Thirty-one graduate students earn doctorates in 2014-15

Participants in the 2015 Graduate Reception were, front row, from left, Angel Cortes-Morales, Veronica Diaz-Rodriguez, Charuta Palsuledesai, Thaksila Wickramaratne, Amanda Vindedahl, and Katie Peterson. Back row, from left, Evan Weitz, Walt Partlo, Will Isley III, Jennifer Soltis, Allison Dzubak. 

Thirty-one graduate students earned their doctorates between June 2014 and May 2015. The chemistry and chemical physics honorees include:

Karen Beckman

Professor Andrew Harned, adviser

Construction of the Hasubanan Alkaloid Core Through an Oxidative Dearomatization/Lewis Acid Catalyzed Cyclization

Jennifer O. Bigelow

Professor Lawrence Que Jr., adviser

Characterization and Reactivity of Synthetic Nonheme Oxoiron(IV) Complexes

David William Boyce

Professor William Tolman, adviser

Alternative Ligand Design for Copper Hydroxide Complexes

Angel D. Cortes

Professors Ilja Siepmann and Alon McCormick, advisers

Monte Carlo Simulations for Multicomponent Phase Equilibria and Thermophysical Properties of Near-Critical Fluids

Jonathan K. Dozier

Professor Mark Distefano, adviser

Studies and Applications of Protein Prenylation Using Isoprenoid Analogues and Site-Directed Mutagenesis

Ashley Michelle Dreis

Professor Christopher Douglas, adviser

Carbon-Carbon Sigma Bond Activation: Functionalizing C-C and C-CN Bonds via Carboacylation and Cyanoamidation

Allison Lee Dzubak

Professor Laura Gagliardi, adviser

Computational Modeling of Gas Adsorption, Separation, and Reactivity within Coordinatively Unsaturated Metal-Organic Framework Materials

Erik S. Goebel

Professor Andrew Harned, adviser

Toward a Total Synthesis of Englerin A

Brynna H. Jones

Professor Aaron Massari, adviser

Dynamics, Solvent, and Reactions: Ultrafast Infrared Spectroscopy of Vaska's Complex and its Adducts

Sijie Luo (Chemical Physics)

Professor Donald Truhlar, adviser

Density Functional Theory: Toward Better Understanding of Complex Systems in Chemistry and Physics

Nicholas G. Moon

Professor Andrew Harned, adviser

2,5-Cyclohexadienones as a Useful Launching Point for the Synthesis of the Briarane Diterpenoids and A Hypervalent Iodine-Mediated Synthesis of Oxazolines

Walter Eugene Partlo

Professor T. Andrew Taton, adviser

Reductively Degradable Polymeric Biomaterials

Katie Louise Peterson

Professor Valerie Pierre, adviser

Lanthanide-Based Probes for Oxidative Stress

Nicholas Daniel Petkovich

Professor Andreas Stein, adviser

Evaluation and Optimization of Porous and Hierarchically Porous Materials for Applications in Energy Storage and Conversion

Thomas J. Pundsack (Chemical Physics)

Professor David Blank, adviser

Exciton Dynamics in Alternative Solar Cell Materials: Polymers, Nanocrystals, and Small Molecules

Brian Radak (Chemical Physics)

Professor Darrin York, adviser

Computational Methods for Understanding RNA Catalysis: A Molecular Approach

Chandrasekhar R. Rajagopalan

Professor T. Andrew Taton, adviser
Development of Bioorthogonally Degradable Linkers and Polymers Using ?-Azidoethers

Stephen G. Rudisill

Professor Andreas Stein, adviser

Advances in Nanostructured Materials via Emplated Sol-Gel Structure Control and Self-Assembly

Kairat Sabyrov

Professor Lee Penn, adviser

Characterizing the Mechanism of Nanocrystalline Anatase to Rutile Phase Transformation

Daniel David Sadowsky

Professors Christopher Cramer and Kristopher McNeill, advisers

Computational Studies of the Dehalogenation of Aromatics

Dustin Sprouse

Professor Theresa Reineke, adviser

Investigating the Interactions of Polycations with Nucleic Acid and the Mechanisms of Delivery

Stephen J. Tereniak

Professor Connie Lu, adviser

Synthesis, Characterization, and Reactivity of Metal-Metal Bonded Complexes with Cobalt, Iron, and Manganese

Yen-Chih Wang

Professor Mark Distefano, adviser

Solid-Phase Synthesis of C-Terminal Peptide Libraries for Studying the Specificity of Protein Farnesyltransferase

Yingjie Wang (Chemical Physics)

Professor Jiali Gao, adviser

Development of fragment-based quantum mechanical methods and combined quantum mechanical and molecular mechanical methods

Ellis J. Warner

Professor Wayne Gladfelter, adviser

Atomic Layer Deposition of Tin Oxide and Zinc Tin Oxide: Understanding the Reactions of Alkyl Metal Precursors with Ozone

Susith Samira Kumara Wickramaratne

Professor Natalia Tretyakova and Mark Distefano, advisers

Biological Consequences of Complex DNA Lesions Induced by Bis-Electrophiles

Stuart Grant Winikoff

Professor Christopher Cramer, adviser

Computational Modeling of Environmentally Relevant Reactions

Brian P. Woods

Professor Thomas Hoye, adviser

Spontaneity to Serendipity: From an Enediyne Core Biosynthetic Hypothesis to the Hexadehydro-Diels-Alder Reaction

Yaoying Wu

Professor Theresa Reineke, adviser

Synthesis and Characterization of Polycations with Various Structural Features for Nucleic Acid Delivery

Lian Xue

Professor Therese Reineke, adviser

Synthesis and Evaluation of Carbohydrate Based Cationic Polymers for siRNA Delivery and Tracking

Ke Yang

Professor Donald Truhlar, adviser

Quantum Mechanical Potential Energy Surfaces and State Couplings for Photodissociation and Collision-Induced Dissociation Reactions: New Methods and Applications