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Student Awards, Fellowships and Spotlights


Our awards and fellowships serve as a way to honor our outstanding undergraduate student achievements. Congratulations to all of the awardees of the 2022-23 academic year!

2022-2023 Undergraduate Student Award Recipients

 

ACSSA Research Poster Awards

  • Biochemistry: Aakash Davasam and Khoa Tran
  • Organic: Yale Huang
  • Inorganic: Josef Daniels
  • Physical/Analytical: Siena Schumaker

Mayer Award- Faculty Nominated

  • Hei Yu Annika So
  • Alexander Pantelis Parmele
  • Molly Cohn
  • Sophia Madamba
  • Yuting Shen

Kamen Award- Faculty Nominated

  • Jillian Hirano
  • Dina Chehada

Urey Award- Merit Based

  • Emma Deters
  • Zoey Litt
  • Jiayang Zhou
  • Flora Wong
  • Aidan Cleeves Tice-Raskin

Undergraduate Inclusive Excellence Awards

  • Khoa Tran
  • Vicky Chen
  • Isabelle Shepherd
  • Caroline Rees
  • Avani Benegal
  • Chanyeong Kim

Charles L. Perrin Summer Research Fellowship

  • Kunhao (Simon) Zhang
  • Phoebe Murayama

Chemistry & Biochemistry Summer Student Fellowship

  • Vicente Galicia
  • Jessica Nino

Physical Sciences Dean's Undergraduate Award for Excellence

  • Hao Wei
  • Manasi Movva
  • Zachary Auvil
  • Annika So
  • Cynthia Rong
  • Vicente Galicia
  • Jillian Hirano
  • Yuting Shen
  • Clarisa Bautista
  • Daniel Liu
  • Aman Shihora
  • Maxwell Varley
  • Khoa Tran
  • Madeline Brown 

Silagi Award

  • Dina Chehada

ACS Undergraduate Awards

  • 2023 Winners TBA

Undergraduate Student Award Descriptions

Undergraduate-student-achievments.jpg

Charles L. Perrin Summer Fellowship

This merit-based fellowship recognizes students who show promise as future scientists through their participation in undergraduate chemistry research at UC San Diego. The fellowship is intended to provide support for continuation of their research in summer 2023 under the mentorship of a Chemistry professor. (Time commitment will be based on mutual agreement with the faculty mentor.)  Maximum of 2 fellowships can be awarded. 

Eligibility: 

  • Registered UCSD Undergraduate student majoring in one of the following: CH25, CH31, CH34, CH35, CH36, CH38
  • 3.0+ cumulative GPA
  • Minimum of one quarter of CHEM 199 completed with a PI in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.  Students enrolled in their first 199 this Spring will be considered but not prioritized for this fellowship.
  • Ability to conduct research on campus in Summer 2023
Requirements: 
  • Cover Letter
  • Resume/CV
  • Letter of recommendation from your research mentor (emailed to chemadvising@ucsd.edu
  • One paragraph describing your proposed summer research project. 
  • Online Application

Award:

  • $1,000 to provide support for the continuation of your research in summer 2023.
Application deadline:  April 24, 2023

Undergraduate Inclusive Excellence Awards

These new awards are named after our renowned emeritus faculty: Marjorie Caserio, Marye Anne Fox, Katja Lindenberg, Mario Molina, Roger Tsien, and Joe Watson. These awards recognize undergraduate students who have demonstrated superior academic accomplishments and demonstrate dedication to advancing the professional community, through community involvement, leadership, overcoming adversity, and/or research achievements. Maximum of 5 awards can be  given.  

Eligibility: 

  • Registered UCSD Undergraduate student majoring in one of the following: CH25, CH31, CH34, CH35, CH36, CH38
  • 3.25+ cumulative GPA
  • Experience in community/service, leadership, overcoming adversity, research, or other impactful areas.
Requirements: 
  • Brief statement (500 words maximum) which highlights your involvement in or experience with one or more of the areas above
  • Endorser- provide the name and e-mail of one person (e.g. faculty member or supervisor) who can corroborate the contents of your personal statement.  
  • Online Application

Award:

  • $200 awarded to your student account

Application deadline:  April 24, 2023

Chemistry/Biochemistry Summer Research Fellowship

This merit-based fellowship recognizes students who show promise as future scientists through their participation in undergraduate chemistry or biochemistry research at UC San Diego. The fellowship is intended to provide support for continuation of their research in summer under the mentorship of a UCSD professor.

Eligibility: 

  • Registered UCSD Undergraduate student majoring in one of the following: CH25, CH31, CH34, CH35, CH36, CH38
  • 3.0+ cumulative GPA
  • Minimum of one quarter of CHEM 199 completed with a PI in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.  Students enrolled in their first 199 this Spring may be considered.
  • Ability to conduct research on campus in Summer 2023
Requirements: 
  • Cover Letter
  • Resume/CV
  • Letter of recommendation from your research mentor (emailed to chemadvising@ucsd.edu
  • One paragraph describing your proposed summer research project. 
  • Online Application

Award:

  • $1,000 to provide support for the continuation of your research in summer 2023.
Application deadline:  April 24, 2023

AIC (The American Institute of Chemists)

The American Institute of Chemists is hosting its annual Student Awards program to honor outstanding senior students, including one from UC San Diego Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry!  You are invited to self-nominate or nominate a peer.

Eligibility: 

  • Registered UCSD Undergraduate student majoring in one of the following: CH25, CH31, CH34, CH35, CH36, CH38
  • 3.5+ cumulative GPA
  • Graduating Senior (Fall '22, Winter '23 or on trach to graduate in Spring or Summer '23)
  • Demonstrated record of leadership ability, character, scholastic achievement, and advancement potential in the chemical professions.
Requirements: 
  • Personal Statement talking about your specific leadership experience, scholastic achievements, and career goals (1-2 paragraphs)
  • Resume/CV
  • Online Application

Award:

  •   A certificate suitable for framing
  •   A Student Affiliate membership in the AIC (this complimentary membership will last through December 31, 2024)
  •   The Chemist, the AIC online peer-reviewed journal
  •   A listing on the AIC website
  •   Access to the AIC website
  •   An opportunity to enroll in our certification program for chemical scientists and engineers
  •   Participation in national meetings
  •   An opportunity to network with other chemical professionals.

Application deadline:  April 24, 2023

For more information about this organization, please visit: www.TheAIC.org.

Royal Society of Chemistry Certificate of Undergraduate Excellence

The Certificate of Undergraduate Excellence is the Royal Society of Chemistry’s recognition program for university students in North America who have shown special achievement in the chemical sciences. The award recipients are selected by their departments for demonstrating exceptional dedication, performance, and engagement in coursework and research.

Qualified students will be invited to apply by the department. 

Past Recipients

Past Awards

ACSSA Research Poster Awards

2022 (Poster): Ethan Ashley, Elanor Sievers, Reagan Beers, Dylan Snelson, Karen Lopo Zepeda

2021 (Poster): Christopher Nowak, Nicole Nolan, Minh Le, Elanor Sievers, Amalia Villagran-Suarez

2020 (Poster): Jori Mills, Kendrick Nguyen, Ningkai Zheng, Kien Malarney, Reece JamesGordon Peiker 

2019 (Poster): Riddhi Ananth, David Callahan, Andrea Gonzalez, Aurora Guild, Christine Lee, Debbie Zhuang

2018 (Poster): Jacob Hawver Pachter, Gavin Heim, Qin Li, Laura Williamson

2015 (Oral): Ryan Davis, Christina Jayson, Eric Kircher, Phuc Nguyen, Michael Shenk

2015 (Poster): Jennifer Bowen, Christopher coyle, Samantha Freitag, Cassandra Gilmour, Kelsey Krug, Beatriz Lopez-Bermudez, Megan Murphy, Sean Najjar, Wiberth Narvaez, Jennifer Ngo

Kamen Award 

2022: Jiwoo Kim, Shane Douty

2021: Tommy Le

2020: Leah Grayson, Kailash Venkatraman 

2019: Yueyi Chen, Nicholas Tu 

2018: Yook May Amelia Woo, Tian May Zeng, Dylan Power

2017: Kyle Balucana, Yoyo Wang

Mayer Award

2022: Gordon Peiker, Christopher Nowak, Hans Ng, Marc Zepeda, Elanor Sievers 

2021: Calvin Huang, Amalia Villagran-Suarez

2020: Duyen Dang, Heidi Busse, Kun Yong Jeoung, Tongshan Liu, Seth Vigneron, Megan Young, Laura Williamson, Riddhi Ananth

2019: Haotian Chen, Andrew Mitchell, Richard Niederecker, Yifan Wu

2018Dylan Power

2017: Alexandre Vincent, Clark Wang, Jessie Davis, Luke Kisaichi, Tiffany Chen

2016: Kelsey Ann Krug, David Stephen Robert, Hao Zheng

2014: Kuei-Lin Chang, Kevin Pham

2013: Saajan Bhakta, Jake Boissonnault

2012: Patrick Smith

2011: Nathan Hendricks

Urey Award

2022: Thảo Bùi, Thi Xuan Nguyen, Oliver Sun, Lu Yue Wang, Eric Lu

2021: Serena Huang, Julie Thanh Huynh, Nhuan Duc Vu, Ella Lee, Xuanhe Jiang, Adrian Jordi De Almenara, Helen Than, Sara Rew, Siavash Moghadami 

2020: Andrew Mitchell​, Cornelius Smith​, Sarah Schwab, Teffanie Yu Ling Goh​, Roghiye Kazimi​, Ryan Helsel

2019: Melinda Chan, Peter Glatt

2018: Nicholas Checchia, Andrew Dang, Xiangyi Ke, Sijing Meng

2017: Ashley Hua Yee Chong

2016: Joshua Lee Cox, Connor Masao, Nam Thanh Trinh, Shane Christopher Williams

2014: Russell Lewis, Cydnee Ng, Dennis Tran, Krystine Vuong

2013: Pei-Ling Wu, Jung Hoon Park, Shiteng Duan, Alexander Ying Kit, Kevin Bao

2012: Kayla Nicole Busby, Stephan Sheung-Ming Leung

2011: Brittany Michel, Sihui Ma, Julia Stauber

Perrin Summer Fellowship Award

2022: Tyler Lam, Khoa Tran 

2021: Minh Le, Andrew Villanueva

2020: Tiffany Hamilton, Kien Malarney 

2019: Mingzhi Xu, Shenghua Yang

2018: Kaleb Barber, Yifan Wu

2016: Maher Alhaja, David Stephen Roberts

2014:
 Carolyn White, Megan Rooney

Chemistry and Biochemistry Summer Fellowship

2022: Natacha Oget, Katherine O'Shea 

Silagi Award

2022: Francis Alipranti

2020: Sarah Schwab

Physical Sciences Dean's Undergraduate Award for Excellence

2022: Francis Alipranti, Reagan Beers, Mark Glossbrenner, Grace Lee, Olivia Modi, Christopher Nowak, Gordon Peiker, Jessica Raygoza, Elanor Sievers

2021: Alberto Castanedo, Andres De la Rosa, Calvin Huang, Tommy Le, Alina Luk, Jori Mills, Anthony Rodriguez, Sarah Schwab, Oliver Sun, Vanessa Tian, Nga (Swan) Van, Amalia Villagran-Suarez

2020: Duyen Dang, Joseph Hunter, Courtney Jang, Emily Lara, Kristine Luong, Kailash Venkatraman, Dalida Warda, Laura Williamson, Shenghua Yang, Riddhi Ananth, Megan Young

Undergraduate Inclusive Excellence Awards

2022: Molly Cohn, Sophie Nguyen, Minh Le, Katherine Tang, Annika So, Arshan Ommid 

ACS Awards

2022: Oliver Sun, Shane Douty