3rd-year Graduate Student Research Symposium

About the Conference

The 24th annual Chemistry Graduate Student Research Symposium is being held June 6th, 2025.  Please continue checking this site, our department calendar and email for updates. The symposium primarily consists of research presentations by third-year graduate students in the Chemistry Ph.D. program at the University of Minnesota. Presentations will take place in five concurrent sessions and will be 20 minutes in length with an additional 5 minutes reserved for discussion. All presentations will be formally assessed by a committee of faculty members and distinguished celebrity judges. Travel awards will be presented to those individuals judged to have given the top two seminars in each of the four sessions for a total of eight awards. Written feedback will also be provided to all presenters.

It is the intent of the faculty that full attendance by all departmental faculty and students will be a high priority. 

Schedule Overview

  • 8:30 AM – 9:15 AM – Check-in and breakfast pastries (216 Pillsbury Dr. Lobby)
  • 9:15 AM – Opening Remarks (Room 155)
  • 9:30 AM - 11:45 AM – Morning Session (Rooms 110, 115, 120, and 125)
    • 10:45 AM – Ten minute break
  • 11:45 AM – Lunch Break (216 Pillsbury Dr. Lobby)
  • 1:15 PM - 3:55 PM – Afternoon Session (Rooms 110, 115, 120, and 125)
    • 2:30 PM – Ten minute break
  • 3:55 PM – Break (Judges confer)
  • 4:25 PM – Awards Ceremony & Closing Remarks (Room 155)

Abstracts

Abstracts for each talk can be found on the Chemistry Intranet (requires UMN login).

Program Breakdown

Morning Session

Room 110 – Analytical Session

Guest Judge: Russell W. Johnson, Faculty Judge: Hannah Kenagy, Moderator: Rowan Matney

  • 9:30 a.m. – Cassandra Wouters
    • Advisor: Haynes
    • Title: Label-free detection of virus-like particles with surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy
  • 9:55 a.m. – Nhu Quach
    • Advisor: Neurock
    • Title: Molecular insights into electrolyte & solvent effects in homogeneous and heterogeneous electrochemical systems
  • 10:20 a.m. – Sk Zubaer Zaman
    • Advisor: Buhlmann
    • Title: Development of an ionophore-based succinate sensor for “smarter” pre-hospital care
  • 10:55 a.m. – Raihana Afroz
    • Advisor: Gadkari
    • Title: Charge detection mass spectrometry enables native mass and structural measurements of messenger RNA
  • 11:20 a.m. – Hyeokjung Kim
    • Advisor: Arriaga
    • Title: Bridging Live-Cell Staining and CyTOF Through Electroporation-Mediated Delivery of DNA-Based Probe

Room 115 – Polymer Session

Guest Judge: Susan Brown, Faculty Judge: Jessica Lamb, Moderator: Alicia Huggett

  • 9:30 a.m. – Alison Block
    • Advisor: Hillmyer and Bates
    • Title: Leveraging low-ceiling temperature polymers to prepare chemically recyclable thermoplastic poly(urethane-urea)s
  • 9:55 a.m. – Margaret Kumler
    • Advisor: Hillmyer
    • Title: Impact of Crystallization Mode on Material Performance in Sustainable Thermoplastic Elastomers   
  • 10:20 a.m. – Elizabeth Lopez
    • Advisor: Reineke
    • Title: Effect of bottlebrush grafting density on drug supersaturation for oral drug delivery
  • 10:55 a.m. – Giselle Campos
    • Advisor: Lodge and Mahanthappa
    • Title: Expanding The Network Phase Library With Gemini Surfactants
  • 11:20 a.m. – Alyssa Bright
    • Advisor: Douglas
    • Title: Synthesis of novel 3D carbon allotropes: a bottom up approach

Room 120 – Inorganic Session

Guest Judge: Angela Wilson, Faculty Judge: Jan-Niklas Boyn, Moderator: Sallu Kargbo

  • 9:30 a.m. – Rana Abdu
    • Advisor: Roberts
    • Title: Investigating the Structure and Reactivity of Rare Earth Metal Complexes Bearing a Redox–Active Ligand   
  • 9:55 a.m. –  Sofie Hokanson
    • Advisor: Roberts
    • Title: Design of redox-active tris-amido ligands to expand the scope of cross-coupling catalysis of yttrium complexes
  • 10:20 a.m. – Anthony Vassalotti
    • Advisor: Hoover
    • Title: Ligand and Substituent Effects on Nickel-Mediated Decarbonylation of Phthalic Anhydride
  • 10:55 a.m. – Manuraj Kallumkal
    • Advisor: Bailey
    • Title: Stoichiometric Reactivity on Atomically Precise Copper-Chalcogenide Nanoclusters as Molecular Platforms Towards Next Generation Catalyst Design
  • 11:20 a.m. – Grace Murphy
    • Advisor: Hoover
    • Title: Synthesis and Characterization of NiII -Metallacycle Complexes Relevant to Nickel-Mediated Decarbonylation Reactions

Room 125 – Synthesis Session

Guest Judge: Jeff Cernohous, Faculty Judge: Melissa Ramirez, Moderator: Sidharth Panda 

  • 9:30 a.m. – Jack Orr
    • Advisor: Hoye
    • Title: Reactions of rare metastable intermediates arising from trapping of alkyne-derived, thermally generated, free carbenes
  • 9:55 a.m. – Briana Krupinsky
    • Advisor: Lamb
    • Title: Linear free energy relationships of N-heterocyclic carbene-carbodiimide (NHC-CDI) adducts towards switchable catalysis
  • 10:20 a.m. – Akash Gogate
    • Advisor: Grenning
    • Title: C3-Quinolone Functionalization via Heteroatomic Claisen Rearrangement
  • 10:55 a.m. – Juan Sanfiel
    • Advisor: Grenning
    • Title: Azetidine Functionalization and Reactivity: Strain-Release Cope Rearrangements and Beyond
  • 11:20 a.m. – Elizabeth Rogan
    • Advisor: Lamb
    • Title: Structural effects of polyoxazolidinones on material properties

Afternoon Session

Room 110 – Chemical Physics & Physical Chemistry

Guest Judge: Russell W. Johnson, Faculty Judge: Hannah Kenagy, Moderator: Joe Brennan

  • 1:15 p.m. – Koki Yaita
    • Advisor: Frontiera
    • Title: Can chirality of vibrational modes control spin-selective metal-metal charge transfer?
  • 1:40 p.m. – Ciara Tyler
    • Advisor: Neurock
    • Title: Examining the Role of Bifunctional Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) as Catalytic Supports to Enhance Aqueous Phase Toluene
  • 2:05 p.m. – Catherine Huber
    • Advisor: Blank
    • Title: Dynamics, structure, and reactivity of the solvated electron in aliphatic ionic liquids and their binary mixtures
  • 2:40 p.m. – Eryck Fabian Garcia Labarca
    • Advisor: Bailey
    • Title: Insights into the reactivity of [Cu12S6] clusters: molecular variants of catalytically active materials
  • 3:05 p.m. – Alexandra Atchison
    • Advisor: Massari
    • Title: Using two dimensional infrared spectroscopy to detangle complex vibrational spectra and determine picosecond reaction rates

Room 115 – ChemBio Session

Guest Judge: Susan Brown, Faculty Judge: Theresa Reineke, Moderator: Chun-Ju Tsou 

  • 1:15 p.m. – Alondra López Colón
    • Advisor: Harki
    • Title: Development of Phenyl Glutarimide-based degraders of AURKA/N-Myc complex for high-risk neuroblastoma therapy
  • 1:40 p.m. – Ruoqi Jiang
    • Advisor: Pomerantz
    • Title: Characterization of 7-fluorotryptophan as a protein-observed fluorine NMR amino acid probe for biomolecular interactions
  • 2:05 p.m. – Pete Gabriel Ledesma
    • Advisor: Pomerantz and Gadkari
    • Title: Native Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry for Biophysical Characterization of PROTAC-Induced Protein Complexes
  • 2:40 p.m. – Soumajit Gayen
    • Advisor: Wagner
    • Title: Towards the development of targeted enzyme-based theranostics to facilitate cancer detection and therapy
  • 3:05 p.m. – Harinarayanan Kottala
    • Advisor: Distefano
    • Title: Advancing Proteomics of Prenylated Proteins: A Low-Input DIA-Based Approach Towards Enabling Prenylomics Post-Cell Sorting
  • 3:30 p.m. – Abigail Stitgen
    • Advisor: Haynes
    • Title: Carbon dot-based sensors for the rapid detection of foodborne pathogenic bacteria

Room 120 – Materials, Energy, and Catalysis Session

Guest Judge: Angela Wilson, Faculty Judge: Jan-Niklas Boyn, Moderator: Molly Sneddon

  • 1:15 p.m. – ShengZhuo Wang
    • Advisor: Neurock
    • Title: Mechanistic investigation towards activation, adsorption, and self-assembly of N-heterocyclic carbene on metal surfaces
  • 1:40 p.m. – Shatha Alabbad
    • Advisor: Bailey
    • Title: Ternary base metal chalcogenides for cooperative catalysis
  • 2:05 p.m. – Jane Schlesinger
    • Advisor: Bartel
    • Title: Integrating data-driven and physics-based methods for solid-state materials synthesis prediction
  • 2:40 p.m. – Ulrick Gaillard
    • Advisor: Neurock
    • Title: Exploring Catalyst Surface Tuning and Charge Effects on Ru(0001) for Ammonia Synthesis and Decomposition
  • 3:05 p.m. – Zinan Yu
    • Advisor: Pierre
    • Title: Regenerable receptor immobilized membranes for phosphate removal in human blood and water bodies
  • 3:30 p.m. –  Argo Farlin
    • Advisor: Penn
    • Title: Environmental Interactions: Heteroaggregation of microplastics and iron oxides

Room 125 – Synthesis Session

Guest Judge: Jeff Cernohous, Faculty Judge: Melissa Ramirez, Moderator: Jingyang Shi

  • 1:15 p.m. – Laila Aiad
    • Advisor: Georg
    • Title: CDK2 bivalent inhibitors for anti-cancer therapy and non-hormonal male contraception 
  • 1:40 p.m. – Cal Mergendahl
    • Advisor: Kass
    • Title: Acidic Alkalis: Assessing Lewis Acidity of Group 1 Metal Cations
  • 2:05 p.m. – Zoe Fish
    • Advisor: Tonks
    • Title: N-N Bond Formation Through N-H Dehydrocoupling 
  • 2:40 p.m. – Parker Staub
    • Advisor: Douglas
    • Title: Addressing Limitations in Asymmetric Hydroacylation with Chiral Transient Directing Groups
  • 3:05 p.m. –  Patricia Rodriguez
    • Advisor: Carlson
    • Title: Development of Covalent Inhibitors of Bacterial Histidine Kinases
  • 3:30 p.m. – Allysha O’Donnell
    • Advisor: Tretyakova
    • Title: Investigation of epigenetic marks using mass spectrometry-based affinity proteomics
24th Annual Graduate Student Research Symposium graphic with colorful beakers and cylinders