Chemistry seniors receive $1.2 million in graduate fellowships
Many of these students worked for multiple years in mentors’ laboratories, presented their research at scientific meetings and published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
The fellowship recipients are Justin Cook (Princeton), Brad Falk (UNC Chapel Hill), Hugo Guterres (Northeastern), Diana Iovan (Harvard), Liza Koch (Georgetown), Emily Nelson (Princeton), Christina Vivelo (Johns Hopkins) and Stephen Wilson (Emory).
Justin Cook
Major/minor: Chemistry (with honors) and physics, minor in mathematics
Research Advisor: Dr. Carol Parish
Research: For the last three and a half years, Cook has performed theoretical studies of the combustion of asphaltenes, modelling re-fluorescence, and ring expansion of thiophene.
Awards: Science scholar, J. Stanton Pierce award, Stuart-Clough award
Graduate School: Princeton University, Ph.D. in chemistry
Graduate Research: Theoretical chemistry
Bradley Falk
Major/minor: Biochemistry and molecular biology (with honors) and chemistry, minor in Latin American and Iberian studies
Research Advisor: Dr. Ellis Bell
Research: For the last four years, Falk has studied structure-function relationships in 3-phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase and mechanisms for subunit communication and cooperativity.
Awards: Golden Key, ASBMB Travel Award (2008, 2012), Phi Eta Sigma, Gamma Sigma Epsilon, Phi Sigma Iota, Sigma Delta Pi, J. Stanton Pierce Award, Analytical Chemistry Award, DeNoon Science Award, VA Academy of Sciences Best Undergraduate Poster, VCU Most Outstanding Undergraduate Research, ACS Analytical Chemistry Award.
Graduate School: UNC Chapel Hill, Ph.D. in biochemistry and biophysics
Graduate Research: Falk will be studying protein dynamics and its implications in cooperativity and allosteric regulation by high resolution NMR.
Hugo Guterres
Major/minor: Biochemistry and molecular biology (with honors), minor in business administration
Research Advisor: Dr. Ellis Bell
Research: Over the past three years, Guterres has used quantum mechanics and molecular dynamics to study the catalytic reaction mechanism of a metabolic enzyme, malate dehydrogenase.
Awards: Davis United World Scholarship, Omicron Delta Kappa (leadership), Gamma Sigma Epsilon (chemistry)
Graduate school: Northeastern University, Ph.D. in chemistry
Graduate research: Chemical biology or computational biology. Guterres plans to focus his study on understanding the fundamental basis for enzyme catalysis.
Diana A. Iovan
Majors: Chemistry (with honors) and mathematics
Research Advisor: Dr. William H. Myers
Research: During her sophomore year, Iovan worked on her first research project with Dr. Myers, in collaboration with Dr. John Gupton, exploring Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions which led to the formation of a new bond between an sp3 and an sp2 carbon. The second long-term project is based on the ongoing collaboration with Dr. W. Dean Harman from University of Virginia. This project investigates the possibility of using 2-methylpyrrole as synthon in metal-mediated organic synthesis by binding this ligand (in an η2-fashion) to the chiral metal group {TpW(NO)(PMe3)}. She has also worked on developing a path to enantiomerically pure tungsten-mediated reactions by finding a route by which to synthesize a single enantiomer of the chiral dearomatization agent TpW(NO)(PMe3)(η2-benzene).
Awards: David C. Evans Award, Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa, Robins Science Scholar, HHMI and Grainger Summer Fellowships
Graduate school: Harvard University, Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry
Graduate research: Iovan would like to focus on metals chemistry and work towards synthesizing metal complexes and fully characterizing them to understand their electronic properties and explore their reactivity.
Elizabeth Koch
Major: Chemistry
Research Advisors: Dr. Ray Dominey and Dr. Emma Goldman
Research: Synthesis of alkoxypyridines as a catalyst for the reduction of carbon dioxide
Awards: Grainger Arts and Sciences grant for summer research
Graduate school: Georgetown University, Ph.D. in chemistry
Graduate Research: Inorganic chemistry
Emily S. Nelson
Majors: Biochemistry and molecular biology, computer science
Research Advisors: Dr. Carol Parish and Dr. Barry Lawson
Research: Nelson worked for two years on simulation research, and has worked for the last year on highly correlated, multireference quantum chemical studies of the pyrrole diradical.
Graduate school: Princeton University, Ph.D. in computational biology
Graduate research: Undecided
Christina Vivelo
Major/minor: Biochemistry and molecular biology (with honors), minor in medical humanities
Research Advisor: Dr. Wade Downey
Research: Vivelo has worked over the past two years on the optimization of a three-step one-pot heteroconjugate addition-oxidation-Diels¬¬–Alder reaction to yield molecules that may serve as precursors to biologically active molecules. The ultimate goal is that optimization of such synthesis methods may aid in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals.
Awards: Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa, Gamma Sigma Epsilon-Chemistry Honors Society, Phi Eta Sigma, Golden Key National Honors Society, Howard Hughes Medical Institute summer research grant recipient
Graduate school: Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology
Graduate research: Vivelo plans to conduct research in biochemistry and molecular biology with an application to the biomedical sciences and improving the public health.
Stephen Wilson
Majors: Chemistry and biochemistry and molecular biology
Research Advisor: Dr. Dominey
Research: Wilson has worked for the past three and a half years with Dr. Dominey on synthesizing naphthyridine-based catalysts for the reduction of carbon dioxide
Awards: Boatwright Society Scholar, HHMI Summer Fellowship, Grainger Summer Fellowship, Sophomore Research Award
Graduate School: Emory University, Ph.D. in organic chemistry
Graduate Research: Wilson plans on studying organic synthesis with biologically relevant applications, particularly toward drug discovery.