Recent and Upcoming Events
Best PhD Dissertation seminar event and competition: Finalists, judges, and UB faculty. From left to right: Prof. Lindsay Rose, Niagara County Community College; Prof. Markus Hoffmann, The College at Brockport; Prof. Ekin Atilla-Gokcumen; Dr. Darleny Lizardo, Best PhD Dissertation Winner; Prof. Jason Benedict; Prof. Andrew Murkin; Prof. Timothy Gregg, Canisius College; Dr. Saurabh Chauhan, Best PhD Dissertation Finalist; Prof. David Watson.
Best PhD Dissertation of The Year Competition
May 3, 2019
On May 3rd, 2019 PhD graduates Dr. Darleny Lizardo and Dr. Saurabh Chauhan returned to UB to present their research in our 4th Annual Best Dissertation of the Year Award Competition. Drs. Lizardo and Chauhan were nominated by faculty and selected as finalists in an internal competition. Dr. Lizardo, who performed her graduate research under the direction of Prof. Ekin Atilla-Gokcumen, presented her research on “Involvement of Lipids in Cellular Senescence.” Dr. Chauhan, who performed his graduate research with Prof. David Watson, spoke on “Charge Transfer Dynamics in Cadmium Chalcogenide Quantum Dot-Based Heterostructures.” Both finalists gave great presentations highlighting their outstanding graduate research, and a panel of external judges selected Dr. Darleny Lizardo as the 2018 Best Dissertation of the Year Awardee! This competition and seminar event is a great opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of our most successful graduate students. It’s also a chance to reconnect with these recent PhD alumni once they have begun their post-PhD careers. Congratulations to Drs. Lizardo and Chauhan!
11th Howard Tieckelmann Memorial Lecture
May 10, 2019
On May 10th, Prof. George M. Whitesides, Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers University Professor from Harvard University, presented the 11th Howard Tieckelmann Memorial Lecture. The Tieckelmann Lecture was established in 2009 by family, friends, and former students to honor the legacy and memory of Prof. Howard Tieckelmann. Through their generosity, and the leadership of Dr. Robert Tieckelmann (UB BS in Chemistry), the Lecture has become our department’s signature annual seminar event. Over the past decade, we have been fortunate to attract a truly distinguished group of speakers from wide-ranging areas of chemistry, including 10 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 5 Winners of the National Medal of Science, 5 Priestley Medalists, and 2 Nobel Laureates. Prof. Whitesides’ lecture, “New Kinds of ‘Chemistry’,” highlighted his research team’s groundbreaking advances in the wide-ranging areas of information storage, soft robotics, and the use of density as a tool for chemistry and biology. The lecture was followed by a lively question and answer session and a reception with Prof. Whitesides, faculty, and distinguished guests.
2019–2020 Departmental Seminars
The department’s Foster Colloquium series, Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology seminar series, and Chemistry MEETS (Materials, Energy, and EnvironmenT Seminar) series are held throughout the academic year. These seminar events bring speakers from academia and industry to our department to present their research and to meet with faculty and students. They also provide great opportunities to showcase our department!
12th Tieckelmann Lecture
May 1, 2020
Prof. Andrew Hamilton, President of New York University, will present the 12th Tieckelmann Lecture on May 1, 2020.
37th Graduate Student Symposium
May 20–22, 2019
UB hosted the 37th Graduate Student Symposium from May 20th to 22nd. The GSS is going strong! This year’s event was highlighted by keynote lectures by Dr. George Grobe III, Vice President of Research and Development for Vision Care, Bausch and Lomb; Prof. Julia Laskin, William F. and Patty J. Miller Professor at Purdue University; and Prof. Andy Borovik, Professor of Chemistry at University of California Irvine. Additionally, the GSS featured 62 talks and 21 poster presentations by students from UB and elsewhere. Students from 13 universities in the US and Canada participated. As always, the GSS was run entirely by our graduate students. This year, the tireless efforts of graduate students Emily Sekera and Anthony Cannella made the event another great success. The GSS remains a signature event that attracts distinguished keynote speakers, provides students with an opportunity to present their research and to network, and showcases our department and graduate program.
Alumni Reception
March 24, 2020
Spring 2020 National ACS Meeting in Philadelphia.