2022 Summer Scholars

Thanks to your support, we proudly present: The 2022 Summer Scholars

The Summer Scholars program began in 2021 with the goal of supporting the research mission of the Department. The program recognizes talented graduate students by providing a generous stipend over the summer to support their research efforts. The summer months can strain research budgets since there are very few graduate teaching positions. In the fall and spring semesters, for example, the Department requires approximately 60 graduate teaching assistants per semester to support our teaching mission. This number drops to about 5 in the summer given the limited class offerings. This results in almost 100 graduate students that need to be supported on research grants.

The selection of Summer Scholars is merit based and not influenced by funding concerns. With tuition, fees, and stipend, each scholar requires approximately $10,000 in support; so even in groups with substantial funding, this frees up precious resources that can be used to expand the research program.

Going forward, we are expanding this program to include more students and to provide travel funds to support student presentations at national meetings. Thanks to your generosity, we were able to grow the program from supporting 14 students in 2021 to 20 students in 2022. This includes one corporate sponsorship from Metrohm, highlighted later. We take a lot of pride in our students and thank everyone whose contributions made this program possible. Rock Chalk!

BACK ROW (L to R): Chase Stucky (Metrohm Scholar), Taylor Parsons (Berger Scholar), James Martinez (Higuchi Scholar), Miyuru De Silva (Lee Scholar), Chad Vietz (Berger Scholar), Rafael Hernandez (Landgrebe Scholar), Ebbin Joseph (Lee Scholar), Georgii Griaznov (Berger Scholar), Kasun Wekasinghe (Landgrebe Scholar), Ashley Borkowski (Berger Scholar).

FRONT ROW (L to R): Dimuthu Vithanage (Landgrebe Scholar), Piyanka Hettiarachchi (Berger Scholar), Riddhi Golwankar (Landgrebe Scholar), Priya Singh (Schowen Scholar), Elizabeth Grotemeyer (Lee Scholar). NOT PICTURED: Kristen Burns (Berger Scholar), Alex Meier (Schowen Scholar), Prabhavie Opallage (Berger Scholar), Dhanushka Weerasekara (Berger Scholar), Jenna Williams (Higuchi Scholar).

Welcome Angie Erdley

Angie Erdley joined the Chemistry Department in November 2022 as the Office Manager. She is originally from Hiawatha, Kansas and moved to Lawrence in 2010. She earned a B.S. in Journalism in 2012 and a Graduate Certificate in Professional Workplace Communication in 2020, both from the University of Kansas. Angie is also a proud graduate of the KU Public Management Center’s Emerging Leaders Academy. Most recently, Angie was the Director of Events and Student Affairs at the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, where she managed logistics and planning for the Institute’s public programming. She also worked closely with the student advisory board and was nominated for Student Organization Advisor of the Year in 2020. Outside of work, Angie enjoys playing with her recreational volleyball and kickball teams and spending time with her husband, Talon, and their daughter, Veda, who will be 2 in January. You can often find them downtown seeing live music, getting ice cream at Sylas and Maddy’s or walking their dogs, Gabby and Chico. Angie is proud to be part of the Chemistry Department and looks forward to working with the staff, faculty and students.