Postdoctoral researcher Dr. Haleh Alimohamadi (Wong group), and graduate students Yongjia He (Caram group), Luca McDermott Catena (Garg group), and Yessica Nelson (Spokoyny group), have been selected for the 2025 cohort of UC President’s Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings Fellows who will join Nobel laureates from around the world at a scholarly gathering in Lindau, Germany, this summer.
The Chemistry Meeting (June 29–July 4, 2025) will be themed around circular chemistry, artificial intelligence and science diplomacy.
Funded by UC Investments and UC National Laboratories, the fellowship supports travel and expenses for participants to attend the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings, one of the most celebrated academic exchanges in the world. The meetings bring together laureates and the next generation of scientific leaders for a week of dialogue across generations, disciplines and cultures.
Dr. Haleh Alimohamadi received her Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), in 2021. Since then, she has been a postdoctoral researcher in Professor Gerard Wong’s group in the UCLA Department of Bioengineering. Her research focuses on the biophysical chemistry of cellular behavior, bridging molecular-scale machinery at the microscopic level with cellular functions at the mesoscopic level. Passionate about health sciences, Haleh’s ultimate goal is to identify the integrated principles in the molecular and cellular environment for designing effective therapeutics.
Yongjia He is a fourth-year physical chemistry graduate student conducting research in Professor Justin Caram’s group. She received her bachelor’s degree in physics from Wuhan University in 2020. Her current research explores the photophysical properties of chemical complexes to advance scalable molecular qubits. Passionate about combating climate change, Yongjia’s lifelong goal is to apply quantum technologies for environmental solutions, foster interdisciplinary collaboration, and inspire the next generation of scientists.
Luca McDermott Catena is a fourth-year organic chemistry graduate student conducting research in Professor Neil Garg’s group. He received his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Tufts University in 2020. His research is focused on the chemistry of geometrically distorted alkenes as well as the total synthesis of Platonic hydrocarbons. Throughout his career he hopes to continue advancing the beautiful field of synthetic organic chemistry.
Yessica Alejandra Nelson is a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in inorganic chemistry under the guidance of Professor Alexander Spokoyny. Her research focuses on developing synthetic strategies for the vertex-selective functionalization of boron clusters, enabling applications in energy storage, targeted therapeutics, and multimodal biomedical imaging. As a first-generation college graduate, she earned her B.S. in Chemistry from California State University, Los Angeles, in 2020. She advances molecular design and translational science while championing the mentorship of future scientific innovators.
Excerpted from the University of California Newsroom:
Young UC scientists and economists selected for prestigious Nobel laureate meeting
The University of California today (April 24) announced the 2025 cohort of UC President’s Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings Fellows, 42 outstanding young scientists and economists from across the UC system who will join Nobel laureates from around the world at two renowned scholarly gatherings in Lindau, Germany.
Funded by UC Investments and UC National Laboratories, the fellowship supports travel and expenses for participants to attend the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings, one of the most celebrated academic exchanges in the world. The meetings bring together laureates and the next generation of scientific leaders for a week of dialogue across generations, disciplines and cultures.
The 2025 Lindau Meetings will focus on two areas:
- Chemistry Meeting (June 29–July 4, 2025): Themed around circular chemistry, artificial intelligence and science diplomacy.
- Economic Sciences Meeting (August 26–30, 2025): A separate session dedicated to the economic sciences.
“This fellowship reflects the University of California’s deep commitment to advancing discovery, fostering global dialogue, and preparing the next generation of scientific leaders,” said UC President Michael V. Drake, M.D. “We are proud to support these exceptional students and postdocs as they represent the very best of UC on the world stage.”
The annual Lindau Meetings, held in a small island town in Bavaria, host 30 to 40 Nobel laureates and approximately 600 early-career researchers from more than 100 countries.
“These meetings are nothing short of phenomenal,” said UC Chief Investment Officer Jagdeep Singh Bachher, who has attended several sessions. “Lindau is a beautiful island, the Nobel laureates are generous with their time and wisdom, and the energy from all the brilliant young minds in one place is unparalleled.”
Since the UC program’s inception six years ago, 170 UC students and postdocs have been named fellows — 130 from the 10 UC campuses and 42 from the UC-affiliated national laboratories. More than 35,000 young scholars worldwide have taken part in the Lindau program overall since its founding in 1951.
The UC fellows are nominated by faculty and selected through a rigorous process that includes essays, letters of recommendation, evaluation of research achievements, and approval by the Lindau Foundation in Germany. A UC faculty workgroup — including two Nobel Prize winners — helped narrow down the candidates, with final approval from President Drake, Bachher, and June Yu, vice president for UC National Laboratories.
“Our national labs are dedicated to tackling the world’s most pressing scientific challenges — and that mission begins with cultivating extraordinary talent,” said Yu. “These fellows exemplify the curiosity, drive, and collaborative spirit we need to shape the future of science and innovation.”
This year’s fellows from UC campuses for the chemistry meetings are:
Sagar Bhattacharya (UC San Francisco), Daniel Chabeda (UC Berkeley), Madeline Cooke (UC Irvine), Luca McDermott Catena (UCLA), Fuhar Dixit (UC Berkeley), Antonio Garcia IV (UC Santa Barbara), Brandon Harris (UC Davis), Kishwar-E Hasin (UC Merced), Yongjia He (UCLA), Esther Hessong (UC Irvine), Divya Iyer (UC Santa Barbara), Anne Lyons (UC San Diego), Alyssa Mathiowetz (UC Berkeley), Yessica Nelson (UCLA), Ashley Pimentel (UC Riverside), Sangeetha Ramesh (UC Davis), Sural Ranamukhaarachchi (UC San Diego), Robert Shepherd (UC Santa Cruz), Nick Shin (UC San Francisco), John Wenger (UC Santa Cruz), David Zeitz (UC Santa Cruz), Ting Zhao (UC Riverside), Haleh Alimohamadi (UCLA).
The chemistry fellows representing the national laboratories are as follows:
Manjeet Chhetri (Los Alamos), Ian Colliard (Lawrence Livermore), Nicholas Cross (Lawrence Livermore), Vidia Gokool (Lawrence Livermore), Ruiwen Hu (Lawrence Berkeley), Jonas Kaufman (Lawrence Livermore), Ershuai Liu (Lawrence Berkeley), Eamonn Murphy (Los Alamos), Stephanie Ribet (Lawrence Berkeley), Pinchen Xie (Lawrence Berkeley).
Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, penjen@g.ucla.edu.
