Chemistry & Biochemistry
Undergraduate Research Projects Showcase
The 2025 Undergraduate Research Project Showcase was a celebration of research, design, and creative theses—a requirement of every graduating senior through the Major Qualifying Project (MQP)—takes place each spring on campus. Student teams representing all academic departments present their work to their faculty advisors, external sponsors, and the community-at-large, and the public is invited. The chemistry and biochemistry department had extraordinary projects with thorough research from each participating student, as well as two exemplary MQP students who were awarded the Major Qualifying Project Awards. You can see all award winners in the exciting spotlight section below!
MQP Award Winners
Aileen Peddie & Olivia Dube With Department Head Dr. Rong Wang
Salisbury Prize
The Salisbury Prize is awarded to WPI’s most highly meritorious seniors who have faithfully, industriously, and with distinguished attainment completed all requirements for the Bachelor degree. We have two award winners, one for each major; our senior biochemistry student is Aileen Peddie and our senior chemistry student is Olivia Dube. Congratulations to both award winners!
Sarah Sponenberg With Department Head Dr. Rong Wang
American Institute of Chemists Foundation Award
The AIC Award honors an outstanding senior in recognition of demonstrated overall ability, leadership, and professional promise. The senior biochemistry award winner is Sarah Sponenberg, congratulations!
ACS Division of Inorganic Chemistry Award Connor Doran
ACS Division of Inorganic Chemistry Award
This award recognizes achievement in inorganic chemistry by a student who has demonstrated excellence, motivation, and dedication based on coursework and research. The student award winner is Connor Doran, congratulations!
Mia Holroyd With Department Head Dr. Rong Wang
ACS Division of Organic Chemistry
This award recognizes a senior who displays a significant aptitude for organic chemistry, and has demonstrated excellence based on research experience, coursework and a desire to pursue a career in chemistry. The senior award winner is Mia Holroyd, congratulations!
Evan Dapsis With Department Head Dr. Rong Wang
ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry
This award recognizes outstanding achievement in analytical chemistry by a student who displays an aptitude for a career in the field. The student award winner is Evan Dapsis, congratulations!
Allison Moring With Department Head Dr. Rong Wang
ACS Division of Physical Chemistry
This award recognizes excellence in physical chemistry and related fields based on research, coursework and/or dedication as defined by our department. The student award winner is Allison Morin, congratulations!
Peter Allen With Department Head Dr. Rong Wang
ACS Division of Biological Chemistry
This award recognizes a senior who displays a significant aptitude for biochemistry or chemical biology and to encourage further interest in the field. This award is administered by the Division of Biochemistry and Chemical Biology of the American Chemical Society. The senior award winner is Peter Allen, congratulations!
Grace Baumgartner, Robert E. Connors Award Recipient
Robert E. Connors Award
Robert Connors, who taught chemistry at WPI for nearly four decades and maintained an active research program in spectroscopy and photophysics. Just a year after arriving at WPI, he became the fourth faculty member to be appointed the Leonard P. Kinnicutt Assistant Professor of Chemistry, an honor named for a beloved WPI chemistry professor and internationally recognized expert in sanitary chemistry. His research collaborators were as likely to be undergraduates completing Major Qualifying Projects (MQPs) as graduate students, and he enjoyed exposing undergraduate chemistry majors to the excitement of working in a laboratory where the worlds of chemistry, physics, and biology often came together in novel ways. His work with undergraduates won him his department's MQP Advisor Award four times, in 1984, 2009, 2010, and 2011. As a teacher, Connor relished the challenge of helping students grasp complex concepts. "The challenge is to make this material accessible to all by cutting through the mathematics and focusing on the central principles that will be important as the students move forward in their careers as scientists," he wrote. This award in his honor recognizes outstanding achievement in physical chemistry by a student who has demonstrated excellence based on coursework and research. The student award winner is Grace Baumgartner, congratulations!
The Six Herb Beall General Chemistry Award Winners With Department Head Dr. Rong Wang
Herb Beall General Chemistry Award
Herbert Beall was a distinguished professor of chemistry at WPI. Professor Beall published more than 70 articles in areas of chemistry that include boron chemistry, chemical education, the use of language in chemistry, and gold and coal chemistry helping to influence undergraduate as well as graduate student research projects aiding in projecting them to a successful future in chemistry. This award, in honor of Professor Beall, recognizes six students with outstanding performance in the General Chemistry sequence. Those six award winners are Sarah McCollem, James Hutchinson, Joanna Petrone, Nicholas Kurtz, Niko Moraes, and Joseph Mendenhall, congratulations to all six winners!
Outstanding TA Award Winners Greta Schmidt and Kaitlyn Bergeron
Outstanding Teacher's Assistant Award
This award recognizes outstanding performance and dedication as a teaching assistant. The outstanding undergraduate TA is Kaitlyn Bergeron and the outstanding graduate TA is Greta Schmidt, congratulations to both students!
David LaPre Summer Research Fellowship Recipients
David LaPre Summer Research Fellowship
The David Lapre Summer Research Fellowship provides support to undergraduate students undertaking summer research in the lab of a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry or Department of Biology & Biotechnology. The LaPre Fellowships are generously funded through the LaPre Endowment for Life Sciences Research. These two students receive stipends to continue their research throughout the summer. The two fellowship recipients are Alexandra Cupit and Andrew Raymond.
Jackson Nguyen With Department Head Dr. Rong Wang
Worcester Polytechnic Institute Two Towers Prize
The Two Towers Prize is awarded to the student at WPI who, through general academic competence, campus leadership, regular course work, and special work in research and projects, best exemplifies a combined proficiency in the theoretical and practical union that is at the heart of the WPI educational tradition. This award is sponsored by the Provost office, recipients of this award are selected from the entire student body. The recipient will have a separate award ceremony at a later date for a more formal presentation of this award. The 2025 Two Towers Prize recipient is a CBC student, Jackson Nguyen, congratulations!
MQP Award Winners Allison Morin and Sarah Durant With Dr. Rong Wang
These awards offer recognition to those students who have completed outstanding Major Qualifying Projects (MQPs) as a demonstration of their competency in a chosen academic discipline. One Chemistry Student and one Biochemistry Student have been selected by the Department on the day of MQP presentations. They will also receive a certificate from the Provost's office in the near future. The MQP award recipients are senior chemistry student Allison Morin and senior biochemistry student Sarah Durant, congratulations to both students!
Biochemistry Students Are the 2024 President's IQP Award Winners
A huge congratulations to Peter Allen (BC) and Annabelle Mullins (BC), as their IQP team was awarded the 2024 President's IQP Award. The President's IQP awards are given to student teams whose conception, performance, and presentation of their Interactive Qualifying Projects (IQPs) have been judged outstanding in focusing on the relationships among science, technology, and the needs of society. This group's IQP titled, "How Bazar? Creating Interactive Media to Promote Community Building" took place emersed in Lyon, France. Congratulations to all in this incredible IQP team!
Exciting CBC Spotlights
Welcome! New Chemistry Adjunct Faculty!
WPI’s Graduate & Professional Studies is excited to welcome new adjunct faculty members, bringing their expertise and industry experience to our online chemistry graduate program. These accomplished faculty members will be leading courses that blend rigorous academics with real-world applications, ensuring our students gain the knowledge and skills needed to excel in their careers. With their leadership, our students will gain invaluable insights into drug safety, regulatory science, medicinal chemistry, and emerging fields like cannabis chemistry. We’re thrilled to have them on board and look forward to the impact they’ll make in our program!
Prof. Raúl Orduña Picón and Prof. Ceren Yilmaz Akkaya facilitated a hands-on activity, “Sea the Change: CO2’s Effects on Our Planet”
CBC Faculty Bring Hands-On STEM Activities to Family STEM Night
Prof. Raúl Orduña Picón and Prof. Ceren Yilmaz Akkaya facilitated a hands-on activity, “Sea the Change: CO2’s Effects on Our Planet” to about 100 learners of all ages and backgrounds at Worcester Boys and Girl's Club. Goal of the workshop was to boost interest and awareness on climate change and its impact on both the oceans and atmosphere, and demonstrating chemists’ work is not isolated but it is related to our society, environment, economics, and people’s lives.
Dr. Rong Wang
Rong Wang Named John C. Metzger Jr. Professor and Department Head in Chemistry and Biochemistry
Rong Wang, a distinguished researcher focused on the intersection of materials science, biochemistry, bioengineering, and nanotechnology, has joined WPI as the John C. Metzger Jr. Professor and Department Head in Chemistry and Biochemistry.
Science, Data & the Pandemic: Marni Hall ’97
Marni Hall, an authority on real-world evidence who double majored in chemistry and science, technology, and policy studies during her time at WPI, is helping the nation—and the world—respond to COVID-19.
The Path Less Traveled: Hilary Stinnett Adragna ’09
For Hilary Stinnett Adragna, a biochemistry major, the road to her post at The Estée Lauder Companies has been anything but linear. And that has made all the difference.
More from the WPI Journal
Breaking New Ground for Women's Health
With Opal Therapeutics, Morgan Stanton, PhD ’14, accelerates the development of new treatments for gynecological diseases and disorders.
Student Project: Living With Fracking in Albania
This student team won first place in the President's IQP Awards for their project highlighting fracking's impact on women in Albania
Sustainability of the Built Environment
Researchers seek solutions for a source of 40 percent of carbon emissions worldwide—human-made infrastructure.
Meet Our Students
Accreditation
The American Chemical Society (ACS) has accredited the Chemistry & Biochemistry department for a major in chemistry. The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) has accredited the Chemistry & Biochemistry department for a major in biochemistry.
Media Coverage
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Spreading the Word
Suzanne Scarlata, the inaugural Richard T. Whitcomb Professor of Biochemistry, is president of the Biophysical Society, with over 9,000 global members. Her goals in the new role include efforts to establish a more stable U.S. research funding system, spreading the word about the biochemical and physical science realm of WPI, and forging more community collaborations with groups like UMass Medical School.