Student Kudos

Do you know? Do you know about an honor or award given to one of our NIU chemistry students? Please email information to Ryan Damhoff, so we can celebrate their accomplishments!

Congratulations! We wish to congratulate the following students, who have been recognized for going above and beyond in the classroom, the laboratory, and/or the community.

2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007

2012

• Graduate student Erum Raja recently won two university-wide awards: 2012 Outstanding Women Award, sponsored by the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women, and the Outstanding Graduate Student Award, sponsored by the Division of Research and Graduate Studies (April 2012)
• Graduate student Erum Raja recently presented her research at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society as well as filed an application with faculty advisor Doug Klumpp for a patent, based on her graduate work (April 2012)
• Chemistry major John Price was selected for the NIU Mortar Board (March 2012)

2011

• Graduate student Lauren Grabstanowicz won a Midwest Chapter Society of Cosmetic Chemists scholarship (November 2011)
• Former graduate student Zhenzhen Yang won the NIU Most Outstanding Dissertation of 2010-2011 (October 2011)
• All student participants in the 2011 Undergraduate Research and Artistry Day (April 2011)
• Scholarship and award recipients recognized at the 2011 Chem Club Awards Banquet (April 2011)
• Julie Meyer, Ph.D. candidate, for receiving a 2011 Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award, sponsored by the NIU Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center (March 2011)
• Zhenzhen Yang, Ph.D. candidate, for receiving a 2011 Outstanding Graduate Student Award, sponsored by the Division of Research and Graduate Studies; and a 2011 Outstanding Women Student Award, sponsored by the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women (March/April 2011)
• Greg Sonneson, M.S. candidate, for receiving a 2011 Outstanding Graduate Student Award, sponsored by the Division of Research and Graduate Studies (March 2011)
• Caitlan Ayala, undergraduate researcher in Professor Ryzhov's lab, for receiving a 2011 Outstanding Women Student Award, sponsored by the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women (April 2011)
• Lauren Kuta, undergraduate researcher in Professor Hosmane's lab, for receiving a 2011 Outstanding Women Student Award, sponsored by the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women (April 2011)
• Abby Gaebler, undergraduate researcher in Professor Horn's lab, for receiving an Undergraduate Special Opportunities in Artistry and Research (USOAR) Award (February 2011)
• Xiaoqiao (Vivian) Zeng, Ph.D. candidate, for her role in discovering a new, convenient and inexpensive way to make high performance hydrogen sensors using palladium nanowires. NIU scientists, Ph.D. students find fast, easy, inexpensive way to make hydrogen nanosensors (January 2011)

2010

• Christopher Potocki, undergraduate researcher in Professor Hosmane's lab, for being selected as a 2010-2011 Huskie Research Rookie (September 2010)
• Zhenzhen Yang, Ph.D. candidate, for receiving an NIU-Argonne Distinguished Graduate Student Nanoscience Fellowship (2010)
• Members of the NIU Chemistry Club for being selected by the American Chemical Society to receive an Honorable Mention Award for its activities conducted during the 2009-2010 academic year (September 2010)
• Chikai Lin, Ph.D. candidate, for being selected by Argonne’s Division of Educational Programs to attend the 2010 National School on Neutron & X-ray Scattering. This is a special two-week intense training program provided by both Argonne National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (June 2010)
• Amy Pagurko, for receiving a 2010 CLAS Exemplary Student Teacher Award (May 2010)
• Kate Krise and Lauren Kuta, undergraduate researchers in Professor Hosmane's lab, for receiving the People's Choice Award (STEM) at the First Annual Undergraduate Research Day (April 2010)
• All student participants in the First Annual Undergraduate Research Day (April 2010)
• Scholarship and award recipients recognized at the 2010 Chemistry Club Awards Banquet (April 2010)
• Chetan Suryawanshi, for receiving third place at the 7th Annual Sigma Xi Graduate Student Presentation Competition (April 2010)
• Lauren Kuta, Kate Krise, and Barada Dash, members of Professor Hosmane's research group, for being featured in the Spring 2010 Northern Now article, Good Chemistry (March 2010)

2009

• Chikai Lin, Ph.D. candidate, for receiving an NIU-Argonne Distinguished Graduate Student Nanoscience Fellowship (2009)
• Members of the NIU Chemistry Club for being selected by the American Chemical Society to receive an Honorable Mention Award for its activities conducted during the 2008-2009 academic year (September 2009)
• Scholarship and award recipients recognized at the 2009 Chemistry Club Awards Banquet (April 2009)
• Robert Hoey, M.S. student, for receiving first place at the 6th Annual Sigma Xi Graduate Student Presentation Competition (April 2009)
• Laura Murdaugh, Ph.D. candidate, for receiving the Howard Johnston Award for Graduate Student Travel and the 2009 Dissertation Completion Award (March 2009)
• Chi-Kai Lin and Michael Recchia, for receiving a 2009 Dissertation Facilitation Award (March 2009)
• Rangika Wickramaratne Gunasekera, Ph.D. candidate, for receiving a 2009 Outstanding Graduate Student Award, sponsored by the Division of Research and Graduate Studies (March 2009)
• Robert Hoey, M.S. candidate, for receiving a 2009 Outstanding Graduate Student Award, sponsored by the Division of Research and Graduate Studies (March 2009)
• Laura Murdaugh and Erin Post, for receiving a 2009 Outstanding Women Student Award, sponsored by the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women (March 2009)

2008

• Robert Hoey, M.S. student, for receiving the Outstanding Capstone Award at the University Honors Recognition Ceremony in recognition of his 2007 Undergraduate Capstone (April 2008)
• Robert Mishur, for receiving second place at the 5th Annual Sigma Xi Graduate Student Presentation Competition (April 2008)
• Scholarship and award recipients recognized at the 2008 Chemistry Club Awards Banquet (April 2008)
• Elliott Franco, for receiving the Rhoten Smith Scholarship, sponsored by the NIU Graduate School (March 2008)
• Kiran Kumar Solingapuram Sai, for receiving the 2008 Dissertation Completion Award, sponsored by the NIU Graduate School (March 2008)
• Robert Hoey, M.S. candidate, for receiving an NIU University Fellowship Award (March 2008)

2007

• Robert Hoey, M.S. student, for receiving the Outstanding Poster Award at the Current Trends in Microcalorimetry Conference, Boston. Chemistry and biochemistry student wins $1,000 prize for research (September 2007)
• Scholarship and award recipients recognized at the 2007 Chemistry Club Awards Banquet (April 2007)
• Ang Li, Ph.D. candidate, for receiving a 2007 Outstanding Graduate Student Award, sponsored by the Division of Research and Graduate Studies (March 2007)
• Roberto Marin-Cordoba, Pierre Eleniste, Elliott Franco, Kellen Hunter, and Tigabu Kassa, for receiving a 2007 Rhoten Smith Scholarship (March 2007)
• Ang Li, Matthew Sheets, and Hao Guo, for receiving the 2007 Dissertation Completion Award, sponsored by the NIU Graduate School (March 2007)
• James Cary and Hao Guo, for receiving the 2007 Dissertation Facilitation Award, sponsored by the NIU Graduate School (March 2007)

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