Honoring Innovation: UChicago Chemistry's 2024 Post Doc Awards Symposium
The University of Chicago Department of Chemistry will hold a 2024 Post Doc Awards Symposium on Wednesday, July 31st. The event will take place in GCIS, room 301-303, from 9am to 12pm.
This year, the Awards Selection Committee selected seven outstanding finalists to present at the Department of Chemistry’s 2024 Postdoctoral Award Symposium:
Deepak Badgurjar, Enhancing Electrocatalysis with Electrode-orthogonal Layers
Tomojit Chowdhury, Molecular Tuning of Excitons and Polarization Anisotropy in Hybrid Bilayer Crystals
Ruhee Dcunha, Expanding the Limits of Quantum Chemistry with Fragment-based Quantum Algorithms
Matthew Du, Stabilizing Equilibrium Configurations in Nonequilibrium Environments using Nonreciprocal Interactions
Ningxin Jiang, Synthesis and Catalytic Application of Fe4S4-based Coordination Polymers
Myojeong Kim, Direct Conversion of Amines to Sulfonamides: Bridging Organic Logic and Medicinal Applications
Matthew Styles, A High-throughput Method for the Rapid Generation of Protein Binders
Following directly after the symposium, Professors Mark Levin and Sarah King will host a workshop called, “Demystifying the Faculty Application Process.” The talk will be held from 1:00-3:00 PM in GCIS 301-303 and will feature talks on applying for faculty positions at R01 institutions in the United States.
The first hour will be a discussion about the applications and interview processes; the second hour will include a panel Q&A session. The workshop is open to all postdocs and senior graduate students in the Chemistry Department, including JFI postdocs working with Chemistry PIs.
Interested parties should register for the workshop using the QR code below.
Deepak Badgurjar – Anna Wuttig Group
Deepak grew up in Ajmer (India) surrounded by the beautiful Aravalli mountains. He received his B.S. in chemistry from GCA, Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati University and his M.S. from the Central University of Rajasthan. There, he has studied the photoinduced electron transfer events from porphyrins to inorganic nanocrystals under the supervision of Prof. Raghu Chitta and continued his PhD in the same group. His graduate work focused on supramolecular donor-acceptor systems. Following an internship at UNC Chapel Hill in Prof. Meyer’s Lab, he joined Prof. Wayne Gladfelter’s group at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, where his postdoctoral research focused on developing materials for photon upconversion and singlet fission processes. In September 2021, he joined the Wuttig group and is working on developing self-assembled structures for electrochemical processes. Outside of lab you can find him either in a coffee shop or in a bookstore reading about world history!
Tomojit Chowdhury - Jiwoong Park Group.
Dr. Tomojit Chowdhury completed his undergraduate degrees in India and earned his PhD in Chemistry (2015–21) at Johns Hopkins University. In 2021, he joined the University of Chicago as a Kadanoff-Rice postdoctoral fellow to work with Prof. Jiwoong Park's group. His research focuses on synthesizing ultra-thin semiconductor crystals and investigating their structure-property relationships to develop energy-efficient solutions for sensing, computing and communications.
Ruhee D’Cunha – Laura Gagliardi Group
Ruhee D’Cunha received her Integrated Masters degree in Chemistry from IIT Bombay in 2016, where she did undergraduate research using molecular dynamics to model biological systems. She received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Virginia Tech in 2021, where her main research focus was on the development of methods for the accurate and efficient prediction of molecular properties. She currently has an interest in the development of quantum chemistry algorithms on quantum computers.
Ningxin Jiang - John Anderson Group
Originally from Nanjing, China, Ningxin Jiang completed his undergraduate studies at Nanjing University. He then pursued his graduate education at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he conducted research under the guidance of Professor Henry S. La Pierre, focusing on the synthesis of quantum magnetic materials. Currently, Ningxin is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Chicago, working in the lab of Professor John S. Anderson. His postdoctoral research involves the synthesis and application of sulfur-based coordination polymers.
Matthew Du – Suri Vaikuntanathan Group
Du joined JFI in 2022 as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the group of Prof. Suri Vaikuntanathan. He earned his PhD in Chemistry at UC San Diego under the advising of Prof. Joel Yuen-Zhou. His PhD research focused on the reaction-rate theory of molecules inside an optical cavity. Matthew's current research interests broadly include statistical mechanics, machine learning, and adaptive materials.
Myojeong Kim - Mark Levin Group
Myojeong was born and raised in Busan, Korea. She pursued her education in the field of basic sciences and earned her B.Sc. degree from DGIST in 2018. During her undergraduate program, she focused extensively on chemistry, cultivating a deep interest in the development of organic reactions. Her academic pursuits led her to Daejeon, where she joined the research group of Prof. Sungwoo Hong at the Department of Chemistry, KAIST, for her Ph.D. Myojeong’s doctoral thesis centers around visible-light-induced photochemical approaches to N-heterocycle functionalization and bioconjugation. After completing her Ph.D, Myojeong moved to Chicago in September to join the Levin group, driven by her current fascination with skeletal modifications of organic compounds. Outside of the lab, Myojeong enjoys playing badminton and relishing moments with friends over beers during her leisure time.
Matthew Styles – Bryan Dickinson Group
Matthew Styles received his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Minnesota in 2014, where he did undergraduate research developing Raman spectroscopy-based sensors with Dr. Christy Haynes. He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin in 2021, where his research with Dr. Helen Blackwell focused on identification and mechanistic studies of small-molecule bacterial quorum sensing modulators. His current postdoctoral research with Dr. Bryan Dickinson focuses on the development of phage-assisted directed evolution methods to identify tools for manipulating protein-protein interactions.