UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry - Fall 2012
H A P P ENING S Departmental Promotions
California Nanosystems Institute. Her most recent awards include being named a Leverhulme Fellow in 2012 (see p. 4) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2011.
Improved Summer Research Program Introduced
Xiangfeng Duan
Neil Garg
Heather Maynard
Professors Xiangfeng Duan and Neil Garg, who have both been the recipients of numerous early career awards, were promoted to tenure this past July. Professor Duan received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 1997, his master’s degree in chemistry from Harvard University in 1999, and his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Harvard University in 2002. He went on to serve as a founding scientist, principal scientist and manager of advanced technology at Nanosys Inc., from 2002 to 2008, before joining the faculty at UCLA in 2008. His most recent awards include the International Union of Materials Research Societies (IUMRS) and the Materials Research Society (MRS) “IUMRS - MRS Singapore Young Researcher Award,” the 2012 Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship, and the DuPont Young Professor Award (see p. 2). He was also a cowinner of the Herbert Newby McCoy Award in 2011. Professor Garg received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from New York University in 2000, and his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in 2005, under the direction of Professor Brian Stoltz. He then worked as a NIH postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, Irvine, under the direction of Professor Larry Overman. Garg joined the faculty at UCLA in 2007 as an Assistant Professor. His most recent awards include the 2012 Alpha Chi Sigma Glenn T. Seaborg Award, the 2012 A.P. Sloan Research Fellowship, and a research grant from the American Chemical Society’s Green Chemistry Institute Pharmaceutical Roundtable (see p. 4). He was also the winner of the 2011 Hanson-Dow Award for Excellence in Teaching, and was a co-winner of the Herbert Newby McCoy Award in 2011. Additionally, Professor Heather Maynard was recently promoted to full professor. Professor Maynard received her bachelor’s in chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1992, her master’s in materials science from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1995, and her Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in 2000, under the directorship of Nobel Prize winner Robert Grubbs. She then served as an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow, under the directorship of Jeffrey Hubbell, from 2000-2002, at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and University of Zurich. Professor Maynard joined the UCLA faculty in 2002 as the first Howard Reiss Career Development Chair and as a member of the
Left: Graduate Student Affairs Officer Melissa Woehrstein moderates a student panel at the Summer Research Orientation held on July 9, 2012. Right: Summer Research Program students enjoy an outdoor lunch at their orientation program.
The Summer Research Program provides incoming students an opportunity to engage in research prior to beginning the Chemistry and Biochemistry graduate program. With guidance from the Graduate Student Affairs Office, incoming students make their own arrangements to join a professor’s lab during the summer months and receive a stipend to assist with their summer living costs. This year, the Graduate Student Affairs Office developed a structured orientation schedule and implemented a cohort model for all summer research participants. The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry welcomed a total of 30 students for its inaugural summer orientation on July 9, 2012. The day’s events included an introduction to the department, computing services, departmental photos, and an exclusive departmental laboratory safety training session. The agenda primarily focused on summer responsibilities, and summer participants also attended a comprehensive fall orientation in September. In previous years, summer participants began their summer research individually, selecting a random date of their choice. This year’s cohort model allowed students to learn more about the department, introduce themselves to others, and begin building relationships, proving to be a success. Source: Melissa Woehrstein
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