Flashback Friday to MCS Pride day and a 'fire' performance from Professor Das

How much do you know about the chemistry of spices? Test your knowledge of what spice chemicals can do besides seasoning food. cen.acs.org/biological-c... #chemsky 🧪

Ph.D. student Abhrojyoti Mazumder is advancing quantum tech with gold nanoclusters — tiny, uniform materials that could enable faster, more secure communication and powerful quantum computing. www.cmu.edu/mcs/news-eve...

Great @cmuchemistry.bsky.social collaboration with @isaacgb9.bsky.social ML-Accelerated Screening of Hydroquinone Analogs for Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer. We present AIMNet2 MLIP calculations of average BDFE for the 2H+/2e− dehydrogenation chemrxiv.org/engage/chemr... #compchem #chemsky

Ph.D. student Tina Lin is designing new ways to customize polymers at the molecular level. Her research could enable faster, more sustainable production of materials with tailored properties for diverse applications. www.cmu.edu/mcs/news-eve...

What my lab is up to currently...

Trick or treat success! Saw a lot of PI impersonators who did very good work :) Can you find Prof's Kowalewski, Guo, Isayev, Noonan, Sydlik, Sullivan?

Brains, spiders, (were)wolves, and slimy eyeballs — a collection of creepy research topics that Dr. Frankenstein would appreciate! But unlike the mad scientist’s work, these studies aim to improve human life. Check out four spooky science stories recently published in ACS journals:

Happy Halloween! Department trick or treat starts soon 🎃🍬🍭

📰C-CAS in the News 📰 This article highlights the work of C-CAS PIs @olexandr.bsky.social and @gabegomes.bsky.social as well as trainees Robert MacKnight, Nick Gao, and Liliana Gallegos. www.cmu.edu/mcs/news-eve... #chemistry #computerscience #nsf #chemsky

Nominations for the ACS #HeroesOfChemistry Award are now open through February 1, 2026! The award, one of ACS’s highest honors for industry, celebrates companies that have successfully developed commercialized innovative products. Nominate today: buff.ly/zBeMWvq

Chemistry Seminar: Penny Beuning, Northeastern University Characterization of Cancer-Associated Variants of DNA Polymerase Kappa Host: Subha Das Wednesday, October 29, 2025 4:00 p.m. Mellon Institute Conference Room 348

Polymers are everywhere. They give tires their toughness, make plasticware lightweight & durable & lend nylon clothes their stretch & strength. Tina Lin, a McWilliams Fellowship awardee, is designing new ways to build & customize these materials at the molecular level. www.cmu.edu/mcs/news-eve...

Professor Maria Kurnikova will receive the 2025 WCC Award for Excellence in The Chemical Sciences next month at the ACS Pittsburgh Section Annual Award Banquet. Congratulations Dr. Kurnikova! 🎉🎊

From the Guo lab!

Congratulations to Whitney Ribnick on her early initiation into Phi Beta Kappa (PBK)! Whitney was also inducted into the Andrew Carnegie Society. (ACS) recognizes just 40 seniors each year who embody Carnegie Mellon’s highest standards of academic excellence, leadership, volunteerism, & engagement

Meet Jose Regio, a PhD student in the lab of @gabegomes.bsky.social at @cmuchemistry.bsky.social. Have a question for Jose? Let us know in the replies. #nsf #chemistry #ccas #meetascientist #computerscience #science #phd #stem #chemsky 1m

Avleen Chawla from the Kietrys Lab has been selected to receive this year's Kwolek Fellowship. Created in 2016 by a generous bequest from our alumna Stephanie Kwolek, this is the 10th year that we have awarded the fellowship. Congratulations Avleen!

In October 2025, we celebrate the 80th anniversary of National Disability Employment Awareness Month #NDEAM. Meet the 2025 C&EN Trailblazers, chemists with disabilities who rethink how we do science: cen.acs.org/people/profi... #DisabledInSTEM #chemsky 🧪

Ever seen a spooky glow called a will-o'-the-wisp hovering in a swamp or bog? Wet places where organic things decay are gassy as hell, fueling these eerie lights. But what provides the spark? Microlightning that jumps between electrically charged bubbles of methane, according to a new study 🧪

Congratulations to the four MCS Graduate Student Funding Award recipients for fall conferences! Learn more about the students and the awards: www.cmu.edu/mcs/news-eve...

Chemistry Seminar Bryan Pivovar National Renewable Energy Laboratory The potential role of H2 in the global energy system Host: Kevin Noonan Wednesday, October 8, 2025 4:00 p.m. Mellon Institute Conference Room 348

New exciting things from @gabegomes.bsky.social 😍🥳🎉🥂

Chemistry Seminar: Janusz Dąbrowski Jagiellonian University, Krakow From Light to Cure: Nanoengineered Photosensitizers for Treating Resistant Cancers and Microbes Host: Krzysztof Matyjaszewski Wednesday, October 1, 2025 4:00 p.m. Mellon Institute Conference Room 348

I am super excited to announce that we have a tenure-track faculty position in biophysics open in the Department of Physics at Carnegie Mellon! 🧪 Interfolio link: apply.interfolio.com/174360 PLEASE, share widely across the blue skies! Let me briefly explain what we're looking for: 1/10

Sijie Fu Washburn Research Group Machine Learning for Chemistry and Formulation: Generative Discovery, Data-Driven Modeling, and Autonomous Experimentation Wednesday October 1, 2025 2:00 p.m. Mellon Institute Classroom 355 Examiners: Newell Washburn Hyung Kim Olexandr Isayev Robert Tilton

Congratulations to Kiran Ali from the McDonough Group - she is the recipient of an MCS Graduate Conference Funding Award. She will attend SETAC North America 46th Annual Meeting.

Congratulations to Team Mitch, winners of the 2026 Chemger Games! May the bonds be ever in your favor! :) An annual fall tradition, undergraduate students compete, making their way around Mellon Institute labs, to use clues and complete challenges.

✨My first science feature is out in Chemical & Engineering News!✨ I interviewed and wrote about Dr. Shana V. Stoddard, a brilliant disabled scientist changing STEM. Disabled scientists deserve visibility and celebration. cen.acs.org/synthesis/me... #DisabledInSTEM #SciComm #RepresentationMatters

@olexandr.bsky.social in the news again, along with his former postdoc, Dylan, who is now an assistant professor at Michigan State - love to see the progress you are making!

CMU125 at Homecoming Weekend is Nov. 6-8! Register now for this landmark celebration: cmu.is/homecoming

MCS Faculty Members Recognized With Chairs - including our very own @olexandr.bsky.social Olexandr Isayev! 🪅🪇🥳🥂 www.cmu.edu/mcs/news-eve...

CMU Program Helps Students Incorporate Sustainable Learning Environment into Diverse Fields Individuals involved in this project span the labs of department chemists Terry Collins, Neil Donahue, and Ryan Sullivan. www.cmu.edu/news/stories...?

Undergrads brought the energy to MCS Pride Day — thanks for making it unforgettable!

Josephine Silone Yates was a professor of chemistry & among the 1st women in the US to head a university science department. She was also a journalist & editor & served as the president of the National Association of Colored Women in 1901.

MCS Pride Day is almost here! We’ll be celebrating undergraduates in the Mellon College of Science from 3:30-6:30 p.m. on Sept. 16 on the Mall between the College of Fine Arts building and Hammerschlag with an afternoon of fun, food and community.

They’re called “forever chemicals” because once they’re released, you can’t take them back… The House and Senate are proposing further delays in phasing out PFASs in firefighting foams. 🧵

The @acs.org 2025 candidate election statements are now available on @cenmag.bsky.social (and will be available in the Sept. print issue): cen.acs.org/acs-news/ele...

Did we know we are ranked 8th in the nation for best colleges for Chemistry? www.niche.com/colleges/sea... and top 5 for best professors? www.niche.com/colleges/sea... with top marks in Pennsylvania for our professors!

Chemistry Seminar: Christine M. Aikens, Kansas State University Theoretical Investigations of the Optical Properties of Bare and Monolayer-Protected Nanoparticles Host: Graduate Student Advisory Committee Wed, September 10, 2025 4 p.m. Mellon Institute Conference Room 348

🍕✂️ Get creative (and fed!) at our Pizza & Pennant Making workshop! 🚩 Join us tomorrow (Sept. 9th) from 4:30-6:30 PM in IDeATe Studio A on the first floor of Hunt Library to create your own @cmu.edu pennant while enjoying delicious pizza and drinks.

Chemistry & Mechanical Engineering faculty member Ryan Sullivan was interviewed for this article on understanding the consequences of flame retardant additives in furniture foam when it burns. cen.acs.org/environment/...

We gathered today to celebrate Tim and his retirement from Chemistry - he has been at CMU for over 40 years, and with Chemistry over 30 of those. Thank you for your many years of service; we will miss you more than you can know!

It was Welcome Back Picnic day! Thanks for all who came out to join us :)

Welcome back to all of our students! We’re looking forward to the fall semester with you!

Last day of #acsfall2025. Emma Bouchard, a graduate student @cmuchemistry.bsky.social chairs Cryo-EM and protein dynamics session of our “Bridging theory and experiment with AI” symposium. #compchem #chemsky

Attending #ACSFall #acsfall2025 meeting in DC? Interested in ML interatomic potentials? See my talk today @acscomp.bsky.social symposium on “Chemical Reaction Networks, Retrosynthesis, and Reaction Prediction” #compchem

Thesis Defense: David Hebert Garcia-Bosch Research Group @isaacgb9.bsky.social Copper Complexes with Bio-Inspired Redox-Active Ligands: Synthesis, Characterization, and Reactivity Monday August 18, 2025 1:00 p.m. Mellon Institute Classroom 448

Thesis Defense: Colin Martin Armitage Research Group Strategies for Sequence-Specific Targeting & Delivery of γPNA in Human Cellular Systems Friday August 15, 2025 10:00 a.m. Mellon Institute Social Room 328

Our 2025 graduates! (a little late)