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2023 Reunion Ceremony Honors Graduate Students

Announcements- - By Wendy Plump
Color image of group of grad student awardees
The 2023 Princeton Chemistry Graduate Student Awardees, with Director of Graduate Studies Erik Sorensen. (Awardees missing from the photo: Matt Mason, Connor Pollak, Roderick Pan, Evan Kim.)
Photo by Frank Wojchiechowski/FWPhoto

The Department of Chemistry honored graduate students at its Annual Graduate Student Awards ceremony held in-person on Friday, May 26 with Erik Sorensen, Director of Graduate Studies, presiding.

The ceremony took place as part of the Princeton Chemistry Reunion program in Taylor Auditorium.

By tradition, the awards fall into three categories: First-Year Academic Achievements, which provide support for first-year students; Merit Awards, which are nominated by faculty; and Teaching Awards, also nominated by faculty. The winners and their labs appear below. Congratulations to all.

First-Year Academic Achievement

These fellowships are gifted to the Department by alumni and provide summer support to first-year students in recognition of academic excellence.

The Norman G. and Elizabeth Brink Graduate Fellowship in Chemistry:

Myungeun Jeong (Sorensen)

 

The Stephen P.A. Fodor *85 Graduate Fellowship in Chemistry:

Matthew Mason (Mikhailova)

 

The Stanley A. Lefkowitz *70 Graduate Fellowship in Chemistry:

Iona McWhinnie (MacMillan)

 

The David V. Milligan ’62 Graduate Fellowship in Chemistry:

Yury Polyachenko (Jacobs)

 

The George B. Rathmann *51 Graduate Fellowship in Chemistry:

Yangwode Jing (Adamson)

 

The Nat C. Robertson *42 Graduate Fellowship in Chemistry:

Tianyi Zhang (Chirik)

 

Merit Awards

Inaugural and 2023 Ada and Meyer Packer Memorial Fellowships:

Inaugural Winner Sarah Bard (Scholes)

2023 Winner Liying Chen (Weichman)

 

The Arthur A. Patchett ’51 Graduate Fellowship in Chemistry:

This award, provided by a donation from Dr. Arthur Patchett ’51, a former executive of Merck and Co. and an alumnus of Princeton, is granted to a senior organic student who has excelled at Princeton. 

Dali Davis (Groves)

 

The BMS Endowed Graduate Fellowship in Synthetic Organic Chemistry:

The winners of this prize will give seminars at a symposium hosted by BMS.

Nicholas Falcone (Sorensen)

Eve Xu (Knowles)

 

The Third-Year Seminar Hubbell ‘47 Prize:

This award is given based on feedback from fourth-year student judges in recognition of an exceptional third-year seminar presentation.

Noah Bissonnette (MacMillan)

Eric Geunes (Knowles)

 

The Badin *45 Graduate Student Prize:

This prize is awarded every two years to a top second- or third-year student based on grades, research ratings, and faculty letters.

Scott Lee (Schoop)

 

Teaching Awards

The Margaret & Herman Sokol Fellowship in Chemistry:

This award recognizes outstanding work as a teaching assistant for a student interested in a career in teaching and research.

Debra Keiser (White)

Connor Pollak (Schoop)

 

The Hubert Alyea ’24 Teaching Award:

Granted in memory of Hubert Alyea, a renowned chemist and beloved Princeton instructor, in recognition of outstanding dedication and enthusiasm for undergraduate teaching.

Diego Granados (Knowles)

Alma Hernandez Gonzalez (Bocarsly)

 

The Pickering Teaching Award:

Named in honor of Miles Pickering, who served as Director of our Chemistry Undergraduate Labs from 1981 until his death in 1991, recognizing excellence in undergraduate teaching in precepts and in the lab.

For their work as lab AIs:

Lydia Fries (Knowles)

Roderick Pan (MacMillan)

Will Lyon (MacMillan)

Evan Kim (Hasan)

For their work as Precept TAs:

Jessica Jin (Jacobs)

Tanner Eggert (Kleiner)

Sam He (Sorensen)

Eris Villalona (Knowles)