Shokri receives award for Doctoral Thesis Excellence

Alireza Shokri, Ph.D., has received the Department of Chemistry Award for Doctoral Thesis Excellence for 2013.

He received his master's degree in organic chemistry from the Sharif University of Technology in Iran, and earned his doctorate at the University of Minnesota. He currently is a post-doctorate associate working with Professor Lawrence Que Jr. He is working on mimicking iron oxygenases by high-valent iron complexes. Shokri's doctorate research focused on employing hydrogen bond networks to develop new acid catalysts and anion receptors.

In future, Shokri's plans to apply for a university faculty position, and work on developing new metal complexes and applying them as catalysts in organic reactions.

"I’m thrilled about winning the award for Doctoral Thesis Excellence," Shokri said. "It is a real honor for me to be recognized in this way. I want to express my sincere appreciation to my great adviser Professor Steven Kass for his wonderful mentorship, and my wife for her continuous support."

The Award for Doctoral Thesis Excellence is designed to honor outstanding Department of Chemistry graduate students for their doctoral thesis research. A committee of faculty members evaluated all of this year's award candidates. Shokri's thesis research stood out as the very best in the group of outstanding thesis packages. The best thesis award includes a $500 honorarium and an invitation to present postdoctoral research results at a future Department of Chemistry seminar.