Six Chemistry PhD candidates earn Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (6/27/2025) – Six Chemistry PhD candidates – Elizabeth Apiche, Rupal Baliyan, Brandon Hosford, Sallu Kargbo, Eaindra Yee, and Jonathan Zajac – recently earned the 2025-26 Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (DDF) from the University of Minnesota Graduate School. The DDF gives the University's most accomplished Ph.D. candidates an opportunity to devote full-time effort to an outstanding research project by providing time to finalize and write their dissertation during the fellowship year.
Elizabeth Apiche joined the Bhagi-Damodaran lab in Fall 2020 after completion of her undergraduate studies at Smith College. Apiche says she is continually fascinated by chemistry and the way the things she learns in the lab apply to everyday life. “This phenomenon makes chemistry a fascinating field that I am so excited to explore,” she says. “For instance, I recently was presented with an opportunity to visit SLAC national lab to obtain Mtb enzyme crystal structures. Since this enzyme is involved in the physiology of Mtb, a causative agent of tuberculosis, understanding its structure through crystallography informs its function. This knowledge can propel the development of next-generation therapies for combating tuberculosis infection.”
In addition to her research, Apiche is a founding member and secretary of the UMN chapter of the National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE). Earlier this year, the group organized the 4th annual Underrepresented Students in STEM Symposium (USSS-TC) to provide Twin Cities undergraduate students an opportunity to present their research and network with UMN graduate students. Apiche is also a member of a brand new student group called ChemBRIDGE. She is currently focused on wrapping up her graduate research in preparation for her thesis defence and hopes to transition to work in the biopharmaceutical industry after graduation.
Rupal Baliyan earned her undergraduate degree in chemistry from the University of Delhi and a Master’s in chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. She joined the University of Minnesota in Spring 2021 and is currently a member of the Bailey group. Her research explores bioinspired inorganic chemistry and its role in advancing sustainable energy solutions. “My project focuses on developing supramolecular strategies to stabilize synthetic iron-sulfur clusters—models of enzyme cofactors like those in nitrogenase and hydrogenase, which catalyze key reactions such as CO₂ reduction and nitrogen fixation,” she says. Her current project involves using supramolecular approaches—such as nanoscale cages and coordination polymers—to improve the stability of these clusters under practical conditions.
Outside of research, Baliyan is actively involved in various student organizations and outreach programs. She serves as Chair of the Community Connections committee and a Lab Safety Officer with the Joint Safety Team, and volunteers with Cool Chemistry and the Hospitality Center. She has also contributed to the MRS UMN Student Seminar Team and the Council of Graduate Students. “These activities allow me to give back, connect across disciplines, and promote a collaborative and inclusive campus environment,” she says. As she nears the completion of her PhD, she is continuing her research on enzyme mimics and exploring future career options in both academia and industry.
Brandon Hosford came to the Department of Chemistry in 2021, after completion of his undergraduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Here at UMN, he is a member of the Lamb group, where he explores the niche of switchable polymerizations. “I am interested in solving fundamental challenges in polymerization synthesis in order to combine disparate mechanisms in new ways,” he says. “I have been working on the combination of cationic and anionic polymerizations of vastly different monomer classes in order to make unique block copolymers. While I am currently focused on solving these fundamental problems, these materials could find applications in filtration/storage mediums, barrier materials (food packaging etc.), or other unrealized uses.”
When he’s not in the lab, Hosford serves as President for the UMN POLY/PMSE Student Chapter, a group that hosts educational seminars, technical workshops, and networking events for chemists in polymer chemistry and materials science. He also contributes to the Joint Safety Team as a member of the Analysis and Compliance committee. Hosford’s current research goal is to expand on his group’s first success of combining cationic and anionic polymerizations by making the method more general to polymerize a wider range of monomers. He hopes this will allow them to achieve a number of different properties in the final materials.
Sallu Kargbo joined the Roberts group in Fall 2021 after completion of his undergraduate studies at Grinnell College. His research interests are broadly related to organic synthesis and organometallic chemistry. “My current project is aimed at synthesizing novel aryne precursors that can be activated via blue light or mild heating, circumventing the need for external additives,” he says.
In addition to his research, Kargbo is the president of the Graduate Student Workshop Committee (GSWC), where he works with Chemistry graduate students to host workshops aimed at professional development. He is also actively involved in NOBCChE, through which he helped organize and execute the Underrepresented Students in STEM Symposium alongside fellow DDF recipient Elizabeth Apiche. Over the summer Kargbo is working on finishing up his current research project before heading to an internship at Eli Lilly in the fall. When he returns from his internship, he aims to complete his thesis and apply for a full-time career.
Eaindra Yee is an international student from Myanmar (Burma). She earned dual degrees in Chemistry and Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of South Florida before joining UMN in 2020. “My goal to become a chemist was ignited during high school when I learnt of the versatile applications of chemistry,” she says. “I was particularly amazed with the interface between chemistry and biology, which eventually led me to develop my knowledge in the Bhagi-Damodaran lab studying iron-containing proteins involved in health and industrial applications.” One of the projects she has been working on involves enhancing the non-native functionalization of unactivated aliphatic C-H bonds by an iron-enzyme. Instead of using the time- and labor-intensive route of mutagenesis, Yee and her groupmates are currently exploring synthetic analogues for this enhancement. “I am hopeful this approach can lead to discovery of new strategies in engineering important iron-based metalloenzymes for better therapeutics and more sustainable biocatalysis,” she says.
Outside of the lab, Yee is passionate about advocating for multiculturalism within the scientific community. She has been involved in the Association of Multicultural Scientists (AMS) and the Council of International Graduate Students (CIGS) as a board member to foster academic and social connections among multicultural students. She is currently trying to wrap up her project to complete her dissertation. After her dissertation defense, she hopes to get a job in the biotechnology industry to develop enzymes for pharmaceutical and medical applications.
Jonathan Zajac completed his undergraduate studies in biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire. “It was through research at Eau Claire that I initially fell in love with studying biological problems, particularly at the molecular level and with atomistic precision,” he says. “I joined the University of Minnesota in Fall 2021, and was thrilled to find an advisor who is as passionate about my interests as I am. Prof. Sapna Sarupria and I work at the interface of chemistry, biology, medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, computer science, and machine learning, collaborating with a number of groups from both the University of Minnesota and beyond.” The overarching goal of Zajac’s research is to design vaccines that are more resistant to temperature degradation. Currently, the high cost and logistical problems of the cold storage chain for vaccines lead to a significant vaccine wastage and poor global sharing of vaccines. “We're using molecular simulations to tackle this problem from the source, exploring how small molecules known as excipients can stabilize vaccines either directly or indirectly,” Zajac says. “We have seen fascinating phenomena such as excipient binding to virus surfaces, reductions in hydration shell water dynamics, or reinforcements of hydrogen-bonding networks. With this molecular-level detail, we are able to make more rational predictions for which excipients are effective for a given vaccine, alleviating the cold chain and reducing the complexity of what is typically a costly trial-and-error formulation design process.” This work is a collaboration between the Sarupria group, Dr. Caryn Heldt at Michigan Technological University, and Dr. Sarah Perry at the University of Massachusetts–Amherst.
While viruses are challenging to simulate due to their size, Zajac and his group use the advanced high performance computing infrastructure of the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute and leverages the natural symmetry of virus capsids to dramatically reduce computational costs. He says the goal of this work is to build an accessible simulation framework that could revolutionize vaccine design by accelerating excipient selection through an information-driven approach.
Zajac recently joined a video game music cover band – Booster Pack – with several other University of Minnesota students. The group plays pretty regularly around the Twin Cities, so when he’s not working on simulations, he’s usually playing saxophone.
About the Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship
The University of Minnesota DDF program aims to give the University’s most accomplished PhD candidates – those who have passed the written and oral preliminary examinations and their program coursework – an opportunity to devote full-time effort to an outstanding research project by providing time to finalize and write their dissertation during the fellowship year. The fellowship grants awardees a $25,000 stipend, academic year tuition, subsidized health insurance through the Graduate Assistant Health Plan for up to one calendar year, and a $1,000 conference grant.