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The UB Department of Chemistry recognizes the educational value of the teaching process. Entering PhD students are normally offered teaching assistantships, usually in the General Chemistry program (100-level courses) or Organic Chemistry program (200-level courses). Teaching assistants supervise small recitation and/or laboratory sections for not more than nine contact hours a week. Total time required, including grading, office hours, and preparation, is typically 16 hours per week.
Currently, assistantship stipends for incoming students are $26,000. This includes a $23,000 teaching assistantship for the academic year and a $3,000 research assistantship for the summer. Several supplementary fellowships (see below) in the range of $2,000-$8,000 are available for outstanding students. All students in good academic standing will receive continued support in subsequent years, either as teaching assistants or research assistants. Individual research directors provide research assistantships for their advanced students. These appointments allow students to devote their full time to thesis research.
All students receiving assistantships in the department during the academic year also receive full tuition scholarships.
Fellowships and Awards
Dean's Interdisciplinary (CAMBI) Award The Dean’s Interdisciplinary Award, also known as the CAMBI Award, is intended for domestic students who have an interest in both Biochemistry and Chemistry. Beginning in Fall 2011, students who receive this award will receive a top off to their teaching stipend in their first year. This award is non-renewable.
2012: Jasmin Federizon, Crysania Linderman
2011: Carlo Ramil, Barry Moore II (Summer 2011)
2010: Ian Anderson, Maixian Liu
2009: Sean Carney, Timothy Liwosz
2008: Susan Mackintosh, Patricia Sattelberg
2007: Sean Depner, Victoria Farwell, Vincent Lee
2006: Olga Aminova
2005: Glen Labenski, Michael Madden
2004: Christopher Andolina, Amber Hesel
Dissertation Fellowship Outstanding graduate students who have reached the stage of preparing their doctoral dissertations may apply on a competitive basis to receive a Dissertation Fellowship through the College of Arts and Sciences. There are a limited number of these fellowships which entail no teaching or other form of obligation. They are intended to assist advanced doctoral candidates in the preparation of their dissertations. These fellowships may be used to supplement other forms of financial support a student receives, or they may be awarded to students who are otherwise unfunded.
2018: Nasi Li
2017: Saurabh Chauhan
2016: Sidney Coombs
2015: Joshua Wallace
2014: Scott Simpson
2013: David Steward
2008: Laveena Muley, Gregory Soja
Gordon Harris Fellowship The Gordon Harris Fellowship was established in 1994 to provide fellowships for top graduate students in the entering recruiting class. Professor Harris was a member of the UB Department of Chemistry from 1953 to 1983 attaining the rank of Leading Professor, holding the Larkin Professorship in Chemistry, and serving as Chair (1956-1969).
2016: Julia Bulmahn
2015: Mitchell Mayville
2014: Kyle Banecker, Ilyas Berhane, Joseph Ezzo, Thomas McGuire, Travis Mitchell, Adam Philips, Eric Sylvester
2012: Amanda Button, Zackary Falls, Robert Martin
2011: William Friesen
2010: Ian Anderson, Stacia Wegst
2009: Sean Carney, Tim Liwosz, David Lonie
2008: Barbara Casavant, Julia Dallas, Steven Seedhouse, David Stewart-Rogers
2006: Jerry Tso, Jeremy Nevins
2005: Michael Madden
2003: Taylor McCarty
2001: Lisa Baird, Wendy Gardinier, Philip Page
1999: Michael Drake
1998: Anthony Dolan, Derrick Lucey, Christine Mulhoney, Chase Munson, Peter Virkler
1994: Deborah McCall, Lara Chappell, Christine Inersoll, Emily Niemeyer, Kimberly Reynolds, My Hang Vo Huynh, Thomas Rycroft, Glenn Williams, Kathleen Williams, Laura Witham
James T. Grey Jr. Award
The James T. Grey Jr. Award was established to support and provide assistance to graduate students in the Department of Chemistry within the College of Arts and Sciences at the State University of New York at Buffalo.
2022: Preshit Abhyankar
2021: Devin Angevine
2020: Samira Abozeid, Kris Hoyt, Xiaoyu Wang
2019: Jonathan Terry
John Rys Scholarship The John Rys Scholarship is awarded to a student carrying out high quality research in computational or theoretical physical chemistry or materials science. Preference will be given to non-smokers. The scholarship was established by Prof Harry King in memorial to his former PhD student John Rys who helped develop the method of Rys Polynomials.
2022: Travis Mitchell, Viswa Phani Marthi, Morgan Redington
2021: Nisha Geng
2020: Herbert Ludowieg
2019: Xiaoyu Wang
Medicinal Chemistry Fellowship The Medicinal Chemistry Fellowshipis given to advanced Medicinal Chemistry PhD students of outstanding scholarship and character.
2013: Svetlana Kholodar
2012: Jonathan French
2011: Reyna Lim
2010: Brandon Calitree
Edward J. Kikta Jr. Fellowship
Edward J. Kikta, Jr. received his Bachelor’s and Ph.D. in Chemistry at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He received his Ph.D. from UB after studying analytical chemistry with an emphasis in chromatography from 1972-1976.
Dr. Kikta served as a teaching assistant at UB from 1972 to 1975. He also served as a research assistant from 1975-1976. In 1976 he joined the FMC Corp. where he was a research scientist/chemist in Middleport, NY. Dr. Kikta was steadily promoted at FMC, holding positions of senior research chemist and research associate until 1981. In 1981, he was appointed manager of the ACG Analytical Sciences at FMC. Today he is a research fellow and competency leader for the analytical and sciences group of FMC Agricultural Products Group in Princeton, NJ.
Dr. Kikta has authored 30 publications to date. He has received numerous honors including the Award for Achievement in Chromatography from the Western New York Section of the ACS and the Niagara Frontier Society for Applied Spectroscopy, and the NECDG Distinguished Chromatographer Award. He was also a former President of the North East Regional Chromatography Discussion Group and three-time Chairman of the American Society for Testing and Materials Committee E-19 on Chromatography. Dr. Kikta was also a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Testing and Evaluation. He has been listed in Who’s Who in the East and Technology Today. He also serves as a charter member of the Dean’s Advisory Council for the College of Arts and Sciences at UB.
This fellowship is for one year and will provide one or more incoming graduate students in Chemistry add-on support to their assistantship. The recipients are selected by the members of the Graduate Admissions Committee.
2017: Steele Burgeson, Eric Jensen, Thomas Sobiech
2016: Zackary Gregg, Vincent Pastore, Elizabeth Shaw
2015: Matthew Crawley
2014: Crystal Collado, Nita Chavez
2013: Christopher Bond
2012: Theodore Alivio, Jordan Cox, Liuyin Jiang, Samuel Ziebel
2011: Jossana Damasco, Chi Man Ng
2010: Matthew Bedics, Ryan Fenyves
2009: Chelsie Bartoszek
2008: Mark Kline, Meghan Kern, Michael Bovino
2007: Chad Rezsnyak
2005: Glen Labenski
Mattern-Tyler Research Fellowship
This scholarship is intended for exceptional doctoral students who, in the estimation of the Chemistry faculty, have potential for an outstanding graduate career at UB. Recipients must be nominated by members of the faculty, and be engaged in summer research at UB.
This award is made possible by a fund in memory of M. Earl and Ada Canfield Mattern, and Harvey E. and Bessie Gossard Tyler.
2022: Arianna Rothfuss
2021: Seong Won Jang, Xiaoyu Wang
2020: Jerry Cartagena Brigantty
Mattern-Tyler Teaching Award The Mattern-Tyler Teaching Award is given out yearly to students who are committed to teaching and who have developed an exceptional competence in teaching. A certificate and a check are awarded to each recipient. Winners are announced at the Safety Seminar during Orientation Week.
2021 - Preshit Abhyankar, Shamin Fernando, Parami Gunasekera, Elizabeth Kras, Shea Myers, Morgan Redington, Nick Stavinski, Xiaoyu Wang
2020 – Chris Brais, Johnathan Kennedy-Ellis, Samira Mohammed, Kaitlyn Ordiway, Micah Raab, Johnathan Rabb, Brian Breeman, Thomas Bui, Ameya Burde, Sam Galster, Subashi Ubayawardhana, Matthew Crawley, Eric Jensen
2019 – Karthika Kadassery, Jerry Cartagena, Cressa Fulong, Amber Rivera, Kayla Mascaro, Travis Mitchell, Anthony Cannella, Medini Rajapakse
2007: Richard Brice, Ann Campbell, Spandan Chennamadhavuni, Justin Denton, Elmer Mojica, Sara Lupton, Brooke Switala, David Wells, Shaohui Zheng, Hsien Po Chiu
2004: Daniel Cornell, Xing Dai Amol Kulkarni, Ryan Mathews, Brendan Mort, Rosamil Rey-Santos, Michael Smolinski, Thomas Zabawa
2003: Nicholas Brazis, Vincent Dunlap, Jaime Kubeika, Amy Marschilok, Ruslan Pryadun, Kevin Shores
2002: Paul Bigwarfe, Derrik Helfer, Bryan Schertzer, Sarah Smolinski, Lee Snyder, Elizabeth Tehan, Thomas White
2001: Keisha Ellis, Jennifer Herrmann, Anthony Giessert, Chase Munson
2000: Seema Choudhary, Stacey Schlett
1999: Glamarie Burgos, Jay Charlebois, Sheila Daniel, Meagan Doody, Daniel Epstein, Todd Maloney, Jason Smulik
1998: David Bierdeman, Amber Flynn, Christopher Kim, Michael Levett, E. Pete Maziarz, Felix Rivas
1997: Sarah Lorenz, Thomas Rycroft, Wenyan Yan, Valerie Zuccari
1996: Rafael Alicea-Maldonado, My Hang Vo Huynh, Emily Niemeyer, Nicholas Tumavitch
1995: Christine Ingersoll, Monica Konaklieva, Joanne Lasker, Richard Nowak, Robert Rominger, Christopher Sutton
1994: Jeff Jordan, Chris Marks, Bill Striejewske, Laura Witham
1993: Joseph Pavelites, David Voss
1992: James J. LaClair, Tristan Fuierer, Kimberly Kolasa, Sherri Randall, Jeanette Rice, Lisa Szczepura
PhD Dissertation of the Year Award In 2016, the Chemistry Department established the annual PhD Dissertation of the Year Award to recognize the students with the best PhD dissertations in Chemistry or Medicinal Chemistry from the previous calendar year. The finalists are invited to return to make a public presentation of their dissertations to an audience that includes a panel of judges from outside of UB to evaluate the presentations. A monetary award and a plaque are given to the finalist with the best dissertation; other finalists receive a lesser monetary award and a certificate.
2021: Matthew Crawley (Advisor: Prof. Cook), Judith Cristobal (Advisor: Prof. Richard), Didar Asik (Advisor: Prof. Morrow)
2020: Tiange Bi (Advisor: Prof. Zurek), Karthika Kadassery (Advisor: Prof. Lacy)
2019: Nita Chavez Soria (Advisors: Profs. Aga and Atilla), Patrick Avery (Advisor: Prof. Zurek), Tomasz Wdowik (Advisor: Prof. Chemler)
2018: Dr. Carlo Ramil (Advisor: Prof. Qing Lin), Dr. Randolph Singh (Advisor: Prof. Diana S. Aga), Dr. Andrew Shamp (Advisor: Prof. Eva Zurek)
2017: Dr. Joel Destino (Advisor: Prof. Frank V. Bright), Dr. Barry Moore II (Advisor: Prof. Jochen Autschbach)
2016: Dr. Peter Marley (Advisor: Prof. Sarbajit Banerjee), Dr. Bogdana Goryanova (Advisor: Prof. John Richard)
Petra and Baudilio Colón Award The purpose of this award is to recognize a deserving PhD student in the area of analytical chemistry. This award will provide funds of up to $900 for travel to a conference (national or international) to present the research work performed at UB, which can also provide networking opportunities.
2023-2024: Dino Camdzic
2022-2023: Lahiruni Halwatura
2021-2022: Nick Hazel
2020-2021: Kelsey Williams
2019: Shohini Sen
Presidential Fellowship The Presidential Fellowship in the College of Arts and Sciences is aimed at enhancing our competitiveness in recruiting outstanding graduate students. To be eligible, a nominee must be a new applicant to a PhD program in the College of Arts and Sciences with at least one of the following:
A cumulative undergraduate grade point average of 3.4 or higher
A combined score of 315 or higher on the Verbal and Quantitative sections of the revised/new version of the GRE General Test (that was introduced world-wide on August 1, 2011) and a score of 4.5 or higher on the Analytical Writing component of that test
A score on the relevant GRE Subject Test that is at, or above, 75th percentile for that test's administration
Please note that, in accordance with the recommendations of the Educational Testing Service, the CAS Fellowship Committee will only consider GRE General Test scores taken on or after August 1, 2011.
The nominee must be offered a teaching/research/graduate assistantship by the Department of Chemistry. Each Fellow will receive a fellowship amount of $10,000 on top of the assistantship stipend and a full tuition scholarship. The Fellowship is renewable for three additional years provided the Fellow maintains satisfactory academic progress.
2020: Luke Davison
2017: Elizabeth Kras
2015: Ari Darlow, Josiah Matthew
2014: Patrick Avery, Patrick Fernandez
2013: Corey Damon
2012: Kellie Davies, Michelle Linder, Dustin McCall, Elizabeth Mullin
2011: Kate Pelcher, Andrew Shamp
2010: David Bock, Mark Kryman, Stacia Wegst
2008: J. Cody Vinci
2007: Kristen Butterworth
2005: Robyn Goacher
2004: Carrie Buckley
2003: Jason Carr, James Manning, Brendan Mort
2000: Adam Sanford
1999: Michael Drake, Jennifer Herrmann, Craig Kinkade
1998: Anthony Dolan, Chase Muson, Don Wilbur, Peter Virkler
1997: Meagan Doody
1995: Valerie Zuccari, Rebecca Calvo, Ronald Castellano, Amy Diegelman, Gary Baker
1994: Eric Kraft, Louis Norton
1991: Christian Marks
1990: Sherri Randall
1989: Lisa Szczepura
Silbert Fellowship Established by Doris and Joseph Silbert in memorial to their brother Samuel Silbert to provide a fellowship award to a University at Buffalo graduate student with preference given to students from Western New York meeting the qualifications of outstanding scholarship and character and having financial need.
1996L Daniel Epstein, Christine Ingersoll, Maria Toteva
1995: Robert Bolotovsky, Yong Guo
1994: Upvan Narang, Witold Paw, David Voss
1993: Run Wang
1992: James LaClair, Lisa Szczepura
1991: Stephen Kubow
1990: Kevin Litwiler
1989: Yueqian Zhen
1988: William Feighery, Mintang Zhao
1987: Kevin Litwiler, Sally Ann Smesko
1986: Yan Gao
1985: Brian Rappali
1984: J.G. Pazik
1983 W. Go
1982: Wayne Rees
1981: Michael J. Page
1980: Donald White
1979: Randall Simmons
1978: David Pautler
1977: Todd Broockhart
1976: Claire Tessier
1975: Robert Kobos
1974: Mark Philip Mack
1973: Thomas Riedhammer
1972: Andrew Komornicki
1971: Graham Smith
1970: Steven Cadle
1969: Kee-chuan Pan
1968: Franklin Hilfiker
Jere Solo Interdisciplinary Award in Chemistry The Solo Fellowship was established in 2001 by Dr. and Mrs. John N. Kapoor in honor of Dr. Kapoor’s PhD Mentor, Professor Jere Solo. The award consists of a generous fellowship for graduate students studying medicinal chemistry.
2012: Patrick Burns, Michelle Linder, Jeremiah Karanja, Elizabeth Mullin, Tyson Terpstra
2010: Mark Kryman
2006: Olga Aminova
2004: Amber Helsel
2002: Vincent Dunlap, Thomas Zabawa
2001: Lee Snyder
Speyer Fellowship The Speyer Fellowship was established in 2013. This fellowship was made possible through the generosity of Dr. Thomas and Judith Mich and is intended for exceptional doctoral students who have successfully passed both their research synopsis and research proposal requirements in the Department of Chemistry, who show developing independence and have met the qualifications of outstanding scholar and character. The Speyer Fellowship gives a generous stipend and a tuition scholarship.
2023-2024: Laurence Rohde
2022-2023: Arpoova Pradham
2021-2022: Alec Millner
2020-2021: Samira Abozeid
2019: Emily Sekera
2018: Laura Parisi
2017: Corey Damon
2016: Patrick Burns, Michelle Linder
2015: Archie Reyes
2014: Mark Kryman
2013: Justin Griffiths
Fall 2013: Joe Clark, Edgars Jecs, J. Cody Vinci
Spring 2012: David Lonie, Brian Schultz
Fall 2010: Melissa Lee, Monissa Paderes, Mark Rudolph
Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges Each year, a select group of students is called forward to accept one of the most prestigious awards the academic community can bestow — selection to Who’s Who Among Students. This exclusive honor is conferred by more than 1,900 schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
2016: Ari Darlow, Joel Destino, Crystal Collado, Sydney Coombs, Samantha Matthews, Dustin McCall
2015: Crystal Collado, Sidney Coombs, Joel Destino, Michael Gross, Ian Horner, Samantha Matthews, Dustin McCall, Justin Reynard, Daniel Rotshteyn, Shohini Sen, David Szczur
2014: Gregory Horrocks, Thomas O’Loughlin, Kate Pelcher
2013: Robert Dennis, Katie Farley, Susan Mackintosh
2012: Joseph Bailey, Caley Caras, Robert Dennis, Joel Destino, Randi Deuro, Ivonne Ferrer, Ian Horner, Nadine Kraut, Peter Marley, Justin Reynard, J. Cody Vinci, Ka Yi Yung
2011: Jared Baker, Ken Kort, Brian Schultz, Stefan Vujcic
2010: Sean Depner, Nadine Kraut, Elmer Mojica, Christopher Patridge, Justin Reynard, Jesus Velazquez, Luisa Whittake, Ka Yi Yung
2009: Michael Dabney, Nadine Kraut, Elmer Mojica, Ka Yi Yung
2008: Stephanie Bennett, Imee Del Mundo, Erwin Garcia, Robyn Goacher, Jorn Hansen, Zhanjie Li, Michael Madden, Elmer Mojica, Patrick Schneider, Anthony Smith, Wenjiao Song, David Wells
Marjorie E. Winkler Annual Fellowship in Chemistry "I received my BS and PhD in Chemistry at UB. The experiences taught me how to analyze scientific problems and test new hypotheses using multiple approaches. It provided me with the keys to open many new doors and has led to a lifetime of questioning and learning.” Marjorie E. Winkler, PhD
Dr. Marjorie E. Winkler has established the Marjorie E. Winkler Annual Fellowship in Chemistry to be used for the purpose of fellowship support in the Department of Chemistry at UB.
This fellowship is for one year and will provide one or more incoming students in Chemistry add-on support to full Teaching Assistantships. The recipients are selected by the members of the Graduate Admissions Committee.
2023: Nisha Geng, Rachel Snider, Heshali Welgama
2022: Blessing Adeboye
2021: Christina Scalzo
2020: Elizabeth Hinterberger
2019: Emily Steiner
2018: Julia Bulmahn, Sarah Forney
2016: Kayla Mascaro, Rebecca Wombacher
2014: Patrick Avery, Kyle Banecker, Amaris Borges-Muñoz, Thomas McGuire