Greetings! In this issue, we're excited to bring you a comprehensive update on the significant developments within the Department over the past academic year.
Faculty Updates: I want to thank Prof. Sunil Saxena, for his dedication and leadership in the past 6 years, especially for shepherding the department through the challenging COVID period. We saw the retirement of Professors George Bandik, Joseph Grabowski, Stephen Weber, and Sandy Asher in 2023, with both Professors Weber and Asher continuing their research within the Department. Professor Jessica Anna joined the department in Fall 2023 as a tenured Full professor in Physical Chemistry and in Spring 2024, Professor Grace Kenney joined as a tenure-track assistant professor in Chemical Biology. Additionally, Kevin Carter-Fenk (Theoretical Chemistry) and Stephanie Rankin-Turner (Analytical Chemistry) have accepted their tenure-track positions, starting in the fall of 2024. Congratulations are also in order for Professors Jennifer Laaser and Yiming Wang on their promotions to Associate Professor with tenure and for Professor Susan Maleckar on her promotion to Teaching Full Professor.
Staff Developments: This year saw significant changes in our staff lineup as well. Michelle Monaco, Chair’s Assistant, retired in September 2023 and was succeeded by Amber Travis. Evon Nigro, our Department Administrator, retired in January 2024. Lauren Zufall, our new Department Administrative Officer now oversees the day-to-day operation. Promotions within our team included Darlene Lanz, previously our buyer, now Department Fiscal Manager, Sharon Mansfield, now serving as Academic Coordinator, and Andromeda (Mia) Hancock, now serving as faculty support. We also welcomed new members including Natalie Giacobe, Faculty Support and David Sweden, Human Resource Specialist.
Academic Achievements: Our department graduated 55 and 62 chemistry majors in 2023 and 2024, respectively. The ACS student chapter continued its tradition of excellence by being recognized again as an Outstanding Chapter for 2022-2023. Our graduate program is thriving with 30 and 51 new students admitted in 2023 and 2024, respectively. The department’s research output remained robust with 153 journal publications in 2023, and external research expenditure reached $11.0M for AY 2022-2023. Highlights of the year included a $7.5M grant from the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research awarded to Prof. David Waldeck’s team and an NSF grant for a Research Experience for Undergraduate site secured by Prof. Kazunori Koide.
Our faculty and students have received numerous accolades, such as Prof. David Waldeck receiving the Morley Medal, Prof. Alex Deiters being honored with the ACS Pittsburgh Award and Chancellors Research Award, Prof. Sunil Saxena receiving the Provost Award for Excellence in Graduate Mentoring, Prof. Wes Transue receiving the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh Starter Grant Award, Gessica Adornato (Chong group) receiving an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, Turki Alturaifi (P. Liu group) receiving the Merck Research Award for Underrepresented Chemists of Color, and Jeremy Leung (Chong group) receiving a Molecular Sciences Software Institute Software Graduate Fellowship.
We have seen an increasingly stronger connection with our alumni. Chemistry alum Lily Ng (Ph.D. with Ken Jordan) received the 2024 Dietrich Distinguished Alumni Award. The department has selected five awardees for the 2024 Department of Chemistry Distinguished Alumni Award: Corey Stephenson (PhD 2005), Maria G. Kurnikova (PhD 1998), Amanda Garner (PhD 2008), Robert J. Bodnar (BS 1975), Rochell Abrams (BS 1963, PhD 1967). Award ceremony is scheduled for Sept 27th 2024. I’m also happy to share that we received 58 donations during the 2024 Pitt Day of Giving event, totaling $15,750. Additionally, Dr. George Bandik (A&S ‘92, Distinguished Alumni Awardee, and Teaching Professor Emeritus of Chemistry) recently endowed the Chemistry Department Undergraduate Graduation Fund to encourage and recognize achievement by all undergraduate students in the department. I encourage you to contribute to this and other funds to support our students and programs. Thank you for your unwavering support!
I hope you enjoy this issue of our newsletter. Please visit our department's website and follow our social media accounts to stay connected with all our latest activities and announcements.
