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”
UO Chemistry graduate student Audrey Klein has been selected to receive a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Audrey is a 2nd year doctoral student in the Rapp Lab.
Audrey’s Research: The Rapp lab is interested in Ruthenium polypyridyl complexes for their unique ability to undergo rapid ligand cleavage using visible light, rather than UV light which is commonly used in photocleavage of organic compounds. Audrey’s project uses a light sensitive metal complex to create photodegradable hydrogels which will be used to 3D print scaffolds for tissue culture. This novel printing method combines volumetric printing with subtractive manufacturing to achieve higher printing resolution for channels.
About the Award: The purpose of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) is to help ensure the quality, vitality, and strength of the scientific and engineering workforce of the United States. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students who are pursuing full-time research-based master’s and doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) or in STEM education. The GRFP provides three years of support over a five-year fellowship period for the graduate education of individuals who have demonstrated their potential for significant research achievements in STEM or STEM education.
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.
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Organic/Inorganic/Materials Seminar Series
Spring Rotation Talks
Thursday, June 12 — 3 pm in 100 Willamette Hall
3:00 pm Sam Rundquist Jasti Lab
3:15 pm Ally Wagner Jasti Lab
3:30 pm Joel Ashton DWJ Lab
3:45 pm Robert Greenwood DWJ Lab
4:00 pm Natalie Lakanen DWJ Lab
4:15 pm George Piepgras Cook Lab
4:30 pm Campbelle Hunt DeRose Lab
4:45 pm Ernesto Lucatero DeRose Lab
Friday, June 13 — 2:15 pm in 110 Willamette Hall
2:15 pm Tingting Zhang Hettiaratchi Lab
2:30 pm Ben Andrews Agne Lab
2:45 pm Michaela Vacca Agne Lab
3:00 pm Alex Bender Pluth Lab
3:15 pm Marie Kerns Pluth Lab
3:30 pm Ally Stonas Pluth Lab
3:45 pm Reis Dorit Pluth Lab
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Physical Chemistry Seminar Series
Physical Chemistry Rotation Talks
Thursday, June 12, 2025
2:00pm in Pacific Hall, Room 30
Revanth Elangovan
“Enhanced Sampling of Ligand Binding Coupled to the RNA Conformational Dynamics“
Evan Wylie
“An Application of On-the-Fly Probability-Enhanced Sampling to Gas-Phase Protein Unfolding“
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.