Chemistry @ Carnegie Mellon University

Trailblazers: Chemists with disabilities rethink how we do science C&EN’s 2025 Trailblazers issue, curated by guest editor Mona Minkara, looks at how chemists can solve problems in new ways

In October 2025, we celebrate the 80th anniversary of National Disability Employment Awareness Month #NDEAM. Meet the 2025 C&EN Trailblazers, chemists with disabilities who rethink how we do science: cen.acs.org/people/profi...

#DisabledInSTEM #chemsky 🧪

‘Microlightning’ may spark glowing will-o’-the-wisps, study finds | CNN Flashes of microlightning between microscopic bubbles of methane in water may ignite the eerie blue flames of will-o’-the wisps, new research suggests.

Ever seen a spooky glow called a will-o'-the-wisp hovering in a swamp or bog? Wet places where organic things decay are gassy as hell, fueling these eerie lights. But what provides the spark? Microlightning that jumps between electrically charged bubbles of methane, according to a new study 🧪

MCS Graduate Student Conference Funding Award Winners Announced Four graduate students in the Mellon College of Science earned travel awards for upcoming conferences.

Congratulations to the four MCS Graduate Student Funding Award recipients for fall conferences! Learn more about the students and the awards: www.cmu.edu/mcs/news-eve...

Chemistry Seminar
Bryan Pivovar
National Renewable Energy Laboratory

The potential role of H2 in the global energy system

Host: Kevin Noonan

Wednesday, October 8, 2025
4:00 p.m.
Mellon Institute Conference Room 348

New exciting things from @gabegomes.bsky.social 😍🥳🎉🥂

Chemistry Seminar: Janusz Dąbrowski
Jagiellonian University, Krakow

From Light to Cure: Nanoengineered Photosensitizers for Treating Resistant Cancers and Microbes

Host: Krzysztof Matyjaszewski

Wednesday, October 1, 2025
4:00 p.m.
Mellon Institute Conference Room 348

Tenure-track Position in Biophysics at Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Physics Location: Pittsburgh, PA Open Date: Sep 19, 2025 Description The Department of Physics at Carnegie Mellon University invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position in biophysics. The appointment is intended to be at the Assistant Professor level, but exceptional candidates at a higher level may also be considered. We seek outstanding candidates with a strong record in cellular and subcellular biophysics. Topics of particular interest include, but are not limited to, uncovering how key characteristics of living systems arise from the interplay between supramolecular cellular structures, how the emergent cellular circuitry defines goals and enables robust decision making, and how metabolic resources are allocated. This encompasses understanding of how information is learned, stored, transduced, and processed across subcellular structures. Applicants with theoretical, data science, or experimental backgrounds within biological physics are encouraged to apply. The ideal candidate will strengthen and extend research programs of current biophysics faculty in the Department of Physics and collaborate with broader life science activities across many departments at CMU and the wider Pittsburgh area. More details on Interfolio: https://apply.interfolio.com/174360

I am super excited to announce that we have a tenure-track faculty position in biophysics open in the Department of Physics at Carnegie Mellon! 🧪

Interfolio link: apply.interfolio.com/174360

PLEASE, share widely across the blue skies!

Let me briefly explain what we're looking for:

1/10

Sijie Fu
Washburn Research Group

Machine Learning for Chemistry and Formulation: Generative Discovery, Data-Driven Modeling, and Autonomous Experimentation

Wednesday October 1, 2025
2:00 p.m.
Mellon Institute Classroom 355

Examiners:
Newell Washburn
Hyung Kim
Olexandr Isayev
Robert Tilton

Congratulations to Kiran Ali from the McDonough Group - she is the recipient of an MCS Graduate Conference Funding Award. She will attend SETAC North America 46th Annual Meeting.

Congratulations to Team Mitch, winners of the 2026 Chemger Games! May the bonds be ever in your favor! :)

An annual fall tradition, undergraduate students compete, making their way around Mellon Institute labs, to use clues and complete challenges.

Shana V. Stoddard: How to create an environment for all science students to succeed Grad student <b>Alyssa T. Paparella</b> talks with this computational biochemist about adjusting work styles and leaning on community

✨My first science feature is out in Chemical & Engineering News!✨

I interviewed and wrote about Dr. Shana V. Stoddard, a brilliant disabled scientist changing STEM.

Disabled scientists deserve visibility and celebration.

cen.acs.org/synthesis/me...

#DisabledInSTEM #SciComm #RepresentationMatters

@olexandr.bsky.social in the news again, along with his former postdoc, Dylan, who is now an assistant professor at Michigan State - love to see the progress you are making!

CMU @ Homecoming Weekend, Nov. 6-8, 2025

CMU125 at Homecoming Weekend is Nov. 6-8! Register now for this landmark celebration: cmu.is/homecoming

MCS Faculty Members Recognized With Chairs - including our very own @olexandr.bsky.social Olexandr Isayev! 🪅🪇🥳🥂

www.cmu.edu/mcs/news-eve...

CMU Program Helps Students Incorporate Sustainable Learning Environment into Diverse Fields At Carnegie Mellon University, students in the Environmental and Sustainable Studies (ESS) program are confronting climate change, water scarcity and pollution through hands-on research and interdisci...

CMU Program Helps Students Incorporate Sustainable Learning Environment into Diverse Fields

Individuals involved in this project span the labs of department chemists Terry Collins, Neil Donahue, and Ryan Sullivan.

www.cmu.edu/news/stories...?

Ken Hovis and Maggie Braun smile at the camera as they stand next to a grill with hotdogs on it.

Dean Barbara Shinn-Cunningham and Eric Yttri smile at the camera. Yttrium holds a flaming sousaphone.

A group of students participate in tug-of-war.

Undergrads brought the energy to MCS Pride Day — thanks for making it unforgettable!

Woman seated holding a fan in a formal portrait gazing at the viewer. Library of Congress.

Josephine Silone Yates was a professor of chemistry & among the 1st women in the US to head a university science department. She was also a journalist & editor & served as the president of the National Association of Colored Women in 1901.

Five students tug hard on a rope during a game of tug of war.

Five students watch as a model rocket launches into the air.

Two students prepare to tie dye tee shirts.

MCS Pride Day is almost here! We’ll be celebrating undergraduates in the Mellon College of Science from 3:30-6:30 p.m. on Sept. 16 on the Mall between the College of Fine Arts building and Hammerschlag with an afternoon of fun, food and community.

They’re called “forever chemicals” because once they’re released, you can’t take them back… The House and Senate are proposing further delays in phasing out PFASs in firefighting foams. 🧵

2025 candidates’ election statements and backgrounds The 2025 fall-election candidates include those for president-elect, District II director, District IV director, and director-at-large

The @acs.org 2025 candidate election statements are now available on @cenmag.bsky.social (and will be available in the Sept. print issue): cen.acs.org/acs-news/ele...

Did we know we are ranked 8th in the nation for best colleges for Chemistry? www.niche.com/colleges/sea... and top 5 for best professors? www.niche.com/colleges/sea... with top marks in Pennsylvania for our professors!

Chemistry Seminar: Christine M. Aikens, Kansas State University

Theoretical Investigations of the Optical Properties of Bare and Monolayer-Protected Nanoparticles

Host: Graduate Student Advisory Committee

Wed, September 10, 2025
4 p.m.
Mellon Institute Conference Room 348

Pizza & Pennant Making workshop

Pizza & Pennant Making workshop

Pizza & Pennant Making workshop

"Room to Imagine" exhibit now in Hunt Library gallery

🍕✂️ Get creative (and fed!) at our Pizza & Pennant Making workshop! 🚩

Join us tomorrow (Sept. 9th) from 4:30-6:30 PM in IDeATe Studio A on the first floor of Hunt Library to create your own @cmu.edu pennant while enjoying delicious pizza and drinks.

Why are chemists starting infernos in the lab? Researchers simulate wildland fires that move into cities to better understand what makes their plumes particularly toxic

Chemistry & Mechanical Engineering faculty member Ryan Sullivan was interviewed for this article on understanding the consequences of flame retardant additives in furniture foam when it burns.

cen.acs.org/environment/...

We gathered today to celebrate Tim and his retirement from Chemistry - he has been at CMU for over 40 years, and with Chemistry over 30 of those. Thank you for your many years of service; we will miss you more than you can know!

It was Welcome Back Picnic day! Thanks for all who came out to join us :)

A scotty dog wears a baseball cap and holds a foam finger that says "MCS is #1" Text on the poster says, "Mellon College of Science Welcomes You to CMU!"

Welcome back to all of our students! We’re looking forward to the fall semester with you!

Last day of #acsfall2025. Emma Bouchard, a graduate student @cmuchemistry.bsky.social chairs Cryo-EM and protein dynamics session of our “Bridging theory and experiment with AI” symposium. #compchem #chemsky

Attending #ACSFall #acsfall2025 meeting in DC? Interested in ML interatomic potentials? See my talk today @acscomp.bsky.social symposium on “Chemical Reaction Networks, Retrosynthesis, and Reaction Prediction” #compchem

Thesis Defense: David Hebert
Garcia-Bosch Research Group @isaacgb9.bsky.social

Copper Complexes with Bio-Inspired Redox-Active Ligands: Synthesis, Characterization, and Reactivity

Monday August 18, 2025
1:00 p.m.
Mellon Institute Classroom 448