Pitt Chemistry

Distinguished Professor David H. Waldeck has sadly passed away.
We send our condolences to his family along with the Faculty, Students and staff that knew and worked with him. He will be truly missed! Read more about Prof. Waldeck's life and work using this link: zurl.co/LHyuX

Chemistry Development Fund - Pitt Day of Giving We need YOUR help to strengthen and expand our undergraduate and graduate programs. We’re thrilled to share several exciting new initiatives and invite you to contribute to one or more of these meaningful efforts: Chemistry Annual Giving FundThis fund supports the Department of Chemistry’s greatest needs, as identified by the Department Chair and faculty members.Sullivan Family - Peter E. Siska Endowed Teaching Fellowship in ChemistryThis fund honors the legacy of Prof. Peter E. Siska, a former Professor of the department, and will support graduate student instructors to advance their pedagogical teaching interests.Philip F. Brode III, PhD Endowed Fund in ChemistryThis fund will support undergraduate and graduate students in the Department of Chemistry for education-related expenses, such as experiential learning opportunities, conference fees, travel costs, research, course materials, and global experiences.David M. Hercules Memorial FundThis fund honors the legacy of Prof. David M. Hercules, a former Professor and Chair of the department, who passed away on January 24, 2024. Established by his colleagues, this fund supports advancing the Department of Chemistry and carrying forward David’s remarkable impact at the University of Pittsburgh.Chemistry Graduate Student Research Excellence AwardThis newly created award recognizes outstanding research accomplishments by our graduate students. Your support can help establish additional named awards, providing even greater opportunities to celebrate their achievements.Chemistry Graduate Student Service AwardThis award highlights the exceptional citizenship and contributions of our graduate students. Currently, one award is supported by the Sean M. Conroy Graduate Student Support Fund. With your help, we can enhance this award or establish additional named awards to recognize our students’ service.  

It's Pitt's annual Day of Giving #PDoG26!
By giving to the department, you advance higher education and help shape the future of chemistry at Pitt, including support for undergrad research, grad student excellence, outstanding teaching and service.
Please give today: zurl.co/6WNC7

Prof. Kay Carter-Fenk receives Pittsburgh Quantum Institute Community Collaboration Award!
Read more: zurl.co/LSbOY

2026 PITT CHEM REU application are CLOSING SOON! Application close on February 6th, 2026. Find the link to our application through our NEW website > zurl.co/REU

Congratulations to Professor Lillian Chong, named the Graduate & Postdoc Alum of the year! This award recognizes an alum who has made outstanding contributions to science, research, society/community, or academia. Read more using this link zurl.co/YOUra

Distinguished Professor Sanford Asher sadly passed away on January 16th, 2026.
We send our condolences to the Faculty, Students and staff that knew and worked with him. He will be missed by many people! Read more about Prof. Asher's life and work using this link zurl.co/zPz2F

2026 PITT CHEM REU application are now OPEN!
Find the link to our application through our NEW website > zurl.co/REU (zurl.co/QduRT)

Reach out to chemhelp@pitt.edu if you have any questions

Congratulations to Lillian Chong, Angela Gronenborn, and their joint graduate student, Darian Yang, for receiving a 2025 HPCwire Editors Choice Award for Best Use of HPC in Life Sciences. zurl.co/XDB9v

Read the publication here > zurl.co/OUdzG

Congratulations to Aravind Vadakkayil for receiving the Mellon Fellowship this year. Aravind is a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Waldeck group whose research explores how control over the electron spin during catalysis facilitates chemical reactions.

Congrats to Dyllan Amin for receiving the Chancellor's Undergraduate Teaching Fellowship. The fellowship supports students doing a collaborative teaching project with a faculty member. Amin will be working with Dr. Ward to make videos for the Gen chem 2 labs.

Congrats to Alexander Star and Amir Amiri whose work was recently highlighted in Pittwire. This research introduces a rapid platform for monitoring vaccine-induced antibody levels using carbon nanotube–based field-effect transistors. Read about it here: zurl.co/WGrNM

Pitt Chem hosted its annual Safety Fair this week, reminding us that safety is always a priority. Attendees explored hands-on safety stations on the second-floor balcony and heard an insightful keynote from Dr. Adam Powell of PPG.

Grace Kenney received a New Investigator Grant from the Charles E. Kaufman Foundation for research on “An Unappreciated Yet Widespread Route to the Biosynthesis of Peptidic Natural Products.”

Last Friday, the Department of Chemistry celebrated its 150th anniversary! People filled chevron to watch Ray Euler do live demos, David Waldeck talk about the history of the department, and to attend a poster session. Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate with us.

Congratulations to Alysia Mandato (Ph.D 2025) for receiving the Pittsburgh Section of the American Chemical Society Distinguished Service Award. The award recognizes outstanding volunteer service to the local ACS section.

Professor Rosi received Pittsburgh Award from Pittsburgh ACS! | Department of Chemistry Professor Nathaniel Rosi has received the Pittsburgh Award from the Pittsburgh Section of the American Chemical Society, which recognizes distinguished service to the field of chemistry. Rosi is being recognized for his contributions to the design and development of chiral nanomaterials as well as new classes of biomolecule-based multicomponent and multidomain metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) having  applications ranging from carbon capture to contaminant separation. 

Professor Nathaniel Rosi has received the Pittsburgh Award from the Pittsburgh Section of the American Chemical Society, which recognizes distinguished service to the field of chemistry. Read about him and his work here: zurl.co/PDITj

Professor Alexander Deiters wins 2026 ACS Cope Scholar Award. Read more about the award and Alexander Deiters here: zurl.co/gKR2p

Congrats to Elizabeth Shiby of the Waldeck group for recieving a PQI fellowship. Her explores structure and chiral-induced spin selectivity property relationships to identify the important features necessary for developing a more comprehensive understanding of this phenomenon.

Congrats to Ann Marie Paterno from the Millstone group for receiving the PQI Fellowship. She researches how molecular interactions and reaction conditions influence nanoparticle outcomes, adopting a photocatalytic approach to characterize intermediate species as they evolve.

Congratulations to our 2025 Safford Award recipients.  A luncheon was held on August 7, 2025, to honor these amazing graduate teaching assistants at the University of Pittsburgh – Department of Chemistry.  Thank you for making such a difference in our student’s education.

Grace Fleury (‘24) is an alum of the Floreancig group and current NSF GRFP fellow at Princeton University. Read more about her time at Pitt and what she’s been up to since graduating here: zurl.co/NZsjg

In this paper from JPCB, the Saxena group establishes Q‑band double‑quantum coherence ESR as a method for measuring distances between nitroxide spin labels in proteins at physiologically relevant concentrations. Read more: zurl.co/pXRCx”

The Wipf group and collaborators studied the antitumor efficacy of 1,2,4‑triazole VCP/p97 allosteric inhibitors which showed low-nanomolar potency in mouse models. Read more in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry: zurl.co/RpGf4

Baily Ford, a member of the Chong group, researches algorithms to sample the conformational space of biomolecules. Read more about his research and his experiences at Pitt here: zurl.co/TS7Bb

The Rosi group and collaborators studied the differences in iodine adsorption in Zn(II) and Co(II)-based metal-organic frameworks. Read more here: zurl.co/b8g4m

Recently, the Saxena group developed a rigid, nucleotide-independent Cu(II)-based spin label that enables precise measurement of DNA conformation and flexibility using EPR spectroscopy. Read more in JACS: zurl.co/QFmBZ

Using electronic structure calculations, the Jordan group characterized low energy isomers of different classes of the H+(H20)21 cluster. Read more in the Journal of Physical Chemistry A: zurl.co/ITTVP

The Wang group has a new review paper out on advancements in regio- and stereoselective synthesis of enantioenriched propargylic and allenic derivatives of silicon, germanium, and tin. Read more in Chemistry – An Asian Journal: zurl.co/fjLhF

Congratulations to the Transue Lab on their first Journal of the American Chemical Society Publication! Read the publication here: zurl.co/y1zJC and read more about the Transue Lab and their work here: zurl.co/vRbaM

Congratulations to Dominic Brazzle, who just received The Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh's College Chemistry Award. Read more about Dominic, and the work is his doing here: zurl.co/xxZ0u