2023 Departmental News
Prof. Ge's Welch proposal was renewed. The project, “Palladium-Catalyzed Enantioselective
Isomerization of Alkenes,” was funded for 3 years at $300,000.
Prof. Mechref was elected for a 2nd term to Chair the Steering Committee of the Alliance
of Glycobiologists for Cancer Research. + MoreThe Alliance is funded by NIH-NCI, supporting 10 U01 projects at several Institutions,
including Texas Tech University, University of Michigan, Medical University of South
Carolina, Stanford University, Florida International University, Van Andel Research
Institute, University of Alabama, Drexel University and the University of South Florida.
Two articles from Prof. Gamez' group were selected as top finalists for the 2022 Edward
Steers Memorial Award for the Best Paper in Glow Discharge Spectroscopy, + Morefrom the European Working Group on Glow Discharge Spectroscopy:
- 3rd Place: Zhang, D.; Zeldes, D.; Gamez, G.* Three-Dimensional Mass Spectral Imaging
of Polymers via Laser-Assisted Micro-Pyrolysis Program Flowing Atmospheric-Pressure
Afterglow Ambient Mass Spectrometry, Anal. Chem., 2022, 94, 3335-3342. DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.1c05413.
- 2nd Place: Gamez, G.*; She, Y.; Rivera, P.; Shi, S.; Finch, K. High-Throughput Single-Pixel
Spectral Imaging System For Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectrometry Elemental
Mapping Enabled by Compressed Sensing, J. Anal. Atom. Spectrom., 2022, 37, 805 – 813.
DOI: 10.1039/D2JA00021K.
Judith Nawaiwu, a Ph.D. Student in Prof. Mechref's Laboratory was awarded a James
D. and Mary Hazlewood Memorial Graduate Fellowship
Song Prize: Kevin Finch
Ming Sun Family Graduate Research Awards:
Peilin Jiang, Cristian Gutierrez-Reyes, Junyao Wang, Dylan Tharp Eralie, Navkiran
Juneja, Maryam Yekefallah
Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award in:
General Chemistry:
Evan van Aalst, Benedicta Quainoo,
Organic Chemistry:
Olivia Villanueva Mazen Elsaid
Upper-Division Chemistry:
Mychele Jorns, Mazen Elsaid
Cengage General Chemistry TA Awards:
Evan van Aalst, Dong Zhang, Jun Jang, Jayendra Chunduru
Benedicta Quainoo, Arun Bhujel, Joy Solomon,Umut Ozuguzel
Chemistry Graduate Student Organization Scholarship:
Junyao Wang, Maryam Yekefallah, Nandakumar Katakam, Navkiran Juneja, Amirhossein Bakhtiiari
Ginny Shen Lin Endowed Scholarship (*Shared Division Award):
Junyao Wang, Hongjia Qian,* Maryam Yekefallah,* Olivia Villanueva,* Ashley Moreno-Gongora,*
Gary George,
Juan Dominguez
Richard Goodin Graduate Research Fellowship:Yao Tang
2023 Doctoral Dissertation Completion Fellowships:Gary George, Olivia Villanueva, Sophia Sagala, Harsshit Agrawaal
Prof. Annie Gorden won the Margaret Wilson award as the outstanding Alumna from the
Lubbock Alumnae chapter of Delta Gamma fraternity.
Prof. Yehia Mechref received a competing renewal of his NIH R01 grant entitled "Quantitative
Characterization of Glycopeptide Isomers.” + MoreThis award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences totals $1.3 Million
over four years (this brings the total support on this NIH project to $2.5M over the
project lifetime). Both of Yehia's R01 main grants have now both been funded through
competing renewal.
Prof. Quitevis served on the Ford Foundation Fellowships Online Physical Sciences,
Mathematics and Computer Sciences Panel Review on March 13-14, 2023.
Prof. Jorge A. Morales has been appointed in the editorial board of the scientific
journal Frontiers.
Prof. Poirier's article last year in Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. (PCCP 24, 4437 (2022))
has been added to a special themed collection celebrating the 2022 Nobel Prize in
Physics.
Prof. Poirier was invited to write a perspective article for ACS Omega.
Tessa Hoang, an undergraduate student in the Gorden group, has been selected for
a Travel Award from the Division of Inorganic Chemistry (DIC) of the American Chemical
Society. This will provide her funding for presenting her poster at the Indianapolis
ACS meeting at the end of March.
Sophia Sagala (graduate student in Prof. Quitevis's group) was selected to receive a Texas Tech University Graduate School Doctoral Dissertation
Completion Fellowship for Fall 2023.
Prof. Carol Korzeniewski has been elected as a fellow of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). https://today.ttu.edu/posts/2023/01/Stories/Texas-Techs-Carol-Korzeniewski-Named-AAAS-Fellow
