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Honors

Dr. Shana Stoddard awarded Silvia Ronco Innovative Mentor Award

Dr. Stoddard, our 2023 CSN Scholar-in-Residence, was recently awarded the Silvia Ronco Innovative Mentor Award 2023. This award was stablished to recognize an investigator working with undergraduates that has had significant impact in the careers of the students. Read the full news release featuring Dr. Stoddard here!

Professor Christy Haynes named new head of the University of Minnesota Department of Chemistry

Congratulations to Professor Christy Haynes, Associate Director of the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology, for becoming the new head of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Minnesota. She will begin her duties on July 1st, 2023 when she will become the first woman to hold this position. Read a News Release featuring Professor Haynes here!

Dr. Shana Stoddard is CSN’s 2023 Scholar-in-Residence

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Shanna Stoddard will be the CSN’s Scholar-in-Residence for summer 2023. Dr. Stoddard is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Rhodes College, and is also Director for the STEM Cohort Mentoring Program. She will participate in various activities with the center, including a Wednesday seminar about her research and mentoring, and working with both mentors and students in our Summer Undergraduate Research Experience.

Dr. Kerrie Wilkins-Yel is CSN’s 2022 Scholar-in-Residence

Dr. Kerrie Wilkins-Yel has accepted our invitation to become our CSN Scholar-in-Residence for summer 2022. Dr. Wilkins-Yel is an Assistant Professor of Counseling and School Psychology, College of Education and Human Development at the University of Massachusetts-Boston. She also founded and co-directs the I Can Persist STEM Initiative, “a multi-component research-based program aimed at promoting STEM persistence among women and girls of color.” She will participate in various activities with the center, including a Wednesday seminar about her research and mentoring summer undergraduate students on translating science through an equity-centered lens.

CSN Graduate Student Becky Curtis Receives Prestigious Sea Grant Fellowship

UWM PhD Graduate Student Becky Curtis Receives Prestigious Sea Grant Fellowship. Becky Curtis’ research in the Klaper lab analyzes how nanoparticles are affecting aquatic organisms. She will be a fisheries management specialist in NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, where she will monitor and report on highly migratory species such as tunas, sharks, swordfish, and billfish, in the U.S. Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. She will learn about fisheries reporting/monitoring, rulemaking, and presenting data and policy information to stakeholders.

Dr. Theresa Gaines is CSN’s Scholar-in-Residence

The CSN is delighted to announce Dr.Theresa Gaines as the Scholar-in-Residence for the 2021 summer. Dr. Gaines will focus her work on educational chemistry games. Dr. Gaines is currently an Assistant Professor at Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi where she teaches primarily organic chemistry. She also founded Big Magnet Games to develop fluency in chemistry through card and tabletop games. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Dixie State University. Before this she completed a Bio-Bus Fellowship at Georgia State University. In addition, she is an amateur cheesemaker and writes the occasional blog on the subject found here. Dr. Gaines is also known as @gathwaegl on social media.

Jaya Borgatta and Zack Jones Awarded McCoy Award (Jaya) and Roger Carlson Award (Zack)

Congratulations to Jaya Borgatta and Zack Jones (UW-Madison) for receiving the Mike McCoy Award (Jaya) and the Roger Carlson Award (Zack). The Roger Carlson Award is given to an analytical student who best uses instrumentation and research at the intersection of physics and chemistry. The Mike McCoy Award is given to a student who is doing materials-related research who best exemplifies “Mike’s love of chemistry and love of life! Mike was a student in Bob Hamers’ group who passed away 11 years ago from a heart condition. Both awards come with nice cash awards and a nice entry on the vita. Congrats to Zack and Jaya!

CSN Graduate Student Leslie Sigmon Chosen for SciPol Scholars-in-Residence Program

Congratulations to CSN graduate student Leslie Sigmon who was chosen for the Science Policy Scholars program! “The Science Policy (SciPol) Scholars-in-Residence Program provides hands-on training and experiential learning opportunities for early-career scientists and engineers seeking to build and use their skills in policymaking. Scholars are selected from a competitive applicant pool to participate in a six-week boot camp where they learn key skills in science policy, communication, and professional development. Scholars who complete the boot camp are then eligible to be matched with host offices for a remote “residency” (internship) in which they can put their skills into practice.” (NSPN, 2021) See Leslie and all the other cohorts that were accepted into this program here on Twitter and the SciPol… Read More »CSN Graduate Student Leslie Sigmon Chosen for SciPol Scholars-in-Residence Program

Bob Hamers & Jaya Borgatta Awarded Patent

A CSN patent entitled “Compositionally and Morphologically Controlled Nanostructures for Delivery of Micronutrients and Suppression of Disease in Agriculture” was issued by the US Patent Office on November 3. The abstract of the patent is: “Provided are compositions which may be used in agricultural applications. Also provided are methods of making and using the compositions. In embodiments, a plant fungicide or plant bactericide is provided comprising a nano structured chemical compound, the chemical compound comprising a metal and a coordinating anion, wherein the nanostructured chemical compound is in the form of a plurality of planar, two-dimensional nanostructures.” Congrats, Bob Hamers & Jaya Borgatta!