Group NewsSeptember 2024
Andrew's paper on inhibiting hydrogen evolution using steric interactions is in press at ACS Catalysis - check it out! June 2024 Visting graduate student Katharina Eisenhardt, REU students Ariel Rodriguez-Gutierrez, Arielle Meloche and UC LEADS scholar Aarthika Nagarajan join us for the summer. Welcome! March 2024 Graduate students Feven Gebresilassie and Partho Paul join the group. Welcome! The Yang group goes on its annual retreat in Anza Borrego! January 2024 Undergradaute researchers Amy Nam and Chris Margolis join the group. Welcome! September 2023 Jared's paper on N2O reduction with iron porphyrins is now published in ACS Catalysis. Check it out! June 2023 Graduating seniors Hien Nguyen wins the departmental Don Bunker Award and Natalia Ramirez wins the Gebel Award. Congrats! Summer undergraduate students Jayden Thomas, Brandon Van, and Gaby Lopez join the group. Welcome! Nadia and Hien's publication on vanadyl oxo salen complexes with proximal cations and their solvation properties is published in J. Phys. Chem. A. Check it out! Our review with the Alexandrova (UCLA) and Brushett (MIT) groups on electrochemical CO2 capture and concentration is published in Chemical Reviews! Check it out! February 2023 First year graduate students Ciara Gillis, Ute Petri, Faith Flinkingshelt, and Claire Zimmerman and postdoctoral scholar Magy Mekhail join the group. Welcome! December 2022 Sarah's paper on aqueous electrochemical CO2 reduction of a hydrogenation catalyst is published in Chemical Communications. Check it out! September 2022 Andrew's paper on metal hydride complexes with cationic ligands is published in Organometallics! Check it out! Our Sloan-funded center's Tutorial Review on designing molecular carriers for electrochemical CO2 capture and concentration is published in Chemical Society Reviews. Check it out! August 2022 The Center for Closing the Carbon Cycle (4C) Energy Frontier Research Center is selected for funding by DOE. Jenny is the Director of the $10.35 million/4 year grant that will involve collaborative research among 20 PIs across multiple universities and national laboratories. Allie's collaborative paper the Alexandrova group is published in ACS Sustainble Chemistry and Engineering. Check it out! July 2022 Postdoctoral scholar Dr. Ab Mir joins the group. Welcome! Jeff's paper on oxygen stable electrochemical CO2 capture and concentration is published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Check it out! June 2022 Amanda's collaborative paper with the Alexandrova group on inverse design of direct air capture agents is out in PNAS! Check it out! Jenny becomes an Associate Editor at the Journal of the American Chemical Society. REU students Markus Bergstrom and Jaclyn Zepeda and visiting graduate student Aneelman Brar (Findlater group, UC Merced) join us for the summer! Undergraduate researcher Matthew Wieske joins the group. Welcome! April 2022 Postdoctoral scholar Dr. Ana Garcia joins the group. Welcome! Jenny guest edited a special issue in Accounts of Chemical Research on Photo- and Electrochemical CO2 reduction - check it out! February 2022 First year graduate students Colleen Miller, Jared Stanley, and Elise Payong and postdoctoral scholar Dr. Kelsey Collins joins the group. Welcome! January 2022 Nadia's paper on cationic effect on Mn imido BDFE's in published on the Journal of the American Chemical Society! Check it out! New undergraduate researcher Natalia Ramirez joins the group - welcome! December 2021 Jenny contributes to a roundup of the NGenE 2021 meeting Electrochemistry is Everywhere and is featured in the virtual issue Women at the Forefront of Energy Research (Vol 4), both in ACS Energy Letters. November 2021 The Yang group moves into the beautiful new Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building (ISEB)! We are excited to share a building with scientists from other disciplines and engineers, and look forward to all of the collaborative opportunities that will arise! October 2021 Our CO2 capture and concentration work (with graduate student Allie Zito) is featured in UCI's Special Report on Climate Change. Check it out! September 2021 Undergraduate student Yunsong Pan joins the lab. Welcome to the group! August 2021 Our perspective on electric fields in catalysis is published in ACS Catalysis. Check it out! Nehal and Jeff's paper is in press in the journal Polyhedron! It will be published in the special issue "Undergraduate Research in Inorganic Chemistry" Check it out! July 2021 New postdoc Dr. Ryan King joins the lab! Welcome to the group! Jenny is promoted to full Professor and is named a Chancellor's Fellow! June 2021 Undergraduate researcher and UC LEADS scholar Hien Nguyen joins the lab. Welcome to the group! April 2021 Undergraduate students Erin Araneta and Jesus Galeana join the lab. Welcome to the group! Jenny receives the Inorganic Chemistry Lectureship! Check out her interview with ACS Axial here! February 24, 2021 Postdoc Dr. Nadia Leonard wins a prestigious UC Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship! Congrats! January 29, 2021 First year graduate student Andrew Cypcar joins the group! Welcome! December 1, 2020 New postdoc Dr. Carina Jette joins the lab! Welcome to the group! November 23, 2020 Our collaborative study with the Evans group on the electrochemical properties of uranium complexes is in press in the journal Inorganic Chemistry. Check it out! November 5-6, 2020 Jenny attends the "Negative Emissions Science" Scialog, sponsored by the Research Corporation and the Sloan Foundation. November 3, 2020 Our outlook on catalyst design for CO2 reduction inspired by the enzyme formate dehydrogenase is in press at the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Check it out! October 1, 2020 Drew's paper on mechanistic and kinetic aspects of the first synthetic reversible catalyst for CO2/HCO2- conversion is in press in Chemical Communications. It will be published in the Special Issue "Bioinspired metal complexes for chemical transformations and catalysis" August 14, 2020 "Using nature’s blueprint to expand catalysis with Earth-abundant metals", a collaborative review co-authored by Jenny is in press in Science. Check it out! August 7, 2020 "Bioinspiration in light harvesting and catalysis", a collaborative review co-authored by Jenny and other members of the CIFAR program Bio-inspired Solar Energy program is in press in Nature Review Materials. Check it out! June 9, 2020 The editorial "Checking in with Women Materials Scientists During a Global Pandemic: May 2020" featuring Jenny and 11 other scientists is in press in Chemistry of Materials. May 19, 2020 When it rains it pours! Check out *3* new papers hot off the press! Caitlin's paper with our collaborators at the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), "Decoupling Kinetics and Thermodynamics of Interfacial Catalysis at a Chemically Modified Black Silicon Semiconductor Photoelectrode" is in press at ACS Energy Letters. The work was the result of a DOE SCGSR fellowship where she spent 5 months working at NREL. Zach's paper "Modular synthesis of symmetric proazaphosphatranes bearing heteroatom groups" is press in Tetrahedron Letters! Dave Shaffer's collaborative paper with Prof. Matt Shores' group at Colorado State University "Single molecule magnet behaviour in a square planar S = 1/2 Co(II) complex and spin-state assignment of multiple relaxation modes" is in press in Chemical Communications! March 31, 2020 Graduate students Allie Zito and Alissa Matus are awarded NSF GRFP awards. Congrats! March 5, 2020 Drew Cunningham successfully defends his doctoral thesis! Congrats! He will be starting a postdoctoral position with Prof. Alex Miller at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. March 5, 2020 Drew's article "Selective Electrocatalytic Reduction of CO2 to HCO2−" for Trends in Chemistry's Mechanism of the Month is in press. It will be published in the Special Issue: First Anniversary – Laying Groundwork for the Future. Check it out! February 12, 2020 Bianca's paper "Highly Selective Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction by [Pt(dmpe)2]2+ through Kinetic and Thermodynamic Control" is in press in Organometallics! It was an invited contribution to the Special Issue Organometallic Chemistry for Enabling Carbon Dioxide Utilization. Check it out! Winter 2020 Graduate students Alissa Matus, Amanda Kummeth, Clarabella Li, and Rakia Dhaoui and undergraduates Jarod Vaquilar and Jonathan Galicia join the group. Welcome! December 17, 2019 Drew's paper on reversible CO2/formate catalysis is in press in Angew. Chemie. Int. Ed. The paper was selected as a Very Important Paper - VIP! Check it out! December 13, 2019 Congrats to Dr. Caitlin Hanna for successfully defending her thesis. She is headed to a postdoctoral position with Prof. Sean Elliott at Boston University. December 6, 2019 Congrats to Dr. Bianca Ceballos for successfully defending her thesis. She is headed to a postdoctoral position at Los Alamos National Laboratory. November 22, 2019 Bianca wins Best Poster Award at the International Solar Fuels - Young meeting in Hiroshima, Japan. Congrats! September 9, 2019 Kevin and Alex's collaborative paper with Jack Fuller & Professor Alexandrova (UCLA) on cationic effects in transition metal complexes is in press in Chemical Science. Check it out! August 23, 2019 Congrats to Dr. Alex Reath for successfully defending his doctoral thesis! August 19, 2019 Zach and Ian's Feature article on proton coupled electron transfer in redox catalysis is in press in Chemical Communications. It will be included in the special issue "Frontiers in Proton Coupled Electron Transfer". Check it out! Jenny and Sara Thoi's (Johns Hopkins University) Energy Focus article on "Molecular Insights into Heterogeneous Processes in Energy Storage and Conversion" is in press in ACS Energy Letters. Check it out! August 7, 2019 Brian's collaborative paper with Prof. Markus Ribbe and Prof. Yilin Hu on the redox properties of isolated nitrogenase cofactors is in press in ChemBioChem. Check it out! July 2019 Dr. Nadia Leonard joins the lab as a postdoctoral associate. Incoming first year students Clarabella Li and Amanda Kummeth also start for the summer in the Yang lab. Welcome to the group! Jenny receives the UCI Academic Senate Early Career Research Award. June 7, 2019 Undergraduate awards! Kevin Kang receives the American Chemical Society Division of Inorganic Chemistry Award! Nehal Idris receives the UCI Pitts Undergraduate Award! Undergraduate Zaira Barrera joins the lab. Welcome to the group! May 2019 Lots of good news this month! Congrats to Dr. Zachary Thammavongsy for successfully defending his doctoral thesis. Ph.D. #3 from the Yang group will be starting a teaching & research postdoctoral position at Chapman University. Graduate student Bianca Ceballos receives a Faculty Endowed Fellowship. Jenny receives the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Fostering Undergraduate Research. Jenny also receives the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award! Thank you to the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation for supporting our efforts in teaching and research! April 9, 2019 Congrats to Dr. Brian Lydon for successfully defending his doctoral thesis! Ph.D. #2 from the Yang group will be headed to a job at Intel. Undergraduate Norman Soto joins the lab. Welcome to the group! March 12, 2019 Jeff's outlook on thermodynamic considerations of H+ and CO2 reduction is in press in ACS Central Science. Check it out! Undergraduate Natty's paper on the crystal structure of NiFe(CO)5[tris(pyridylmethyl)-azaphosphatrane]: a synthetic mimic of the NiFe hydrogenase active site is published in Acta Cryst E Check it out! Undergraduate Andrew Luu is awarded the prestigious Department of Energy Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship (MLEF) to spend this summer at the National Energy Technology Laboratory! Congrats! January 7 2019 Caitlin's paper on proton-coupled electron transfer of anthracene immobilized onto an indium tin oxide electrode is published in ACS Applied Energy Materials (special forum issue on the New Chemistry to Advance the Quest for Sustainable Solar Fuels). Check it out! January 4 - 6, 2019 Despite a little rain, the 3rd annual Yang group in Borrego Springs is a success! Great science discussion and hiking in the desert! January 1, 2019 Jenny starts a two year term on the Editorial Advisory Board of the ACS journal Inorganic Chemistry. December 4, 2018 Graduate students Ian Mercer, Megan Screen, and Allie Zito join the lab. Welcome to the group! November 21, 2018 Bianca's paper on metal hydricity and selective CO2 reduction is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Check it out! October 8, 2018 Charlene's publication on the pH-dependent reactivity of a water soluble hydrogen evolution electrocatalyst is published in Organometallics. Check it out! Sept 13, 2018 Zach's publication on the metal coordination of azaphosphatranes is in press in Dalton Transactions. Check it out! Sept 6, 2018 Caitlin is awarded an AVS Dorothy M. and Earl S. Hoffman Travel Grant to attend the American Vacuum Society 65th International Symposium in October. Jenny is selected to be a CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar. Sept 4, 2018 Annie and Alex's publication on cationic effects in N-N bond formation is in press in Angewandte Chemie International Edition. Check it out! August 30, 2018 Caitlin Hanna and Drew Cunningham were both selected for U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) awards. As part of their awards, Caitlin will be spending 6 months at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory with Dr. Nathan Neale and Drew will be spending 3 months at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory with Dr. John Linehan. July 22, 2018 Undergraduate student Natty was awarded #2 Judges Choice Award and #3 BUZZ Award in the UCI UROP Video Challenge! Check out her video here. July 10, 2018 Franklin & Marshall College undergraduate Han Le starts working with the lab for the summer. Welcome to the group! June 18, 2018 Graduate student Bianca is featured for the student spotlight in UCI School of Physical Science. You can read the article here. May 23, 2018 Graduate student Zach is awarded Most Promising Future Chemistry Teacher by the department. Graduate student Alex was awarded the Departmental Award for Service for his efforts in improving safety culture and standards. Congrats! May 21, 2018 UC Berkeley undergraduate Jessica Mendoza starts working with the lab for the summer. Welcome to the group! May 17, 2018 Graduate student Zach is interviewed about his development of Chemistry related games and company d-orbital games in this week's RSC America's blog. Check it out! Graduate student Caitlin was accepted to attend the Next Generation Electrochemistry (NGenE) workshop in Chicago! Congrats! May 15, 2018 Graduate student Bianca was accepted to the NSF GROW program and will be spending the Fall in Professor Marc Robert's Laboratory at the University of Paris Diderot! Undergraduate researcher Nehal Idris was selected to be an ACS Scholar! Congrats! April 6, 2018 Caitiln's paper is in press in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. Check it out! April 4, 2018 Graduate student Bianca receives the inaugural School of Physical Sciences Latino Excellence Award! Graduate student Zach is selected for UCI's 2017-2018 Most Promising Future Faculty Award! Undergraduate student Wyeth receives an NSF GRFP Honorable Mention and the Undergraduate Chemistry Award from the Orange County Chapter of the American Chemical Society. April 2, 2018 Undergraduate researchers Andrew Luu and Reyna Velazquez join the lab. Welcome to the group! March 12, 2018 Steve and Jenny's First Reactions perspective in ACS Central Science is in press. The perspective highlights a beautiful collaborative study from the Marinescu group at USC and Miller group at Caltech. Our paper last year on the effect of proximal cations on redox potential was selected for inclusion in the virtual issue "Women in Inorganic Chemistry: Synthetic Chemistry Addressing Challenges in Energy and the Environment" in the journal Inorganic Chemistry. February 20, 2018 The Yang group is going international! Undergraduate researcher Natwara is awarded a RISE fellowship to perform research at the University of Munster in Germany this summer. February 15, 2018 Jenny is named a Sloan Research Fellow! Undergraduate researcher Nehal is selected for participation in the NIH funded MARC U-STAR program at UC Irvine. Congrats! February 12, 2018 Juliet's paper on intramolecular hydrogen bonding in a cobalt aqua complex and it's water oxidation activity is in press in Chemical Science! Congrats! February 7, 2018 Annie's paper on iron catalyzed aerobic C-H activation is in press in Chemical Science! Congrats! January 27, 2018 Jenny and Bianca give talks at the Renewable Energy: Solar Fuels Gordon Research Seminar. December 1, 2017 First year graduate students Tyler Kerr and Sarah Wang join the lab. Welcome to the group! November 9, 2017 Caitlin Hanna and Drew Cunningham advance to candidacy! Congrats! November 2-5, 2017 Jenny attends Research Corporation's Advanced Energy Storage Scialog October 10, 2017 Jenny gives the School of Physical Sciences Public Breakfast Lecture June 16, 2017 Bianca's paper on the solvent-dependent thermochemistry of a nickel complex is in press in the Royal Society of Chemistry Journal Chemical Communications. It will be published in the 2017 Emerging Investigators Issue. Undergraduates Samantha Ruelas graduates with Phi Lambda Upsilon and Rebecca Combs with Magna Cum Laude, Honors in Chemistry, and Phi Lambda Upsilon. Samantha will be headed to U of Oregon, and Rebecca to the U of Minnesota for their graduate studies. Congrats! June 9, 2017 Wyeth Gibson receives the American Chemical Society Division of Inorganic Chemistry Award and the undergraduate Gebel Award. Congrats! Undergraduates Hazel Nguyen and Kevin Kang join the lab. Welcome to the group! May 24, 2017 Zach wins the award for "Outstanding Contributions to the Chemistry Department" and Alex is named a Safety Fellow. Congrats! UC Berkeley undergraduate Nicole Katzaroff joins us for the summer. Welcome to the group! April 18, 2017 Undergraduates Nehal Idris and Natwara Sutthirat join the lab. Welcome to the group! February 27, 2017 Alex's paper on the effect of proximal Lewis acids on redox potential is in press in the journal Inorganic Chemistry! Check it out! Postdoc Steven Chabolla joins the lab. Welcome to the group! January 9, 2017 Jenny is selected for a Presidential Early Career Scientist and Engineering Award (PECASE). Congrats! December 15, 2016 Zachary Thamavongsy is named a UCI Center for Engaged Instruction Pedagogical Fellow. Congrats! December 10-12, 2016 First Yang Group science-and-hiking retreat at the Anza-Borrega Desert Research Center is a success! December 1, 2016 First year graduate student Jeff Barlow joins the lab. Welcome to the group! November 21, 2016 Juliet ("call me Dr") Khosrowabadi Kotyk successfully defends her thesis and completes the first Ph.D. from the Yang lab! She will be starting her next adventure at Catalytic Innovations. Congrats! November 3, 2016 Qilong Sun, a visiting graduate student from East China Normal University, joins the lab. Welcome to the group! November 18, 2016 Bianca Ceballos and Alex Reath advance to candidacy! Congrats! November 2, 2016 Charlene Tsay's paper makes the cover of the Journal of the American Chemical Society and is featured in JACS Spotlight! October 14, 2016 Samantha Ruelas wins the Poster Competition at the 2016 SACNAS Conference. As part of her award, she also receives a travel grant to attend the Fall 2017 ACS National meeting! Congrats! October 13, 2016 Dave Shaffer's paper is in press in Dalton Transactions! August 3, 2016 Undergraduate Wyeth Gibson joins the lab. Welcome to the group! July 14, 2016 Charlene Tsay's paper is in press in the Journal of the American Chemical Society! June 13, 2016 Undergraduates Rebecca Combs, Ivy Kha, and Samantha Ruelas receive Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Fellowships. Congrats! June 3, 2016 Rebecca Combs receives the American Chemical Society Division of Inorganic Chemistry Award and Samantha Ruelas receives the undergraduate Gebel Award. Congrats! June 1, 2016 Juliet Khosrowabadi Kotyk is honored with a TA Award and Zachary Thammavongsy receives a graduate Gebel Award. Congrats! May 26, 2016 Graduate student Drew Cunningham joins the lab. Welcome to the group! March 9, 2016 Brian Lydon's paper is in press in the journal Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers. Check it out here! It will be published in the "2016 Emerging Investigators" issue. March 3, 2016 Jenny is selected to give a poster talk at the Renewable Energy: Solar Fuels Gordon Research Conference. February 24, 2016 Zachary Thammavongsy's paper is in press in the journal Dalton Transactions. Check it out here! It will be published in the "New Talent: Americas" issue. February 1, 2016 Juliet Khosrowabadi Kotyk's paper is in press in the Journal of Coordination Chemistry. Check it out here! It will be published in the "Emerging Leaders" issue. December 23, 2015 Jenny receives an NSF CAREER award! Thank you to the NSF for your support! December 8, 2015 First year graduate student Caitlin Hanna joins the lab. Welcome to the group! November 9, 2015 Zachary Thammavongsy's paper is in press in the journal Inorganic Chemistry. Check it out here! November 3, 2015 Jenny is named a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Environmental Chemistry Mentor. Applications for the postdoctoral fellowship position in "Electrochemical Capture and Concentration of Carbon Dioxide" are currently being accepted. Thank you to the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation for your support! November 2, 2015 Charlene Tsay's paper is in press in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Check it out here! September 14, 2015 Postdoctoral Associate Annie Chantarojsiri joins the lab. Welcome to the group! July 17, 2015 Jenny is named a 2015 Hellman Faculty Fellow! Thank you to the Hellman Fellows fund for your support! July 13, 2015 Undergraduate Rebecca Combs joins the lab. Welcome to the group! June 22, 2015 Undergraduates Samantha Ruelas and Ivy Kha join the lab. Welcome to the group! May 15, 2015 Stephen Denghausen will graduate with Phi Lambda Upsilon, Honors in Chemistry, Campuswide Honors, Phi Beta Kappa, and Cum Laude. Brooke Livesay will graduate with the American Chemical Society Division of Inorganic Chemistry Award. Congrats Stephen and Brooke! April 5, 2015 Undergraduate Hannah Bui joins the lab. Welcome to the group! March 31, 2015 Bianca Ceballos receives an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Congrats Bianca! December 10, 2014 First year graduate students Bianca Ceballos and Alex Reath join the lab. Welcome to the group! November 19, 2014 Dave Shaffer's paper is in press in Inorganic Chemistry - check it out here! July 8, 2014 Jenny is selected to give a poster talk at the Organometallic Gordon Research Conference June 16, 2014 Undergraduate Stephen Denghausen joins the lab. Welcome to the group! May 7, 2014 Jenny receives the prestigious DOE Early Career Research Award. Congrats Jenny! April 2, 2014 Steve receives the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Congrats Steve! March 16, 2014 Jenny gives invited talk at the "Catalysis Science: The Next Generation" symposium at the Dallas ACS meeting: "Utilizing Thermodynamic Considerations in the Design of Molecular Transition Metal Catalysts for Hydrogenation Activity and Aqueous Hydrogen Production". March 13, 2014 Jenny interviewed for UCI News article and video "Stamping Out STEM Stereotypes" (featuring some group member cameos). January 5, 2014 Jenny gives invited talk at the 23rd Western Photosynthesis Conference: "Synthetic Heterobimetallic Complexes as Functional Analogues for CO Dehydrogenase". December 11, 2013 First year graduate students Brian Lydon, Steve Poteet, Jake Ritter, Zach Thammavongsy, and undergraduate Brooke Livesay join the lab. Welcome to the group! November 26, 2013 Solvent system up and running, thanks Jorg! September 23, 2013 Undergraduates Tu Nguyen and Joanne Yoo join the lab. Welcome to the group! August 19, 2013 After some precarious forklifting, our new gloveboxes are here! July 25, 2013 Jenny gives invited talk at 2013 CENTC Summer School on Catalysis: Enabling Sustainability and Innovation through Catalysis. July 15, 2013 Yang lab open-house shows off our newly renovated labs (and our baking skills). Afterwards, we get down to business with the lab's very first reactions. July 10, 2013 New glassware! July 1, 2013 Yang Group officially kicks off with Professor Jenny Yang, postdocs David Shaffer and Charlene Tsay, graduate student Juliet Khosrowabadi, and summer student Steven Poteet. Come visit us at 3021A Frederick Reines Hall! |
