Established in 2023
Our First Summer Winds Down With Poster-Pallooza Week! August 9, 2024
We made a lot of exciting progress this summer on both our wet lab and computational research projects!
Our students presented their work at several different symposia at CSUF and beyond. Looking forward to welcoming back our summer REU students and continuing to build on this momentum during the upcoming school year!
Farewell to Our SPARK and Project RAISE Summer Students! August 8, 2024
We will miss our summer students, Brian Cervantes ('27) and Ngoc Nguyen (Santa Ana College 🔜 UC Irvine), who were great to have in the lab as part of the Summer Program to Advance Research and Knowledge (SPARK) and Project RAISE programs, respectively!
Here they both are running the largest and smallest columns that I have ever seen in the same photo!
Our First Summer in the Lab is Underway! June 10, 2024
Summer is finally here! A special congratulations to our students who were awarded internal funding to conduct their summer research!
Laura (M.S.) is supported by the Engaging Graduate Students in Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activities (EG-RSCA) program, Gabby ('26) and Malena ('25) are supported by Summer Undergraduate Research Academy (SUReA) program, and Orlando is supported by the CCAM Computation and Big Data Summer Research program. We also have Emma ('25, NSF PREC) and Amal (B.S. '23) conducting computational research.
In addition, we are welcoming two new students for the summer! Brian Cervantes ('27) and Ngoc Nguyen (Santa Ana College) will be joining us as part of the Summer Program to Advance Research and Knowledge (SPARK) and Project RAISE programs, respectively. So many goofy acronyms!
Summer Research Begins at C-CAS Annual Meeting! June 4-6, 2024
To further build our NSF PREC partnership with the Center for Computer-Assisted Synthesis (C-CAS), students in our group and Professor Groves's group spent a few days at UCLA for the C-CAS Annual Meeting!
We had a great time hearing about how exciting advances in data science and AI continue to transform chemistry. Our students got to meet their research mentors for their summer REUs at various C-CAS sites, and further explore what graduate research in chemistry entails! Congratulations to Laura Ulloa (M.S.) for presenting her poster on our ongoing collaborative work within the Data Chemists Network with Professor Nicholas Ball (Pomona College).
Summer REUs begin next week for Aum (Paton group, Colorado State), Jordan (Wiest group, Notre Dame), Jennifer (Sigman group, Utah), Julie (Reisman group, CalTech), Vivian (Wiest group, Notre Dame). Safe travels and we are excited to hear about your research when you return!
Top: Aum Patel ('25), Laura Ulloa (M.S.), Ryan, Emma Cheevers ('25), Michael Groves Bottom: Jordan Letu ('25), Jennifer Martinez ('25), Julie Vinh ('25), Vivian Quach ('25)
First Group Members Moving On to Greener Pastures May 23, 2024
Congratulations to Darren Maldonado and Sherif Ibraheem on graduating!
Darren graduated with a B.S. in Chemistry, and Sherif received his B.S. in Biological Science with a concentration in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology.
Darren will be moving on next fall to the chemistry PhD program at the University of California, Riverside, while Sherif will be pursuing medical school.
Congrats Darren from the SuFEx gang!
Congrats to Sherif!
Trip to CalTech: Robots, Catalysis, Oh My! May 21, 2024
To celebrate the end of classes and build connections beyond CSUF with the NSF Center for Computer-Assisted Synthesis (C-CAS), our group and Professor Michael Groves's group were hosted for the day by the groups of Hosea Nelson and Sarah Reisman at CalTech.
It was an exciting opportunity for our students to learn firsthand about the types of research that are possible along the path to a PhD in chemistry. We were especially wowed by the robotics in the catalysis center and by the MicroED instrumentation! Thanks to our hosts for a fun-filled day of science.
Bowling into the End of Finals Week! May 16, 2024
We ended the semester with a group bowling outing!
They gave us 4 lanes instead of 2 by mistake, and Jordan took full advantage by bowling on all open lanes until we were all concerned for his arm! We wrapped it up with a head-to-head matchup between research projects, with a narrow victory for Team SuFEx (*arguably aided by the bumpers*).
Darren Presents His Work at Capstone Symposium May 10, 2024
Congratulations to Darren Maldonado ('24) on completing his CHEM 495 research and presenting his work at the department's Spring 2024 Capstone Poster Symposium!
Darren was the first student crazy enough to take a chance on working with me, and, with the help of Laura Ulloa (M.S.) and Orlando Lara ('25), he found some interesting multivariate linear regression models for predicting reaction yields. Great work Darren - we can't wait to build upon your results!
Laura Awarded James Sternberg Scholarship! April 19, 2024
Congratulations to Laura Ulloa (M.S.) on being awarded the James Sternberg Scholarship at the CSUF College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Reception!
Laura is off to a great start in the M.S. program, and was recognized with this scholarship for her academic achievement and potential.
Group Awarded NSF PREC Planning Grant (Co-PI) to Partner with C-CAS!! November 15, 2023
Our group's first external grant, in collaboration with Professor Michael Groves's group, was awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF)!!
The grant is a two-year Partnerships for Research and Education in Chemistry (PREC) planning grant to form strategic connections with the NSF Center for Computer-Assisted Synthesis (C-CAS). The goal is to build a comprehensive research pipeline that encourages CSUF students from underrepresented groups to pursue graduate degrees in STEM fields. As part of this grant, our students will conduct summer research at C-CAS sites within the scope of an overarching interdisciplinary research project that they will continue to work on at CSUF.
Read more about this grant and our partnership with C-CAS here and here.
