A doctoral student in the Department of Chemistry, Karen Ramirez Quintero, has won a 2023-2024 Dissertation Completion Award from the UGA Graduate School. These highly competitive awards provide funding from the graduate school to complete dissertation research and writing by the end of the spring, 2024 semester. Karen was the only student from chemistry to receive this award this year.

Jana Carpenter, a Ph.D. candidate in Chemistry, is among five University of Georgia doctoral students who were recently named 2022 ARCS Scholars by the Office of Research. Ms. Carpenter will receive $7,500 for the next three years to support their dissertation research. UGA hosted the 30th annual ARCS Awards Ceremony on November 17th. At the event, the scholars were able to meet donors and ARCS leadership, as well as connect with other scholars from across the state.

The Department of Chemistry congratulates Prof. Gregory H. Robinson for his selection for the Lothar Tresp Outstanding Honors Professor Award. Robinson joined the Department of Chemistry faculty in 1995.  He is also the recipient of the Lamar Dodd Research Award and was named a University Foundation Professor.  He is the lead faculty member coordinating UGA’s participation in the Aspire Alliance IChange Network, a comprehensive effort to increase faculty diversity and the use of inclusive teaching practices in STEM fields.

The Chemistry Department is now accepting applications for Chemistry Learning Assistants (CLAs) for the Fall 2023 semester. CLAs are the individuals who rotate during recitation sessions and help answer questions. In addition, they help out with exam review sessions, provide office hours, create supplementary study resources, etc. Overall, being a CLA is a 5-hour weekly commitment which includes 1 hour for recitation, 2 hours towards creating/contributing to a supplementary activity, 1 hour for prep (on your own time), and 1 hour for a weekly meeting.

Our 2023 Alumni Lecture speaker, Dr. Stefanie Milam, is a Planetary Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland and serves as the James Webb Space Telescope Deputy Project Scientist for Planetary Science. She works in the Astrochemistry Laboratory at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and is an expert in rotational spectroscopy, observations, and laboratory modeling of astrochemistry and molecular astrophysics of the interstellar medium, evolved stars, star formation regions, and comets.

Actinide elements show a great diversity in their chemistry due to the complex structure of 5f electron shells and delocalization of 5f-electrons within the early actinide family. One of the most remarkable properties of the early actinides is a multi-valence accompanied by a great coordination diversity. For example, uranium demonstrates oxidation states from +2 to +6 in the solid state, where +4 and +6 are the most common and stable.

Dr. Jeffrey S. Pilgrim, winner of the 2023 UGA Chemistry Distinguished Alumnus Award, is President and founder of Vista Photonics, an optical instrumentation company located in Las Cruces, NM. He formed the corporation in June 2003 to develop and commercialize optical gas sensing technologies and instrumentation. Before starting Vista Photonics, Dr.

In recent years significant progress has been made towards understanding the molecular and cellular mechanism by which cells “feel” their environment. There exists a complex relationship between the behavior of a cell, its physical properties, and its surrounding environment.

In 2021, Americans spent $525 million on oral solid dosage forms, of which tablets made up 53.1% of the market. (1). Tablets are the most popular drug delivery method because of the relatively low cost of ingredients, ease of manufacturing, and high patient compliance (1).