Chemistry Celebrates Success in NSF GRFP Competition

I am completely blown away by Joe’s ability to drive research forward. While he is a quick learner and careful in the lab, he doesn’t just blindly follow directions; he thinks deeply about what he is doing. This natural curiosity and inquisitiveness have helped him garner a great feel for when he needs to ask a question versus when to try and problem solve himself. Joe is independent, but not overly confident, which has earned him the trust of the graduate students and postdocs in my group. Furthermore, he is able to synthesize lab topics and coursework to clearly communicate his science.

Joe’s natural curiosity and enthusiasm for everything not only has made it easy to mentor him, but it’s even rubbed off on me during times when my motivation has been low, and I needed it most. There’s not a doubt in my mind that whatever he ends up doing, he will not only excel, but also bring insurmountable joy and comfort to the people around him while doing it.

I can easily envision a future where Joe is wrapping up work in the lab early to make it to the Broadway premiere of his award-winning original play that deftly explores the intersection of scientific knowledge and human experience.

Taylor is an incredibly smart, driven, and mature graduate student who I am delighted to have as a member of my laboratory. Her success as a scientist is aided by her ability to circumvent and overcome adversity. In terms of creating an inclusive community, Taylor has shown a commitment to education and community building and specifically in the chemistry community, Taylor is a member of SAFE, Georgia Science & Engineering fair, and the Atlanta Science Festival. Taylor is a fantastic PhD student and a valuable member of my laboratory and I am proud to be her mentor! 

Taylor is someone that everyone should get to know. She’s kind-hearted, fun, and passionate. Taylor works hard at the things she cares about, not just her science, but also her relationships.

Taylor is the nicest and most genuine person you will ever meet! She is very hardworking and passionate about the research that she performs in the lab. She is a wonderful scientist and a great person to learn from!

I taught Wenxiao in her first and second years at Oxford, where she had the distinction of being in the "guinea pig" class—the first class of students to take the new courses in the Chemistry Unbound curriculum. Wenxiao took on this challenge with diligence and grace. It was a joy to be able to see Wenxiao's early development of laboratory skills, as well as the growth of her passion for learning science. When I wrote graduate school recommendation letters for her, I had no doubt that she would find a fantastic university and research group to join for her doctoral studies. I am so proud of her for achieving this well-earned recognition!

I don't want to say something generic - that she was hard working. But she really was! She was so driven and quietly focused. I am glad to see her continued success.

Krista has been very persistent in overcoming experimental challenges, troubleshooting, and reading the literature. She brushes off failure and powers through!

Krista is a fantastic colleague! Her lighthearted energy is infectious. She’s a hard worker who puts a lot of effort into her research.

Krista possesses a natural attention to detail which translates into a constant pursuit of perfection while always keeping in mind the big picture of her project. Her work investigating the fundamental biophysical properties of a fully synthetic DNA-based motor will shed light on crucial question marks about this unique class of molecular machines and jump-start the development of the next-generation biosensors.

Alex is an incredibly motivated, ambitious, and focused individual who has very high ceiling for academic excellence and a future research career in academia at the interface of chemistry and biology.

Alex has a level of intellectual curiosity that one simply cannot teach. His most common asked questions is “why?” Whether it’s asking about the use of a certain reagent or a piece of glassware, Alex ensures he is making the most educated decision when conducting his work. He knows the mechanism, understands when and how to execute certain synthetic techniques, and, most importantly, is not afraid to ask questions, trouble shoot, and optimize a route. Through his research experience at Emory, Alex has developed the critical thinking skills necessary to become an independent scientist and instilled in his mentors a greater sense of positivity and curiosity in future research projects.

In lab, Caroline has shown an intense drive to develop her skills. She has proven her initiative through brainstorming and pursuing different routes to make her molecules of interest, but also her flexibility and teachability through accepting and incorporating critiques to improve her thought process and technique. Caroline has the natural intuition and curiosity coupled with laser focus and intelligence to succeed as a scientist in any rigorous research area she chooses.

What I love about Caroline's research proposal is that it ties in work that we have discussed during our group meetings with skills she has recently developed in lab. The proposal is quintessential Caroline showing her intellectual strengths and writing skills making her a scientific force for the future.

Sarah is a wonderfully talented and fearless student who loves to take on big challenges. She worked on the important problem of electron bifurcation in my lab, which required her to learn a wide range of skills in bioinorganic and biophysical chemistry. This broad background equipped her for her graduate work to study the mechanism of nitrogenase enzyme turnover using cryo-electron microscopy techniques in the Tezcan and Herzik labs at UCSD. This is a very difficult problem, but Sarah is well prepared to make a big impact.

After his original lab left Emory, Eddy joined the Raj group and began to work on my project focused on investigating macrocyclic peptide cellular penetration. It was a completely different research topic than his stated interests and required learning a bunch of new techniques that he had no experience with. He took everything in stride, learned from the occasional mistakes, and was always a fun lab mate to work with. I am incredibly proud of Eddy and his achievements this year. He deserves all the support in the world and I am glad the NSF recognized his potential. I am excited to see where his academic career takes him and can't wait to call him Dr. Pineda.

Kristina is dedicated to a career in science, and has already demonstrated the highest level of leadership and service while maintaining the highest level of academic excellence. She is destined to be a great scientific leader.

Kristina was a pleasure to work with, and contributed not only by providing her personal perspectives on the committee’s work but by seeking out feedback from her peers.

I have been truly fortunate to have Kristina in my group. Her honors project studied electron bifurcation in a metalloenzyme, a novel and highly efficient energy transduction mechanism recently discovered in bacteria. Her persistence, deep insight and experimental skill produced some very exciting results that support a conformational gating mechanism to control the timing and direction of electron flow. Next, she plans to study theoretical chemistry at the University of Chicago. She is ready to make a big impact.

Lidia is not afraid to explore without a safety net, whether it be new techniques or a different career trajectory. She charts her own path and isn’t afraid of getting her feet a little wet. This courageousness is an invaluable character trait in a graduate student.

Lidia's passion and determination for not only her research but also science communication are both admirable and contagious!