A message from Department Chair, Dr. Matthew Allen
Dear friends and alumni,
The past year has seen the department move through the global pandemic toward a return to in-person everything. Vaccines were made available to all researchers, and research levels gradually increased to pre-pandemic levels. We held virtual visit weekends for prospective graduate students and, as a department, we joined the Green Chemistry Commitment. Thanks to the generosity of donors on Giving Day, enough funds were raised to provide lab coats to students in upper-division chemistry lab classes.
The following highlights provide a small sampling of what happened in the department over the past year. Stas Groysman and Ed Chekmenev were both promoted to full professor. Our assistant professors also scored some major successes: Tom Linz and Zhenfei Liu both received CAREER Awards from the National Science Foundation, Zhenfei Liu received a Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award, Long Luo was recognized with an Academy of Scholars Junior Faculty Award, Long Luo and Charlie Fehl both received R35 grants from the NIH, and Aaron Rury received a large grant from the Department of Energy.
Three NIH grants were acquired to fund a new NMR spectrometer, a new mass spectrometer, and a new X-ray diffractometer to be housed in the Lumigen Instrument Center. The department worked together (remotely) as a team to acquire these three new instruments, and the following people played key roles: Young-Hoon Ahn, Dennis Anderson, Ed Chekmenev, Charlie Fehl, Stas Groysman, Jeremy Kodanko, Hien Nguyen, Mary Kay Pflum, Federico Rabuffetti, Jenn Stockdill, Claudio Verani, Cassie Ward, Judy Westrick, Chuck Winter, and myself. Vladimir Chernyak joined the WSU Academy of Scholars.
Additionally, John SantaLucia received the Official Methods Board Achievement in Technical and Scientific Excellence Award. Federico Rabuffetti received a Career Development Chair Award, Sean Hickey received a University Research Grant, and Colin Poole was named professor emeritus. Berny Schlegel retired but remains research active as a distinguished professor emeritus. Maryfran Barber retired, and we wish her well.
Our students and postdocs also continue to thrive. Garry Leonard was recognized by the WSU Midland NOBCChE chapter for outstanding achievement, Nuwandi Ariyasingha received an F32 fellowship from the National Institutes of Health, the WSU Chem Club received an Outstanding Chapter Award from the American Chemical Society, and alumnus Jason McLellan played a major role in the development of COVID-19 vaccines.
My sincere gratitude goes to chemistry alumni Derek Averill, Lina Basal, Tarick El-Baba, Sibrina Collins, Sarah Fezzey, Dhanushka Nalin Munkanatta Godage, Shawn Hitchcock, Asha Hitihami, Ed Hortelano, Brian Johns, John F. Kadow, Lakmal Kalutarage, Jaya Lakshmi, Xiaosong Li, Alberto Lopez, Corinne Lutomski, Michael McGillivary, Jason McLellan, Elayaraja Muthuswamy, Irina Pala, Sameera Perera, Jane Philip, Larry Roy, Rose Ryntz, Sachini Siriwardena, Ed Thomas, Ryan Thomas, and Keith Williams for taking their time to virtually return to network with our current students and share their post-WSU experiences.
Alumni, please stay in touch. Send updates with your outstanding achievements and new jobs so that we can include them in future newsletters. Next time you are in the Detroit area, please let us know and stop by to meet with friends, colleagues, and mentors.