Numerous graduate and undergraduate chemistry students were honored at the 2022 Spring Awards Banquet, held at the Leo Seal M-Club at Davis-Wade Stadium on Friday, April 22, 2022.

Congratulations to all award recipients!

Award recipients included:

Undergraduate Awards

• Integrated General Chemistry Award - Autumn Lock
• Integrated Organic Chemistry Award - Ryan Register
• Analytical Chemistry I Award - Nicole Ingram
• Analytical Chemistry II Award - Estefania Armendariz
• Bill Henry Inorganic Chemistry Award - Araceli Figueroa
• Physical Chemistry Award-Thermo - Baylee McIntyre
• Physical Chemistry Award-Quantum - Nicole Ingram
• Horn Awards:
  • Blake Katz
  • Baylee McIntyre
  • Sabrina Solomon
  • John David Williams
  • Matthew Wright
• Biochemistry I Award - Nicole Ingram
• Biochemistry II Award - Shelly Lindsey
• Outstanding 1st Year Chemistry Major Award - Jenny Greer
• Outstanding 2nd Year Chemistry Major Award - Kari Chamberlain
• Outstanding 3rd Year Chemistry Major Award - Sarah Sarah Labbé
• Outstanding 4th Year Chemistry Major Award - Hayden Davis
• Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award - Alison Duckworth
• Phi Lambda Upsilon:
  • Estefania Armendariz–Gonzales
  • Anna Ruth Bales
  • Alison Duckworth
  • Nicole Ingram
  • Sarah Labbé
  • Shelby Lynn Lindsey

Graduate Awards

• Rookie Researcher Award - Samuel Juarez Scamilla
• Outstanding Graduate Researcher Award - Ernesto Borrego
• Outstanding Graduate Researcher Award - Chathuranga Rathnamalala
• Rookie of the Year Teaching Award - Fernanda Maria Garcia
• Lower Division Teaching Award - Samuel Juarez Escamilla
• Upper Division Teaching Award - Abdullah Abu Anzeh
• Analytical Teaching Award - Femi "Raymond" Awoyemi
• Recitation Teaching Award - Chathuri Haputhanrhige
• Graduate Teaching Service Award - Beatrice Arwenyo
• Safety First Teaching Award - Beatrice Arwenyo & Olalekan Olabode

Other Awards

• Outstanding Staff Award - Sara Stevenson
• CGSA's Outstanding Tenure-Track Faculty Award - Dr. Sid Creutz
• CGSA's Outstanding Non Tenure-Track Faculty Award - Dr. Sean Stokes
• CGSA's Outstanding Staff Award - Sara Stevenson
• MOLE-YMPICS
  • 1st Place - Team Dumpster Fire
  • 2nd Place - Team Smile
  • 3rd Place - Team MassSpec
• CSGA Service Award - Loan Nguyen
• CSGA's Graduate Student Recognition
  • Chathuranga Rathnamalala – 2022 Poster Award at CEMOS and Vice President of the GSA
  • Ketki Shelar – Awarded Arts and Science– Strategic Research Initiative(SRI) Student Research & Scholarly Activity Funding
  • Oluwafemi Awolesi –1st Place Business Concept from Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach at MSU and BankTel’s People’s Choice Award
  • Xiaolin Qian – 1st Author Pub in ACS Catalyst
  • Mohammed Almtiri – Excellence Graduate Researcher at ACS

2021-2022 Promotions

• Dr. Nick Fitzkee – early promotion to Professor (2021)
• Dr. Virginia Montiel – promotion with tenure to Associate Professor (2022)
• Dr. Snow Xu – promotion to Associate Clinical Professor (2022)
• Dr. Xin Cui – promotion with tenure to Associate Professor (2022)

2021-2022 External Awards Nominations and Winners

• Dr. Todd Mlsna – 2022 MS State Chemist
• Dr. Deb Mlsna – Grisham Master Teacher
• Dr. Colleen Scott – CAS Researcher Award
• Dr. Eugene Caldona – ChemDawg Ph.D–2020 New Assistant Professor at NDSU
• Matthew Carlo – ACS Summer School on Green Chemistry & Sustainable Energy & 2022 ACS YCC Leadership Development Award
• Chathuranga Rathnamalala – 2022 3MT Thesis Competition, Grand Champion – Runner–Up
• Mohammed Almtiri – 2022 Excellence in Graduate Polymer Research Symposium, Highlighted Paper, American Chemical Society
• Ernesto Borrego – Graduate Research Assistant Award

Department of Chemistry Nominations for Awards

• Abigail Ressler – Outstanding Graduate Student – Service
• Dr. Eric Dornshuld – CAS Teaching Award
• Dr. Chris Johnson – Eminent Scholar Award
• Dr. Todd Mlsna – Oldham Outstanding Mentor
• Dr. Todd Mlsna – SEC Faculty Member

2022 Graduate Symposium Winners

• Education, Arts & Sciences, and Business Doctoral Students:
  • Oral First Prize – Ernesto Borrego
  • Poster First Prize – Gabriela Sanchez

2021/22 Graduate Degrees

Summer 2021

• Chanaka Navarantha - PhD
  • Advisor - T Mlsna
• Keith Cobb - MS
  • Advisor - Smith
• Weiyu Peng - MS
  • Advisor - Zhang
• MD Raihan Uddin - MS (NT)
  • Advisor - Emerson

Fall 2021

• Lakmal Hetti Handi - PhD
  • Advisor - Cui
• Chathuri Mohottige - PhD
  • Advisor - T Mlsna
• Maleesha De Silva - PhD
  • Advisor - Patrick
• Ryan Williams - MS
  • Advisor - Johnson
• Mahmuda Akter - MS
  • Advisor - Emerson
• Aia Ul Islam - MS (NT)
  • Advisor - Emerson

Spring 2022

• Beatrice Arwenyo - PhD
  • Advisor - T Mlsna
• Jerrano Bowleg - PhD
  • Advsior - Gwaltney
• Karl Mukeba - PhD
  • Advisor - Smith
• Guery Saenz - PhD
  • Advisor - Scott
• Ketki Shelar - PhD
  • Advisor - Smith
• Hellen Stephanie - PhD
  • Advisor - Wipf
• Ranganath Don - PhD
  • Advisor - Scott
• Tran Nguyen - MS
  • Advisor - Hollis
• Dexin Liu - MS (NT)
  • Advisor - Wipf

2021-2022 Graduates

• Lauren Adams
• Estefania Armendariz
• Kyra Brown
• Christina Burse
• Emily Chandler
• Hayden Davis
• Nelson Felder
• Araceli Figueroa
• Esmeralda Figueroa
• James Goodrich
• Tara Hambrick