Congratulations to the Class of 2025

The Department of Chemistry proudly celebrates the graduating Class of 2025—a cohort of exceptional students who have shown steadfast dedication, academic excellence, and a deep commitment to advancing the chemical sciences.

This year’s graduates represent a vibrant global community, with students hailing from over a dozen countries, including Australia, Brazil, China, Denmark, Ethiopia, India, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Ukraine, the United States, and Vietnam.

We were honored to welcome back Neal Devaraj, Professor and Murray Goodman Endowed Chair in Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California San Diego (UCSD), as this year’s commencement speaker. Professor Devaraj received his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 2007 under the direction of Professors James Collman and Christopher Chidsey. A distinguished chemical biologist, Professor Devaraj’s groundbreaking research lies at the intersection of organic chemistry, biochemistry, and synthetic biology, where he develops innovative tools to study and engineer cellular systems.

In his commencement address, Professor Devaraj encouraged graduates to "invest in the relationships around them, noting how interconnected the scientific world can be—and how maintaining those connections can open doors and shape one’s path in unexpected ways." Reflecting on a recent experience, Professor Devaraj was reminded of the importance of "maintaining relationships, especially in a field as fast-changing and full of possibility as science." Despite its uncertainty, Professor Devaraj is confident that "the future holds immense potential" and urges our graduates to "move forward boldly, to build something meaningful, and to embrace disruption and innovation." 

Participating in this year's commencement ceremonies included 13 undergraduates who had received their Bachelor of Science in Chemistry (Carlos Alcantar, Sebastian Alexander Alfonso, Alyssa Jiarui Guo, Jawad Ibrahim, Xavier Alexander Jones, Audrey Yong-Ju Kim, Junha Lee, Aubrey Danielle Lemer, Grace Ann Sperber, Chloe Wood Rollock, Nicole Elizete Theberath, Caitlynn To-Duyen Tran, and Sonny Young).

Each year, a select group of graduating students is honored with distinguished departmental awards. This year's award recipients are:

• American Chemical Society Outstanding Organic Chemist Award: Xavier Alexander Jones
• Royal Society of Chemistry Merck Index Award: Sebastian Alexander Alfonso, Junha Lee, Caitlynn To-Duyen Tran
• S.S. & I.M.F. Marsden Memorial Prize in Chemistry: Nicole Elizete Theberath

This year, the university's Firestone Medal Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research was also awarded to Nicole Elizete Theraberath.

Graduate students participating in this year's commencement ceremonies include one student who received their Masters in Chemistry (Sebastian Alexander Alfonso) and 25 doctoral students who received their Ph.D. in Chemistry (Hayden Reid Anderson, Lawrence John Berg IV, Xujun Cao, Yuxuan Chen, Jonathan Chiu-Chun Chou, Dory DeWeese, Haotian Du, Erica Jillian Flear, Sarah E. Holmes, Issac Mackenzie-Jackson, Shreya Kishore, Angel Kuo, Tao Aaron Gelernter Large, Jiayi Li, Yishan Sherry Li, Zhijian Li, Jack Chun-Ting Liu, Christine Sih Chin Ng, Hlib Razumkov, Ashley Paige Saunders, Mekedlawit Tsegaye Setegne, Sophia Michelle Shi, Alexander Chalres Su, Sunny Wang, and Shoshana Colleen Williams).