NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Awarded to Ashley Biernesser

Ashley Biernesser, a graduate student in Professor Jeff Byer's research group, has received a prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Awarded to senior undergraduate and first or second year graduate students, this fellowship invests in an individual’s potential by affording an opportunity to pursue his or her research aspirations. Fellows receive a three year annual stipend of $30,000. Ashley’s current project is “Iron pyridyl diimine catalysts for the production of a tunable biodegradable polymer."

Sa Zhou Captures Silver Award at Materials Research Society Fall Meeting

Graduate student Sa Zhou, a researcher in Professor Dunwei Wang’s group, was the recipient of a Silver Award at the fall meeting of the Materials Research Society (MRS), which was recently held in Boston. This competition is open to domestic and international graduate students in a number of disciplines in addition to chemistry, such as, physics, materials science and engineering. Ms. Zhou is the first Boston College graduate student to win this prestigious award.

Fang Gao named recipient of the 2012 Graduate Student Innovation Award (GSIA) by the Sigma-Aldrich Company

Fang Gao, a graduate student in the research lab of Professor Amir Hoveyda, has been awarded a 2012 Graduate Student Innovation Award (GSIA) by the Sigma-Aldrich Company. Sigma-Aldrich gives these awards annually to students who have completed three years of graduate study for work that focuses on the "development and creative use of current or new reagents, catalysts, and ligands in methodology or synthetic chemistry projects." Recipients will receive a $1,000 award, an iPad 3, and an all-expense paid trip to the 2012 GSIA Symposium at the Aldrich campus in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. All Awardees are invited to give a short presentation on their research at the Symposium.

Recipients of 2012-13 AstraZeneca Graduate Fellowships in Organic Chemistry Named

2012-13 AstraZeneca Graduate Fellowships in Organic Chemistry (L-R) Xixi Sun and Dan Silverio.

Dan Silverio and Xixi Sun, graduate students in the research laboratories of Professors Amir Hoveyda and Kian Tan respectively, have been named the 2012-13 AstraZeneca Graduate Fellows in Organic Chemistry. Sun’s research is focused on catalysts applying reversible covalent bonding and their applications towards site-selective functionalization of diols and carbohydrates. Dan Silverio has been working on the development of new catalysts for the enantioselective synthesis of amines and alcohols. This award is given to senior graduate students who intend to pursue a career in industry, have published papers in recognized chemistry journals and presented their work at external conferences. Candidates selected for this honor are further evaluated on their research acumen and scholarship.

Ardolino receives 2012-13 ACS Organic Chemistry Division Fellowship

Michael Ardolino, a graduate student in Professor James Morken’s group, is the recipient of a 2012-13 Graduate Fellowship awarded by the Division of Organic Chemistry of the American Chemical Society. The fellowship is highly competitive and recognizes “outstanding third and fourth year graduate students in organic chemistry." Ardolino will receive a fellowship stipend of $26,000 which includes funds to travel to the 2013 National Organic Symposium which will be held in June at the University of Washington. His research is focused on development of new asymmetric transition metal-catalyzed methodologies for the manipulation of allylic and related systems.

John LaMattina Graduate Fellowships Awarded

2012 John LaMattina Fellows, (L-R) Victor Rendina, Candice Joe, and Chris Schuster.

John LaMattina Graduate Fellowships have been awarded to Candice Joe, Rana Kashif Khan, Victor Rendina and Chris Schuster. Joe, a member of Professor Kian Tan's group, is currently involved in the design and synthesis of new enantiopure scaffolding ligands for asymmetric hydroformylation of other interesting substrate classes. Working in the research group of Professor Amir Hoveyda, Khan (not pictured) is investigating the mechanism of olefin metathesis promoted by stereogenic-at-Ruthenium carbene complexes, and development of new catalysts to access Z-alkenes. A member of Professor Marc Snapper’s group, Rendina is currently developing a new class of chiral cationic organocatalysts for use in a variety of asymmetric alkylation reactions.

In Professor James Morken’s group, Schuster’s research focuses on engaging enantioenriched 1,2-diboron compounds as nucleophilic partners in selective cross coupling reactions.