Six students receive NSF graduate research fellowships
Six Department of Chemistry students have received fellowships in the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program and two more have earned honorable mentions.
Fellowship recipients are Gretchen Burke who is advised by Professor Michael Bowser, Jenna Humke who is advised by Professor Joseph Topczewski, Niklas Kraemer who is advised by Professor Thomas Hoye, Ryan Leighton who is advised by Professor Renee Frontiera, Bailey Nebgen who is advised by Professor Frontiera, and Levi Palmer who is also advised by Professor Frontiera. Honorable mentions are Cecilia Douma who is advised by Professor Bowser, and Joshua Gavin who is advised by Professor Courtney Roberts.
The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) helps ensure the vitality of the human resource base of science and engineering in the United States and reinforces its diversity. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees at accredited United States institutions.
Fellows share in the prestige and opportunities that become available when they are selected. Fellows benefit from a three-year annual stipend of $34,000 along with a $12,000 cost of education allowance for tuition and fees (paid to the institution), opportunities for international research and professional development, and the freedom to conduct their own research at any accredited U.S. institution of graduate education they choose.
Gretchen Burke
Gretchen Burke is a first-year graduate student in Professor Michael Bowser's group. Her focus is on bioanalytical chemistry, and her research project involves developing a droplet microfluidic platform to investigate and characterize catalytic oligonucleotides.
Cecilia Douma
Cecilia Douma is a second-year graduate student in Professor Michael Bowser's group. She is broadly interested in bioanalytical chemistry, and is currently developing a microfluidic platform to quantitatively assess the abundance and activity of catalytic nucleic acids.
Joshua Gavin
Joshua Gavin is a first-year graduate student advised by Professor Courtney Roberts. His research is focused on developing a cross-coupling of alkyl radicals using carboxylic acid derivatives, catalyzed by a nickel complex with redox noninnocent ligands. Gavin's goal is to develop a method for the generalized formation of Csp3-Csp3 bonds.
Jenna Humke
Jenna Humke is a first-year graduate students and is advised by Professor Joseph Topczewski. Her research focuses on developing new synthetic methods. More specifically, I am focused on developing new methods for decarboxylative cross-coupling reactions. Currently, Jenna is studying the mechanistic details of these reactions. Her goal is to apply this mechanistic understanding to develop efficient new methods for decarboxylative cross-coupling.
Niklas Kraemer
Niklas Kraemer is a first-year graduate student working for Professor Thomas Hoye. His research is broadly focused around the hexadehydro-Diels-Alder (HDDA) reaction. Currently I am working on a related tridehydro-Diels-Alder reaction which yields naphthalene derivatives. In the future, Niklas would like to pursue a career in academia.
Ryan Leighton
Ryan Leighton is a second-year graduate student who is advised by Professor Renee Frontiera. His general research focus is bioanalytical chemistry, and his current research project is focused on using stimulated Raman spectroscopy to develop a new method for label-free super-resolution imaging of biological systems. In the future, Ryan hopes to pursue a career in academia.
Bailey Nebgen
Bailey Nebgen is a graduating chemistry major who is advised by Professor Renee Frontiera. In her current research, she uses ultrafast Raman and absorption spectroscopies to study the mechanism of singlet fission and how it is affected by material structure. Singlet fission is a charge transfer process in organic semiconductors that has the potential to increase the efficiency of organic solar cells and LEDs. After graduating with her bachelor's degree, Bailey will be pursuing a doctorate in experimental phyiscal chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. Her career in research will ideally lead to either a professorship at a research university or a job at a national lab.
Levi Palmer
Levi Palmer is a graduating chemistry major who is advised by Professor Renee Frontiera. He is using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy to study the coupling of light at unique photonic and plasmonic interfaces. Next year, he is starting his graduate work at the California Institute of Technology, where he hopes to study the dynamics of inorganic photocatalysts or solid state photoelectrodes with spectroscopy and microscopy.