Student Spotlight

Graduate Students

Names are in alphabetical order

Chemistry & Biochemistry Outstanding Dissertation Award

2020-21 Recipients: Mark Kalaj (Cohen Lab), Terra Sztain-Pedone (Burkart/McCammon Lab)

2018-19 Recipients: Arvin Akoopie (Muller Lab), Erik Romero (Bertrand Lab)

2017-18 Recipients: Cassandra Callmann (Gianneschi Lab), Melissa Helm (Kubiak Lab), Clifford Kapono (Dorrestein Lab), Mang Lin (Thiemens Lab), Christian Perez (Cohen Lab), Alexander Rovira (Tor Lab) 

2016-17 Recipeints: Doug Agnew (Figueroa Lab), Sarah Barnhill (Gianneschi Lab), Kara Finzel (Burkart Lab), Naomi Handly (Wollman Lab), Jamie Schiffer (Amaro Lab)

2015-16 Recipients: Mark Boerneke, Russell Chan, Jacquelin Kammeyer, Matt Sampson, Lane Votapka

2014-15 Recipients: Zhaleh Amini (Muller Lab), Alex Carpenter (Figueroa Lab), Anthony Rush (Gianneschi Lab)

2013-14 Recipients: Miao-Ping Chien (Gianneschi Lab), Jeff Brodin (Tezcan Lab), Nicholas Brunn (Hermann Lab)

National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship

2018 Recipient: Mark Kalaj (Cohen Lab)

Chancellor's Dissertation Medal

2021: Jesse Peltier 

2019 Recipient: Erik Romero (Bertrand Lab)

2018 Recipient: Mang Lin

2014 Recipient: Alexander White

Distinguished Graduate Student Fellowship

2020 Recipients: Felix Brunner (Kubiak Lab), Jorge Campos Gonzalez Angulo (Yuen Zhou Lab), Sam Lardy (Schmidt Lab), Tsanwen Lu (Taylor Lab), Luis Martinez Martinez (Yuen Zhou Lab), Emilia Pecora-de-Barros (Amaro Lab), Ling Zhang (Tezcan Lab), Nicole Peiris (Donoghue Lab)

2019 Recipients: Rob Alberstien (Tezcan Lab), Wei Chen (Komives Lab), Daphne Cheung (Kubiak Lab), Myles Drance (Figueroa Lab), Ben Jagger (Amaro/McCammon Lab), Eunice Kim (Burkart Lab), Yao Li (Tor Lab), Mariam Salib (Molinski Lab), Haoyuan Wang (Xiong Lab)

2018 Recipients: Jake Bailey (Tezcan Lab), Sabrina Berkamp (Opella Lab), Jeremy Hilgar (Rinehart Lab), Sophia Hirakis (Amaro/McCammon Labs), Chris T. Lee (Amaro/McCammon Labs), Ryan Lumpkin (Komives Lab), Tyler Porter (Kubiak Lab), Jiaxi Wang (Xiong Lab), Eric Zhou (Deveraj Lab)

2017 Recipients: Sarah Barnhill (Gianneschi Lab), Lewis Churchfield (Tezcan Lab), Melissa Helm (Kubiak Lab), Mang Lin (Thiemens Lab), Alex Rovira (Tor Lab), Camille Sultana (Prather Lab), Cory Weinstein (Bertrand Lab), Tim Wiryaman (Toor Lab)

2016 Recipients: Doug Agnew (Figueroa Lab), Arvin Akoopie (Muller Lab), Mike Denny (Cohen Lab), Sam Doyle (Tauber Lab), Kara Finzel (Burkart Lab), Tak Koyanagi (Yang Lab), Jessie Peters (Toor Lab), Mark Reineke (Kubiak Lab), Andrew Rudd (Devaraj Lab)

NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

2020 Recipients: Adam Cooper (Slade Lab), Ruben Elias (Deshmukh Lab), Nicole Torquato (Kubiak Lab)

2019 Recipient: Ryjul Stokes (Cohen Lab)

2018 Recipients: Glen Junor (Bertrand Lab), Liora Mael (Grassian Lab), Christian Seitz (Amaro Lab), Terra Sztain-Pedone (Burkart Lab)

2016 Recipients: Jesse Peltier (Bertrand Lab), Ember Tota (Godula Lab)

2016 Honorable Mentions: Dan Mermelstein (Walker and McCammon Labs), Joo Hee Lee (Gianneschi Lab)

2015 Recipient: Aaron Ward (Joseph Lab)

2015 Honorable Mentions: Gwen Merlen (Kubiak Lab), Kyle Mandla (Figueroa Lab), Pek Ieong (Amaro Lab)

2014 Recipients: Andrea Carlini (Gianneschi Lab)

2014 Honorable Mentions: Cassandra Callmann (Gianneschi Lab), Melissa Clark (Kubiak Lab), Christina Hoong (O'Connor Lab), Cory Weinstein (Bertrand Lab), Jacquelin Kammeyer (Gianneschi Lab), Lauren Ryon

2013 Recipients: Brandon Barnett (Figueroa Lab), Steven Chabolla (joint, Kubiak and Tezcan Labs), Charles Mokhtarzadeh (Figueroa Lab), Joel Rivera (Continetti Lab), Lane Votapka (Amaro Lab)

2013 Honorable Mentions: Andrea Carlini (Gianneschi Lab), Lewis Churchfield (Tezcan Lab), Jessica Peters (Toor Lab), Mark Reineke (Kubiak Lab), Derek Rhoades (Nicolaou Lab)

2011 Recipients: Corinne Allen (Cohen Lab), Mehrnooh Arrar (McCammon Lab), Henry Korman (Nicolaou Lab), Brandon Razooky (Weinberger Lab), Olivia Ryder (Bertram Lab)

Teddy Traylor Awards

2021-22: Kyle Angle (Grassian Lab), Krista Balto (Figueroa Lab), Stella Seo (Cohen Lab), Taylor Steele (Moore Lab)

2020-21: Ruben Elias (Deshmukh Lab), Jessica Geisenhoff (Schimpf Lab), Kenneth Han (Tezcan Lab), Mariam Salib (Molinski Lab), Ryjul Stokes (Cohen Lab)

2019-20: Bryce Ackermann (Debelouchina Lab), Linfeng Cheng (Schimpf Lab), Hannah Rutledge (Tezcan Lab), Samuel Lardy (Schmidt Lab), Matthew Du (Yuen Zhou Lab)

2018-19: Ben Jagger (Amaro Lab), Mark Kalaj (Cohen Lab), Joseph Palomba (Cohen Lab), Nicole Peiris (Donoghue Lab)

2017-18: Ahanjit Bhattacharya (Devaraj Lab), Wei Chen (Komives Lab), Jiaxi Wang (Xiong Lab), Ling Zhang (Tezcan Lab)

2016-17: Doug Agnew (Figueroa Lab), Faith Katz (Tezcan Lab), Andrew Rudd (Devaraj Lab) 

2015-16: Lisa Adamiak (Gianneschi Lab), Matt Sampson (Kubiak Lab), Mark Boerneke (Hermann Lab), Jessie Peters (Toor Lab), Sam Doyle (Tauber Lab)

2013-14: Alex Carpenter (Figueroa Lab), Greg Medders (Paesani Lab), Emily Mevers (Gerwick Lab), Sarah Smith (Tezcan Lab)

2012-13: Miao-Ping Chien (Gianneschi Lab), Wei-Ting Liu (Dorrestein Lab)

2008-09: John Burke, Jeffrey Kearns, Anne Ruminski, Colin Skepper

Friends of the International Center Fellowship

2019-20: Meihan Li (Yang Lab)

2021: Lisa Liang (Corbett & Yeo Lab), Stella Seo (Cohen Lab), Anand Ojha (Amaro Lab

Kamen Award

2015: Olivia Kim Pierce (McCammon Lab)

2014: Miao-Ping Chien (Gianneschi Lab)

2013: Andro Rios (Tor Lab)

Inamori Fellowship

2018-19: DeeAnn Asamoto (Kim Lab)

2017-18: Sergio Ayala (Cohen Lab)

2016-17: Andrew Rudd (Devaraj Lab)

2015-16: Cassi Callmann (Gianneschi Lab)

2014-15: Doug Collins (Prather Lab)

2012-13: Miao-Ping Chien (Gianneschi Lab)

2011-12: Chen Wang (Tauber Lab)

Graduate Diversity and Outreach Awards

2015-16: Alissa Sasayama (Kubiak Lab), Lisa Adamiak (Gianneschi Lab), and Melissa Clark (Kubiak Lab)

2015-16 Honorable Mentions: Aaron Ward (Joseph Lab), Christian Cole (Devaraj Lab), Ignacio Lopez-Pena (Kim Lab), Naomi Handly (Wollman Lab)

2014-15: Timia Crisp (Bertram Lab), Clifford Kapono (Dorrestein Lab), and Jamie Schiffer (Amaro Lab)

2013-14: Timia Crisp (Bertram Lab), Donald Johnson (Ellisman Lab), Ignacio Lopez-Pena (Kim Lab), Gabriel Reyes-Rodriguez (Perrin Lab), Andro Rios (Tor Lab)

President's Dissertation Year Fellowship

2015-16: David John Lee (Burkart Lab)

UC Symposium for Chemical Sciences Poster Prize

2015-16: Allie Chen (Cohen Lab)

ACS NVIDIA GPU Award

Jaime Schiffer (Amaro Lab)

Annual Graduate Research Advocacy Day in Sacramento

Kara Finzel (Burkart Lab)

Frieda Daum Urey Endowed Fellowship

2018-19: Khin San (Schimpf Lab), Jessie Moreton (Cohen Lab)

Interdisciplinary Collaboratories Award

2014: Michael Denny (Cohen Lab)

2013: Kristofer Haushalter (Patel Lab)

2012: Nathan Schoepp (Burkart Lab)

Bruno Zimm Award

2021-22: Ruben Elias (Deshmukh Lab)

2020-21: Ray Berkeley (Debelouchina Lab)

2019-20: Abigail Dommer (Amaro Lab)

2018-19: Terra Sztain-Pedone (Burkart/McCammon Lab)

2017-18: Rob Alberstein (Tezcan Lab)

2016: Chris T. Lee (Amaro and McCammon Lab)

2015: Jessie Peters (Toor Lab), Lane Votapka (Amaro Lab)

2014: David John Lee (Burkart Lab)

2013: Anthony Rush (Gianneschi Lab)

2012: Jonathan Zuris (Jennings Lab)

2011: Jeff Brodin (Tezcan Lab)

2009: Cecilia Cheng (Taylor Lab)

Competitive Edge

2018-19: Carlos Vasquez (Komor Lab)

2012-13: Tavina Claiborne (Amaro Lab)

2011-12: Steven Chabolla (Kubiak Lab), Leandro Gallo (Donoghue Lab), and Karina Kangas

2010-11: Ignacio Lopez-Pena (Kim Lab)

2009-10: Corinne Allen (Cohen Lab) and Timia Crisp (Bertram Lab)

2008-09: Alyssia Lillio (Kubiak Lab)

2007-08: Annette Medina-Morales (Tezcan Lab)

2006-07: Sergio Garibay (Cohen Lab), David Gonzalez, and Andro Rios (Tor Lab)

Bouchet Graduate Honor Society Chapter

2018-19: Jessie Moreton (Cohen Lab)

2017-18: Tavina Offut (Amaro Lab)

2016-17: Don Johnson (Ellisman and Taylor Labs)

2011-12: Miao-Ping Chien (Gianneschi Lab)

2010-11: Sujata Emani (Tsien Lab), David Gonzalez

Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS)

2020-21: Bryce Ackermann (Debelouchina Lab), Mark Kalaj (Cohen Lab), Chiwei Man (Wang Lab), Victor Or (Grassian Lab)

2016-17: Cassie Callmann (Gianneschi Lab), Jessie Peters (Toor Lab)

2015-16: Russell Chan (Toor Lab), Mike Denny (Cohen Lab)

2014-15: Matt Del Bel (Guerrero Lab)

2013-14: Guipeun Kang (Kim Lab), Joseph Kaus (McCammon Lab), Alexander White (Galperin Lab)

2011-12: Patrick Blachly (McCammon Lab), Morgan Nunn (Thiemens Lab)

Lattimer Award 

2019-20: Terra Sztain-Pedone (Burkart/McCammon Lab)

2017-18: Jake Bailey (Tezcan Lab)

2016-17: Chris T. Lee (Amaro Lab)

2015-2016: Naomi Handly (Wollman Lab)

Grad Slam

2018, 2nd Place Winner: Jessica Moreton (Cohen Lab)

Outstanding Student Poster Award

2017: Zhenzhu Xu (Grassian Lab)

DIC Young Investigator Awards

2011: Eric Salgado, Kristine Tanabe

Interdisciplinary Collaboratories Award

2013-14: Michael Denny, Kristofer Haushalter

AGEP Fellowships

2011-12: Leandro Gallo, Frankie Gonzalez, Karina Kangas

Socrates Fellows

2013-14: Steven Nguyen, Eric Rogers

2012-13: Timia Crisp

2011-12: Gabriel Reyes-Rodriguez

2010-11: Jillian Blatti, Kristina Pohaku Mitchell, Emily Satkiewicz, Zephen Specht, Carmen Laura Velez