculty Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring from the UCLA Division of Graduate Education. He is the first faculty member in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry and within the UCLA Division of Physical Sciences to receive this award.
The award honors mentors whose guidance extends beyond formal advising to meaningfully support students as scholars, researchers, artists, and professionals. Award recipients are selected from a highly competitive pool of nominations and receive research funding, a commemorative plaque, and recognition at the annual Faculty Mentoring Award Ceremony, held on April 29, 2026.
According to the award announcement, Garg “integrates mentorship into every aspect of his research and teaching. His students describe an inclusive lab culture grounded in high expectations, intellectual curiosity and steady support. Through that environment, he prepares students to become confident, independent scientists and future mentors themselves.”
Since joining the UCLA faculty in 2007, Garg has been committed to the education and professional development of his students. 44 Ph.D. degrees have been awarded to members of his research group to date and his laboratory has a 0% attrition rate, a 100% candidacy exam pass rate, and a 100% employment rate at graduation. In 2020, Garg co-founded the #MentorFirst initiative, a pledge-system to encourage positive mentoring practices in academia worldwide.
Garg sees his role as a mentor as going well beyond research. “Experiments fail, results surprise us, and sometimes reactions just don’t work. A big part of mentoring is helping students see that it’s not just about positive results—it’s about the process: what we learn, how we adapt when encountering nearly impossible challenges, and the skills we carry forward for decades to come,” said Garg. He commends and thanks his graduate student mentees for building a unique culture that blends scientific excellence, with peer support and community.
Current and former members of the Garg group, who nominated him for the award, shared their perspectives on his mentorship and its lasting influence on their scientific and professional development.
“One of the many reasons Neil is an excellent mentor is that he leads by example, holding himself to a high standard of excellence and modeling academic rigor and attention to detail,” said co-nominator graduate student Georgia Scherer. “He meets with all graduate students biweekly in subgroup meetings to discuss research progress and is always willing to make time in his calendar for one-on-one meetings with his group members. Thoughtfully, Neil tempers his support based on the needs of each graduate student, often giving junior students more direct guidance while allowing senior students more freedom in their projects.”
“Professor Garg is an extraordinary mentor who guides students and postdocs to reach their fullest potential as scientists and as active contributors to society,” said co-nominator Professor Melissa Ramirez (Ph.D. ’21 Garg and Houk groups, now an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities). “I am a first-generation Latina in science. My parents were both born in Mexico and immigrated to Pasadena in the 1970s. They did not get an education past the second grade. My scientific journey has been particularly challenging given the limited resources that my family had growing up. As a first-generation Latina in science, I arrived at UCLA excited to combine organic synthesis with computational chemistry in my Ph.D. studies while also struggling with immense self-doubt in honing skills in two areas. Professor Garg believed in me and guided me every step of the way, taking the time to understand my background and the challenges related to belonging that I faced as an underrepresented student.”
“Professor Garg is a truly transformative mentor who challenges his students to achieve the highest standards while making them feel both supported and valued throughout the process,” said co-nominator alumna Dr. Arismel Tena-Meza (Ph.D. ’25, now a Process Scientist at Gilead Sciences). “His mentorship has had a lasting impact on both my scientific training and professional growth – it not only made me a stronger scientist, but also gave me greater confidence in my place within the scientific community. Professor Garg’s commitment to excellence, thoughtful guidance, and support for students from diverse backgrounds make him exceptionally deserving of this recognition.”
“Neil’s exceptional attention to and emphasis on professional development distinguish him as a mentor,” said co-nominator alumnus Dr. Luca McDermott Catena (Ph.D. ’25, now a postdoctoral scholar at UC Berkeley). “The five years I spent at UCLA in Neil’s group shaped who I am as both a chemist and also as a professional today. Neil developed a culture in which the entire lab lifts up everyone around themselves and where everyone is supported in order to maximize their success.”
Event photos by Rich Schmitt.
Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, penjen@g.ucla.edu.
