Former graduate student Xiaofan Jia has been awarded UVA's 2022 Allan Talbot Gwathmey Memorial Award. This is an honor reserved for the most accomplished graduate students in the physical sciences at the University of Virginia in recognition of a distinguished scholarly publication.

Xiaofan received his Ph.D. in 2021 and was mentored by Prof. Brent Gunnoe. The article, Synthesis of Stilbenes by Rhodium-Catalyzed Aerobic Alkenylation of Arenes via C–H Activation, was published in May-2020 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. It can be accessed here: Synthesis of Stilbenes by Rhodium-Catalyzed Aerobic Alkenylation of Arenes via C–H Activation | Journal of the American Chemical Society (acs.org)