Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholar Recognition Program Recipients

Congratulations to the 2023 recipients of the ACS Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholar Recognition Program. We are proud to recognize the talented graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in:

  1. Mentoring
  2. Promotion of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Respect
  3. Promotion of Research Safety

Visit the ACS Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholar Recognition Program page to learn more about the program and criteria for nominations. 

Group of recipients

At the ACS 2023 Fall Meeting, some of the recipients joined us at the Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholars Recognition Program luncheon. 

Leadership in Mentoring


This recognition category highlights outstanding efforts and impact in research and safety mentoring, broadly defined. Mentoring may involve peers in their own research group as well as outside groups, undergraduate/high school researchers, and participants in short-term research programs (e.g. summer programs, REUs, international exchanges).

Graduate Student Recipients
Aceer Nadeem
University of Rhode Island

Benjamin Shindel
Northwestern University

Cholpisit Kiattisewee
University of Washington

Christine Stephen
University of California, San Diego

CJ Koch
University of Southern California

Dhivya Meganathan
University of California, San Diego

Emerson MacNeil
Queen's University

Emmanuel Ohaekenyem
Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka

Hui Yan Kuang
Northeastern University

Ina Zaimi
University of Michigan

Josephine Jayworth
Yale University


Ke Zhao
University of California, Santa Barbara

Meranda Masse
University of Wisconsin, Madison

Nory Marino-Ocampo
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Paige Bowling
The Ohio State University

Palak Sondhi
University Of Missouri, Saint Louis

Sevde Dogruer Erkok
Florida International University

Shruthi Perna
Middle Tennessee State University

Thivani Senathiraja
Iowa State University

Tiffany Sill
Texas A&M University, College Station

Vanessa Mariscal
University of California, Santa Cruz

Postdoctoral Scholar Recipients
Abhishek Kadam
University of Rochester

Goonay Yousefalizadeh
Queen's University

Indrajit Srivastava
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Mina Mozafari
University of California, Irvine

Stephen DiLuzio
Northeastern University

Tam'ra-Kay Francis
University of Washington

Leadership in the Promotion of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Respect


This recognition category highlights outstanding efforts that promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and respect in the program. Activities may include participation in recruitment to enhance diversity, engagement in impactful conversations that strengthen the culture of inclusivity, and efforts to identify and eliminate inequities in the department/institution-wide.

Graduate Student Recipients
Alejandro Burgos-Suazo
University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras

Alex Grooms
The Ohio State University

Arman Garcia
University of Oregon

Brandi James
University of Cincinnati

Caitlin Lichtenfels
University of Minnesota

Danniel Arriaga
Texas A&M University, College Station

Eleanor Stewart-Jones
Yale University

Emma Cave
University of Washington

Georges Leconte
University of California, San Diego


Jasmyn Genchev
Northeastern University

Jessica Torres
Purdue University

Kevin Rivera Cruz
University of Michigan

Madison Wong
University of California, Santa Barbara

Medina Afandiyeva
University of Rochester

Parimah Aminfar
Queen's University

Stacey Jones
Emory University

Stephanie Oliveras Santos
University of Wisconsin, Madison

Tania Evans
Georgia Institute of Technology

Postdoctoral Scholar Recipients
Debika Datta
University of California, San Diego

Ellen Song
University of Pennsylvania

Leadership in the Promotion of Research Safety


This recognition category highlights outstanding efforts to promote safety in research environments, broadly defined. Activities may include exemplary service as a safety officer, participation in efforts to enhance safety culture and awareness, and leadership in promoting safety in areas outside of the wet laboratory, including safety issues associated with computational and theoretical chemistry.

Graduate Student Recipients
Adekunle Omoboye
Queen's University

Ann Marie May
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Brandon Miller
Northeastern University

Brayley Soleil Gattis
Northwestern University

Christopher Woodley
University of Michigan

Elizabeth Piedmont
University of Rochester


Hossain Shadman
University of Memphis

Jessica Freeze
Yale University

Joseph Holbrook
The Ohio State University

Joshua Powell
Texas A&M University, College Station

Rain Talosig
University of California, Irvine

Samantha Kruse
University of California, San Diego

Postdoctoral Scholar Recipients
Anne-Lise Marie
Northeastern University

Kang Chen
Capitol Technology University

Naresh Murty Venneti
Wayne State University