Department of Chemistry Graduate Student Services News

Congratulations to Wenkel Liang, who defended his Ph.D. work “From Geometry Optimization to Time Dependent Molecular Structure Modeling: Method Developments, ab initio Theories and Applications” on April 12. Wenkel has been a graduate student in Professor Xiaosong Li’s research group since 2008,  where he has been working actively in the area of computational physical chemistry, and his work has covered a wide range of topics from method/theory developments to theoretical investigations. Wenkel also served as the departmental computing cluster student admin since the summer of 2009. Currently he is exploring industrial opportunities in the practical applications of computational chemistry.

Congratulations to Brad MacLeod, who defended his Ph.D. dissertation “Probing Buried Interfaces within Organic Diodes Using Electromodulated Transmittance Spectroscopies” on March 9. He was a student in Professor David Ginger’s laboratory for the past five and a half years. He has started a postdoctoral research position at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO, where he will specialize in interfaces within organic photovoltaic devices.

Congratulations to Joshua Guerrette, who has been awarded a 2012 ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry (DAC) Summer Graduate Fellowship to support his Ph.D. work in our department! Joshua is a third year graduate student working with Professor Bo Zhang to develop an electroanalytical technique known as fluorescence-enabled electrochemical detection and imaging. Previously, Joshua was an undergraduate at University of Hawaii, where he majored in Chemistry.

Congratulations to Lewis Johnson, who defended his Ph.D. work “Multi-Scale Modeling of Organic Electro-Optic Materials” on April 5. Lewis was born and raised in Seattle, WA. He attended Pomona College in Claremont CA, where he received his B.A. in Chemistry in 2007. Lewis has been a student in Professor Bruce Robinson’s lab since 2008, where he has used a variety of modeling techniques to study soft-matter materials for electro-optic and biophotonic applications. Lewis also enjoys photography, writing, running, curling, and softball, among other interests. He is exploring a variety of options for post-doctoral research.

Congratulations to Matthew Durban, who defended his Ph.D. work “n-Type Naphthalene Diimide Copolymers: Synthesis, Characterization, and Device Studies” on March 8. Matthew worked in Professor Christine Luscombe’s laboratory in MSE for the past four and a half years. He is currently exploring opportunities in industry.

Congratulations to David Essaka, who defended his Ph.D. work “Ultrasensitive Analysis of Single Neurons Using Capillary Electrophoresis with Laser Induced Fluorescence” on March 1. While studying glycosphingolipid metabolism in single cells under Professor Norman J. Dovichi for the past four years, he enjoyed playing intramural soccer at UW and won four championships in a row (three in co-ed league, one in men’s league). Next, he will be working as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Notre Dame, exploring mass spectrometry approaches to enable single cell proteomics.

Congratulations to Yihan Li, who defended her Ph.D. work “CZE-ESI-MS Based Proteomic Analysis” on February 24. She was a student in Professor Norman Dovichi’s laboratory for the past five years. In the next few months, she will be working at University of Notre Dame as a postdoctoral researcher.

Congratulations to Michael White, who defended his Ph.D. work “Electronic Structure and Auger Interactions in Semiconductor Nanocrystals” on December 16. Michael completed his B.S. in Chemistry from Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont in 2006. Since moving to Seattle, Washington, he has recorded five CDs with the a capella group The Esoterics. After graduation he is moving to Boston with his wife and child, and is pursuing a career as a scientist in a start up company.

The Department of Chemistry congratulates Chemistry graduate student Justin Siegel and undergraduate Chemistry and Biochemistry majors Casey Ager, Juhye An, Sydney Gordon, Elaine Lai, Seth Sagulo, Liz Stanley, Sarah Wolf, and Lei Zhang for a remarkable accomplishment. These students and 14 others were members of the UW team that won the Grand Prize in the sixth annual International Genetically Engineered Machine World Championship Competition (iGEM). This is the first time a team from the United States has won the award. Members of the UW community are invited to a celebration of their accomplishment on Monday, December 12, at 4:00 pm in the atrium of the Electrical Engineering/Computer Science and Engineering Building.

This year, 160 teams from around the world competed in regional competitions. The 65 most competitive teams worldwide convened at MIT to present their synthetic biology projects.  Awards were presented and the four top teams (from Imperial College London, MIT, ZJU-China, and the University of Washington) were named as finalists.  An international panel of judges awarded the University of Washington the grand prize.

The University of Washington project is an example of undergraduate students engineering solutions to real-world problems. The students developed a novel protein with promise for the treatment of gluten intolerance (Celiac disease), to be taken as an oral therapeutic similar to the lactaid pill.  Additionally, they produced diesel fuel from sugar by engineering a novel biological system.  These projects demonstrate how synthetic biology can be used to solve many of the world’s problems, and that significant progress can be made by a group of undergraduate students with little formal training in just one summer.  More information can be found at http://2011.igem.org/Team:Washington. For more info about iGEM, visit http://www.igem.org

Congratulations to Ratika Krishnamurty, who defended her Ph.D. work “Chemical Probes to Investigate Protein Kinase Function and Dynamics” on December 1. Ratika grew up in Austin, TX and completed her B.S. in Chemical Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. She has been a student in Professor Dustin Maly’s lab since 2006 where she developed a series of small-molecule tools to study protein kinase function and regulation in cells. Ratika is excited for future opportunities to work in chemical biology and is currently considering several post-graduate options.