Latest News

Dr. Benjamin McDonald, an Assistant Professor of Chemistry, has been working with a research group focused on the development of polymeric materials with programmable reactivity to address challenges around human health and sustainability.

Brenda Rubenstein, Associate Professor of Chemistry and Physics and Graduate Trainer in Biology, will become the new Data Science Institute (DSI) director on July 1, 2025. The Data Science Institute was kicked off in earnest by Sohini Ramachandran and is now going to be led by Brenda, both long-standing members of the StemJazz community!

Andrea Bryant, one of our five brilliant Provost’s STEM Postdoctoral Fellows, was featured in a Wired article titled, “The Unwritten Laws of Physics for Black Women.” The article is attached here.

Dr. Benjamin McDonald, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, just gave an I-BEAM (Institute for Biology, Engineering and Medicine) seminar this week (Thursday 11/14 at 11AM in Barus and Holley 190). The seminar title is “Macromolecular Design for Constructing Tissue-Like Soft Materials from the Bottom-Up.

Dr. Kimani Toussaint, Sr. Professor of Science and Senior Associate Dean for Research and Strategic Initiatives, was granted $1.5 million dollars over the course of 3 years for his project titled: “Fundamental Study of In Vivo Tissue Optical Properties Across Diverse Skin Tones to Advance Accuracy of Photoplethysmography Based Devices.

Dr. Jason Okonofua, Associate Professor of Cognitive and Psychological Sciences, was one of seven recipients of the Social and Emotional Learning Leaders of the Year (SELLY) Awards, which are presented by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL).

Tayla von Ash, assistant professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences has been awarded the NIH R01 grant, which totals $3.5M over five years Read more about this amazing story here!

We’re pleased to announce that Dr. Andrea Bryant, a 2024 postdoctoral fellow in the department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, has just released a new paper titled “Long Period Seismology on Titan in the Presence of a Methane Clathrate Lid.

Dr. Benjamin McDonald, Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Engineering, published an article in ACS titled “Bottlebrush Midblocks Promote Colloidal Bridging of Telechelic Polymers.” Below is the abstract: Telechelic polymers are effective rheological modifiers that bridge between associative constituents to form elastic networks.

Sohini Ramachandran, Director of the Center for Computational Molecular Biology and Associate Professor of Computer Science, was recognized for research in the development of quantitative methods that reveal the causes and consequences of human genetic variation while advancing the goal of personalized medicine for all.