Congratulations to Maxwell Zeigler, who defended his Ph.D. work “Highly Sensitive Quantitative Microscopy for Cellular and Subcellular Analysis” on March 7. Maxwell’s dissertation was primarily about fundamental biophysical measurements. His current plan is to work in intellectual property and help chemists patent their work.
Final Examination – Dissertation Defense
Congratulations to Michael Lynch, who defended his Ph.D. work “Correlating Electronic and Nuclear Motions in Ultrafast Photoinduced Charge Transfer Reactions with Femtosecond Multidimensional Spectroscopies” on February 18. He was a student in Professor Munira Khalil’s laboratory for the past five years. In the next few months, he will be heading back to British Columbia to pursue a career in the chemical industry. Michael is excited to be moving back to Canada and cannot wait for his wedding in September.
Final Examination – Dissertation Defense
Erin Riley defended her Ph.D. work “Single Molecule Photoluminescence Intermittency: The Role of the Host” on December 13. She was a student working under Professors Philip Reid and Bart Kahr for the past 5 years. In the next few months she will be a BEBTEH fellow in the departments of Biostatistics, Public Health, and Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences here at the UW working under Professor Chris Simpson. Erin is excited to hone her analytic skills while analyzing air pollutant data with the aim of minimizing human disease from exposure to toxic combustion particulates and gasses.
Final Examination – Dissertation Defense
Congratulations to Jennifer Gadd, who defended her Ph.D. work “Single-Molecule Studies for the Characterization of Synaptic Vesicles” on September 5. She had the pleasure of conducting her research under the guidance of Professor Daniel T. Chiu. Jennifer will head to San Diego where she will be doing scientific editing while exploring her options in post-doctoral research or academia and indulging in her many non-science related hobbies.
Final Examination – Dissertation Defense
Congratulations to Dmitry Liskin, who defended his Ph.D. work “Oxidative Difunctionalizations of Alkenes” on August 10. Dmitry was a student in Professor Forrest Michael’s laboratory for the past five years. He now has a chemistry lecturer position at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia.
Final Examination – Dissertation Defense
Congratulations to Gayani Perera, who defended her Ph.D. work “Chemical Proteomic Tools for Studying Protein Kinase Active Sites” on August 2. Gayani was a graduate student in Professor Dustin Maly’s laboratory since 2006 and was involved in designing and synthesizing small molecule inhibitors that can be utilized in a variety of applications to study protein kinases. She is excited to return to the pearl of the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka, and resume duties at the Department of Chemistry, University of Colombo.
Final Examination – Dissertation Defense
Congratulations to Ryan Wilson, who defended his Ph.D. work “Novel Injection Techniques to Enable Fast, High Peak Capacity Gas Chromatography Separations” on August 7. He has worked for the past five years as a graduate student in Professor Rob Synovec’s lab to develop fast, multi-dimensional GC separations. Ryan will remain in Seattle to work in Boeing Research and Technology’s North West Analytical Labs.
Chemistry graduate student attends Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting
Jonathan Litz, a graduate student in the research group of Assistant Professor David Masiello, recently attended the 2012 Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetingin Germany as a representative of the University of Washington. Jonathan was selected for this prestigious honor by the National Science Foundation. Since 1951, Nobel Prize winners and students in chemistry, physics, physiology and medicine have met annually in Lindau, located on Lake Constance in southwestern Germany. Approximately 550 students from over 70 countries attended the week-long meeting this year. The meeting consisted of formal lectures and an opportunity for students to meet informally with Nobel Laureate scientists, as well as with fellow students from around the world. Jonathan is pictured with Walter Kohn, a recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in chemistry “for his development of the density-functional theory.”
To learn more about Jonathan and his research with Professor Masiello, please visit Professor Masiello’s faculty page and research group site.
Final Examination – Dissertation Defense
Congratulations to Tristan Tronic, who defended his Ph.D. work “Understanding Proton Shuttling with Pendent Bases in Catalyzing the Interconversion of Dioxygen and Water” on July 18. Originally from Annandale, Virginia, he has been a student in Professor James Mayer’s laboratory for the past five years, where he studied proton-coupled electron transfer reactions relevant to developing renewable sources of energy. After graduation he will continue as a post-doctoral researcher in the Mayer lab.
Final Examination – Dissertation Defense
Congratulations to Jenny Maki, who defended her Ph.D. work “Chemical Strategies to Enrich Malarial Proteins from Wheat Lysate” on June 5. Jenny was a student in Professor Pradip Rathod’s laboratory for the past six years. She is now working for Professor Rathod on his International Centers of Excellence in Malaria Research grant helping to establish the scientific side of these research centers in India. She is very excited to visit India soon as part of this project.