Undergraduate researcher senior Claire Page (Yi Tang group) has been selected to receive the ACS DOC Undergraduate Organic Chemistry Award.
The American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Organic Chemistry (DOC) sponsors the Undergraduate Award in Organic Chemistry to recognize senior students who display a significant aptitude for organic chemistry and to encourage further interest in the field.
As part of the award, Page will receive a free one-year membership in the ACS Division of Organic Chemistry, as well as recognition on the ACS Organic Division’s website and an official certificate from ACS. She will also be recognized at the UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry’s commencement ceremony in June 2019.
A chemistry major, Page has conducted research in Professor Yi Tang’s group since Fall 2016. “From her work over the past two plus years, Claire clearly ranks among the most promising and bright undergraduate students I have had in my lab,” Tang said. “Her intellectual grasp and appreciation of the science far exceeded my expectations. Furthermore, her refreshing ambition in research made her an excellent member to my group.” Pictured right: Page presented her research at an undergraduate summer researcher poster session in 2017.
In the Tang laboratory, Page performs studies on the genome mining of natural products from fungal species. As a core research objective in the Tang group, the project aims to cultivate chemical diversity of natural products based on available genomic resources. Page’s research led to a co-authored manuscript in Angewandte Chemie in 2017.
In addition to often ranking at the top of her class, Page has won several research related fellowships such as the Amgen Scholars Program and the UCLA Undergraduate Research Scholars Program. She is currently serving as President of UCLA’s Beta Gamma Chapter of the co-ed chemisty fraternity Alpha Chi Sigma and she has been heavily involved in revamping and leading the fraternity’s tutoring program. In 2018, Page received the Alpha Chi Sigma Beta Gamma Achievement Award in Chemistry & Biochemistry.
Claire plans to pursue a graduate career in biocatalysis and work to expand the chemical reactions that can be catalyzed by enzymes and showcase their utility in the organic chemist’s toolbox.
“As she progresses in her career, I look forward to her development as a researcher,” Tang said. “Based on her current academic path and trajectory, Claire shows exceptional potential in a future in research, and as a result has received offers from several top chemistry graduate programs. She exhibits academic excellence, research aptitude and motivation at UCLA.”
Penny Jennings, Communications Manager, penny@chem.ucla.edu.
