2023 Annual Chemistry Department Awards

The Chemistry Department is proud to announce the recipients of the 2023 Annual Chemistry Department Awards:

ACS Undergraduate Award in Analytical Chemistry: Alex Seys
Awarded for excellence in analytical chemistry
ACS Undergraduate Award in Inorganic Chemistry: Jessica Luu
To recognize achievement in inorganic chemistry and to encourage further study in the field
ACS Undergraduate Award in Organic Chemistry: Jeremy Kim
To a student who has displayed a significant aptitude for organic chemistry
ACS Undergraduate Award in Physical Chemistry: Emma Davis
To recognize achievement in physical chemistry and to encourage further study in the field
ACS Undergraduate Award for Excellence in Safety & Ethics: Rachel Nguyen
To recognize senior undergraduates who have actively demonstrated the intersectionality between chemical safety and ethical behavior
ACS Connecticut Valley Section Award: Michael O’Sullivan
For outstanding achievement by a graduating chemistry major
American Institute for Chemists Award: Kelly Fenton-Samuels
For outstanding achievement by a graduating chemistry major
Bradley Prize: Graham Gilchrist & Emmet Sherman
To the senior or junior who excels in chemistry and particularly in special original work
Silverman Prize: Alex Seys
Awarded to a member of the junior or senior class for excellence in chemistry
Peirce Prize: Fletcher Levy & Kelly Fenton-Samuels
Awarded for excellence in E&ES
CRC Award (General Chemistry): Owen Dunton

For the outstanding first-year student in Principles of Chemistry
CRC Award (Organic Chemistry): Carlos Romo
For the outstanding first-year student in Organic Chemistry
Hawk Prize: Rachel Nguyen
To the students who have done the most effective work in biochemistry
Martius Yellow Award: Leonard Majaducon & Angela Rojas-Merchan
Awarded for excellence in Integrated Chemistry Laboratory
The Wallace C. Pringle Prize for Research in Chemistry: Rachel Nguyen
Awarded to a student for excellence in research
Peterson Fellowship: Josh Dudley
For graduate study in biochemistry
Tishler Prize: Angelika Rafalowski
Awarded to the best graduate teaching assistant in chemistry

Prof. Giselle Reyes Highlighted in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN)

Professor Reyes’ team at Pfizer was recently awarded the ACS Award for Team Innovation. In reflecting on her scientific hero, Giselle recalls Al Fry and his impact on her life and career.

Giselle P. Reyes


Current position:
Scientist, Pfizer
Education: BA and MA, chemistry, Wesleyan
University
Reyes on her scientific hero: “My scientific hero is my principal investigator from Wesleyan, Albert J. Fry. I discovered my passion for research and desire to pursue a career in industry while working in his lab. He inspired me to face challenges life throws at me with humor, grit, and grace. He was my biggest advocate in the beginning of my career, and I would not be the scientist or person that I am today without him.”

Prof. Giselle Reyes Wins ACS 2023 National Award

Professor Giselle Reye’s team at Pfizer has been named the 2023 recipient of a 2023 American Chemical Society Award. Recipients will be honored at the awards ceremony on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, in conjunction with the ACS Spring 2023 meeting in Indianapolis. 

ACS Award for Team Innovation, sponsored by ACS Corporation Associates, Sean O. BowserAdam R. BrownNga DoShane EisenbeisAran K. HubbellRuizhi “Richard” LiMatthew M. MarchewkaRyan S. O’NeillGiselle P. ReyesFrank RileyPhilipp RoosenJohn F. SagalOmar A. SalmanKaren SutherlandQi “Tony” YanMing Zeng, Pfizer

Professor Giselle Reyes

Please join us in congratulating Professor Reyes on this momentous achievement!

https://cen.acs.org/people/awards/ACS-2023-National-Award-winners/100/i32

Endowed Chair Appointment

It is our pleasure to announce that, in recognition of his career achievements, Dr. Michael Calter has been appointed to the endowed Beach Professorship of Chemistry, established in 1880.

Headshot of Dr. Michael Calter wearing a blue shirt in his office.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Calter!

Michael A. Calter received his BS from University of Vermont and his PhD from Harvard University. His work is in synthetic organic chemistry, for which he has received numerous grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). His research has been published in the top organic chemistry journals, and he serves as referee, reviewer, and panel member for several journals and funding agencies including Journal of the American Chemical Society and Journal of Organic Chemistry. He has consistently achieved teaching excellence in the sophomore-level organic chemistry sequence and he received the 2015 Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching.

2022 Annual Chemistry Department Awards

The Chemistry Department is proud to announce the recipients of the 2022 Annual Chemistry Department Awards:

ACS Undergraduate Award in Analytical Chemistry: Sally Tepper
Awarded for excellence in analytical chemistry
ACS Undergraduate Award in Inorganic Chemistry: Anna Friedman
To recognize achievement in inorganic chemistry and to encourage further study in the field
ACS Undergraduate Award in Organic Chemistry: Annika Velez
To a student who has displayed a significant aptitude for organic chemistry
ACS Undergraduate Award in Physical Chemistry: Alex Seys
To recognize achievement in physical chemistry and to encourage further study in the field
ACS Connecticut Valley Section Award: Sophie Wazlowski
For outstanding achievement by a graduating chemistry major
American Institute for Chemists Award: Mohammed Ullah
For outstanding achievement by a graduating chemistry major
Bradley Prize: Dylan Judd & Annika Velez
To the senior or junior who excels in chemistry and particularly in special original work
Silverman Prize: Corin Grady
Awarded to a member of the junior or senior class for excellence in chemistry
Peirce Prize: Caroline Pitton
Awarded for excellence in biology
CRC Award (General Chemistry): Othmane El Houssi

For the outstanding first-year student in Principles of Chemistry
CRC Award (Organic Chemistry): Katherine Fhu
For the outstanding first-year student in Organic Chemistry
Hawk Prize: Nadiya Jaunbocus & Mia Kim
To the students who have done the most effective work in biochemistry
Martius Yellow Award: Emmet Sherman & Nabiha Syed
Awarded for excellence in Integrated Chemistry Laboratory
The Wallace C. Pringle Prize for Research in Chemistry: Sterre Hesseling
Awarded to a student for excellence in research
Peterson Fellowship: Bakar Hassan & Jozafina Milicaj
For graduate study in biochemistry
Tishler Prize: Josh Dudley
Awarded to the best graduate teaching assistant in chemistry

Dr. Michelle Personick Receives NSF Grant

“Electrochemistry as a Design Tool for Colloidal Syntheses of Polyhedral Metal Nanoparticles”

The funded work will use real-time electrochemical measurements to probe the growth of noble metal nanoparticles and to provide enhanced chemical understanding of how to predictively and controllably produce metal nanoparticles with well-defined shapes. The ability to tune the function of noble metal nanoparticles by tailoring not only their composition but also their shape makes them especially promising for applications in catalysis, particularly for improving the sustainable usage of energy resources and enabling the generation of sustainable fuels. However, the chemical environment under which these materials are made is complex and involves multiple competing parameters. As a result, it can be challenging to understand precisely how these materials form and, consequently, how to design methods for producing the new materials required for various applications. Electrochemistry provides a powerful means by which to address this challenge, and involves the measurement of current and voltage to understand chemical reactions, as well as the application of a current or voltage to drive chemical processes. An electrochemical approach that integrates both of these methods will be used to gain understanding of the chemical reactions involved in metal nanoparticle growth while they are happening and with a level of detail and insight that is not possible using existing methods. This research will establish core chemical principles to inform the deliberate, predictive design of new metal nanomaterials to meet the increasingly complex needs of emerging applications. Graduate, undergraduate, and high school students who are involved in this research will be prepared for future careers at the interface of chemistry, materials science, and chemical engineering. The project will also contribute to enhancing participation in science and research by developing publicly available resources to increase the accessibility of undergraduate science for students who are the first in their family to pursue this course of study.

Dr. Colin Smith Receives Rosetta Commons Grant

“Protein Structure Refinement with Ensemble-Based Scoring of Experimental Restraints”

Experimental data has been critical for protein structure determination with the Rosetta biomolecular modeling software. However, a key limitation in the way Rosetta handles that data is that a single structure must satisfy all data simultaneously. This in stark contrast to the physical reality that experimental data is derived from an ensemble of different protein conformations. The single structure approximation can therefore introduce artifacts and inaccuracies in the resulting protein structure models. The proposed work will develop computer code in Rosetta that enables scoring and optimization of multiple conformations simultaneously with experimental restraints or other score terms that are based on the entire ensemble and not a single structure alone.

We expect this will enable Rosetta to extract dynamics information from experimental data sources that explicitly capture structural heterogeneity. Such techniques include nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), X-ray crystallography, electron microscopy (EM), X-ray scattering (SAXS), cross-linking mass spectroscopy (XLMS), etc. The accuracy of several of those techniques is limited by the lack of explicit atomic modeling of the ensemble of states the chemical labels or cross linkers can take, which could also be addressed with the proposed ensemble scoring methodology.

PhD Celebration – Dr. Sean McDarby & Dr. Jozafina Milicaj

The Chemistry Department gathered at the beginning of the month to celebrate two of our graduate students who completed their PhD defenses this semester – Dr. Sean McDarby and Dr. Jozafina Milicaj.


Boston Cream Cake for Sean McDarby


Dr. Michelle Personick delivers a few remarks


Dr. Jozafina Milicaj pops a bottle of champagne 


Dr. Jozafina Milicaj & Dr. Sean McDarby


Dr. Erika Taylor & Dr. Jozafina Milicaj 


Tiramisu Cake for Jozafina Milicaj


Dr. Erika Taylor & Dr. Jozafina Milicaj 

Sean McDarby Receives PhD


Dr. Sean McDarby

Dr. Sean McDarby recently defended his Ph.D and thesis entitled, “Synthesis and Measurement of Noble Metal Nanoparticles with Well Defined Shapes by Electrochemical and Electroless Approaches.” Sean started at Wesleyan University in 2015 after completing his BS in Chemistry at Southern Connecticut State University where he conducted research under Dr. Gerald Lesley. His undergraduate research focused on the synthesis of novel MOF precursors involving the manipulation of air-free inorganic pathways. Upon starting at Wesleyan University, Sean joined the research lab of Dr. Michelle Personick and began a project to develop a new method to electrochemically synthesize shaped noble metal nanoparticles. The project was quickly successful, and the method was transitioned into a cyclical tool to create shaped nanoparticles by collecting electrochemical data about any particle growth reaction and translate that to either an electrochemical or colloidal approach. Further work involved the creation of novel shaped nanoparticles, mostly with palladium in both systems. Having completed his degree at Wesleyan, Sean will be starting his career as a federal contractor for Universities Space Research Association at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio where he is joining the Microgravity Sciences division and is focusing on the production and applications of boron nitride for space and aeronautics.