Chemistry

The Department of Chemistry would like to announce the recipients of the 2021 Spring Mandel Fellowship, an award made possible by a gift established in honor of Dr. Frederick Mandel.

The recipients are:

Apeksha Rajamanthrilage is a PhD candidate in Prof. Jeffrey N Anker’s group. Her graduate research has been focused on developing X-ray interrogated biomechanical and biochemical sensors for monitoring fracture healing and implant associated infection. She developed a liquid-level gauge with hydromechanical amplification to monitor minute changes in orthopedic plate bending in fracture healing and is working on developing a pH sensor to image implant associated infections via X-ray Excited Luminescence Chemical Imaging (XELCI). Moreover, she is working on developing a lateral flow assay to detect other analytes of interest at the fracture site with XELCI. Before enrolling in Chemistry graduate program at Clemson University, she received her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.

Ebube Oyeka obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the University of Nigeria and Master of Science degrees from University of Nigeria and Tohoku University, Japan. In University of Nigeria, Ebube worked on the synthesis of metal complexes for biological applications, and in Tohoku University, he worked on the design of ternary inorganic oxides such as La-doped SrTiO₃ from bimetallic complexes. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Chemistry in Professor Tran’s group and his research is focused on the design and characterization of new materials exhibiting topological magnetic spin textures with potential applications in spintronics technology.

Tatiana Estrada-Mendoza (Dr. Chumanov’s group). Originally from Ecuador, Tatiana came to Clemson via Louisiana where at McNeese State University she earned her bachelor’s and master’s in chemical and environmental sciences. Her research has varied from natural products to nanoscience. Currently, she is investigating novel synthetic methods for semiconducting nanoparticles. Another highlight of her time at Clemson has been teaching undergraduate labs, mentoring undergraduate researchers and conducting outreach.

Join me in congratulating the awardees, who have achieved an outstanding level of productivity since their arrival to our program. Each of them has earned a fellowship of $4000 that will be added to their stipends. We are thankful for their contribution and we expect that this award contributes to their professional development and success.

Following the announcement from the President Clements, we would like to congratulate the graduate students that have finished their Chemistry degrees this semester:

PhD Graduates:

• Beau Brummel: Guanidinium Sulfation Crystallization: Strategy for Enantiomeric Identification and Diastereomeric Resolution (Advisor: Dr. Whitehead)
• Zhuomin Lu: Preparation and Characterization of a Catalase-Mimic Organoruthenium-Chloride Complex (Advisor: Dr. Tennyson)
• Chandima Narangoda: Electron-Rich Alkynes and Azodicarboxylates Chemistry Towards Vicinal Diamine Motif Containing Small Molecules and N-Heterocycles (Advisor: Dr. Whitehead)
• Manjula Senanayake: Solvent as a Tool to Tune the Association of Structured Ionic Block Co-Polymers: Neutron Scattering and Computational Study (Advisor: Dr. Perahia)
• Megan Sibley: Conformational Studies Pertaining to Richman-Atkins Cyclization of Azamacrocycle Ligands and Developing Routes for Efficient Synthesis of 3:1 Cyclens (Advisor: Dr. Wetzler)
• Ashlyn Smith: High Sulfur-Content Materials from Free Fatty Acids (Advisor: Dr. Tennyson)

MS Graduates

• Geoff Chesser: Substitution of N-Methy Piperazine by Morpholine in Hoechst 33258 Analogs and Biophysical Studies of Rich DNA Binding (Advisor: Dr. Arya)
• Paige Reed: Analytical Applications of Pyrolyzed Cellulose Materials: Protein Adsorption and Electrochemical Detection (Advisor: Dr. Garcia)

We wish them all the best and hope they continue engaged with the Department

The Department of Chemistry would like to announce the recipients of the 2020 Mandel Fellowship, an award made possible by a gift established in honor of Dr. Frederick Mandel: Meenakshi Ranasinghe, Shiyu Zhang, Lucas Ayres, Kaylan Jackson, and Kerrick Rees. These students have achieved an outstanding level of productivity since their arrival to our program. Each of them has earned a fellowship of $4000 that will be added to their stipends. We are thankful for their contribution and we expect that this award contributes to their professional development and success.

Kaylan Jackson earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, NC in 2018. As a third-year graduate student, she is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Chemistry, where her current work focuses on the development of analytical tools to isolate and characterize extracellular vesicles of cancer origin based on their biomarker cargos.

Lucas de Brito Ayres earned his bachelor in Pharmacy-Biochemistry from the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil) and has already worked with Drs. Do Lago and Gutz on analytical Instrumentation, specifically by developing chemical instruments based on open-source technologies (e.g. Arduino, 3D printers and Android). He is currently pursuing his PhD in Chemistry and is interested in continuing working with low-cost sensors, instrumentation, and automation.

Meenakshi Ranasinghe earned her bachelor’s in chemistry from University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Chemistry and working on patterning plasmonic nanoparticles using mechanical deformation, synthesizing bright x-ray nanoscintillators for neuron stimulation, studying x-ray stimulated behavior of Caenorhabditis elegans, and Covid-19 detection in saliva. She is interested in working on multidisciplinary research projects. Her graduate advisor is Dr. Jeffrey N. Anker.

Shiyu Zhang earned his bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Nankai University in China. During his undergraduate period, he joined Prof. Xianhe Bu’s group and worked on the design and synthesis of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Currently, he is a third-year Chemistry Ph.D. student in Prof. Sourav Saha’s group, focusing on design, construction, and structure-property relationship studies of stimuli-responsive electronic and photonic metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) based on redox- and photoactive ligands.

Kerrick C. Rees obtained his Bachelors and Masters of Science in the field of Chemistry from Colorado State University. During this time, he worked under the supervision of the late professor Robert Williams pursuing the total synthesis of several different classes of indole alkaloid natural products. He has further expanded upon his synthetic organic knowledge while working on a variety of different projects for professor Daniel Whitehead, including the development of small molecule therapeutics for the selective growth inhibition of human gut microbes and the treatment of Toxoplasma gondii infections in immunocompromised individuals.

Congratulations to Dr. Mohamed Attia for winning the 2020 Distinguished Postdoc Award! Mohamed has done a fantastic job working with Dr. Whitehead, having contributed to multiple manuscripts, including a recent cover in Biomaterials Science.

We are proud to announce that Kaylan Kelsey has received a competitive ISEV2020 Young Investigator Award and Scholarship from the ISEV2020 International Organizing Committee.

The ISEV Board developed this opportunity to support young researchers in pursuing their studies in extracellular vesicles through attendance at the ISEV2020 Annual Meeting. As an awardee, she will receive $500 cash in USD and will be honored at the ceremony during the closing session on the morning of Sunday, 24 May 2020.