Graduate Chemistry

Recent Student Highlights

July, 2009: Candice Bridge, a 2007 graduate of the Chemistry PhD program was selected as the College of Sciences' Rising Star Award Winner. This UCF Alumni Association award recognizes a recent graduate who displays promise and excellence in his or her career. Candice will be recognized at the UCF Alumni Association's Black and Gold Gala in the fall.

April, 2009: Benjamin Pearman (PhD) was selected as one of four winners for Best in Category: Engineering, Computer Science, Optics, Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Modeling & Simulation for his poster presentation at the 2009 Graduate Research Forum.

April, 2008: Atul Asati (PhD) was selected as one of three winners for Best in Category for his presentation titled, "Synthesis of Biocompatible Dextran-Coated Nanoceria with pH-dependent Antioxidant Properties" in the Engineering, Computer Science, Optics, Physical Sciences, Mathematics, Modeling & Simulation category at the 2008 Graduate Research Forum.

February, 2007: Matthew Rex, Marina Santos, Keerthika Vatsavai, Shenjian Yu, and Huiyong Wang: Chemistry PhD students highlighted in the February edition of GraduateNews (http://www.graduatestudies.ucf.edu/formsnfiles/Openfile.cfm?ID=124)

April, 2006: Marisol Garcia (graduate from the Chemistry MS program, spring 2006) and Dr. F. E. Hernandez of the Chemistry Department recently received accolades in Chemical and Engineering News, one of the first times a UCF student and faculty member's research has been acknowledged by this publication. You can read the article online [See Article].

August, 2005: Katherine (Katie) Schafer (admitted to Biomolecular Sciences PhD fall 2001, graduating summer 2005) successfully defended her Ph.D. dissertation in the Biomolecular Science program, making her the third student to graduate from UCF with a Ph.D. in Biomolecular Science. Katie completed her M.S. degree in Industrial Chemistry from UCF in 1999, and was coauthor of four papers resulting from her thesis that have been cited over 180 times. While waiting for the Biomolecular Science Ph.D. program to be approved, she worked as a research associate in Dr. Kevin Belfield's laboratory, contributing to research that resulted in another four papers that have already been cited over 40 times, including a first author paper for her. During her Ph.D. research, she has been a coauthor of ten papers that have been published or are in print during 2004-05, most of which have already been cited 3 or 4 times each.

March, 2005: Michelle Alvarez (admitted into the Biomolecular Sciences PhD program fall 2002) was awarded the best in category winner at the 2005 Graduate Research Forum with her oral presentation in the Life and Health Sciences category titled, "Age Determination: The Identification of Newborns Using Messenger RNA Profiling Analysis." She and her mentor, Dr. Jack Ballantyne, were recognized at an awards breakfast later in the month where Michelle was presented with a certificate and a $250 cash award.