News and Events

2024

December 2024:

• Undergraduate students Eleanor Miko and Noam Levi are awarded Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) Research Experience Fellowships to carry out their research. Congratulations!

October 2024:

• The group members attend the AAAR 42nd Annual Conference, scheduled for October 21-25, 2024, in Albuquerque, New Mexico
• The group members are hosting incoming graduate students for brief rotations in our group: Dhivya Manickam, Sage Lauper-Cook, Teresa Palacios Diaz, and Jacqueline Lampert. Welcome!
• Lucia Liu starts her one-year research internship at the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL). During the 2024-25 academic year and summer 2025, she will be working with Dr. Swarup China and with other research groups at EMSL to study atmospheric aerosol processes using advanced mass spectrometry and microscopy methods.

June 2024:

• Avery Dalton and Katie Hopstock defend their dissertations on the same day, June 14, 2024, in front of a large audience including their family members. This is followed by a hooding ceremony on June 15. Congratulations!!!!
• Congratulations to Tim Oeji who graduated from UCI this month with a B.S. in Chemistry! Good luck Tim!
• We are saying good bye to Helen Qin, who will continue her undergraduate education in chemistry, mathematics and philosophy at the University of Chicago starting this fall. Good luck Helen!
• Congratulations to Avery Dalton, who was awarded the School of Physical Sciences Faculty Endowed Fellowship for 2023-24!

May 2024:

• Congratulations to Eleanor Miko, who has been selected as a UROP Fellow for Summer 2024!
• Helen Qin is selected to present a spotlight talk at the Inspirations session of the 2024 Undergraduate Research Symposium at UCI, to a broad audience. Her talks generates the most questions at the end! Well done!
• Katie Hopstock receives two major awards during the annual Lee dinner award celebration: 2024 Joan Rowland Award and 2024 Outstanding Contribution to the Department of Chemistry Award. Well done Katie!
• Our group welcomes a new member, Avisa Charmchi, who has been selected as a 2024-25 Beckman Scholar to work on a collaborative project between our group and Prof. Celia Faiola's group. Avisa's project "Non-linear Chemistry from Ozonolysis of Mixtures Containing Anthropogenic and Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds and Implications for Air Quality Degradation" will start in July 2024.

February 2024:

• We welcome two new graduate students who officially join the group. Anthony Jue will be working on heterogeneous photochemistry of SOA. Matt Zaragoza will be working on photochemistry of BBOA gases in water, jointly advised by Profs. Annmarie Carlton and Sergey Nizkorodov.

January 2024:

• Congratulations to Katie Hopstock, who is the 2024 Graduate Student Awardee in Environmental Chemistry. This award is given annually by the ACS ENVR Division.

Top

2023

October 2023:

• The group welcomes incoming graduate students for rotations: Karen Campos, Matt Zaragoza, Berenice Rojas, Maggie Mai, Maddy Landi, Caitlyn Cruz, and Anthony Jue. Welcome!
• The entire group takes off for the AAAR meeting in Portland, OR on October 2-6.

September 2023:

• Katie Hopstock is awarded the Rowland Graduate Fellowship. Congratulations Katie!
• Avery Dalton is awarded the Chemistry Dissertation Fellowship! Congratulations Avery!

June 2023:

• Our group members shine during graduation ceremonies! Cynthia Wong receives the Jackie Smitrovich Prize for her department service. Luia Liu and Avery Dalton both receive Teaching Awards for their contributions to the chemistry department teaching program. Jett Vuong is recognized with the Outstanding Senior Award for his academic success and with the ACS Division of Environmental Chemistry Undergraduate Award for his research work. Maggie Chou receives the Michael E. Gebel Undergraduate Award for her research work. Congratulations everyone!
• Congratulations to Cynthia Wong who successfully defended her dissertation on June 1! Cynthia will start her employment at CARB already next week! Good luck Cynthia!

May 2023:

• We have strong showing at the 2023 UROP conference with excellent posters by Maggie Chou, Sofia Stirone, Tim Oeji and Jett Vuong. Sofia has been awarded a Poster Presentation Chancellor Award (3rd place) in the Earth and Beyond category. Great job everyone!

March 2023:

• Lena Gerritz is awarded the NSF graduate research fellowship. Congratulations, Lena!
• Katie Hopstock, Avery Dalton and Sergey Nizkorodov have a highly productive visit to Alex Laskin's group at Purdue University after the Spring ACS meeting

February 2023:

• Lucia Liu officially re-joins the group earning the title of the most eager group member of all time (after having previously joined us as an undergraduate student in September 2021, as a researcher in January 2022, and as a graduate student in September 2022). Welcome quadrupled Lucia!
• Luis Ruiz Armenta becomes a new graduate student member of the group following the customary group rotations. Luis graduated from the California State University Long Beach in spring of 2022, and joined the UCI atmospheric chemistry program in the fall of 2022. Welcome Luis!
• Two eager freshman students join the group: Eleanor Miko and Helen Qin. Both met our group members while they excelled in their general chemistry courses. Welcome Eleanor and Helen!

Top

2022

October 2022:

• All graduate students from the group attend the AAAR meeting in Raleigh, NC. For most of them it is the first in-person conference following the Covid-imposed travel restrictions. The group Alumni, Dr. Tran Nguyen, receives the Kenneth T. Whitby Award, and Sergey Nizkorodov is elected a new AAAR Fellow. Congratulations to all group members!

September 2022:

• The group welcomes undergraduate student researchers Tim Oeji, Shweta Shah, Jett Vuong, and Sofia Stirone! In addition, incoming graduate students Luis Armenta and Ellie Smith are participating in group rotations this and next quarter
• Katie Hopstock is a recipient of the 2022-23 Campuswide Honors Collegium Graduate Fellowship. As part of this award, she will be helping with advising honors students in different aspects of campus life. Congratulations Katie!

August 2022:

• Alex Klodt and Natalie Smith defend their dissertations on the same day (August 10)! Congratulations, Alex and Natalie!!!!

July 2022:

• Cynthia Wong begins an internship at IQAir that will go on all summer. Good luck Cynthia!
• Natalie Smith becomes a mentor in the 2022 Student Airborne Research Program (SARP) program supported by NASA, entering the busies phase of her PhD training.

June 2022:

• Alex, Natalie, and Vahe were hooded during the graduation ceremony on June 11. Congratulations!
• Michael Alvarado, who has just graduated from UCI, is joining the group to work on characterization of smoke with Katie Hopstock. Welcome Michael!
• The group welcomes Chem-SURF student Seamus Frey for the summer. Welcome Seamus!
• Vahe Baboomian defends his Ph.D. on June 8, 2022. Congratulations, Dr. Vahe!

May 2022:

• Our group shines at the end-of-the year celebration at the Lee Dinner once again! Congratulations to the group members for their well deserved awards: Natalie Smith who received the Joan Rowland Award for her incredible research productivity, Cynthia Wong who received the UCI Chemistry Excellence in DEI Award for making our department a better place to work in for everyone, Alex Klodt and Lena Gerritz who both received a teaching award for her awesome contributions to the chemistry department teaching program, and Krisztina Rakosi who received the Michael E. Gebel Undergraduate Award and ACS Analytical Chemistry award for her research. We are the BEST!!!!

April 2022:

• Prof. Sergey Nizkorodov wins the 2022 Dr. De Gallow Professor of the Year award from UCI. This prestigious honor is bestowed to one UCI faculty member each year as part of the Celebration of Teaching. You can learn more from the School of Physical Sciences news story, and the official award video.
• Lucia Liu is staying at UCI to do her graduate research! What is even more exciting, she will be working in our group, in collaboration with the group of Prof. Celia Faiola. Welcome Lucia!

March 2022:

• Chemistry major Maggie Chou has joined the group! Welcome Maggie!

February 2022:

• The group welcomes a new PhD student, Lena Gerritz. She joined UCI after graduating from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. She will be working on chemistry of biomass burning aerosol as a joint member of the Nizkorodov and Shiraiwa groups. Welcome Lena!

Top

2021

December 2021:

• The entire group attends the virtual Pacifichem meeting. Somehow it is not as exciting as going to Hawaii, but the group makes the best of it.  
• Lucia Liu, in a titanic effort, graduates from UCI early and starts working in the group as a researcher. Congratulations Lucia!
• We have an almost normal fall quarter with in-person classes and seminars.

October 2021:

• The entire group attends the annual AAAR conference, which is again virtual this year.
• The group welcomes Jonas Enders, Lena Gerritz, and Jack Ryan for "rotations"

August 2021:

• Prof. Sergey Nizkorodov wins the 2021-22 Daniel G. Aldrich, Jr. Distinguished University Service award from the UCI Academic Senate. This honor goes to a UCI professor who, on top of doing research, has made outstanding contributions of service to the University of California. You can learn more from the School of Physical Sciences news story.
• Kimberly Zhang is selected to present a virtual talk at the annual Beckman Symposium, and does a great job at it! She starts her PhD in inorganic chemistry at MIT shortly after that.

June 2021:

• Cynthia Wong receives a Ridge-to-Reef fellowship for 2021-22. The Ridge 2 Reef (R2R) program trains scholars with the skills to manage valuable natural resources in and around urban complexes. Congratulations Cynthia!
• Angel Arredondo, a Chem-SURF student from Cal State LA joins the group for the summer of 2021. He will be working with Katie Hopstock on reactivity of transition metals towards atmospheric organics. Welcome Angel!
• Congratulations to Kimberly Zhang who graduated from UCI with a record number fo honors: Phi Lambda Upsilon, Pi Mu Epsilon, Honors in Chemistry, Chancellor's Award of Distinction, Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research (2020), Physical Sciences Undergraduate Achievement Award (2019), Orange County American Chemical Society Award (2019), American Chemical Society Division of Physical Chemistry Award, Campuswide Honors, Phi Beta Kappa (2019), 2021 Don L. Bunker Award, Magna Cum Laude, Nellie Ansley Reeves Campuswide Honors Collegium Thesis Award.

May 2021:

• Our group members are recognized at the annual Chemistry Department's Lee Dinner award ceremony. Alex Klodt and Natalie Smith both received the 2021 Michael E. Gebel Award. Kim Zhang received the 2021 Don L. Bunker Award, the top graduating award from the Chemistry Department. Katie Hopstock was recognized for her commitment to teaching upper division courses with the Contributions to the Chemistry Department Teaching Program Award. And everyone received the safety award. Well done everyone!
• Kimberly Zhang wins the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Research, the top award for undergraduate research we have at UCI. Congratulations Kim!
• Krisztina Rakosi, an Environmental Chemistry major, with a minor in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, will be joining our group starting from the Fall of 2021. Welcome Krisztina!
• Lucia Liu, who is majoring in Chemistry with minor in psychology will be joining the group in the Fall of 2021. Welcome Lucia!

April 2021:

• Natalie Smith featured in an Earth Day video from the UCI School of Physical Sciences
• After almost a year of Zoom misery, we are resuming in person group meetings!
• Congratulations to Kimberly Zhang, who is one of the 53 recipients of the 2021 Chancellor’s Award of Distinction at UCI!
• Kimberly Zhang has accepted an offer from the MIT chemistry graduate program. She also was offered a prestigious Ida M. Green Memorial fellowship from MIT. She will be starting her graduate studies in the fall of 2021. This was a hard decision as she had a number of other attractive offers from graduate programs and fellowships that went with them, such as Gates Cambridge Fellowship. But now it is done! Congratulations Kimberly!
• UCI Phi Beta Kappa has highlighted Kimberly Zhang on their front page a notable member!
• Chemistry major Scott Le has joined the lab as an undergraduate researcher. Welcome Scott!
• The UCI campus has entered Phase 3 of operation eliminating occupancy requirements in the UCI laboratories. This is great news for everyone who is not a slacker (and we have no slackers in our lab)!

January 2021:

• The lab welcomes Sukriti Kapur for her final rotation in different atmospheric chemistry research groups. Welcome Sukriti!
• Despite the pandemic, the lab has remained productive in 2020, with as many as 10 papers co-authored by the group members!

Top

2020

September 2020:

• Our lab members shine once again by getting prestigious awards from the department at the end of 2019-20 academic year. Congratulations to:
  • Julia Montoya-Aguilera, who won the 2020 Jackie Smitrovich Prize!
  • Natalie Smith, who won the 2020-21 Rowland Fellowship!
  • Suki Gu who won the 2020 Don L. Bunker Award, considered to be the most prestigious award from our department!
  • Samantha Scott who won the 2020 Michael E. Gebel Undergraduate Award!
  • Kimberly Zhang who won the 2020 Jim Pitts Jr. Award!

June-August 2020:

• Our lab reopens for limited Phase-2 operation with stringent Covid-19 safety protocols.

May 2020:

• Kimberly Zhang joins the group as the 2020-21 UCI Beckman Scholar. Welcome Kimberly!
• Julia Montoya-Aguilera defends her Ph.D. dissertation "Nitrogen Containing Secondary Organic Aerosols: Experiments and Air Quality Simulations" on May 18 on Zoom. Her committee members are Profs. Sergey Nizkorodov, Barbara Finlayson-Pitts and Annmarie Carlton. Congratulations Julia!

April 2020:

• Zoom, Zoom, Zoom and Zot, Zot, Zot...

March 2020:

• The UCI campus shuts down because of COVID-19. Both Alison and Juan have to return home, cutting their visits short...
• The group welcomes Alison Bain, who is a visiting graduate student from McGill University. She is studying absorption properties of organic and inorganic aerosol particles using single particle trapping methods. The plan was for her to spend 4 months in our group, however, the best-laid schemes of mice and men often go awry...

February 2020:

• The group welcomes a visiting graduate student Juan Miguel González Sánchez from the Department of Chemistry, Université Aix-Marseille, France. His plan was to be doing experiments on photolysis of organic nitrates, an important class of atmospheric air pollutants, February 1, 2020 through May 31, 2020. However, the visit had to be cut short because of COVID-19.

January 2020:

• The group welcomes two new graduate student members! Katherine Hopstock got her B.S. degree in chemistry from UCI in 2019. Avery Dalton got his chemistry B.S. degree from the University of North Florida in 2019. Both are very excited about photochemistry, brown carbon, and all the good things we do. Welcome to the group!.
• The current group member Julia Montoya-Aguilera and former group members Sandra Blair and Amanda MacMillan get job offers from the SCAQMD at nearly the same time! Congratulations Julia, Sandy and Amanda!

Top

2019

November 2019:

• In an unprecedented, action-packed week, Vahe, Alex, Natalie pass their advancement exams. Congratulations!
• Sergey presents two talks at the SESAC4 meeting in Shanghai.

October 2019:

• Our group shines at the AAAR meeting in Portland, OR! Julia and Vahe gave excellent talks. Alex, Cynthia, Julia and Natalie presented posters. Congratulations to Natalie Smith for winning the poster presentation award and winning the 3rd place in the Aerosol Art competition!
• Our group welcomes a new class of graduate students! Over the next 3 months, eight people will be rotating through our lab: Zac Cornwell, Adam Thomas, Avery Dalton, Katie Hopstock, Clarabella Li, Jennifer Campos Ayala, Zane Long and Alyssa Burns.

September 2019:

• The group welcomes new undergraduate students: Daniel Vite, Jorge Luis Fernandez, and Samantha Scott. Weclome!

August 2019:

• Our group members give multiple presentations at the ACS national meeting in San Diego. In addition to all graduate students attending this meeting, Henry Chen and Michael Olsen get to present their posters!

May 2019:

• Congratulations to Lauren Fleming who received the 2019 Edward K.C. Lee Award, which is considered to be the most prestigious graduating award in the Department of Chemistry. Previous winners of this prestigious award from our group were Tran Nguyen in 2012 and Maggie Walser in 2007.
• Congratulations to Lauren Fleming who has been selected to participate in the Fifteenth Atmospheric Chemistry Colloquium for Emerging Senior Scientists (ACCESS XV) and to attend the Gordon Research Conference (GRC). The ACCESS meeting is exceptionally competitive. Well done Lauren!
• Congratulation to Vahe Baboomian whose work as the safety officer has elevated the lab to the award-winning level, We got the safety award for the 2018-19 year!

April 2019:

• Lauren Fleming defends her dissertation "Molecular Composition, Optical Properties, and Chemical Aging of Primary and Secondary Organic Aerosol." on April 16, 2019. Congratulations Lauren!

February 2019:

• Our former group member, Maggie Walser, Chemistry B.S. 2002 and PhD 2007 from UCI, currently a NAS senior program officer, has been inducted in the School of Physical Sciences Hall of Fame. Congratulations Maggie!

January 2019:

• Cynthia Wong, a recent graduate from the University of California, San Diego joins the group. She signs her advisor selection form at the same place where Alex, Natalie and Vahe signed theirs one year ago. Welcome Cynthia!

Top

2018

September 2018:

• Three incoming graduate students are rotating through our lab, Michelia Dam, Cynthia Wong, Madison Flesch. Welcome!
• The group welcomes new undergraduate student members, Henry Chin, Michael Olsen, Danielle Rocco, and Judith Wang. Welcome!
• The entire group attends the 10th International Aerosol Conference in St. Louis

June 2018:

• Congratulations to Suki Gu who got the UCI SURP fellowship to do research in our lab over the summer!
• The lab welcome two summer interns, Daniel Fishman (Sage Hill High School) and Reese Carlton (University High School) during the summer of 2018. Both are interested in majoring in chemical engineering.
• Sergey Nizkorodov spends 1.5 months at IRCELYON as a visiting professor in Dr. Christian George's group.

May 2018:

• Once again, our group shines at the annual departmental Lee dinner! Lauren Fleming wins the 2018 Michael E. Gebel award, and Paige Aiona wins the 2018 Joan Rowland award. Congratulations, Lauren and Paige!!!
• Suki Gu is the winner of the 2018 Michael E. Gebel Undergraduate Award. Congratulations Suki!
• Paige Aiona defends her Ph.D. Dissertation “Optical Properties and Chemical Composition of Brown Carbon Aerosols” on May 18, 2018. Her committee members are Profs. Sergey Nizkorodov, Barbara Finlayson-Pitts and Craig Murray. Paige will be working as an Air Quality Chemist at AQMD. Congratulations Dr. Aiona!
• Lauren Fleming and Julia Montoya-Aguilera were selected as two of the three finalists in the 2018 Peter B. Wagner Memorial Award for Women in Atmospheric Sciences, an annual award based on a paper competition. The papers that brought them recognition were:
  • Fleming et al. (2018), Molecular composition of particulate matter emissions from dung and brushwood burning household cookstoves in Haryana, India (https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2461-2018)
  • Montoya-Aguilera et al. (2017), Secondary organic aerosol from atmospheric photooxidation of indole (https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-11605-2017)

February 2018:

• In an unprecedented turn of events, three students, Vahe Baboomian, Alexandra Klodt and Natalie Smith, have joined the group. Here they are during the official ceremony for signing the advisor selection forms! Welcome Alex, Natalie and Vahe!

January 2018:

• Kurtis Malecha defends his dissertation "Condensed-phase Photochemical Processes in Secondary Organic Aerosols from Biogenic and Anthropogenic Sources" on January 10, 2018, and starts his job in Air Pollution Control District one week later. His committee members are: Profs. Barbara Finlayson-Pitts, Craig Murray and Sergey Nizkorodov (chair). Congratulations, Dr. Malecha!

Top

2017

December 2017:

• The group welcomes a visiting student from PSI, Pablo Arroyo, who is doing experiments on effect of Fe(III) on photodegradation rate of organic aerosols.

September 2017:

• The group welcomes students participating in group rotations (listed alphabetically): Vahe Baboomian, Ryan Dempsey, Alexander Jarnot, Alexandra Klodt, Deanna Myers, and Natalie Smith!

June 2017:

• Tim Cai receives the 2017 ACS Division of Environmental Chemistry Undergraduate Award! Tim is graduating from UCI this month and will be starting graduate school at Carnegie Melon University. Congratulations Tim!
• Former lab members, Stephanie Kim and Claire Engelmann and also graduating this month! Congratulations Stephanie and Claire!
• At the graduation ceremony, Paige Aiona and Mallory Hinks are "hooded" signifying their success in completing the graduate program at UCI. Congratulations Paige and Mallory!

May 2017:

• Kurtis Malecha will be spending 3 weeks in June in the Atmospheric Aerosol Physics group, at the University of Eastern Finland in Kuopio, Finland, where he will carry out experiments on photochemical reactions on tree surfaces.
• At the 2017 Lee dinner, Mallory Hinks is awarded the Jackie Smitrovich Prize and Kurtis Malecha gets the Michael E. Gebel Award. Congratulations, Mallory and Kurtis!
• The dissertation defense of Mallory Hinks "Effect of Environmental Conditions on Composition and Photochemistry of Secondary Organic Aerosols" on May 10, 2017 draws a huge crowd, with people sitting on the floor of the overfilled AirUCI seminar room. Her committee members are: Profs. Barbara Finlayson-Pitts, Craig Murray and Sergey Nizkorodov (chair). Congratulations Mallory!

April 2017:

• The group is excited to participate in the Landmark Dedication and Special Science Symposium, which dedicates our building, Rowland Hall, as a historic site. The group members will participate in the dedication ceremony and give presentations on their research during the symposium on April 18-19.
  • The ammonia puzzle: interactions with particles and impacts on air quality by Jeremy Horne, Mallory Hinks, and Julia Montoya
  • “Clean” tobacco: A water pipe dream? by Michael Lawler, Kurtis Malecha & Rebecca Johnson
  • Recordings of all other student presentations are availabe as well
• Mallory Hinks has been offered the American Institute for Physics Congressional Science Fellowship! She will start her career in science policy in Washington, DC in the fall. Congratulations Mallory!

March 2017:

• Julia Montoya is awarded an NSF graduate research fellowship, bringing up the number of these prestigious awards given to the group members to six - quite possibly the record for our department. Congratulations, Julia!
• Mallory Hinks has been awarded the 2017 Chancellor’s Club Fund for Excellence Fellowship. Congratulations, Mallory!

February 2017: Sergey Nizkorodov returns from his 6-month sabbatical in Finland.

Top

2016

November 2016: Dian Romonosky gets a postdoctoral position at the Los Alamos National Lab (LANL). Congratulations, Dian!

October 2016: Mallory Hinks is featured in a Chemical and Engineering News article. Here is a PDF version of the aricle if you are not an ACS member.

September 2016: The group welcomes Hayley Glicker during her rotation. Hayley graduated from Mills college where she did photochemistry research.

August 2016:

• Mallory Hinks wins the Chemistry Champions competition at the American Chemical Society meeting in Philadelphia. Congratulations Mallory!
• The group welcomes Erin Evoy from the University of British Columbia. Erin is visiting UCI as part of a collaborative project between the Bertram (UBC) and Nizkorodov groups (UCI).
• Sergey Nizkorodov will be spending 6 months in the Atmospheric Aerosol Physics group, Department of Applied Physics, at the University of Eastern Finland in Kuopio, Finland, as part of his Fulbright Fellowship from August 2016 to February 2017.

July 2016: Dian Romonosky defends her PhD dissertation "Optical Properties, Chemical Composition, and Aqueous Photochemistry of Secondary Organic Aerosol" on July 15, 2016. Her committee members are: Profs. Donald Blake, Craig Murray and Sergey Nizkorodov (chair). Congratulations Dian!

June 2016:

• A number of new students join the group: Lucas Ellision, an exchange summer student from McGill University, Emily Yen and Yujane Chen, high school summer interns from the Troy High School, and Aditya Iyengar, a UCI student from UCI. Welcome everyone!
• Our group shines at this year's Lee dinner! Congratulations to our multiple award winners: 2016 Joan Rowland Award given to Sandra Blair, 2016 Jackie Smitrovich Prize given to Dian Romonosky, 2016 Gebel Undergraduate Award given to Stephanie Kim, and 2016 ACS Division of Environmental Chemistry Undergraduate Award given to Nujhat Ali! Great job everyone!

May 2016: Sandra Blair defends her PhD dissertation "Photolytic Processing of Organic Aerosol through Carbonyl Photochemistry”. Ph.D. thesis: “Composition and Photochemistry of Anthropogenic and Biogenic Organic Aerosols" on May 12, 2016. Her committee includes Profs. Barbara Finlayson-Pitts, Craig Murray and Sergey Nizkorodov (chair). Sandra is all set for her new postdoctoral position at Georgia Tech. Congratulations!

April 2016:

• Mallory Hinks gets the 2nd place in the UC systemwide Grad Slam competition!
• Mallory Hinks is a winner of the 2016 UCI Grad Slam competition! She will be representing UCI at the systemwide competition in San Francisco on April 22. Her presentation was based on a paper featured on a cover of PCCP, where she demonstrated that low temperatures and low humidity increase viscosity of atmospheric particles and slow down photodegradation of toxic pollutants trapped in particles.
• EPA awards a grant to our group and Donald Dabdub group to help answer the question of how to protect the air we breathe from the impacts of climate change. Read the news release.

March 2016: Mallory Hinks makes an entry into the ACS ChemChamps competition with this video.

February 2016: Julia Montoya, who came to UCI from CalState LA, joins the group! Welcome Julia!

January 2016: Congratulations to Nujhat Ali, Tim Cai and Stephanie Kim, the recipients of the UROP grants for 2015-16!

Top

2015

December 2015: Our group has strong presence at the Pacifichem 2015 Congress at a symposium devoted to aerosol chemistry.

November 2015:

• Amanda MacMillan defends her PhD thesis "Uptake of Water and Other Molecules by Aerosolized Nanoparticles" on November 24, 2015. Her committee includes Profs. Matt Law, Doug Tobias, and Sergey Nizkorodov (chair). Congratulations Amanda!
• Sandra Blair receives the Chancellor’s Club Fund for Excellence Fellowship, a prestigious award from UCI, for her research accomplishments. Congratulations!

October 2015: Tran Nguyen receives The Sheldon K. Friedlander Award from the American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR). This award, presented at the 2015 AAAR annual meeting, recognizes an "outstanding dissertation by an individual who has earned a doctoral degree". Tran defended her PhD dissertation "Molecular Composition and Chemical Transformation of Secondary Organic Aerosols from Biogenic Precursors" at UCI in 2012. After leaving our group in 2012, she became a postdoctoral researcher at Caltech. She is starting her independent faculty career at the University of California, Davis in January 2016. Congratulations Tran!

September 2015: The new academic year is here, meaning a lot of new faces around the lab. The group welcomes Tim Cai, a new undergraduate student. In addition, Aaron Craig, Julia Montoya, and Sara Tadayon are doing their lab rotations with us. Last but certainly not least, Nujhat Ali is returning to the group after a year of doing research in other labs. Welcome everyone!

August 2015: Lauren spends more than a month in India sampling smoke emitted by cookstoves. She comes back alive and with a ton of interesting samples and stories. One of many photos.

June 2015: The group welcomes new members: Julia Montoya, a new graduate student in the atmospheric chemistry program, Yujane Chen, a high school student from the Troy High School, and Bonnie Huang, a high school student from the El Toro High School. In addition, Michael Wu from the University High School comes back this summer. Welcome!

May 2015:

• Amanda MacMillan receives the 2015 Joan Rowland Award. Congratulations Amanda!
• Congratulations to Michael Wu, who was awarded the 2nd place in the Orange County Science & Engineering Fair (OCSEF) and the 3rd place in the California State Science Fair (CSSF)!

April 2015:

• Kurtis Malecha is awarded an NSF graduate research fellowship. Congratulations, Kurtis!
• Mallory Hinks receives the 1st place in 10 minute TED - style research presentations during the UCI AGS Symposium and becomes a finalist in 3 minute TED - style research presentations during the UCI Grad Slam Competition

March 2015: Pacifichem 2015 aerosol session is collecting abstract submissions. Please apply here.

February 2015: Lauren Fleming, a recent graduate from the College of Wooster, joins the group. Welcome Lauren!

January 2015: The group welcomes a new undergraduate researcher, Claire Engelmann, and three first year graduate students rotating through the group, Allison Vander Wall, Danielle Draper and Lauren Fleming. The group meetings are now packed all of a sudden!

Top

2014

November 2014: Mallory Hinks and Paige Aiona pass their qualifying exams. Congratulations, Mallory and Paige!

September 2014:

• BREAKING NEWS! It is a girl! Hillary Min-Seo Jun was born to Julie Lee and Hyun-ik Jun in September 2014. Congratulations to the happy parents! Please read Group's Kids page for more details
• Dian Romonosky's paper on photochemistry of aqueous SOA, which was submitted to JPCA in September 2014, is the 1st paper for Dian and the 100th paper for Sergey!
• The group welcomes chemistry sophomore student Stephanie Kim as a new member. Welcome Stephanie!
• Sergey Nizkorodov runs away to Shanghai for the entire month of September. His host in Fudan University is Prof. Xin Yang.

July 2014:

• Hanna Lignell names her new cat Sergey. Now they have two cats named after PhD advisors, Leonid and Sergey!
• UCI Chemistry SURF student Monica Brady from the Georgetown University and Michael Wu from the University High School join the group for the summer. Welcome Monica and Michael!

June 2014:

• Dr. James N. Pitts Jr., a long-time supporter of the group and a mentor to many former group members passed away on June 19, 2014. You can learn more about Dr. Pitts' fascinating biography from his 2007 interview article in the Spectrum and from the memorial article posted by the UCI School of Physical Sciences.
• Nujhat Ali receives a UCI SURP Fellowship for the summer of 2014. She will be getting $2000 in support of her proposed research project "A Systematic Evaluation of the Ability of Organic Aerosols to Absorb Visible and Ultraviolet Radiation". Congratulations Nujhat!

May 2014: Sandra Blair receives the 2014 Michael E. Gebel award. Mariyah Saiduddin and Nujhat Ali become the first recipients of the Michael E. Gebel Undergraduate Award. In addition, Nujhat Ali receives the Analytical Chemistry Award from the American Chemical Society. Congratulations to everyone for their hard work!

April 2014: Paige Aiona has received a graduate fellowship from the National Science Foundation! We now have the records number of current NSF fellows in the group (3 people of 50% of the group members).

March 2014: Paige Aiona has received a prestigious fellowship from the Ford Foundation Fellowship Program!!! Congratulations Paige!

January 2014: Dr. Scott Epstein has accepted a job at SCAQMD. Congratulations, Scott!

January 2014:

• Kurtis Malecha, a recent graduate of the Minnesota State University, Mankato, joins the group. Welcome Kurtis!
• Hanna Lignell defends her PhD thesis "Photochemical Studies of Atmospherically Relevant Species in Multiple Phases" at the University of Helsinki, with Prof. Anne Monod acting as her opponent. Congratulations Hanna!
• The Chemistry Department hires Sergey Pronin as a new faculty member. To avoid confusion, Andy Borovik renames the pre-exiting Sergey into "Sergey the Elder". The department's quota for Sergeys has now been met.
• The group welcomes Kurtis Malecha and Nick Vizenor, who will be spending the first half of winter quarter in the group as part of their rotations.
• Hanna Lignell succeeds in getting an additional year of her postdoctoral appointment at Caltech funded with generous support from the Aatos Erkko Foundation. Congratulations, Hanna!

Top

2013

December 2013: Julie Lee goes to Korea to get married to Hyun-ik Jun on December 22, 2013. Congratulations Julie and Hyun-ik! Photo1 Photo2.

October 2013: The group welcomes Dr. Jozef Lengyel, a visitor from the J. Heyrovsky Institute of Physical Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

September 2013: The group welcomes Mariyah Saiduddin who will be doing her undergraduate research project in the group in 2013-14.

August 2013: Hanna Lignell receives a postdoctoral fellowship from the Huttunen Foundation, which will support her work at the John Seinfeld group at Caltech starting from January 2014. Congratulations Hanna!

June 2013:

• The group welcomes Renee Leslie from the California State University, San Marcos, who will be doing a UCI Chemistry SURF project in our laboratory during the summer, and Elina Balalina, a high-school intern from the Woodbridge High School, who will work with us in the summer months. Welcome!
• Sergey Nizkorodov receives the 2013 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award. This award recognizes exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences who have demonstrated excellence in research and leadership.

May 2013: Julie Lee graduates from The First Sino-European School on Atmospheric Chemistry in Taicang City, China. View the graduation photo. Now she is officially an atmospheric chemist!

April 2013: Sergey Nizkorodov gets promoted to a "Full Professor" and immediately gains a few additional pounds to better fit his new job title.

March 2013:

• Dian Romonosky is awarded the NSF graduate fellowship! Congratulations Dian!
• Maggie Marvin, a UCI chemistry senior student, and Nujhat Ali, an honors freshman student, join the lab. Maggie will be spending her last quarter at UCI doing research on aqueous photochemistry in our group before going to graduate school. Nujhat hopes to get research experience in environmental chemistry. Welcome Maggie and Nujhat!
• Tran Nguyen's paper on O3+isoprene aerosol has been recognized in the "Top-50 most cited articles" published in Atmospheric Environment (2010-2011)!

February 2013: The group welcomes two new graduate students: Paige Aiona and Mallory Hinks. Paige graduated from Chapman University in 2012, where she did research on water chemistry. Mallory graduated from San Diego State University, where she researched surface chemistry in the laboratory of David Pullman. Welcome Mallory and Paige!

January 2013: AirUCI team conducts its annual meeting in Newport Beach, CA.

Top

2012

November 2012: In an unprecedented turn of events, equation birthyear.mod.10 = 0 is satisfied for two group members (Julie and Scott) in one week! The power of mathematics is celebrated by consuming a fruitcake.

October 2012: The group welcomes Alexander Fast, Anthony Babore, Elizabeth Foreman, Jack Porter, Kristine Arquero, Mallory Hinks, Michelle Fairhurst and Paige Aiona. These students started their graduate studies at UCI in the fall of 2012. They will spend 5 weeks in the group to learn about the group dynamics and our on-going research projects.

September 2012: Dr. Hyun-Ji (Julie) Lee officially joins the group as a postdoctoral researcher. Julie obtained her PhD in 2011 from UCI for her research on breath analysis in the Rowland/Blake group. She has worked in our lab as a part-time researcher in parallel with her part-time work at SCAQMD since February 2012. She will start working in the group full time in October 2012.

June 2012: Tran Nguyen defends her PhD thesis "Molecular Composition and Chemical Transformation of Secondary Organic Aerosols from Biogenic Precursors" on June 4, 2012. Her committee includes Profs. Donald Blake, Barbara Finalyson-Pitts, Alexander Laskin, and Sergey Nizkorodov (chair). Congratulations Tran!

May 2012: Tran Nguyen receives the 2012 Edward K.C. Lee Award - the most prestigious graduate award from the chemistry department; Amanda MacMillan receives the 2012 Michael E. Gebel award; Van Tran receives 2012 American Institute of Chemists Award. Congratulations!

March 2012: Tran Nguyen presents her research at the at the University of California, Irvine, the Chancellor's Club. More details....

February 2012: The group welcomes two new members. Dian Romonosky, who did her undergraduate studies at Millikin University and did field experiments on measurements of bromine monoxide as part of NSF REU program, joins the groups as a graduate student. Julie Lee who recently graduated from the Rowland/Blake group, joins the group as a part-time researcher. Welcome Dian and Julie!

January 2012:

• Tran Nguyen receives "The Stanback Postdoctoral Fellowship in Global Environmental Science" to do postdoctoral work at Caltech. Hanna Lignell receives the Finnish Cultural Foundation graduate fellowship. Congratulations Tran and Hanna!
• BREAKING NEWS! "Tikku" Lignell born this month becomes the fourth child in the family of Hanna Lignell and Antti Lignell. Congratulations Hanna and Antti! Please read Group's Kids page for more details.

Top

2011

November 2011: Tran Nguyen receives prestigious Chancellor’s Club Fund for Excellence Fellowship.

September 2011: The group welcomes Crisand Anderson, Aaron Gartner, Charlotte Hirsch, Melissa Palmer, and Dian Romonosky for the "rotation" period during the fall quarter of 2011.

August 2011: Kevin Nguyen from the Bolsa Grande High School joins the lab for one month as a research intern, and does great work!

July 2011: A lot of new faces in the lab all of a sudden! Sandra Blair joins the lab as a new graduate student. She is a graduate of California State University, Chico, and she comes to the lab with experience in organic synthesis and NMR. Sophia Smeragliuolo, new graduate student in the UCI chemistry program, joins the lab to do her summer project. She is a recent graduate of Azusa Pacific University. UCI undergraduate student Van Tran joins the lab for the summer as Chem SURF student. Last but not least, Katelyn Updyke starts her graduate research in the group. She graduated from UCI, and was previously in the group as an undergraduate researcher. Welcome everyone!

June 2011:

• Adam Bateman receives the 2011 Michael Zach award from the Department of Chemistry. It is one of the most prestigious department's award given to "the most promising future faculty member".
• Katelyn Updyke receives the award from the American Institute of Chemists for her outstanding academic performance and excellence in research.
• Amanda MacMillan receives her MSc degree in Chemistry. She is off to getting her PhD next.
• AirUCI hosts its seventh annual teacher workshop. More details...

May 2011:

• Adam Bateman defends his PhD thesis "Chemical Composition and Photochemical Evolution of Limonene Secondary Organic Aerosol Studied using High Resolution Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry" on May 19, 2011. Dr. Alexander Laskin from EMSL visits UCI to participate in the dissertation committee. View segments of Adam's defense on YouTube.
• Chad Eyerly joins the group as an undergraduate researcher.

April 2011:

• Amanda MacMillan is awarded a prestigious NSF graduate fellowship to support her graduate education at UCI. She is one of seven chemistry graduate students who received this fellowship - a record number for the Chemistry Department..
• Dr. Scott Epstein joins the group as a postdoctoral researcher. Scott received his BS from the University of Delaware in 2005, and his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, where he worked in Prof. Neil Donahue's group. He brings experience in ozone chemistry and organic aerosol thermodynamics to the group.

March 2011: 28th Informal Symposium on Kinetics and Photochemical Processes in the Atmosphere takes place at the University of California at Irvine (UCI) on March 3, 2011. Sergey Nizkorodov and Eric Saltzman are the organizers. More details...

January 2011:

• Dr. James N. Pitts Jr. celebrated his 90th birthday in January 2011. Dr. Pitts' unique contributions to air pollution and atmospheric photochemistry research have inspired generations of scientists, including members of our research group. He co-founded and directed the first Statewide Air Pollution Research Center in California, and he advised California governors Ronald Reagan and Jerry Brown on air pollution issues. His contributions to making the California air easier to breathe were recognized by the 2002 Haagen-Smit Clean Air Award. You can learn more about Dr. Pitts' fascinating biography from a 2007 interview article in the Spectrum.
• AirUCI team conducts its annual meeting in Newport Beach, CA.
• A perspective cover article [68] on molecular chemistry of organic aerosols through the application of high resolution mass spectrometry has been published by PCCP, co-authored by S.A. Nizkorodov, J. Laskin, and A. Laskin.

Top

2010

October 2010: Tran Nguyen wins a student poster prize for her AAAR 2010 poster "Molecular Composition of Isoprene Photooxidation Products Characterized by High Resolution Mass Spectrometry".

September 2010: Two chemistry undergraduate students, Paula Lee and Katelyn Updyke, join the group.

August 2010: Adam Bateman receives the Marvin L. Wesely Graduate Research Fellow award.

July 2010: 19 high and middle school teachers take part in the sixth annual teacher workshop organized by the AirUCI. More details...

June 2010: Our group members have received several prestigious awards this year. Joshua Klobas won the Don L. Bunker award from the Chemistry Department. Lucas Nguyen won the ACS Analytical Chemistry award. Tran Nguyen won the Michael E. Gebel award.

April 2010: Joshua Klobas got admitted to the graduate program in chemistry at Harvard University.

February 2010: A recent study led by Drs. Julia and Alexander Laskin from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and our group focused on atmospheric chemistry processes that turn white organic aerosol into brown carbon particles. Processes that change the color of organic aerosols are significant because they can convert light-scattering, climate-cooling aerosols into light-absorbing, climate-warming aerosols. The study appeared in Analytical Chemistry in February 2010, and it was highlighted by the PNNL. This study was the first example of using DESI-MS for detailed characterization of organic aerosols.

January 2010: Pacifichem 2010 abstract submission window is now open from January 1 through April 5. Our group is involved in organization of two symposia (click on the symposium name to see its flier): Environmental Chemistry of Aerosols (symposium 237); Free Radical Chemistry in the Environment (symposium 73)

Top

2009

December 2009: Graduate student Amanda MacMillan joins the group. Amanda graduated from the University of Central Arkansas, where she worked on radiocarbon dating environmental and archaeological samples in the group of Prof. Karen Steelman. Welcome Amanda!

November 2009: Chris Harmon defends his PhD thesis "Hygroscopicity of Amphiphilic Nanoparticles: The Role of Size and Composition" on November 10, 2009. An unusually large number of people show up at his defense (standing room only). Chris takes off the next day to start his postdoctoral research at LBNL in the group of Dr. Kevin Wilson.

September 2009: Undergraduate students Kathy Kim, Lucas Nguyen, John Morrison and Zoe Cabral join the group. Joshua Klobas returns to the group after spending his summer on quantum dot research in Germany. Mark Peterson starts graduate school at Northwestern University after finishing his summer research in the group.

September 2009: Profs. Sergey Nizkorodov (PI), Donald Blake, and Barbara Finlayson-Pitts receive an instrumentation grant from the National Science Foundation to purchase two modern mass spectrometers to support multiple AirUCI collaborative research projects (MRI-0923323, Acquisition of Two High-Resolution Mass Spectrometers for Collaborative Research on Energy Use, Air Quality and Health). The first mass spectrometer is Ionicon's high-resolution PTR-MS instrument for detection of gas-phase volatile organic compounds. The second instrument is a high-resolution aerosol particle spectrometer from Aerodyne Research.

August 2009: AirUCI successfully competes for a 5-year renewal grant (A Comprehensive Approach to Understanding Chemistry at Interfaces and Atmospheric Implications) from the National Science Foundation. Just as with the previous AirUCI grant, Prof. Finlayson-Pitts leads the effort.

July 2009: 19 high and middle school teachers take part in the fifth annual teacher workshop organized by the AirUCI. More details...

June 2009: Univeristy High School's student Clement Kao signs up for a summer internship with the group.

May 2009: Chris Harmon receives the 2009 Joan Rowland Award for his graduate research achievements. His award is announced at the 2009 departmental Lee event. Joshua Klobas receives the 2009 ACS Analytical Chemistry Award. Tran Nguyen receives the 2009 Chemistry Department's First Year Teaching Assistant Award.

March 2009: Xiang Pan defends his PhD thesis "Photochemistry of Limonene Secondary Organic Aerosol Studied with Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometry" on March 9, 2009. He accepts a job offer from one of the largest Chinese analytical instrument companies, Jiangsu Skyray Instrument Co

January 2009: AirUCI team conducts its annual meeting in Laguna Beach, CA.

Top

2008

November 2008: The group receives a 3-year grant from NSF to study photodegradation of organic aerosols by solar radiation (ATM-0831518, Photochemistry of Secondary Organic Aerosol Particles)

October 2008: Maggie Walser, who previously received her PhD in this group in 2007, receives the AGU's 2008–2009 Congressional Science Fellowship.

September 2008: A record number of undergraduate researchers join the group: Dana Henricksen, Joshua Klobas, Madelyn McKittrick, Anne Nguyen, Mark Peterson, Susann Rodas, and Carmen Seetho.

July 2008: 20 high and middle school teachers take part in the fourth annual teacher workshop organized by the AirUCI. More details...

June 2008: Dr. David Bones, who recently graduated from the research group of Prof. Leon Phillips at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, starts his postdoctoral research in the Aerosol Photochemistry Group. Dr. Bones did research on photochemistry of metal carbonyl compounds in aerosol phase prior to his arrival at UCI. He will be doing research on photochemistry of organic carbonyls in secondary organic aerosol at UCI.

May 2008: Stephen Mang defends his PhD thesis "Atmospheric Aging of Monoterpene Secondary Organic Aerosol" on May 19, 2008. He is getting ready to starting his new job as a lecturer of chemistry at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

April 2008: The department votes in favor of Prof. Nizkorodov's tenure promotion. The tenure promotion is approved by the UC administration in July 2008.

March 2008: Adam Bateman is awarded 2008-09 Graduate Research Environmental Fellowship (GREF) by the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research. (DOE OBER).

• Ahmad Alshawa defends his PhD thesis "Hygroscopicity of Mixed Inorganic/ Surfactant Ultrafine Aerosol Particles". His defense features the largest cake ever seen by a graduate committee.
• AirUCI team conducts its annual meeting in Newport Beach, CA.
• Dana Henricksen joins the group as an undergraduate researcher.

Top

2007

November 2007: The Aerosol Photochemistry Group welcomes Tran Nguyen, who graduated from USC in 2007 as its new group member. Tran was involved in research with the groups of Prof. Mark Thompson, Prof. Surya Prakash, and Prof. Robert Wu at USC. Welcome Tran!

September 2007: Stacy Wilkinson and Sero Kassabian join the group as an undergraduate researchers for 2007-08.

August 2007: Maggie Walser defends her PhD thesis "Limonene-Derived Secondary Organic Aerosol: Composition and Photochemistry" and starts an internship at the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) in Washington, DC.

• The AirUCI team offers an outreach program in environmental chemistry to 20 high and middle school teachers. Just like last year, the program is coordinated by Sergey Nizkorodov (UCI) and Mickey Laux (OCC). More details...
• Joelle Underwood starts her independent academic career in the Department of Chemistry at Loyola University in New Orleans.

• Jennifer Lopez starts her MSc project in the Aerosol Photochemistry lab. Jennifer received her undergraduate degree from UCI, and she works as the UCI chemistry stockroom supervisor in parallel with studying for her MSc degree.
• Chris Harmon joins the Aerosol Photochemistry lab. Chris received his undergraduate degree from Purdue University. At UCI, he initially worked on chemistry of secondary organic aerosol particles in Prof. Finlayson-Pitts group (2005-07), and then switched to studying hygroscopicity of nanoparticles in Aerosol Photochemistry Group.

• Maggie Walser receives the most prestigious graduate student award from the UCI Chemistry Department: Edward K.C. Lee award. Stephen Mang is honored for his Outstanding Contributions to the Chemistry Department Teaching Program as a TA.
• Anthony Gomez becomes the first graduate student to graduate from the Aerosol Photochemistry group. His thesis title is "Analysis of the Chemical and Photochemical Aging of Organic Aerosol Particles". He accepts a postdoctoral position in the Combustion Research Facility in Sandia National Laboratory.
• Sergey Nizkorodov is awarded a prestigious Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award.

April 2007: Jia-Hua Xiang joins the group and AirUCI institute as a postdoctoral researcher. Her main area of expertise is secondary organic aerosol chemistry.

March 2007: AirUCI institute hosts its annual Community Day on March 29, 2007.

February 2007: A paper by Ahmad Alshawa, Ashley Russell and Sergey Nizkorodov: "Kinetic analysis of competition between aerosol particle removal and generation by ionization air-purifiers" appeared in Environmental Science and Technology. View Channel 7 ABC News coverage of this paper (quicktime video clip). Here is a link to the UCI press release on this paper: "In presence of fragrant cleaning products, air purifiers that emit ozone can dirty the air" by Jennifer Fitzenberger

Top

2006

December 2006: AirUCI team conducts its annual meeting in New Zealand.

October 2006: Lab OPEN HOUSE on Friday, October 20, 4-5 pm, in RH390. Free pizza!

September 2006: Enosh Cohen, Mark Dailo, Thong Do, and Tanza Lewis join the group as undergraduate student researchers for 2006-07.

July 2006: AirUCI team offers an outreach program in environmental chemistry to 20 high and middle school teachers. Just like last year, the program is coordinated by Sergey Nizkorodov (UCI) and Mickey Laux (OCC). More details...

June 2006: Aerosol Photochemistry group completes its transition to a larger lab (RH385).

May 2006: A paper by Nicole Britigan, Ahmad Alshawa, and Sergey Nizkorodov: "Quantification of ozone levels in indoor environments generated by ionization and ozonolysis air-purifiers" appeared in JAWMA 56 (2006) p. 601-610, and generated a lot of interest from the media.

View KCLA9 coverage of this paper (quicktime video clips): Clip 1 Clip 2

Here are selected reviews of this paper:

• Air Purifiers That Produce Ozone May Be Hurting Your Health by Daniel DeNoon
• Indoor air purifiers that produce even small amounts of ozone may be risky for health by Jennifer Fitzenberger
• Some Air Purifiers Create Smog-Like Conditions by Robert Roy Britt
• Health Benefits Of Air Purifiers Questioned

March 2006: AirUCI institute hosts its annual Community Day on March 30, 2006.

• Aerosol Photochemistry group starts moving into a larger laboratory.
• AirUCI team conducts its annual meeting in Irvine.

Top

2005

November 2005: Sergey Nizkorodov offers a workshop “Educating High School Students about Energy Use, Air Pollution, and Climate Problems” at the Orange County Science Education Association (OCSEA) Fall conference.

• Sergey Nizkorodov receives a single-PI grant from the National Science Foundation (ATM-0509248, Photochemistry at Organic Particle-Air Interfaces), to study photochemical processes in organic aerosols.
• AirUCI team offers a program in environmental chemistry to 20 high and middle school teachers for the first time. The program is coordinated by Sergey Nizkorodov (UCI) and Mickey Laux (OCC). More details...
• AirUCI team conducts its annual meeting in Prague.
• Sergey Nizkorodov receives Coblenz award for his contributions to the development of vibrational spectroscopy.

• Ashley Russell, Steve Ng, and Robert Bennigsdorf join the group as undergraduate student researchers
• Joelle Underwood, who received her PhD degree from the University of Southern California in Curt Wittig's group, joins the group and AirUCI institute as a postdoctoral researcher. Her main area of expertise is spectroscopy.

March 2005: AirUCI institute hosts its annual Community Day on March 31, 2005.

February 2005: 2005 Informal Symposium on Kinetics and Photochemical Processes in the Atmosphere takes place at the University of California at Irvine (UCI) on February 14, 2005. Sergey Nizkorodov and Donald Dabdub are the organizers. More details...

January 2005: Dr. Jiho Park joins UCI as a Dreyfus Postdoctoral Scholar in Environmental Chemistry, following the award of this scholarship to UCI by the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation. Dr. Park received his PhD degree from Texas A&M University and his main area of expertise is kinetics.

Top

2004

October 2004: Nicole Britigan and Melanie Nguyen join the group as undergraduate student researchers

• Several UCI scientists join their forces with researchers in US National Laboratories and abroad to establish NSF sponsored Environmental Molecular Sciences Institute (EMSI). The institute is named AirUCI (Atmospheric Integrated Research Using Chemistry at Interfaces) to reflect the main focus of research on interfacial processes in the atmosphere.
• Maggie Walser, a recent graduate of UCI, joins the Aerosol Photochemistry Group as a graduate student. Maggie Walser is a holder of the prestigious NSF graduate fellowship. Her main area of specialization is atmospheric chemistry.
• Anthony Gomez is awarded Faculty Mentor Program Fellowship for 2004-2005 to study photochemistry of atmospheric organic aerosol particles.
• Xiang Pan is awarded UC TSR&TP graduate fellowship for 2004-2005 to study formation of toxins on ultrafine soot particles.
• Stephen Mang is awarded GAANN fellowship for 2004-2005.

Summer 2004: Sergey Nizkorodov receives $50k from the Cancer Research Coordinating Committee to study the effect of aerosol particle size on the rate of oxidation of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Spring 2004: Sergey Nizkorodov receives $35k Research Innovation Award from the Research Corporation to develop a novel approach for studying the mechanism of ozonolysis of unsaturated fatty acids at gas-solid and gas-liquid interfaces.

Top

2003

• Stephen Mang, a graduate of the University of San Diego, joins the group a part of the UCI ChaMP graduate program.
• Graduate student Xiang Pan, who obtained his undergraduate degree at the University of Science and Technology in China, joins the Aerosol Photochemistry Group to pursue a degree in physical chemistry.

• The first generation of Chemical Ionization Aerosol Mass Spectrometer is completed.
• The first generation of the IR CRDS apparatus is completed.

February 2003: Dr. Ao Lin joins the Aerosol Photochemistry Group as a postdoctoral researcher and starts working on Chemical Ionization Aerosol Mass Spectrometer. Prior to his arrival at UCI, Dr. Ao Lin obtained his undergraduate degree at the University of Science and Technology in China, obtained his PhD from Ohio State University and spent one year as a postdoctoral researcher in Brookhaven National Laboratory. His main area of expertise is laser spectroscopy.

January 2003: The laboratory space renovation is complete. The first instruments are installed in the lab in early January.

Top

2002

September 2002: Graduate students Anthony Gomez and Ahmad Alshawa join the Aerosol Photochemistry Group. Anthony Gomez is a graduate of UCI, and he is specializing in physical chemistry. Ahmad Alshawa is a graduate of Montclair State University, NJ, and his future area of expertise is analytical chemistry.

July 2002: Sergey Nizkorodov joins the UCI Chemistry Department to establish a new research program in aerosol photochemistry. He gets an empty lab on the fifth floor of the Rowland Hall building.

Top