Congrats to the newly minted Dr. Walbrun on his superb thesis presentation! During his time in graduate school, Zach has pioneered incredibly tricky in situ transient absorption measurements during thermal annealing. Figuring out how to make precise measurements when the temperatures of all of your lenses are changing is no mean feat! Zach also made significant contributions to UO’s teaching mission, serving in many roles including TA, head TA, and instructor of record, earning a teaching award. Zach is headed off to his next adventure as a tenure-track assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin at River Falls. Congrats, Zach!

Congrats to Weston, who gave a stellar seminar on his thesis work today! Weston detailed his efforts to control the crystal packing structure and excited state dynamics of copper phthalocyanine molecules in an incredibly clear and well-motivated talk to a huge audience with some of the many supporters and well-wishers he has developed over his years at UO. Congratulations, Weston!

Congrats to Megan on her superb Flash Talk at the symposium today to explain the darkfield transient absorption instrument she is helping us build! Also a terrific showing from Logan, Weston, and Jeffrey, who all had lots of great questions at their posters about their work on halide segregation, controlling the aggregation of phthalocyanine, and nanocrystal growth, respectively. Thanks for representing the group so well!