Graduate Program News

John Fourkas became the Associate Chair for Graduate Studies in August of 2007.  He instituted a new program to interview international students using Skype™, and this improved evaluation of English speaking ability and of communication skills.  These “face-to-face” meetings over the internet created a buzz in China and other countries, and helped us to recruit superb international students.  A target of having 50 students accept offers to join the graduate program was met for the first time in many years .

Ms. Jacqueline Smith, a graduate student in Dr. Herman Sintim's lab and President NOBCChE-UMD, was the recipient of the 2008 Celebrating Excellence Outstanding Mentor Award.  The award was presented to her during the 9th Annual Celebrating Excellence Awards and Reception Program . This annual program highlights and recognizes the outstanding achievements of our Black, Hispanic and Native American students.

Edward O'Brien, a graduate student in the Chemical Physics Program in IPST, working under the supervision of Professor Devarajan (Dave) Thirumalai, was awarded an NSF postdoctoral fellowship for three years that he will use for study in Cambridge, England.

This year marks our second annual Augustus Milligan Fellowship competition.  The Milligan Award, which is sponsored jointly by the National Institutes of Standard and Technology (NIST), involves a summer internship at NIST followed by two years of graduate support.  Five superb applicants to our graduate program gave research presentations at the NOBBChE National Meeting in Philadelphia in March.  The winner of the competition was Christopher Sims, who received his BS in Chemistry from University of Maryland, Baltimore County.  Not only did all five of the Award candidates give excellent talks, but they also all entered our graduate program this fall.

Margaret Brown and Floyd Bates, two of our incoming graduate students, were awarded prestigious Bridge to the Doctorate fellowships, which will support each of them for a period of two years.

Dennis Mayo, who works with Lyle Isaacs on the design and synthesis of cucurbitu[n]uril containing polymers, was awarded an American Society for Engineering Education SMART Fellowship, which will support him for the duration of his doctoral studies.

This year’s recipients of the Carl L. Rollinson Teaching Award were Leonard Demoranville and Mara Dougherty.

Two students were awarded Departmental awards for Excellence in Graduate Research.  Linjie Li, from Prof. John Fourkas’ laboratory, was selected for his work on “Multiphoton Absorption: Fabrication, Functionalization and Applications.”  Ling Ma, who works with Prof. Jeffery Davis, was selected for her work on “Synthetic Ion Channels from Lipophilic Guanosine Derivatives.”

A number of our students garnered competitive awards from the Graduate School.  Oluyomi Okunola was awarded this year’s Dr. Mabel S. Spencer Award for Excellence in Graduate Achievement, only one of which is given in the entire University.  Two students were awarded Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowships:Oluyomi Okunola for her work with Prof. Jeffery Davis on “Design and Applications of Synthetic Transmembrane Anion Transporters,” and Wei Zhang for his work with Prof. Lawrence Sita on “Living Coordinative Chain Transfer Polymerization of Alkenes.”  Four students were awarded Summer Research Fellowships: Maria del Mar Ingaramo, Karen Lohnes, Emily Trunkely and Jing Wu. 

Four University of Maryland Chemistry graduate students have been awarded GAANN Fellowships by the United States department of Education for the 2008-9 academic year.  GAANN Fellows are recognized for their exceptional research promise and interest in careers in academia.  Each Fellow receives a $30,000 stipend, an allowance for computer and professional travel and the opportunity for a Supervised Teaching Experience with a master professor.

Will Harrell is a 2003 graduate of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University with an interest in supramolecular chemistry.  Mr. Harrell is a PhD student with Prof. Jeff Davis and is developing pH tunable ceramide analogs for potential application as antitumor prodrugs.  His Supervised Teaching Experience with Prof. Michael Montague-Smith involves “General Chemistry & Energetics.” 

Matthew Hurley is a 2006 graduate of West Virginia University with an interest in synthetic organic chemistry.  Matthew is a PhD student with Prof. Phil Deshong and is devising preparative methods for carbohydrate- and protein-functionalized nanoparticles.  His Supervised Teaching Experience with Prof Jeff Davis involves “Principles of Organic Chemistry II.” 

Kathleen Monaco is a 2006 graduate of Lebanon Valley College with an interest in analytical chemistry.  Kathleen is a PhD student with Prof. John Fourkas and is developing a diffraction-based label-free method for performing high throughput DNA analysis based upon microarray sampling. Her Supervised Teaching Experience with Prof. Neil Blough involves “Instrumental Methods of Analysis.” 

Emily Trunkely is a 2004 graduate of Denison University with an interest in synthetic inorganic chemistry.  Emily is a PhD student with Prof. Larry Sita and is expanding the chemistry of transition metal catalysts for olefin polymerization and nitrogen activation.  Her Supervised Teaching Experience with Prof. Bryan Eichhorn involves “Fundamentals in General Chemistry.”

Two students in the Biochemistry program were named Kraybill Fellows.  Patrick McTamney received his B.S. in Biological Chemistry from Birmingham-Southern College in Alabama.  His research with Prof. Steve Rokita focuses on iodine salvage in the thyroid.  Aaron Haeusler received his B.S. degree from Northern Michigan University.  His research with Prof. Jason Kahn involves DNA looping and studying the free energy landscape for Lac Repressor-DNA looped complexes.

Last year, the ARCS Foundation (Achievement Rewards for College Scientists) awarded one graduate fellowship to a student in the Department.  This year the Foundation generously decided to double the number of fellowships.  This year’s awardees are Merle Zimmerman, who works with Prof. Jack Tossell on modeling of heavy metal complexes of environmental relevance, and Colin Wynne, who works with Prof. Catherine Fenselau on microwave techniques for breaking down proteins for rapid and accurate indentification and analysis.