On Friday, April 24, the annual Chemistry Student Awards Ceremony filled the Atwood Atrium with cheers, laughter, and balloons. During the ceremony, Chemistry faculty, staff, and students assisted in the conferral of 44 awards comprising more than $50,000 in fellowships for student excellence in research, teaching, outreachsee “broader impacts”. Outreach might also refer to volu... More, leadership, mentoring, and community building. Chemistry also celebrated the conferral of six NSF GRFPAn acronym for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduat... More recognitions, a Barry Goldwater Award, and 27 senior Honors theses.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, a balloon drop released more than 400 balloons into the crowd to celebrate the awardees and 2025–2026 graduates. Community members were invited to wrap up the celebration with cupcakes and sparkling cider.
Congratulations to all of the awardees and to everyone involved in the celebration!
Outstanding First Year
Joann Kim
Amy Thomas
Quayle Teacher Scholar
Cyrus Gudeman (Dai)
Undergraduate Excellence in Education Support
Amy Lin (CHEM 150)
Audrey Isakov (CHEM 202)
Jiwon Park (CHEM 150L/CHEM 202L)
Devan Fritz (CHEM 203)
Jaiyoung Choi (CHEM 203L)
Sergio Solis (CHEM 204)
Ashley Fan (CHEM 204L)
Quayle Collective Excellence Award
Andres Gonzalez Socorro (Conticello)
Quayle Early Innovator Award
Riley Hughes (Raj)
Quayle Citizen Scholar
Hannah Ford (Ackerman-Biegasiewicz)
ACS Analytical Award
Phill Lee
ACS Inorganic Award
Lorenzo Layug
ACS Organic Award
Jason Wu
Warren Chang
Ben Chiok
ACS Physical Chemistry Award
Emily Huang
Community Builder Award
Maia Cirvello
Liberal Arts Scholar Award
Lally Lavin
Research Mentorship and Service Award
Maddie Garcia
Student’s Choice Community Award
Ilsa Qureshi
Student’s Choice Mentorship Award
Lorenzo Layug
Special Faculty Recognition Awards
Darlene Lai (Nominated by Antonio Brathwaite)
Jason Wu (Nominated by Frank McDonald)
Siddarth Avhad (Nominated by Laura Ackerman-Biegasiewicz
Ben Chiok (Nominated by Vince Conticello)
Excellence in Undergraduate Research
Zachary Paikan
Second Year Quayle Excellence in Research Awards
Courtney Glenn (Biegasiewicz)
Joshua Hardin (Salaita)
Third Year Excellence in Research Awards
Bao Le (Raj)
Mingyu Zhang (Dai)
Leo Dong (Liu)
Fourth Year Quayle Excellence in Research Awards
Reem Al-Ahmad (Dai)
Andrew LeBlanc (Wuest)
Sneha Nayak (Ackerman-Biegasiewicz)
Maia Vierengel (Salaita)
William B. Dickinson Trust Awards
Sophia Lee (Biegasiewicz)
Duc Ly (Davies)
John Talbott (Raj)
Andy Tran (Ackerman-Biegasiewicz)
Excellence in Chemistry
Jesse Gui
Quayle Dissertation Award
Manik Sharma (Biegasiewicz)