Meet the Class of 2020
Shahad Batubara plans to return home to Saudi Arabia, where she has accepted a position with Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, a petrochemical company. She plans to work within their Technology & Innovation Research Center.
Kathryn Bormes: Next year, Kathryn Bormes will be attending Sidney Kimmel Medical College in center city Philadelphia. While at Penn State, she has been awarded the President's Freshman award and the Evan Pugh Scholar Senior Award. She is also a part of the Schreyer Honors College.
Bria Burton plans to pursue a career in the chemical industry.
Mitchell Cardow is currently interviewing for several positions at pharmaceutical companies.
Yidong Chen: Yidong Chen plans to work in the chemical industry for a year before applying to graduate school.
Mitchell Giordano plans to pursue a doctorate degree in organic chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Siti Maisarah Binti Ishak: Siti Ishak plans to pursue a career in the chemical industry before deciding whether or not to apply to graduate school.
Sojung Kim: After graduation, Kim will pursue her PhD in synthetic organic chemistry with Professor Richmond Sarpong at UC Berkeley as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow. At Penn State, Kim was part of the Millennium Scholars Program and Schreyer Honors College. She has received multiple awards and honors, including an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, selection as one of two Spring 2020 Eberly College of Science Student Marshals, the John & Elizabeth Holmes Teas Scholarship, a 2019 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, and the Evan Pugh Senior Scholar Award.
Madison Lazeration: Lazeration plans to attend a Master’s Program in Applied and Industrialized Chemistry at IUP.
Yuhan Li: Yuhan Li plans to pursue a master’s degree at the University of Michigan. She was named the recipient of the Albert Edison Miller Endowed Scholarship in Chemistry during her time at Penn State.
Nick Litak: After graduation, Litak plans to pursue a PhD in chemistry at Harvard University, where he plans to study inorganic chemistry. He is the 2020 Department of Chemistry Commencement Marshal.
Grayson McCloy: McCloy has accepted a position as a graduate trainee for an international specialty chemical company, Croda Inc.
Jarek Metro: Jarek Metro plans to pursue a PhD in chemistry at the University of Notre Dame.
Olivia Meyer: After graduation, Olivia Meyer plans to move to Atlanta to start a Fellowship through ORISE (Oak Ridge Institute of Science Education) for the CDC. She will be working in the Tobacco Volatiles Branch of the CDC. This fellowship could potentially last up to 5 years.
Alec Murray: Alec Murray plans to pursue a PhD at the University of Illinois.
Nur Azrina Binti Mustapa plans to return to Malaysia and start working as a chemist in the compounding section at a local company, Top Glove Corporation Bhd.
Yujie Qian: Yujie Qian plans to attend a chemistry PhD program in Pennsylvania this fall. She is interested in interdisciplinary research, combining physical chemistry and materials chemistry.
Damon Rodríguez plans to pursue a career in the chemical industry. After gaining some experience, he plans to return to school.
August Rothenberger: Rothenberger is a Schreyer Honors Scholar and a recipient of the John and Elizabeth Holmes Teas Scholarship. His undergraduate thesis work was completed with Prof. Thomas Mallouk and Prof. Robert Hickey and is titled "Synthesis of Oligomeric Ruthenium Polypyridyl Dyes and Liquid Imidazolium Zwitterions for Improved Energy Generation and Storage." After graduation, Rothenberger plans to attend the University of California, Berkeley to pursue a PhD in chemistry.
Ashley Saunders: Ashley Saunders will be starting at Stanford University this fall in their chemistry PhD program. She is excited to get back to the lab and start teaching. At Penn State, Saunders is a Millennium Scholar, McNair Scholar, and American Chemical Society Scholar. “Being in Penn State Chemistry gave me amazing resource opportunities such as the Eberly College of Science grant and Marion J. Eyster Scholarship,” she notes, “starting research early in the Zarzar laboratory gave me wonderful research opportunities like presenting at national and local conferences and coauthorship on a Nature publication.”
Jonathan Weber: Jonathan Weber will begin his PhD training in organic chemistry at Brandeis University next fall.
Autumn Williams: After graduation, Autumn Williams plans to attend pharmacy school and begin work within the pharmaceutical industry.
Jin Zhang: Jin Zhang plans to travel to Tokyo to obtain a master’s degree in chemistry.
Kaiwen Zheng: Kaiwen Zheng plans to attend graduate school after graduating from Penn State.