News & Events

2024

January

  • Congratulations to Bilal Altundas and Christian Cardenas on being chosen for the White Glove Award!
  • Congratulations to Bilal Altundas and Matt Bock (second time!) on sharing the annual Kobayashi Award!

  • Productivity awards were given to Tapas Adak, Bilal Altundas, Matt Bock. Congratulations everyone! 

  • Special congratulations go to Bilal for achieving the trifecta of a clean lab, high productivity and generous sharing of his time and expertise. This is a first in the Group!!

  • Scott traveled to Zürich to participate in the 60th Birthday Symposium and Celebration for Professor Erick Carreira, the most successful of the SED Former Undergraduates, and dear friend for 43 years.

2023

January

  • Congratulations to Bilal Altundas and Quinn Greven on being chosen for the White Glove Award!
  • Congratulations to Matt Bock on winning the annual Kobayashi Award!

February

April
May
  • Jesse Panger successfully defended his PhD thesis on 6 April 2023. Congratulations! We will miss you!
  • Emily Mumford successfully defended her PhD thesis on 19 April 2023 and is headed off to BMS. We will miss you!
  • Jakub Sura has joined the Denmark Lab as an undergraduate researcher. Welcome Jakub!

June

  • Caroline Christ, a rising junior from the St. Louis University is spending 10 weeks in the Denmark Laboratories as a Snyder Scholar. Welcome Caroline!!
  • Ethan Mattson has joined the Denmark Lab as an undergraduate researcher. Welcome Ethan!!
  • Incoming student Christian Cardenas from the University of North Texas is spending three weeks in the Denmark Group on a Summer Lab Rotation. Welcome Christian!!
  • Casey Olen will participate in the Graduate Research Symposium Sponsored by the ACS Organic Chemistry Division. This event will place at the Montana State University! Congratulations Casey!
  • Austin Douglas has joined the Denmark Lab as an undergraduate researcher. Welcome Austin!!
  • Blake Ocampo successfully passed his prelim exam and enters Ph.D. candidacy. Congratulations Blake!!
  • Vincent Kassell successfully defended his PhD thesis on 10 May 2023 and is headed off to PTC Bio. We will miss you!
  • Nyah Rowell, a rising senior from Tuskegee University, is spending 8 weeks in the Denmark Lab as a St. Elmo Brady Summer Scholar. Welcome Nyah!!
  • Andrew Lo has joined the Denmark Lab as a visiting scholar from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Welcome Andrew!!
August
  • The Denmark Group congratulates Matthew Albritton on receiving a 2024 R.C. Fuson Fellowship. Professor Denmark would like to thank Matthew for his research contributions and being a good group citizen.
  •  The Denmark Group congratulates Dongchen Ouyang on receiving a 2024 Dr. Michael J. Sofia Fellowship. Professor Denmark would like to thank Dongchen for his research contributions and being a good group citizen.
  • The Denmark Group congratulates Blake Ocampo on receiving a 2024 Lester E. and Kathleen A. Coleman Fellowship. Professor Denmark would like to thank Blake for his research contributions and being a good group citizen.
  • On August 5th 2023 we celebrated Prof. Denmark’s 70th birthday at the “Scott E Denmark 70th Birthday Symposium” hosted at the new Campus Instructional Facility. The symposium was attended by past and current members of the Denmark Group coming as far as South Korea, Switzerland, and England. The event featured excellent science, reestablished connections, and a wonderful communal spirit. Prof. Denmark sends his heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped put this event together (especially Sarah, Greg, and Mike) and everyone who attended

September

  •  The collaborative project with Hoffmann La Roche finally
    appeared in Science (2023, 391, 965); a landmark in active
    learning applied to catalysis. Congratulations to all involved, especially Ian
    Rinehart, Rakesh Saunthwal, Raphael Bigler and Serena Fantasia.
  • Scott enjoyed a week-long lecture tour of Switzerland hosted
    by the Swiss Chemical Society in recognition of his 2020 Paracelsus Award.
    Visits to the ETH-Zürich, U Basel, EPFL and U Geneva were highlights of the
    tour.
  • The Denmark Group welcomes a new undergraduate transfer
    student from You-Zhou University, Mr. Yi-Lun Li. Welcome Yi-Lun!
  •  Dr. Ian Rinehart departs for his postdoctoral position with
    Prof. John Hartwig at UC-Berkeley. Good luck Ian, we will miss you!

October

  • The Denmark Group welcomes a new postdoctoral researcher, Dr.
    Sateesh Dubbu from the IIT Kanpur via the University of Basel Department of
    Pharmacy. Welcome Dr. Dubbu!

  • The Annual Molecule of the Month Competition was held on Tuesday evening 10 October. The three teams presented highly creative approaches (both biosynthesis inspired and purely synthesis guided) for very challenging molecules. It was a great learning experience for all involved. Particular congratulations to the team Captains, Casey, Karn and Blake and special recognition for Team A; Casey, Matthew, Matt and Carter who took away first place honors!

  •  The Denmark Group welcomes a new first year graduate
    student, Mr. Christian Cardenas from North Texas State Univeristy. Welcome Christian!

November

  • Matthew Albritton gave a great presentation and passed his prelim with flying colors. Congratulations Matthew!

December

  • The Denmark Group welcomes graduate student, Roberto Serrano who will now be co-advised together with Prof. David Sarlah. Roberto is interested in gaining experience in methods development. He also is the recipient of a BMS Graduate Fellowship, congratulations Roberto.

2022

January

  • Congratulations to Alex Shved on winning the annual Kobayashi Award!
  • Congratulations to Jesse Panger on being chosen for the White Glove Award!
  • Productivity awards were given to Matt Bock, Jesse Panger, Ian Rinehart, and Rakesh Saunthwal. Congratulations everyone!

June  

  • Alex Shved has been recognized with a Gary Schuster
    Mentoring Scholarship  in recognition of Alex’s outstanding
    mentorship of an undergraduate researcher, Andrew Feng (read the fully
    story: https://chemistry.illinois.edu/news). Congratulations Alex! 
  • Andrew Feng has been awarded a Reynold C. Fuson
    Award which recognizes outstanding undergraduate research by a
    graduating senior. After 1.5 years in the Denmark Group, Andrew is heading
    to Princeton University for his graduate studies. Congratulations Andrew!
  • Former Denmark graduate student Andrew Zahrt, was
    recently selected for a highly competitive, highly prestigious A. O.
    Beckman Postdoctoral Fellowship for his studies with Prof. Klavs Jenssen
    at MIT (read the full story: https://chemistry.illinois.edu/news) . Congratulations
    Andrew! 
  • Casey Olen has been selected for an internship at Dow
    Chemical starting August 2022. Casey will bring his
    chemoinformatics knowledge to the materials world.  His work will
    seek to model structure-property relationships of polymers with a goal of
    identifying new candidates with improved material properties.
    Congratulations Casey! 
  • Former Denmark graduate student Connor Delaney
    (currently postdoc at UC-Berkeley with John Hartwig) and Alex Shved teamed
    up with Stanford graduate student Danny Marron in a tour-de-force study of
    the mechanism of the anhydrous Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction in
    which they also identified an unprecedented dinuclear palladium complex
    resting state (read the full article: 10.1021/jacs.1c08283). Congratulations to
    all! 
  • Melissa Pathil, a rising junior from the Stevens
    Institute of Technology (New Jersey) is spending 10 weeks in the Denmark
    Laboratories as a Snyder Scholar. Welcome Melissa!!  
  • Scott spent one week at the University of Giessen to
    participate in the Justus von Liebig College giving lectures and meeting
    with faculty and graduate students. He also enjoyed a tour of the original
    Liebig laboratories and discovered that he is an academic descendant of
    the great man.

July

  • Brennan Rose successfully defended his PhD thesis on 21 June 2022 and headed off to GSK Process Chemistry. Congratulations Brennan!! We will miss you.
  • Incoming student Nick Wade from the University of Pittsburgh is spending three weeks in the Denmark Group on a Summer Lab Rotation. Welcome Nick!!
  • Ian Rinehart takes his R. C. Fuson Travel Award to the Organic Reactions and Processes Gordon Research Conference at Bryant Univeristy in Rhode Island to present his work on our collaboration with the Hoffmann-La Roche Process Research Group.
  • Incoming student Carter Cunningham from Texas State University is spending three weeks in the Denmark Group on a Summer Lab Rotation. Welcome Carter!!

  • SED Group Alumni gathered at the 2022 Organic Reactions and Processes Gordon
    Research Conference in Rhode Island. See nice photo!  From left to
    right: Kevin Robb (PhD 2019), Alexander Harmata (son of Mike now at U
    Michigan), Andrew Zahrt (PhD 2020), Ian Rinehart (current student), Connor Delaney
    (PhD 2020), Matt Burk (PhD 2012), and Mike Harmata (one of the originals, PhD 1985).

August
  • Snyder Scholar Melissa Pathil (Stevens Institute of Technology) and SED Group undergraduate researcher Quinn Greven (UIUC) participated in a gala poster session in the Chemistry Library to celebrate the research carried out in the Organic Chemistry Area over the summer. The event was very well attended and both students’ posters generated a significant amount of attention and interest. We wish Melissa continued success in her studies and look forward to having Quinn for one more year for senior thesis research. 
  • The Denmark Group welcomes a new visiting scholar, Elena Burlova from Bauman Moscow State Technical University. Welcome Elena!
September
  • The Denmark Group welcomes a new postdoctoral researcher, Dr. Bilal Altundas from Drexel University. Welcome Dr. Altundas!
  • The Denmark group welcomes new, undergraduate student, Jun Uh Hyun

October

  • The Denmark Group welcomes a new visiting scientist, Michela Lupi from the University of Florence. She will be staying with us for 8 months.
  • Scott has been named the recipient of the 2023 Arthur C. Cope Award from the American Chemical Society. He is the first UIUC faculty member to win this award, which is sponsored by the Arthur C. Cope Fund and recognizes outstanding achievement in the field of organic chemistry. The award, which has been administered by the ACS Board of Directors since 1972, consists of $25,000, a medallion, and a $150,000 unrestricted research grant.
  • The Denmark Group welcomes three new first-year graduate students: Carter Cunningham, Dongchen Ouyang, and Nick Wade. Check them out on the “Current Group Members” page.
  • Congratulations to Jesse Panger and Jamie Berry for winning the White Glove Award and having a beautiful lab space in 239 RAL.
November

  • Scott “finally” delivered the prestigious “Bohlmann Lectureship” at the Technical University of Berlin on Friday 18 November after a two year hiatus. The lectureship was created in honor of Prof. Ferdinand Bohlmann and his close relationship with Schering AG (now Bayer) in Berlin. The first Bohlmann Lecturer was Prof. Albert Eschenmoser in 1989!

2021

January

  • The Denmark group welcomes new, undergraduate student, Andrew Feng.
  • The Denmark Group welcomes new, advanced graduate students, Matt Bock and Alexander Shved who will now be co-advised together with Prof. David Sarlah.

February

  • Bijay Shrestha ends his postdoctoral stay and heads to University of California – Los Angeles for his new position in Dr. Michael Jung’s group. Good luck, Bijay!

June

  • The Denmark Group welcomes a new postdoctoral researcher, Dr. Rakesh Saunthwal from University of Delhi. Welcome Dr. Saunthwal!
  • The Denmark group welcomes a new postdoctoral researcher, Dr. Tapas Adak from Heidelberg University. Welcome Dr. Tapas!

July

  • The SED Group celebrates the 4th of July in style complete with water ballons, 30 lbs of smoked brisket and untold amounts of fireworks!

August

  • Emily Mumford wins the Voorhees Original Research Proposal Award for her topic “Development of the Asymmetric Vanadium-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling of Alkyl Halides.” Congratulations Emily!!
  • Jesse Panger participates in the AbbVie Scholars Symposium, albeit virtually. Congratulations Jesse!

September

  • The Organic Chemistry Area resumes in person seminars with visits by Sarah Wengryniuk (Temple) and Frank Liebfarth (UNC-Chapel Hill); another step to normalcy.

October

  • The Denmark Group welcomes two new first-year graduate students: Jamie Berry and Matthew Albritton. Check them out on the “Current Group Members” page.
  • Dr. Kimberly Hilby successfully defends her Ph.D. thesis and heads off to C4 Therapeutics to start her independent career.. Congratulations and good luck Kimberly!
  • The Denmark Group welcomes a new postdoctoral researcher, Dr. Karnjit Parmar from University of Saskatchewan. Welcome Dr. Parmar!

November

  • Jesse Panger and Alex Shved participate in the Graduate Research Symposium Sponsored by the ACS Organic Chemistry Division. This event took place in person at the University of New Mexico! Congratulations Jesse and Alex.
  • SED resumes in-person consulting at Merck-Rahway, slowly getting back to normal!

December

  • SED resumes in-person consulting at Janssen-La Jolla and brings the Yamaha R1 out of hibernation for the first ride in two years!

2020

January

  • Scott has received the 2020 Paracelsus Prize from the Swiss Chemical Society. Read the announcement in the March 12, 2019 edition of their web publication.
  • Scott has received the 2019 Noyori Prize from The Society of Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Japan. Read details of their announcement on their webpage.

April

  • Soumitra Athavale’s masterpiece on “Demystifying the Soai Reaction” has finally appeared in print in the March 23, 2020 issue of Nature Chemistry. The article was also featured in the April 6, 2020 issue of Chemistry World. Congratulations Soumitra and Adam Simon (Houk Group, UCLA)!!

May

  • Dr. Andrew Zahrt successfully defends his Ph.D. thesis and heads off to MIT to take up a postdoctoral research associate position with Prof. Klavs Jensen. Congratulations and good luck Andrew!!

June

  • Former SED Group Member Soumitra Athavale was selected as one of the top 10 participants in the 2nd Merck Compound Challenge. His single handedly formulated synthesis was chosen for wet lab testing among 132 total submissions. Congratulations Soumitra!

July

  • Dr. Aaron Roth successfully defends his Ph.D. thesis and heads off to Upstate Illinois to take up a Scientist Position with AbbVie. Congratulations and good luck Aaron!!

August

  • Dr. Connor Delaney successfully defends his Ph.D. thesis and heads off to University of California Berkeley to take up a post-doctoral research associate position with Dr. John Hartwig. Congratulations and good luck Connor!!

September

  • Former SED Group Member and Merck Compound Challenge Finalist, Soumitra Athavale has won the Compound Challenge Competition!! As a team of one he shared top honors (and the €10,000 prize) with a 10-person team from the Max Planck Institute in Mulheim. Read the full news article in this link. Congratulations Soumitra!!
  • Former SED Group Member Andrew Zahrt was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the Dreyfus Program for Machine Learning in the Chemical Sciences & Engineering on the topic of Machine-Learning-Guided Discovery of New Electrochemical Reactions which he is carrying out at MIT in the laboratories of Prof. Klavs Jensen.
  • Former SED Group Member Andy Thomas has started his independent career as Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University. Visit his website here and see how his new group has started. Congratulations Andy!!

October

  • The Denmark Group welcomes new, first year graduate student, Blake Ocampo.

2019

March

  • Chris Hanneman receives the ACS Organic Division Undergraduate Research Fellowship.  Congratulations, Chris!

May

  • Scott is recognized with the Journal of Organic Chemistry Outstanding Publication of the Year Award Lectureship for 2019. The JOC Editors identified our paper entitled “Catalytic Nucleophilic Allylation Driven by the Water-Gas Shift Reaction” coauthored by Zachary D. Matesich, Son T. Nguyen and Selena M. Sephton. Congratulations to Zack, Son and Selena! The lecture will be given at a Symposium at the ACS Meeting in San Diego.
  • Scott has received the 2019 EROS Best Reagent of the Year Award for 2019. The award was created to honor the work of the authors to the online edition of Encyclopedia of Reagents for Organic Synthesis and is sponsored by Aldrich® Chemistry and John Wiley & Sons. The article describing the reagent “N,N‘-Bis[(11bR)-3,5-dihydro-3,5-dimethyl-4-oxido-4H-dinaphtho[2,1-d:1′,2’-f][1,3,2]diazaphosphepin-4-yl]-N,N‘-dimethyl-1,5-pentanediamine was coauthored by John Heemstra and Tyler Wilson. Congratulations John and Tyler!
  • The Denmark group welcomes Snyder Scholar, Ethan Heyboer from Hope College.  Welcome, Ethan!

July

  • The Denmark group welcomes a new postdoctoral researcher, Dr. Brett Hemric from Duke University. Welcome Dr. Brett!
  • Dr. Kevin Robb successfully defends his Ph.D. thesis and heads off to Hastings College in Nebraska to start his independent career as Assistant Professor of Chemistry. Congratulations and good luck Kevin!!

August

  • The Denmark group welcomes a new postdoctoral researchers, Dr. Seth Bawel from Indiana University. Welcome Dr. Seth!
  • Dr. Soumitra Athavale successfully defends his Ph.D. thesis and heads off to Caltech to take up a postdoctoral research associate position with Nobel Laureate Prof. Frances Arnold. Congratulations and good luck Soumitra!!

October

  • The Denmark group welcomes two, new, first-year graduate students: Adon Kwong and Casey Olen.

2018

January

  • Kevin Robb receives honors as the 2017 Kobayashi Awardee.
  • Malek Ibrahim receives the 2018 Productivity Award.

April

  • The Denmark group welcomes a new postdoctoral researcher, Dr. Tao Qin.
  • The Denmark group welcomes Visiting Research Scientist, Aragorn Laverny from the National Graduate School of Chemistry, Montpellier, FRANCE. Welcome, Aragorn!
  • Scott delivers the prestigious Heathcock Lecture at UC-Berkeley.

May

  • Scott is elected to the National Academy of Sciences! Congratulations, SED!
  • Scott delivers the MIT-Pfizer Lecture at his alma mater, and the Sandin Lectures at the University of Alberta.
  • Scott hosts the Inaugural Denmark Organic Chemistry Retreat at his alma mater, MIT, modeled after our own Allerton Conference.
  • The Denmark group welcomes Snyder Scholar, Kim Kelly from Mount Holyoke College.  Welcome, Kim!
  • The Denmark group welcomes two new members this summer – graduate student, Ian Rinehart and undergraduate student, Chris Hanneman.  Welcome, Ian and Chris!
  • Kevin Robb wins an R. C. Fuson Travel Award which he will use to attend the Stereochemistry Gordon Research Conference in July. Congratulations Kevin!
  • Andrew Zahrt wins the Vanderveer Voorhees Award for the Best Original Research Proposal for his plan to  “Explore Reactivity Space to Uncover Novel Catalytic Reactions”. Congratulations Andrew!
  • Sean McCarty successfully completes his undergraduate studies at UIUC and heads to graduate school at University of Michigan.  Good luck, Sean!

June

  • The Denmark group welcomes a new postdoctoral researcher, Dr. Anastassia Matviitsuk from the University of St. Andrews.  Welcome, Dr. Anastassia!
  • Kevin Robb receives a Pines Travel Award which will send him to his alma mater, Truman State University in Missouri. Congratulations Kevin!

August

  • The Denmark group welcomes a new postdoctoral researcher, Dr. Bijay Shrestha from the University of New Mexico.  Welcome, Dr. Bijay!

October

  • The Denmark group welcomes two, new, first-year graduate students: Travis Menard, and Chris Parnell.

November

  • Soumitra Athavale nabs first prize at the 32nd Allerton Conference (2018) for his talk on “Demystifying the Soai Reaction”. The award includes a $500 cash prize (Pines Lecture Award) and a $500 travel award (Verbanac Award). Congratulations Soumitra!

2017

January

  • Nessa Carson leaves the Denmark Group with her M.S. and heads to Albany Molecular Research Institute. Good luck, Nessa!
  • Scott Barraza receives honors as the 2016 Kobayashi Awardee.
  • Scott Barraza, Malek Ibrahim, Zack Matesich, and Aaron Roth receive 2016 Productivity Awards. Congratulations!

February

  • The Denmark Group enjoyed a winter outing to Old Orchard Bowling Lanes.

March

  • Scott Barraza and Malek Ibrahim snag the White Glove Award honor for the second time in a row for a beautiful 244 RAL.

May

  • Kuo Zhao successfully completes his undergraduate studies at UIUC and heads to graduate school at Princeton University. Good luck, Kuo!
  • The Denmark Group welcomed two new members this summer – graduate student, Connor Delaney and undergraduate student, Zachary Wickenhauser. Welcome, Connor and Zack!
  • Kuo Zhao receives the ACS Organic Division Undergraduate Award. Congratulations, Kuo!

October

  • The Denmark group welcomes four new first years: Vincent Kassel, Emily Mumford, Bill Darrow, and Jesse Panger.

December

  • Jeremy Henle successfully defended his PhD and started his job at AbbVie. Congrats, Dr. Jeremy!

2016

January

  • Scott Barraza receives honors as the 2015 Kobayashi Awardee.
  • Kevin Robb and Kuo Zhao share the White Glove award honor for a beautiful 237 RAL.
  • The Denmark group enjoyed their winter outing playing laser tag in Bloomington.

February

  • Pavel Ryabchuk ends his postdoctoral stay and heads to Germany for his new position at Leibniz-Institut für Katalyse e.V. an der Universität Rostock. Good luck, Pavel!

March

  • The Denmark Group welcomed a new graduate student – Welcome, Aaron!

April

  • Andy Thomas’s tour de force study on the mechanism of the Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction appears in Science, Congratulations Andy!!

May

  • Hao Wang ends his postdoctoral stay and heads to Seattle, WA for his new position at Amazon. Good luck, Hao!
  • A new Postdoctoral Associate joined the Denmark Group – Welcome, Yang!

June

  • Zubaoyi Yi, a current undergraduate at St. Olaf College, has joined the group for the summer after being awarded a Snyder Scholarship from the Department of Chemistry. Congratulations and welcome, Bowie!

July

  • A new Postdoctoral Associate joined the Denmark Group – Welcome, Zhonglin!

September

  • Scott Barraza and Malek Ibrahim share the White Glove Award honor for a beautiful 244 RAL.
  • Andrea Ambrosi successfully defends his Ph.D. thesis and heads to Gilead Sciences.

October

  • Scott Barraza wins the C. S. Marvel Travel Award for Spring 2017 – Congratulations, Scott!
  • The Denmark group welcomed three new members – Laura Calvo Parra, Kimberly Hilby, and Brennan Rose!
  • David Kornfilt successfully defends his Ph.D. thesis and heads to Princeton University.

November

  • The Denmark Group enjoyed a fall outing to K1 Speed in Chicago to race go karts!
  • Hyung Min Chi successfully defends his Ph.D. thesis and heads to the University of Chicago.

2015

January

  • Nessa Carson and Zachery Matesich share the White Glove Award honor for a beautiful 238 RAL.
  • Dr. Eduard Hartmann accepts a position at Evonik in Hanau, Germany – Congratulations Eduard!
  • Kobayashi Award goes to Lindsey Cullen, second year in a row!

February

  • Andrea Ambrosi successfully passes ORP Exam – Congratulations Andrea!
  • SED Receives the Harry S. and Carol Mosher Award from the ACS Santa Clara Section joining colleagues Peter Beak and Ted Brown as previous winners.

March

  • Andrea Ambrosi wins the Fuson Travel Award – Congratulations Andrea!
  • Andy Thomas successfully passes ORP exam – Congratulations Andy!
  • Lindsey Cullen successfully defends her Ph.D. thesis and heads to 3M in Minneapolis – St. Paul.

April

  • Scott presents the Organic Syntheses lecture at Duke.

May

  • Scott attends and presents a lecture at the Great Lakes Regional Meeting in Grand Rapids, MI
  • Dr. Stanley Eey completes his postdoctoral stay and returns to Singapore. Good luck Stanley!
  • Scott attends and presents a lecture at the 22nd Lakeland Heterocyclic Symposium in Grasmere, UK.
  • Jeremy Henle successfully passes his ORP exam and is selected to attend the 2015 AbbVie Scholar Symposium – Congratulations Jeremy!
  • Zachery Matesich successfully passes his ORP exam – Congratulations Zack!
  • Stanley Eey participates in the Marvel Postdoc Symposium and is presented with the Marvel Travel Award – Congratulations Stanley!
  • Andrea Ambrosi is selected as one of two nominees to represent the department in the national competition for the BMS Graduate Fellowship in Synthetic Organic Chemistry – Congratulations Andrea!

June

  • Andy Thomas has been awarded a Pines Travel Award for the upcoming academic year to visit the Unversity of North Carolina at Charlotte. Congratulations Andy!
  • Scott presents a lecture at Janssen Pharmaceutica in Beerse, Belgium.
  • Scott attends and presents a lecture at the 16th Tetrahedron Symposium in Berlin, Germany.
  • John Fox, a current undergraduate at Carleton College, has joined the group for the summer after being awarded a Snyder Scholarship from the Department of Chemistry. Congratulations and welcome, John!
  • Artem Tsymbal, a current undergrate at Lomonosov Moscow State University, has joined the group for the summer after being awarded a Snyder Scholarship from the Department of Chemistry. Congratulations and welcome, Artem!

July

  • The Denmark group enjoyed their summer group outing at Turkey Run State Park in Indiana hiking and horseback riding.
  • Scott attends and presents a lecture at the Organic Reactions and Processes GRC in Lewiston, ME.
  • Andrea Ambrosi and Bradley Gilbert share the White Glove Award honor for a beautiful 246 RAL.

September 

  • Zain Yousaf leaves the Denmark Group with his M.S. and accepts a position as a Research Scientist I with the Albany Molecular Research Institute. Good luck, Zain!

November

  • Dietrich Böse ends his postdoctoral stay with the Denmark Group after accepting a position as the Head of Laboratory in Medicinal Chemistry with Boehringer Ingelheim RCU in Austria. Good luck, Dietrich!
  • The Denmark Group welcomed three new members – Malek Ibrahim, Noah Marcus, and Michelle Zyla!

December

  • Happy Holidays from the Denmark Group!

2014

January

  • Pavel Ryabchuk joins the Denmark group after receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas working with Prof. Michael Rubin on nucleophilic additions to cyclopropenes.
  • Lindsey Cullen snags the Kobayashi Award for the first time.
  • Eduard Hartmann and Stanley Eey share the White Glove Award honor for a beautiful 244 RAL

March

  • Scott is honored at the F.S. Kipping Award Symposium at the ACS meeting in Dallas along with good friends Jim Leighton, Martin Oestreich, Keith Woerpel, and Don Watson.

April

  • Hyung Min Chi successfully passes his ORP exam – Congratulations Hyung Min!

June

  • Kevin Robb and Craig Seymour share the White Glove Award honor for a beautiful 237 RAL.
  • Dr. Eduard Hartmann completes his postdoctoral stay and returns to Germany. Good luck Eduard!

July

  • Lindsey Cullen participates in the ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Graduate Research Symposium at UC-Irvine. Congratulations Lindsey!
  • Samantha Tarter joins the Denmark group as Coordinator of Research Programs.
  • Gina King ends a wonderful 5.5-year term as Coordinator of Research Programs in the Denmark group. She heads (with family) to Green Bay where Ryan will start a faculty position. We will all miss her.
  • Matt Burk accepts a position at Nalas Engineering in Connecticut – Congratulations Matt!

August

  • Lindsey Cullen participates in the AbbVie Scholars Symposium – Congratulations Lindsey!
  • Mr. Kuo Zhao joins the Denmark group as a junior chemistry major.
  • Dr. Brian Casey completes his postdoctoral stay in the Denmark group and takes a position at Vanderbilt Chemicals in Connecticut – Congratulations Brian!
  • Scott gives the opening lecture at 7th European Silicon Days Symposium in Berlin.

September

  • Dr. Scott Barraza joins the Denmark group as a postdoctoral research associate after receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan working with Dr. Scott Larson on medicinal chemistry and heterocyclic aspects of organic synthesis.

November

  • Dr. Dietrich Böse joins the Denmark group as a postdoctoral research associate after receiving his Ph.D. from Heinrich-Heine University working with Prof. Jörg. Pietruszka developing new access and application possibilities for chiral allylic boron reagents.
  • Dr. Stanley Eey and Jeremy Henle present posters on their research at the Annual Beak-Pines Allerton Conference.
  • Hyung Min Chi represents the Denmark group at the annual Beak-Pines Allerton Conference.
  • Three new graduate students join the Denmark group: Robert Zhang (B.S. Chemistry, Penn State), Rebecca Leising (B.S. Chemistry, Stonehill College), Andrew Zahrt (B.S. Chemistry, Anquinas College).

December

  • Soumitra Athavale (B.S. and M.S., Chemistry and Biology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research) joins the Denmark group after transferring from the Molecular and Cellular Biology program to pursue his interest in asymmetric autocatalysis and absolute asymmetric synthesis.
  • Dr. Bo Peng completes his postdoctoral stay and moves to a position as assistant professor at Nanjing University of Technology in Nanjing, China. Good luck Bo!

2013

January

  • Timothy Chang snags honors as the 2012 Kobayashi Award awardee.
  • Brian Casey and Hyung Min Chi share the White Glove Award honor for a beautiful 241 RAL.
  • Dr. Alex Jaunet completes his postdoctoral stay and returns to France. Good luck Alex!

February

  • Yusuke Ueki completes his postdoctoral stay and moves on to an assistant professor position at Nagoya University

March

  • Lindsey Cullen successfully passes her ORP exam – Congratulations Lindsey!

April

  • Hyung Min Chi successfully passes his prelim exam and enters Ph.D. candidacy – Congratulations Hyung Min!
  • David Kornfilt successfully passes his ORP exam – Congratulations David!

May

  • Richard Thornbury completes his stay in the Denmark group and heads to UC-Berkeley for graduate school in chemistry
  • Scott spends three weeks in Zürich to present a short course on Stereochemistry at the University of Zürich as the Givaudan-Karrer Lecturer.

June

  • Dr. Stanley Eey joins the Denmark group as a postdoctoral research associate after receiving his Ph.D. from University of Singapore working with Prof. Martin J. Lear on the total synthesis of the potent antibiotic platensimycin.

July

  • Scott delivers the prestigious Thursday night lecture at the Biennial Oxford Cambridge Synthesis Symposium.
  • Timothy Chang successfully defends his Ph.D. thesis and heads to MIT for a postdoctoral position with Professor Mo Movassaghi – Congratulations Timothy!

August

  • Scott receives the Frederick S. Kipping award in Silicon Chemistry from the ACS.
  • Dr. Alex Jaunet takes a position at Galapagos NV in Belgium – Congratulations Alex!

October

  • Dr. Bo Peng joins the Denmark group as a postdoctoral research associate after completing a postdoctoral stay at the Max Planck Institute for Hydrocarbon Research in Mülheim, Germany working with Prof. Nuno Maulide on a variety of projects in organocatalysis. He received his Ph.D. from the Dalian University of Technology with Prof. Ming Bao.
  • Dr. Matt Webster completes his postdoctoral stay and heads to ETH-Zürich for the second half of his Marie Curie Fellowship with Professor Erick Carreira. Good luck Matt!
  • Andrea Ambrosi successfully passes his prelim exam and advances to Ph.D. candidacy – Congratulations Andrea!
  • Andy Thomas successfully passes his prelim exam and advances to Ph.D. candidacy – Congratulations Andy!

November

  • Dr. Hao Wang joins the Denmark group as a postdoctoral research associate after receiving his Ph.D. from UCLA working with Prof. Ken Houk developing computational models to rationalize stereoselective organic reactions.
  • Three new students join the Denmark group: Bradley Gilbert (B.S. Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh), Kevin Robb (B.S. Chemistry, Truman State University), Nessa Carson (M.S. Chemistry, Oxford University)
  • Zachery Matesich successfully passes his prelim exam and advances to Ph.D. candidacy – Congratulations Zack!
  • Jeremy Henle successfully passes his prelim exam and advances to Ph.D. candidacy – Congratulations Jeremy!

December

  • Dr. Alex Cresswell completes his postdoctoral stay and heads to the University of Edinburgh for a second postdoctoral position with Professor Guy-Lloyd Jones. Good luck Alex!

2012

January

  • Dr. Alex Cresswell joins the Denmark group as a postdoctoral student after receiving his DPhil from the University of Oxford with Professor Steve Davies on developing new methods for stereoselective fluorination based on boron fluorides and fluoroborates as nucleophilic fluorine sources.
  • Timothy Chang snags honors as the 2012 Kobayashi Award awardee.
  • Alex Jaunet and Sergio Rossi share the White Glove Award honor for a beautiful 244 RAL.

February

  • Rob Weintraub completes his Master’s degree and takes a position at Dow AgroSciences in Indiana.

March

  • Bobby Stone (B.S., Montana State University) joins the Denmark group.

May

  • Matt Burk successfully defends his Ph.D. thesis and heads off to Yale University for a postdoc position with Dr. Seth Herzon. Congratulations Matt!
  • Dr. Yusuke Ueki joins the Denmark group as a postdoctoral student after receiving his Ph.D. from Nagoya University working with Professor Takashi Ooi on the development of chiral phosphonium salts possessing functional organic anions and their unique asymmetric catalyses.

June

  • Sergio Rossi completes his postdoctoral stay and moves on to a position with Universitá Degli Studi Di Milano in Italy.

August

  • Tim Chang and Andrea Ambrosi share the White Glove Award honor for a beautiful 246 RAL.

October

  • Two new students join the Denmark group: Craig Seymour (B. S., Chemistry with Specialization in Biochemistry, University of Virginia-Charlottesville) and Zain Yousaf (B. S., Chemistry, Lahore University of Management Sciences).
  • Dr. Eduard Hartmann joins the Denmark group as a postdoctoral student after receiving his Ph.D. from Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität with Professor Martin Oestreich working on rhodium-catalyzed enantioselective conjugate silyl transfer onto alpha,beta-unsaturated acceptors.

December

  • Larry Wolf successfully defends his Ph.D. thesis and heads off to Max-Planck-Institute für Kohlenforschung for a postdoc position with Dr. Walter Thiel. Congratulations Larry!

2011

January

  • Nici Bisek and Lindsey Cullen share the White Glove Award honor for a beautiful 239 RAL.
  • Dr. Alex Jaunet joins the Denmark group as a postdoctoral student after receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Sheffield with Dr. Simon Jones on synthetic approaches to naturally occurring cyclohexenone epoxides.
  • Dipa Kalyani completes her postdoctoral stay and returns to the University of Michigan to begin a second postdoc before starting her position at St. Olaf.
  • Aaron Bailey completes his Master’s degree and takes a position at Proctor and Gamble Co, in Ohio.

February

  • Bill Collins accepts a position as assistant professor at Ft. Lewis College in Durango, CO. Congratulations Bill!
  • Tyler Wilson snags honors for a 2nd year as the 2010 Kobayashi Awardee.

March

  • Larry Wolf receives an R. C. Fuson Travel Award to attend the Gordon Research Conference on Physical Organic Chemistry. Congratulations Larry!
  • Dr. Mehmet Yilmaz joins the Denmark group as a postdoctoral fellow of the Council of High Education. Dr. Yilmaz was previously an Assistant Professor at Kocaeli University in Turkey.

April

  • Nate Duncan-Gould successfully defends his Ph.D. thesis and heads off to Yale University for a postdoc position with Dr. Scott Miller. Congratulations Nate!
  • Scott delivers the Murtiashaw Lecture at the University of South Carolina.

May

  • Matthew Webster joins the Denmark Group as a postdoctoral research associate after receiving his Ph.D. from the Bristol University with Dr. Varinder Aggarwal followed by a postdoctoral stint at the Max Planck Institute in Mülheim with Dr. Alois Fürstner.
  • Hyung Min Chi (B.S. Seoul National University) joins the Denmark research group.
  • Larry Wolf presents a poster at the Gordon Research Conference on Physical Organic Chemistry.
  • Nathan Werner successfully defends his Ph.D. thesis and heads off the Scripps Research Institute for a postdoctoral position with Dr. Dale Boger. Congratulations Nathan!
  • Alex Geanes (Purdue) starts his 10 week stay in the Denmark lab as a Snyder Summer Scholar.
  • Diana Haas joins the Denmark lab as a visiting scholar for the summer. Ms. Haas is a Masters student in Professor Paul Knochel’s laboratory at Ludwig-Maximilians-University.

June

  • Sergio Rossi joins the Denmark Group as a postdoctoral research associate after receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Florence with Dr. Franco Cozzi.

August

  • The much anticipated Diamond Anniversary Volume 75 of Organic Reactions debuts at the ACS Meeting in Denver. This volume features, inter alia a 533-page chapter on “Cross-Coupling of Organosilicon Compounds”. Congratulations EIC Scott and the cross-coupling coauthors!
  • Alex Geanes completes his stay as a Snyder Summer Scholar in the Denmark lab and returns to Purdue.
  • Diana Haas completes her stay as a visiting scholar in the Denmark lab and returns to Ludwig-Maximilians-University.

September

  • Lindsey Cullen successfully passes her prelim examination and enters PhD candidacy. Congratulations Lindsey!
  • David Kornfilt successfully passes his prelim examination and enters PhD candidacy. Congratulations David!
  • Nici Bisek completes her postdoctoral stay and moves on to a position with Ascendis Pharma GmbH in Heidelberg, Germany.

October

  • Matt Burk represents the Denmark group at the annual Allerton Pines/Merck Conference with a talk on “Enantioselective Bromocycloetherification by Lewis Base/Chiral Brønsted Acid Cooperative Catalysis”.
  • Five new students join the Denmark Group: Andrea Ambrosi (M.S., Organic Chemistry, Universitá Degli Studi Di Milano), Spencer Eggen (B.S., Chemistry, Texas Christian University), Jeremy Henle (B.A., Chemistry, Illinois Wesleyan University), Zachery Matesich (B.A., Chemistry, College of Wooster), and Andy Thomas (B.S., Chemistry, University of North Carolina- Charlotte)
  • Dr. Brian Casey joins the Denmark group as a postdoctoral student after receiving his Ph.D. from Lehigh University with Dr. Bob Flowers on developing synthetic methods that utilize single electron oxidations to form new carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bonds and on understanding the key mechanistic factors that contribute to the selective formation of products in several single electron oxidative bimolecular coupling reactions.

November

  • Rob Weintraub and Timothy Chang present posters on their research at the annual Pines/Merck Allerton Conference.

December

  • Matt Webster is awarded a prestigious Marie Curie Foundation Fellowship (this in the centennial year of her Noble Prize!) which will support his work here for 18 months and then for 12 months at the ETH-Zürich with Erick Carreira. Congratulations Matt!!
  • Larry Wolf accepts a postdoctoral position with Walter Thiel at the Max Planck Institute for Kohlenforschung to pursue his interests in real computational chemistry. Congratulations Larry!

2010

January

  • Nick Anderson successfully passes his candidacy exam. Congratulations Nick!
  • Tyler Wilson snags honors as the 2009 Kobayashi Awardee and shares the White Glove Award with Thomas Vogler (in abstentia) for a beautiful 238 RAL.
  • Min Xie successfully defends his Ph.D. thesis and heads off to Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla) for a postdoc position with Dr. Sheng Ding. Congratulations Min!

February

  • Scott participates in a symposium on “New Concepts in Organic Synthesis” at the Technion in Haifa, Israel and receives an honorary membership to the Israeli Chemical Society. He also participates in the Annual Israel Chemical Society Meeting in Tel Aviv.

March

  • Scott travels to the United Kingdom to give lectures at both the Bristol Organic Synthesis Meeting and the 4th UK Symposium of Physical Organic Chemistry. He is stranded in London for a week courtesy of the Icelandic volcano!
  • Matt Burk successfully passes ORP exam. Congratulations Matt!
  • Larry Wolf successfully passes ORP exam. Congratulations Larry!
  • Russell Smith successfully defends his Ph.D. thesis and heads off to Caltech for a postdoc position with Dr. Brian Stoltz. Congratulations Russell!
  • Tim Chang successfully passes his ORP exam. Congratulations Tim!

April

  • Scott delivers the Herbert C. Brown Lecture at Purdue University.

May

  • Nathan Werner accepts a postdoctoral position with Dale Boger at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla. Congratulations Nate!
  • Joseck Muhuhi completes his postdoctoral stay and moves on to a position with Dow Chemical Company in Midland, Michigan.

June

  • Scott delivers the 2010 Karl Ziegler Lectures at the Max Planck Institute in Mülheim, Germany. These are the inaugural lectures in the new auditorium.

July

  • Matt Burk is named the Seemon Pines Graduate Fellow for 2010-2011, congratulations Matt!
  • Rob Weintraub and Nate Werner share the White Glove Award honor for a beautiful 242 RAL.

August

  • Scott returns to Zürich to participate in the 85th Birthday celebration of his graduate advisor, Professor Albert Eschenmoser.

September

  • John Heemstra accepts a position at Symbion Discovery in Salt Lake City, UT. Congratulations John!
  • Dr. Chen Zhang joins the Denmark group as a postdoctoral student after receiving his Ph.D. from Rutgers University with Dr. Daniel Seidel on design of novel C-H functionalizations and their application in cascade reactions.

October

  • Will Kuester (M.S., Chemistry, Southern Illinois University) joins the Denmark Group.

November

  • Russell Smith accepts a position in medicinal chemistry at Johnson & Johnson, La Jolla, CA. Congratulations Russell!
  • Dipa Kalyani accepts as position as assistant professor at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN. Congratulations Dipa!!
  • David Kornfilt and Rob Weintraub present posters on their research at the annual Pines/Merck Allerton Conference.
  • Tyler Wilson represents the Denmark group at the annual Allerton Pines/Merck Conference with a talk on “N-Silyl Oxyketene Imines: Highly Versatile Yet Underutilized Reagents for Catalytic Asymmetric Synthesis”.

December

  • Scott is named the 2011 recipient of the Senior Award in Heterocyclic Chemistry from the International Society of Heterocyclic Chemistry.
  • Scott travels to Hawaii to give a lecture as part of Pacifichem 2010.
  • Nathan Duncan-Gould accepts a postdoctoral position with Scott Miller at Yale University. Congratulations Nate!
  • Chris Regens accepts a position in process chemistry at BMS in New Brunswick, NJ. Congratulations Chris!

2009

January

  • Scott presents a plenary lecture at the 1st Global Center of Excellence Symposium at Nagoya University, Japan.

February

  • Gina King joins the Denmark group as Coordinator of Research Programs.

March

  • Chris Regens successfully defends his thesis and heads off to the Max Planck Institute in Mülheim, Germany for a postdoctoral stay with Alois Fürstner.
  • Scott receives a plaque on behalf of Organic Reactions, Inc. for their 50-year sponsorship (along with Organic Syntheses, Inc.) of the Roger Adams Award.
  • Scott is honored at the H.C. Brown Award Symposium at the ACS Meeting in Salt Lake City along with good friends Eric Jacobsen, Erick Carreira, Dave Collum and Mo Movassaghi.
  • Chris Butler successfully defends his thesis and takes up a position at Pfizer in Groton, CT.

April

  • Scott delivers the Lemieux Lecture at the University of Ottawa, Canada.

May

  • Bill Collins successfully defends his thesis and heads off to MIT for a postdoctoral stay with Tim Swager.
  • Jack Liu successfully defends his thesis and heads off to UC-Berkeley for a postdoctoral stay with Dean Toste.
  • Scott receives a “Citation for Chemical Breakthroughs” on behalf of Organic Reactions, Inc. and the University of Illinois at the National Organic Symposium in Boulder, CO.
  • Nathan Werner is named as a Sigma Aldrich 2009 Graduate Student Awardee following previous winners Chris Butler and Russell Smith.

June

  • Russell Smith presents a poster at the Heterocyclic Compounds Gordon Research Conference at Newport, RI under the auspices of his Sigma Aldrich Innovation Award.
  • Dr. Riina Aav completes her stay in the Denmark group and returns to her position at the Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia).
  • Andrew Hoover completes his stay in the Denmark group and heads to Harvard for graduate school in chemistry.

July

  • Dr. Nicola Bisek joins the Denmark group as a postdoctoral fellow of the DFG after receiving her Ph.D. from the Technical University of Dortmund and the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology with Prof. Herbert Waldmann on the synthesis and conformational analysis of stevastelin C3 analogs.

August

  • Dr. Selena Milicevic completes her postdoctoral stay in the Denmark group and takes a position with Obiter Research, LLC as a Research Chemist.
  • Dr. Zuhui Zhang completes his postdoctoral stay in the Denmark group and moves to the University of South Florida for a second postdoctoral stay with Jon Antilla.
  • Nathan Duncan-Gould wins an R.C. Fuson Travel Award which he took to present a poster at the Organic Reactions and Processes Gordon Research Conference in Smithfield, RI.
  • Scott is selected to be in the inaugural class of American Chemical Society Fellows at a ceremony at the ACS meeting in Washington, D.C.
  • Scott delivers a plenary lecture at the ICHC-22 in honor of his longtime friend Victor Snieckus.

September

  • Two new students join the Denmark Group: Lindsey Cullen (B.S., Chemistry, University of Detroit) and David Kornfilt (B.A., Biochemistry, Swarthmore College).

October

  • Dr. Matthew Cullen completes his postdoctoral stay in the Denmark group and takes a position with Proteostasis Therapeutics, Inc. as a Scientist.

November

  • Dr. Thomas Vogler completes his postdoctoral stay in the Denmark group and takes a position with BASF (Germany) as a Process Chemist.

December

  • Scott spends two weeks in the UK as part of receiving the Robert Robinson Lectureship Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry. The highlight of the visit is a reunion with Sir Jack Baldwin, Scott’s freshman chemistry instructor and a viewing of Sir Jack’s new Ferrari 599 GTB!
  • Matt Burk and Larry Wolf present posters on their research at the annual Pines/Merck Allerton Conference.
  • Nate Werner represents the Denmark group at the annual Allerton Pines/Merck Conference with a talk on “The Cross-Coupling of Allylic Silanolate Salts with Aromatic Bromides”.

2008

January

  • Scott assumes the role of Editor in Chief and President of Organic Reactions.

February

  • Won-jin Chung successfully defends his thesis and heads off the LG in Seoul, Korea.

March

  • Scott participates in a symposium and ceremony to celebrate the awarding of the prestigious Franklin Medal to Prof. Dr. Albert Eschenmoser.

April

  • Chris Butler accepts a position in medicinal chemistry at Pfizer, Groton.

May

  • Scott delivers the Lilly Lecture at York University, Canada.

June

  • Andrew Hoover wins a Pfizer Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) to continue his research over the summer.
  • Jessica Shackelford (U of Southern Mississippi) and Lindsey Cullen (Detroit Mercy) spend 10 weeks in the Denmark labs as Snyder Summer Scholars.
  • Dr. Zhuhui Zhang joins the Denmark group after receiving his Ph.D. from the USTC working with Professor Zhiyong Wang on Pd(0)-catalyzed cross coupling reactions and Pd(II) catalyzed oxidative cyclizations.
  • John Baird successfully defends his thesis and joins PTC Therapeutics (as the fifth Denmark Group member of the company).

July

  • Dr. Thomas Vogler joins the Denmark group as a Feodor Lynen Fellow of the Humboldt Foundation after receiving his Ph.D. from Münster, Germany with Prof. Armido Studer working on the interaction of nitroxides (TEMPO) with organometallic compounds.

August

  • Volume 85 of Organic Syntheses, edited by Scott, appears in print.
  • Tyler Wilson wins an R. C. Fuson Travel Award which he took to present a poster at the Stereochemistry Gordon Research Conference in Newport, RI.
  • Nathan Duncan-Gould shares the Vanderveer Voorhees Award for the best Original Proposal, 2008. Nate joins previous group members, Jack Liu, Greg Beutner, John Heemstra, Justin Montgomery and Bill Collins who have won this award.
  • Scott receives the Robert Robinson Medal and Lectureship for 2009 from the Royal Society of Chemistry.
  • Scott receives a “Citation for Chemical Breakthroughs” on behalf of Organic Reactions, Inc. and the University of Illinois.

September

  • Scott receives the H. C. Brown Award for Creative Research in Synthetic Methods for 2009 from the American Chemical Society.

October

  • Two new students join the Denmark Group: Michael Evans (B.S., Chemistry, University of Kentucky) and Rob Weintraub (B.S. Chemistry, University of Rochester) .
  • Nathan Werner and Min Xie present posters on their research at the Annual Pines/Merck Allerton Conference.
  • Nathan Duncan-Gould represented the Denmark Group at the Annual Allerton Pines/Merck Conference with a talk on “A Practical Method for the Vinylation of Aromatic Halides using Inexpensive Organosilicon Reagents.”
  • Dr. Selena Milicevic joins the Denmark group after receiving her Ph.D. degree from Oregon State University with Prof. Paul Blakemore on the synthesis and uses of chiral biquinolyl derivatives. Selena is a veteran of the Denmark group having spent one month in these laboratories in the summer of 2002 under the auspices of the Yugoslav Academic Summer Program.
  • Dr. Riina Aav joins the Denmark group as a Fulbright Scholar. Riina received Ph.D. degree from Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia working on the synthesis of seco-sterols.

November

  • Nathan Duncan-Gould represents the Denmark group at the Annual Allerton Pines/Merck Conference with a talk on “Understanding Asymmetric Phase Transfer Catalysis via QSAR”.

December

  • Nathan Werner and Min Xie present posters on their research at the Annual Pines/Merck Allerton Conference.

2007

January

  • Scott enjoys the hospitality of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona to deliver the Fèlix Serratosa Conferences.
  • Scott receives the Prelog Medal from his alma mater, the ETH-Zürich.
  • Jeff Kallemeyn (Ph.D., 2007) accepts a position at Abbott Laboratories Process Research and Development, IL.
  • Ramil Baiazitov (Ph.D., 2007) accepts a position at PTC Therapeutics, NJ.
  • Mike Ober (Ph.D., 2005) accepts a position at DuPont in Wilmington, DE.
  • Shinji Fujimori (Ph.D., 2005) accepts a position at Merck Process, Rahway, NJ.
  • Ramil Baiazitov successfully defends his Ph. D. thesis and heads for PTC Therapeutics, NJ.

February

  • Jeff Kallemeyn successfully defends his Ph. D. thesis and heads for Abbott Laboratories, IL.

April

  • Scott delivers the Eli Lilly Lecture at Yale, the Ingersoll Lecture at Vanderbilt University and the Dauben Lecture at the University of Washington.
  • Steve Tymonko successfully defends his Ph.D. thesis and heads for Bristol-Myers-Squibb, NJ.
  • Christophe Eggertswyler (PD, 2005-07) returns to Switzerland for military duty!
  • Brian Eklov (PD, 2005-07), joins Kalexsyn, Inc. in Kalamzoo, MI.

May

  • Dr. Wei-Liang Duan (Ph.D., Hayashi) an expert in asymmetric synthesis and catalysis joins the Denmark group.

June

  • Bill Collins shares the Vanderveer Voorhees Award for the best Original Proposal, 2007. Bill joins previous group members, Jack Liu, Greg Beutner, John Heemstra, and Justin Montgomery who have won this award.
  • Scott delivers a plenary lecture at the National Organic Symposium at Duke.

July

  • Russell Smith is named as a Sigma-Aldrich 2007 Graduate Student Innovation Awardee, following Chris Butler who won this recognition in 2006.

August

  • Won-jin Chung a recipient of the R. C. Fuson Travel Award, presented a talk titled, “Lewis base activation of Lewis acids. Catalytic, enantioselective addition of glycolate derived silyl ketene acetals to aldehydes” at the fall ACS meeting in Boston.
  • Dr. Matthew Cullen (Ph.D., Cushman) an expert in medicinal chemistry and modeling joins the Denmark group.

October

  • Scott enjoys the hospitality of his alma mater, ETH-Zürich for a nostalgic and celebratory day, to receive the 2007 Prelog Medal and deliver a lecture.
  • Chris Regens presents a talk at his alma mater, Lake Forrest College, as part of a Pines Travel Award.
  • Bill Collins presents a talk at his alma mater, New Mexico Institute of Technology, as part of a Pines Travel Award.

November

  • Chris Butler is named as the 2007-2008 recipient of the Seemon Pines Graduate Fellowship.
  • Nathan Duncan-Gould and Tyler Wilson present posters on their research at the Annual Pines/Merck Allerton Conference, Tyler wins one of the “Outstanding Poster Awards.”
  • Chris Butler represented the Denmark Group at the Annual Allerton Pines/Merck Conference with a talk on “A Practical Method for the Vinylation of Aromatic Halides using Inexpensive Organosilicon Reagents.”
  • Three new students join the Denmark Group: Aaron Bailey (B.S., Illinois Wesleyan), Nicholas Anderson (B.S., University of Maryland), and Robbie Wilson (B.S., St. Andrews).

2006

January

  • Scott receives the Yamada-Koga Prize for 2006 from the Japan Research Foundation for Optically Active Compounds.
  • Greg Beutner (PhD, 2004) accepts a position at Merck Process, Rahway.
  • Justin Montgomery (PhD, 2006) accepts a position at Pfizer Med Chem, Ann Arbor.
  • Jeromy Cottell (PhD, 2004) accepts a position at Gilead (SF).
  • The Denmark Group Webpage Goes Live!

March

  • Ramil Baiazitov, a recipient of the R. C. Fuson Travel Award, presented at the spring ACS meeting in Atlanta Georgia.

April

  • John Baird receives the R. C. Fuson Travel Award and will present at the fall ACS meeting in San Francisco California.
  • Mike Edwards (PD, 2004-06) takes a postdoctoral position at the University of York with Richard Taylor.

May

  • Jack Liu wins the Vanderveer Voorhees Award for the best Original Proposal, 2006. Jack joins previous group members, Greg Beutner, John Heemstra, and Justin Montgomery who have won this award.
  • Nathan Werner, a first year graduate student from Southern Utah University, joins the Denmark group.
  • Tommy Bui defends his thesis and will start his postdoc in the Barbas Lab at Scripps in June.
  • Justin Montgomery defends his thesis and heads to Pfizer, Ann Arbor!

June

  • Son Nguyen, an expert in complex natural product synthesis, (Ph.D., Forsyth), joins the Denmark group.
  • Dr. Moballigh Ahmad, an expert in organometallic catalysis (Ph.D., Beller; postdoc, Barbas), joins the Denmark group.

July

  • Chris Butler is one of four recipients of the inaugural “Sigma-Aldrich 2006 Graduate Student Innovation Award.” The other three recipients are students from Harvard, MIT, and Wisconsin.

September

  • John Baird, a recipient of the R. C. Fuson Travel Award, presented a talk titled, “Palladium-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling of Heteroaromatic Silanols with Aryl Halides” at the fall ACS meeting in San Francisco.

October

  • Bill Collins wins the Pines Travel Award. Bill will travel to his alma mater, the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, where he will present his current research.
  • Scott delivers the Merck-Frosst Lecture (his third) at the University of Calgary, Alberta.
  • Scott enjoys the hospitality of the University of Tokyo to receive the Yamada-Koga Prize.

November

  • Xiarong Liu (PD, 2004-06) takes a research position at Mass General Hospital in Boston.
  • Scott is a visiting professor for the Frontiers in Chemistry Series at Texas A&M University.
  • Bill Collins and Russell Smith presented posters on their research work at the Annual Pines/Merck Allerton Conference.
  • Chris Regens represented the Denmark Group at the Annual Pines/Merck Allerton Conference with a talk on “A Total Synthesis of Papulacandin D”.
  • Three new students join the Denmark Group: Matt Burk (B.S., Indiana University); Timothy Chang (B. Sc., University of Auckland, New Zealand); Larry Wolf (B.S., Drexel University).
  • Jack Liu and Chris Regens receive R. C. Fuson Travel Awards to present talks at the spring ACS Meeting in Chicago.

December

  • John Heemstra, Jr. successfully defends his Ph.D. thesis and joins Obiter Research while waiting to begin a postdoctoral position with Chris Walsh (Harvard Medical School).
  • Dr. Joseck Muhuhi (Ph.D., Spaller) with expertise in synthetic and medicinal chemistry joins the Denmark Group.