2026 Undergraduate Awards
On Saturday, April 11th the Rocky Top Chemistry Undergraduate Research Symposium took place in Mossman Hall, with undergraduate students participating in poster and oral presentation competitions. Following the symposium, chemistry undergraduates, family and friends attended the accompanying awards dinner where symposium awards and undergraduate scholarships were distributed. Congratulations to all of this year’s winners!
Symposium Award Winners
Oral Presentation Award Winner
Lynn Nguyen (Best Group) – Cysteine-Responsive Liposome for Cellular Delivery
Poster Presentation Award Winners
Emily Cameron (McNicholas Group) – Transition Metal Heliphyrin Complexes as Electrocatalysts for CO2 Reduction
Lindsey Morgan (Darko Group) – Photolytic Decomposition of Δ3-1,3,4-Oxadiazoline Precursors for in situ Generation of Dialkyl Metal Carbenes to Catalyze Intermolecular Si–H Insertions
Loudon Rogers (Zhao Group) – Synthesis of a Zwitterionic Polymer via Post-polymerization Modification
Ashton Dy (Vogiatzis Group) – Multi-Objective Reinforcement Learning for NLRP3 Inhibitor Discovery in Alzheimer’s Disease
Scholarship Award Winners
CRC Press General Chemistry Award – Abby Webb
C.W. Keenan Outstanding General Chemistry Student Award – Andrew Goans
ACS-Hach Land Grant Scholarship – Brooke Moore, Mackenzie Owens
Judson Hall Robertson Award in Analytical Chemistry – Lindsey Morgan
Melaven-Rhenium Scholarships – Paulie Chua, Lauren Kliesner, Alli Rumbaugh, Karlotta Schley, Shannon Willard
Phillip and Mary Reitano Scholarship – Karlotta Schley
Dr. Lucy E. Scroggie Scholarship – Neil Parek
Halbert and Anne Carmichael Scholarship – Lynn Nguyen
Eastman Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship – Anna Mahar
C.A. Buehler Chemistry Scholarship – Rahil Parik
Additional Announcements
2025 Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) at ORNL – Rahil Parik
ACS National Meeting Poster Award in Colloid Division – Ryan Millsaps
East Tennessee Section UT Senior Chemistry Student Award – Alden Dexter
