Emily Frechette grew up in Portland Oregon, and after attending Saint Mary’s Academy in downtown Portland, she came to OSU to remain close to family and to stay surrounded by nature. Emily has a great love for running, reading, listening to music and cooking. Since high school her favorite book has been Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Emily’s passion for chemistry stems from the unknown of it all. She feels that it is a subject that will never be fully understood, and appreciates the broad and significant variety in real world applications, that the research can offer.

She got into research early on, and has been working with Zinc-based MOFs since her freshman year.  She got in contact with Dr. Stylianou, who brought her into the lab that she works in today. After graduation she plans on continuing her education and going to medical school.

My name is Evan Park and I use she/her/hers pronouns. I grew up in bend, Oregon. Freshman and sophomore year I attended Bend Senior High School (Bend, OR). Junior and senior year I attended American Overseas School of Rome (Rome, Italy). I chose to pursue chemistry because I am very intrigued by the ability of chemistry to observe and predict reactions at the molecular level, and how widely this skill can be applied. After learning about the scientific explanations behind climate change and environmental disasters, I decided that it was my goal to use chemistry to solve these problems someday. I chose OSU because the environment and community are so welcoming and conducive to growth, and the science programs here are challenging and distinguished. I also chose to come here for the opportunity of trying out for the rowing team with no prior experience, which has proven to be an amazing experience after three years of learning how to row, excelling within my team, and even competing at the international stage in the sport. Post-graduation, I am planning on attending a graduate program to pursue a master’s degree in chemistry. I will use my final year of NCAA athletic eligibility to continue rowing at the collegiate level, and potentially pursue athletics at the national team level after that. Outside of school and rowing, I enjoy playing bass guitar with my friends, being in nature, and playing with my roommate’s cat. My favorite book is And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, because it leaves you with so many questions and ideas that you can read it over and over again! My favorite food is authentic Italian cacio e pepe pasta. I am proud to announce that I broke the OSU women’s rowing 2000 meter erg record this February, thanks to the support and encouragement of my coaches and teammates. The Oregon State women’s rowing team has offered me an amazing environment to explore and exceed my own expectations of myself both physically and mentally, and I have learned countless lessons about grit, teamwork, and the rewards of raw, hard work. Last summer, I was accepted into the Under 23 National Team selection camp, where I made the top boat, the women’s open weight 8+, and travelled to Plovdiv, Bulgaria for the Under 23 World Rowing Championships. After winning our first heat in a comeback race, my boat won in the finals by open water, taking home gold medals for the USA. My experience there is reflective of the daily hard work, time management, and effort that I put in at OSU, balancing my chemistry demands, 9 rowing practices per week, and holding an executive role on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee as a Student Athlete Leadership Team representative.

Congratulations are in order for OSU Chemistry! We were selected to receive a 24-25 University Graduate Laurels Block Grant.

Laurels awards are one-year grants and funds awarded are for disbursement during the 2024-2025 academic year. Summer 2024 tuition waivers are also allowable for students admitted in that term. As a reminder, tuition support offered through this award is intended to assist with the recruitment of new graduate students to OSU admitted during the 2024-2025 academic year. As such, you may only award funds associated with this award to newly admitted students as defined in the Laurels Award RFP.

Congratulations to our Fall 2023 Honor Roll Students. Keep up the good work, all!

Abo Al Haija, Enas
Baumgartner, Trinity
Beeman, Carley
Bianco, Giuliano
Borne, Parker
Branstrom, Brillig
Brown, Katrina
Coe, Madeline
Colling, Prongbaramee
Doyle, Tyler
Dunne, Rachel
Fix, Emily
Frechette, Emily
Friesen, Emma
Fritz, Elise
Garrison, Audrey
Gray, Matthew
Groening, Christina-Ann
Guilleux, Hannah
Hanson-McBride, Ireland
Hardeman, Jayden
Henningsen, Jack
Holden, Elliot
Hounton, Nicholas
Jeffrey, Nikayla
Johnson, Marieke
Johnston, Michael
Kenny, Mitchell
Koenigsberg, Seiji
Kondybko, Yulia
Kucirka, Rhyan
Lee, Phoebe
Linsday, Taylor
Loescher, Andrew
Lovdokken, James
Lowe, Sydney
Ly, Eric
Mashino, Hailey
McCarthy, Mollie
Mcguire, Emma
Moser, Brooke
Munoz, Trenton
Murphy, Molly
Nelson, Isabella
Neubert, Mckenna
Nieves Lira, Citlali
Park, Evan
Phan, Brandon
Qin, Catherine
Qin, Jianyao
Ruparel, Dhwani
Ryan, Samantha
Scherzinger, Sabrina
Seo, Hyunjun
Stanley, Kayla
Stein, Julia
Tence, Jonathan
Ward, Oakley
Wasserlein, Owen
White, Jackson
Williams, Nicholas
Wise, Michael
Wolfe, Samuel
Ziegler, Olivia

Chemist Marilyn Mackiewicz was chosen as a Scialog fellow by the Research Corporation for Scientific Advancement. She will work with a group of 50 fellows who are committed to accelerating progress in the chemical sciences and laboratory animation. Together, they will collaborate on projects integrating advances in automation and AI to answer crucial questions in fundamental research. Awesome job, Marilyn! 

Chemist Wei Kong was awarded $110K from the American Chemical Society for her project entitled, “Superfluid helium droplets as microreactors for studies of photochemistry of fossil fuel hydrocarbons: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and the corresponding endoperoxides”

Carley Beeman grew up in Golden, Colorado and attended Golden High School. She enjoyed high school chemistry classes, loved the puzzle and challenge behind the science, and thought she wanted to pursue a career in pharmacy or medical research.

Carley chose OSU for the strong academics and athletics present- coming to Oregon State allowed her to pursue Division 1 gymnastics while simultaneously getting an undergraduate degree in chemistry. She notes that the people here at OSU are also genuine and caring, and it felt like home. Carley joined Dr. Kolluri’s lab this term, researching pathways regulating cell cycle, cell death, and differentiation in relation to cancer cells. She was drawn to this research after taking part in the ASPET research fellowship at the University of Michigan last summer, where she studied the respiratory depression pathway of opioids in mice brains. After graduation, Carley hopes to pursue her PhD in a biomedical science field.

            Outside of school, she loves spending time in nature with friends, camping and hiking. Her favorite book is the Giver, and favorite food is tacos al pastor. She has two brothers, making her the only girl in the family, and loves springtime in Corvallis when everything is in bloom.

Helen White grew up on Vashon Island, Washington where she attended Vashon Island High School. She chose to study chemistry because of her interest in radiochemistry, and because it paired well with her Radiation Health Physics degree.

Helen decided to go to OSU because of the campus and proximity to everyone she cares about. Compared to other schools, Oregon State had more to offer–academic and otherwise–so there wasn’t a doubt in her mind when it came to choosing a university.

Currently, Helen is performing research in the radiation center on campus with Dr. Chemey’s group. In the winter she will transfer projects from analyzing crystalline structures they were creating in the lab to working on a radiochemical separations project. Previously, she worked on a computational project using a DFT program in order to simulate metal hexaboride structures and explore their capabilities in holding radioactive waste materials. To get into research, Helen emailed and asked around professors she was interested in working with. Since then, she notes it has been an incredibly enriching and rewarding experience. Helen plans on attending graduate school immediately after graduation, hoping to pursue a PhD in radiochemistry and focus on working in nuclear waste management.

Outside of school and work, she loves to be outside and enjoys going for walks, bouldering, running, and frolicking, all the things she says help keep her sane. Beyond that, she loves to read, which can be a much-needed break from chemistry. Right now, Helen’s favorite book is The Wall by Marlen Haushofer. It is a short, devastating, dystopian fiction that was written in 1963 which talks about a woman’s experience a person in a way that is not normally explored.

Helen’s favorite food is saltine crackers. She is the first in her family to go to college, which she adds is “an immeasurable privilege, especially in the state of the world now where a bachelor’s degree may afford a person a well-paying job.” She says that her biggest hope is to move into a financial place in her life where she can support those who have supported her in the past.