Congratulations to Kara for a successful PhD defense! Despite her poor socialization and bad attitude (I kid…), she gave a great talk and was delighted to receive her ceremonial tool belt – a fitting reward for five years of hard work.

Pre-talk talk

Proudly sporting the ceremonial tool belt

Left to righ: Khanh, Uyen, Alexa, Vahe, Aaron, Kara, Craig

The graduate hooding ceremony took place the following day at the Bren Events Center.

At the ceremony

Allison, Craig, and Kara after the ceremony

An opportunity is available for a high school chemistry teacher to participate in summer research in Dr. Craig Murray’s laboratory in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). The Murray Group uses a variety of laser-based spectroscopic techniques to study fundamental photochemistry and reaction kinetics and has a particular interest in processes relevant to atmospheric chemistry. The ‘Teacher-in-Residence’ program comprises two parts:

• Four-week summer research. You will work directly with Dr. Murray and his research group in the laboratory and participate in other research-related activities to obtain direct experience of an academic research environment. The scheduling can be flexible to work around other commitments (e.g. weeks need not be consecutive).
• Class visit. You will bring your students (limited to 30 total visitors) to campus for a day. We will provide tours of various research laboratories and host a symposium to discuss research, educational opportunities at UCI, and current issues in environmental and atmospheric chemistry.

The ‘Teacher-in-Residence’ program is funded through an NSF award (CHE-1566064). Participants will receive a modest stipend during the summer and costs associated with the class visit will be covered. If you are interested in participating and experiencing a real academic research environment, or have any questions about the program, please contact Craig Murray (craig.murray@uci.edu).

Congratulations to Liz, who successfully defended her PhD dissertation last week despite the best efforts of an antique laptop to derail her talk. The defense was concluded with the conferral of her ceremonial tool belt. It was also great to see Ben again, who belatedly received his. We also said farewell to Liz this week. Liz moves to New England, where she will begin a post-doctoral position at MIT, working with Profs. Bob Field and Christopher Cummins. We wish her every success in her new job!

Last Saturday, Liz was hooded by Craig as a (soon-to-be) Doctor of Philosophy! The ceremony was held at the Bren Events Center and honored the hard work and achievements of the class of 2017. Craig did a great job with the hooding (no hats were knocked off!) and everyone’s efforts were rewarded with a champagne reception following the event.

Craig, Liz, and Dean Janda

Unofficially an official PhD!

Liz gives the experience two thumbs up!

Many congratulations to Liz, whose work has been recognized with the award of the E.K.C. Lee Fellowship. The Lee Fellowship is named after Prof. Ed Lee, one of the department’s founding faculty members and is awarded “to support outstanding students in chemistry.”

Congratulations to Ben, who gave a great presentation and successfully defended his thesis yesterday!



[Photo credit: Stacey Hughes]