News
The newly elected GSC officers for 2024-2025 are:
President: Miranda Wood

The UVA Chemistry Graduate students have named members to serve on some key committees.
How Should I Begin a Job Search for a Career After a Graduate Degree in Chemistry?
First Generation Student and Faculty Meet and Greet
The Department of Chemistry is looking to hire a talented undergraduate student with online marketing expertise.
For the 2022 graduate school Ph.D.


Cindy Knight has been named recipient of the 2018 Leonard W. Sandridge Outstanding Contribution Award.

Professor Kateri DuBay has been chosen to receive the 2018 Alumni Board of Trustees Teaching Award.
A recent paper by the Hilinski Group in The Journal of Chemical Science has been highlighted by Synfacts and chosen as "Synfact o
Professor Ken Hsu is featured in the Future of Biochemistry, the special issue of the ACS publication Biochemistry. This special
Since 2003, ACA has published 11,152 articles. “Review: Carbon nanotube based electrochemical sensors for biomolecules” is the 5th highes

On April 14, 2022 the Chemistry Department held the 3rd Year Graduate Student Poster Session and the winners were announced.

Karl Ocius, a graduate student in the Pires Lab, has been selected for the 2024 Merck Research Award for Underrepresented Chemists of Color.

Getting to Know the Staff of UVA Chemistry
Compiled and edited for clarity by Hannah Musgrove

Rising 5th year students
First place (tie): Kelsie Wentz & Mark Bernard
Second place: Brianna Dalesandro

Five UVA Undergraduate majors in Chemistry or Biochemistry have been elected to Pi Beta Kappa. The are:
Abhiskek Bazaz

For the second year in a row, the University of Virginia Chemistry Department’s ACS Student Chapter received recognition from the American Chemical

By Anna Davis, UVA ChemSciComm

UVA in the Netherlands: Applied Organic Chemistry II
Hands-On Learning in a Global Setting – Summer 2025

Professor Linda Columbus was recently named a Commonwealth Professor of Chemistry.


Chemistry undergrad Elizabeth Fink has been awarded the 2024-2025 R. Gerald and Susan Bass Scholarship for Chemistry.

Pumidech “Max” Puthongkham has been named a 2019 Sidney M. Hecht Graduate Fellow.

The research groups of UVa Chemistry Professors Sen Zhang and T. Brent Gunnoe have recently published a paper in Nature Catalysis.

Graduate student Rachelle Turiello was awarded an ARCS Endowment Award in Chemistry.

My Research for Five Levels of Understanding
By Sadie Kiendzior, UVA ChemSciComm
Chemistry graduate student Haley Scolati received a Grote Reber Doctoral Fellowship from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO).

by Julissa Velasquez and Viranga Wimalasiri, L.E.A.D.
in collaboration with UVA ChemSciComm

Gabe Halford, of the Personick Lab, is a recipient of the ACS PRIDE-Merck Graduate Research Award, and he was recognized in a special award symposi

Getting to Know the Staff of UVA Chemistry
Compiled and edited for clarity by Hannah Musgrove

Professor Jelena Samonina connects with chemistry students through the Mead Endowment
Compiled By Delaney Hammond

It has been a good couple of months for UVa Chemistry graduate student Bukuru Anaclet.

The study of polymers, molecular structures composed of thousands of atoms, may be one of the fastest growing fields in science today.

ChemSciComm Grad Student Research Highlight
Fred Brøndsted
Ph.D. Candidate, C. Stains Lab

Graduate Student Social Events During Lockdown: Building Connections Virtually

Professor Huiyuan Zhu was recently awarded seed funding from the College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Office.

UVA Chemistry Graduate Student Djuro Raskovic has recieved a 2023 UVA All-University Graduate Teaching Award in recognition of his dedication and o

Robert Gilliard and his group are featured in the C&EN Magazine article, "Beryllium Radical Cation Isolated." The article states that

Charlie Machan has been awarded his first NSF Grant “Developing Homogeneous Mn Catalyst Systems for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction”.

The development of a cutting-edge technique to monitor and control chemical reactions in real time has the potential to transform pharmaceutical ma
Left to right: Jill Venton, Chair; Ji Zhang, Julie Laudenschlager, Mark Bernard, Pumidech Puthonkham, Grayson Johnson, Ana Geer, Megan Catterton, L

Professor Cliff Stains has been awarded a MIRA (Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award) from the National Institute of General Medical

Chemistry PhD candidate Megan Garris has been awarded the first Fellowship for Graduate Student Collaborative Drug Discovery Projects.

Chemistry student Tiffany Tran has received a Harrison Undergraduate Research Award.
The Pompano Lab's research was featured in C&E News' coverage of the national ACS Conference.

Getting to Know the Staff of UVA Chemistry
Compiled and edited for clarity by Hannah Musgrove

Graduate student Kelsie Wentz, of the Gilliard Group, is the recipient of the 2022 Adam Ritchie Outstanding Graduate Student Award in Chemistry.

Keira Mahoney Awarded Inaugural Donald F. Hunt Graduate Fellowship

Undergraduate researcher Sam Hanser received a 2023 Kolthoff Award from the ACS Analytical Division.

The UVa Chemistry Department resumed its annual Departmental Retreat on October 12, 2021, after a one-year hiatus due to the COVID pandemic.

On April 10, 2025 the Chemistry Department held the 3rd Year Graduate Student Poster Session.

Former graduate student Xiaofan Jia has been awarded UVA's 2022 Allan Talbot Gwathmey Memorial Award.

Getting to Know UVA Chemistry’s Newest PhDs
Amelia Reid, UVA ChemSciComm

Getting to Know the Staff of UVA Chemistry
Compiled and edited for clarity by Hannah Musgrove

By Hannah Musgrove
UVA ChemSciComm

Compiled and edited for clarity by Hannah Musgrove

UVA Chemistry Associate Professor Robert Gilliard has been named the recipient of the 2023 Harry Gray Award for Creative Work in Inorganic Chemistr

Efficient Nanocrystal Surface Cleaning by N-Heterocyclic Carbenes
By Emma Cook, UVA ChemSciComm

Daniel Colombani-Garay from the Tepe group was awarded an NIH R36 Research Dissertation Award.

UVA Chemistry announces the hiring of Michelle Personick, Ph.D. as an Associate Professor of Chemistry. Prof.

AC Obi of the Gilliard Group has been selected to receive the Jefferson Fellowship beginning fall of 2020. The Jefferson Fellowship is an extraord

By Josh Prindle, UVA ChemSciComm

Mircale Enwere (center) was awarded the third-place prize at the Innovation Tank Pitch Competition held at the National Organization for the Profes

Ilse is an assistant professor of astronomy with a joint appointment in chemistry.

Doctoral candidate Drew Christianson of the Garrod Group has been awarded a NASA FINESST or Furture Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science a

Associate Professor of Chemistry Ku-Lung (Ken) Hsu has been named a 2021 Emerging Leader by the Mark Foundation for Cancer Research.

Getting to Know the Staff of UVA Chemistry
Compiled and edited for clarity by Hannah Musgrove

Getting to Know UVA Chemistry’s Undergraduate Researchers – Part 2
Amelia Reid, UVA ChemSciComm

Ph.D. student Kamil Stelmach has received a seed grant from NASA’s SCoPE team.

UVA Chemistry graduate student Renna Nouwairi of the Landers Group has been awarded a 2023 Jefferson Scholars Foundation Dissertation Year Fellowsh

Undergraduate student Sarah Weisflog has been chosen to attend the FUTURE Ignited CCE Conference at CalTech on October 17, 2020.

Getting to Know the Staff of UVA Chemistry
Compiled and edited for clarity by Hannah Musgrove

UVa Chemistry Professor T.

Kelly Dunham, of the Venton Lab, has been awarded a Jefferson Scholars Fellowship.

Sarah Weisflog, an undergraduate researcher in the Gilliard group, is a 2020 American Chemical Society Bridge Travel Award winner in the amount of
Congratulations to Huiyuan Zhu, who has been selected to attend the 2024 Kavli Frontiers of Science Symposia by the National Academy of Sciences.

by Hannah Musgrove, UVA ChemSciComm

Professor Michelle Personick was recently awarded seed funding from the College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Office.

The Journal of Chemical Education, an ACS Publication, has named Marilyne Stains, Ph.D. as an Associate Editor. Prof.


Postdoctoral researcher R. Justin Grams, Ph.D., has received a 2022 UVA Cancer Center Trainee Award.

The Pires Lab has recently been granted an award from the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation.

By Emma N. Cook.
UVA ChemSciComm

Congratulations to Rebecca Pompano who is lead PI on a new, 3.4M NIH grant, to develop a model lymph node on a chip. This grant was a winner of th

Compiled and edited for clarity by Hannah Musgrove
Sophie Cook
DEI Journal Club Co-Leader

My Research on Single-Molecule Localization Microscopy for Five Levels of Understanding
By Josh Prindle
UVA ChemSciComm

Primary School Student. When you have a cold and want to feel better, you are given cold medicine.

Undergraduate/graduate student duo Katerina Morgaenko and Morgan-Elizabeth McKnight have been awarded a DoubleHoo Research Grant.

Congratulations to Joshua Hinkle, 2018-19 Awardee of the Metropolitan Washington Chapter of Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (MWC/ARCS) Foundation!!!

Getting to Know the Staff of UVA Chemistry
Compiled and edited for clarity by Hannah Musgrove

Rachelle Turiello Awarded DOJ Graduate Research Fellowship

PhD candidate Monika Wieliniec receives the Representative of the Ye

Richard J. "Dick" Sundberg died on November 1, 2021, in Hickory, N.C., after a period of declining health.

Congratulations to our outstanding students for recieving a Chemistry Fellowship for the 2025-2026 academic year.

2023 DEI Project Leader Recognition Highlight
By Melissa Leyden and Hannah Musgrove
UVA ChemSciComm

On October 7, 2022 the UVA Chemistry Department held an Open House for students, faculty, alumni, and friends of the Department to show off the rec

The UVa Chemistry Department is proud to host the "UVA Rising Star in Chemistry Postdoctoral Seminar Series" this Fall.

By Delaney Hammond

NIH awards Professor Harman $2.1 M (MIRA) to support his group's research program on dearomatization
The goal of the awarded research program is to develop new classes of chemical compounds to be screened for efficacy against various diseases.

Getting to Know the Staff of UVA Chemistry
Compiled and edited for clarity by Hannah Musgrove

The Chemistry department will welcome two new faculty members to the department for the Spring 2025 semester.

Graduate students Frederick Brøndsted and Emma Cook have each been awarded a Jefferson Scholars Foundation Dissertation Year Fellowship.

By Anna Davis
UVA ChemSciComm

Professor Marcos Pires has recently earned two grants from the National Institutes of Health.

The University of Virginia Chemistry Department has learned it will be awarded a Major Research Instrumentation grant from the National Science Fou

Congratulations to Chang Liu in the Sen Zhang lab for being awarded a prestigious Jefferson Dissertation Year Fellowship from Jefferson Scholars Fo

University of Virginia students interested in organic chemistry this semester may have noticed two professors with the same last name on the course

Rebecca McCloud of the Hsu Lab has been awarded the Adam Ritchie Outstanding Graduate Student for 2019.

Chemistry Professor Mike Hilinski has been awarded a R35 grant from the National Institute of General Medical Services.

My Research on Mass Spectrometry Characterization of Membrane Proteins for Five Levels of Understanding

UVa Chemistry Graduate Student Timothy Ware has been awarded a Ruth L.

Mélisse Bonfand-Caldeira was chosen as the second place winner for the 2024 postdoctoral research symposium lightning talk.

UVA Chemistry annually honors our best graduate teaching assistants with the Excellence in Graduate Teaching Awards.

13 students from the class of 2017 receive certification from The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Five of these students achieved certification with distinction.

At the June 3, 2022 Board of Visitors meeting, four Chemistry faculty had thier promotions made official.

Sen Zhang and Robert Gilliard Awarded American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund Grants

Compiled and edited for clarity by Hannah Musgrove
Ian Winchester
GSAS Council Representative

Congratulations to W. Dean Harman who has been promoted to a chaired professor. Effective January 10, 2023, Prof. Harman will be the William R.

By Delaney Hammond
Graduate student Erin Lawrence was selected for the Biotechnology Training Grant.

UVa Assistant Professor of Chemistry Kateri DuBay has been selected as a winner of the 2022 OpenEye Outstanding Junior Faculty award.
Jacob Walley, of the Gilliard Group, has been named the 2020 Adam Ritchie Outstanding Graduate Student in Chemistry. This award was established in

Research Scientist Yoojin Lee, PhD of the Pompano Lab has been awarded an NIH Career Re-Entry Fellowship. The Fellowship will support her work buil

Getting to know the staff of UVA Chemistry
Compiled and edited for clarity by Hannah Musgrove

Two University of Virginia Chemistry graduate students have just been awarded 2021 Presidential Fellowships for Collaborative Neuroscience.

Hannah Musgrove - 2023 Sidney Hecht Fellow

Karl Westendorff, an Engineering student who does research with Dean Harman’s group has won a scholarship from the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation

Ni Nanoparticle-catalyzed CO2 Methanation
By Momodou Salieu Sowe, UVA ChemSciComm

Compiled and edited for clarity by Melissa Leyden, UVA ChemSciComm

Chemistry students Alysha Johnson and Jordan Baker have received awards from the ACS Scholars Program.

By Amelia G. Reid.
UVA ChemSciComm

Congratulations to Ken Hsu and his graduate student, Myungsun Shin.

This semester, Dr. B. Jill Venton was named the Thomas Jefferson Professor of Chemistry.
Jacob Walley ACS-DIC – Young Investigator Symposium Award

Rebecca Pompano and her team of researchers consisting of scholars from around the country have won a $50,000 prize in the Compliment-Animal Resear

Getting to Know the Staff of UVA Chemistry
Compiled and edited for clarity by Hannah Musgrove

Getting to Know UVA Chemistry’s Undergraduate Researchers – Part 1
By Amelia Reid, UVA ChemSciComm

The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation has announced the selection of 19 outstanding early-career faculty as 2025 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar
Graduate student Jherian Mitchell-Jones has been selected as a 2023 Institutionally Supported Scholar by the Southern Regional Education Board.

By Rob Dyer
UVA ChemSciComm

This program seeks to recruit and support postdoctoral scholars who will contribute to advancing STEM diversity, equity and inclusion in their jou
Congratulations to Sen Zhang and a team including Bob Davis and Lisa Colosi-Peterson from Engineering, on being selected for a new $2.3 million dol

The UVA Chemistry Department has awarded scholarships from two endowded funds.

Congratulations to Michael Hilinski and Ku-Lung (Ken) Hsu as they have been promoted to Associate Professor without Term.

Compiled and edited for clarity by Hannah Musgrove

UVa Chemistry Assistant Professor Robert Gilliard has been named a National Academy of Sciences Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow.

Graduate student Julia McAfee, a member of the Stains Lab, was awarded an Eli Lilly Travel Award by the American Chemical Society’s Women

Getting to Know the Staff of UVA Chemistry
Compiled and edited for clarity by Hannah Musgrove

“CAREER: Next-Gen Flow Cytometry - A New Approach to Cell Heterogeneity." Congratulations Ken!
Compiled and edited for clarity by Hannah Musgrove

The University of Virginia Chemistry Department is pleased to announce Leah Dignan as the 2021 recipient of the Sidney M.

Two fellowships have been awarded to two Chemistry Graduate Students.
Mike Hilinski has been awarded a NSF CAREER award entitled "New Methods for the Synthesis of Nitrogen-Containing Heterocycles" Congratulations, Mike!!

Getting to Know the Staff of UVA Chemistry
Compiled and edited for clarity by Hannah Musgrove

It was announced today that Assistant Professor of Chemistry Robert J. Gilliard, Jr. has been awarded an Alfred P.

Compiled and edited for clarity by Melissa Leyden, UVA ChemSciComm

The University of Virginia’s Rotunda still has its secrets, as conservators are discovering amid the building’s ongoing two-year renovation.

Jordan Baker, a undergraduate researcher in the Gilliard Group, recently was awarded an American Chemical Society Scholars Program Award.

Congratulations to Julia Dressel, who has won the 2020 ACS Division of Inorganic Chemistry Award for Undergraduate Research!

Written and Compiled by Delaney Hammond

By Emma Cook, Hannah Musgrove, and Rob Dyer
UVA ChemSciComm