Chemistry and Biochemistry Department
Upcoming Thesis Defense
Quinn Valentine
Brozek Lab
Friday, November 21, 2025
4 PM in 162 Lillis Hall and via ZOOM
contact Chemistry and Biochemistry office for Zoom link
The title of their thesis is “Synthesis, Characterization, Analysis and Design of Porous Metal-Organic Frameworks for Charge Transport and Redox Activity”
Up next: Quinn will be moving to Toronto, Canada to work on heterogeneous MOF catalysts with Prof. Korzyński as a Post-Doc.
Chemistry and Biochemistry Department
Upcoming Thesis Defense
Sofia Carlson
Nolen Lab
Friday, November 14th, 2025
2:00pm in 141 Allen Hall
and via Zoom
contact Chemistry and Biochemistry office for Zoom link
The title of her thesis is
““Molecular Regulation of Arp2/3 Complex Branch Nucleation in Assembly of Actin Networks””
Chemistry and Biochemistry Department
Upcoming Thesis Defense
Luca Zocchi
Darren Johnson Lab
Monday, September 8, 2025
3:00 PM in 110 Willamette Hall
and via Zoom
contact Chemistry and Biochemistry office for Zoom link
The title of his thesis is
“Structural Design in Dynamic Covalent Assembly: A Route to Novel Macrocycles”
Chemistry and Biochemistry Department
Upcoming Thesis Defense
Dillon Willis
DeRose Lab
Friday, August 22, 2025
11AM in 110 Willamette Hall and via ZOOM
contact Chemistry and Biochemistry office for Zoom link
The title of his thesis is “Probing the Secondary and Tertiary Structure of SARS CoV-2 Genomic RNA”
Chemistry and Biochemistry Department
Upcoming Thesis Defense
Naomi Wilson
Hansen Lab
Tuesday, August 19, 2025
11AM in 232 Lillis Hall and via Zoom
contact Chemistry and Biochemistry office for Zoom link
The title of their thesis is
“Mechanisms Controlling Rapid PIP3 Generation in Migratory Immune Cells”
Chemistry and Biochemistry Department
Upcoming Thesis Defense
Hannah Hazel
Dave Johnson Lab
Monday, August 4, 2025
1:00 pm in 211 Lillis Business Complex and via Zoom
contact Chemistry and Biochemistry office for Zoom link
The title of her thesis is
“Investigating Solid-State Reactions via Kinetic Control of Designed Precursors”
Up Next: Hannah has been hired as a Focused Ion Beam Chemist in the Advanced Technology group at Thermo Fisher in Hillsboro, OR. She will be doing R&D work to develop new FIB chemistries and technologies.
Chemistry and Biochemistry Department
Upcoming Thesis Defense
Harrison Reid
Jasti Lab
Monday, August 4, 2025
4 PM in 100 Willamette Hall and via Zoom
contact Chemistry and Biochemistry office for Zoom link
The title of his thesis is
“[n]Cycloparaphenylenes: Unconventional Monomers in Polymer Synthesis for Electronic and Biomedical Applications”
Chemistry and Biochemistry Department
Upcoming Thesis Defense
Alex Rosen
Darren Johnson Lab
Monday, August 4, 2025
11am in 211 Lillis Business Complex and via Zoom
contact Chemistry and Biochemistry office for Zoom link
The title of his thesis is
“From Beakers to Boardrooms: Exploration of Aluminum Oxide Molecular Clusters and Their Use as a Green PFAS Replacement Technology”
Up Next: Alex is planning to spin up a startup (Alchemy Coatings INC) with Darren based on his thesis work.
Chemistry and Biochemistry Department
Upcoming Thesis Defense
Fischer Harvel
Dave Johnson Lab
Friday, August 1, 2025
2:00 pm in 110 Willamette Hall and via Zoom
contact Chemistry and Biochemistry office for Zoom link
The title of his thesis is
“Utilizing Nanoconfinement and Surface Stabilization to Synthesize Metastable Phases of Iron-Containing Chalcogenides”
Up Next: Fischer will be pursuing a post-doctoral research position under Dr. Celeste Melamed studying solid-state batteries.
Chemistry and Biochemistry Department
Upcoming Thesis Defense
Willow Davis
Darren Johnson Lab
Thursday, June 5, 2025
11AM in 246 Gerlinger Hall and via Zoom
contact Chemistry and Biochemistry office for Zoom link
The title of her thesis is “Pnictogen-Assisted Self-Assembly as a Tool to Study Cyclic Thiol-Disulfide Interchange”
Up Next: Willow will be pursuing a post-doc in chemical biology.