Chemistry Club Corner
American Chemical Society Students is a club with open membership to students taking chemistry courses and those majoring in chemistry related fields. Activities are tailored to students by organizing study sessions, a science-related volunteer opportunity per semester, guest speakers from offices around campus for resource outreach, and social events.
Come meet fellow club members and help shape the future of the Chemistry Club! We discuss research connections, science outreach, and ways to support each other academically and socially. All majors and experience levels are welcome — whether you’re an aspiring chemist, a STEM major, or just here for the snacks and science talk, come hang out and learn more!
If you are interested in joining the American Chemical Society Students, please contact Shaun Harrington, club secretary, at ACSSMKE25@gmail.com.
🌐 PantherOrgs: https://pantherorgs.uwm.edu/ACSS/club_signup
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uwmchemistryclub/
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/uwm-chemistry-club-67a85b360/
Support for Undergraduate Research Fellows (SURF)
The Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry continues the longstanding tradition of mentoring SURF students. The SURF program is made possible by the Office of Undergraduate Research and is designed to foster faculty-student research collaborations. Students have the opportunity to engage in thoughtful and progressively sophisticated work central to the overall research program of the principal investigator.
Sarah Benes is a Chemistry major and was a summer SURF student working in Prof. Wilcoxen’s lab. Sarah is developing an artificial metalloenzyme to study how nature leverages metals for catalysis. Over the summer she made a synthetic mimetic of a cofactor that molybdenum in nature. This artificial cofactor will be put into a protein scaffold to make the artificial metalloenzyme for further study. Sarah assisted James Linzel, who is the primary graduate student on the project. Sarah is currently preparing her graduate school applications in hopes to pursue her PhD.
Ryan Burmesch is currently a junior studying Biochemistry that has had the opportunity to work in the Arnold Group for around a year now as a SURF student. His research focuses on exploring potential new drug inhibitors for human cytomegalovirus (HCMV). This involves multiple steps to create final products, including synthesis, purification, and analysis through techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and high-performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS). He has been working on this project with a graduate student, Ethan Kowalczyk, in collaboration with Ravid Boger for the Medical College of Wisconsin. Ryan is preparing to apply to medical school and plans to apply the skills and knowledge he has acquired in the laboratory in future medical research and education.
Nicole Haddad is a Biochemistry major who is a current SURF student working in Prof. Peng’s lab. Nicole has previously worked in Prof. Silvaggi’s lab. She is currently assisting graduate student Mayurika Mahendran in organic synthesis and medicinal chemistry.
Shaun Harrington is a senior majoring in Biochemistry and a summer SURF and current Senior Excellence in Research Awards (SERA) student working in Prof. Arnold’s lab. Shaun has been working closely with graduate student Maya Fernando on a project focusing on the design and synthesis of novel ligands targeting the Alpha-2B adrenergic receptors. Using a palladium-catalyzed reaction, Shaun has synthesized many benzodiazepine-based analogs, some of which have promising affinity towards Alpha-2B adrenergic receptors. This work has allowed Shaun to gain experience with advanced organic chemistry techniques, such as compound characterization, reaction optimization, and broader skills in synthetic organic chemistry and medicinal chemistry. Earlier this year Shaun received the Senior Excellence in Research Award, which is given to a select group of seniors who have demonstrated significant research involvement during their time at UWM. He hopes to use everything I’ve learned in the Arnold Group to pursue a PhD in chemistry. Dr. Arnold’s mentorship has been one of the most meaningful parts of my undergraduate journey and I am very thankful for his support, along with everyone else in the Arnold Group.
Ricardo Hughes is a Biochemistry major who is a current SURF student working in Prof. Hossain’s lab. Ricardo’s research has been designing and synthesize analogs of JRM-28 by incorporating different alkyl halides and capping groups to optimize potency and pharmacological properties. He is assisted in the lab with graduate student Omolola Mary Adedeji. After graduation, he plans to pursue graduate studies in chemistry that merges biochemistry, computational chemistry and drug discovery.
Amirabbas Jafari is a Chemistry major who is a fall SURF student working in Prof. Peng’s lab. Amirabbas is currently working with graduate student Wasiu Awoyera on running Polyacrylamide gel and running the column. After graduation, he plans on attending graduate school – hopefully at UWM.
Amirhossein Jafari is a chemistry major SURF student working in Prof. Hossain’s lab. Amirhossein has been involved in synthesizing analogs with various cap groups and conducting computational screening of HDAC2 ligands along with graduate students Omolola Mary Adedeji and Justice Mallen. He has been focusing on molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations to assess ligand binding affinity, stability, and interactions within the HDAC2 active site. These computational insights help identify promising candidates for synthesis and biological evaluation. Amirhossein plans to continue in the field of medicinal and computational chemistry, focusing on drug discovery and molecular design. His future goal is to pursue graduate studies in chemistry or biochemistry.
Julia Jakusz is a Biomedical Sciences student with a Biomedical science submajor and minors in Spanish and biology. She is currently a SURF student in Prof. Peng’s lab working with graduate student Thilini Fernando. They are working with in vivo investigation of H2O2-activated prodrugs with PDX-mice. Julia is currently applying to medical school during the 2026 cycle.
Cody Miller is a General Biology major who is studying pre-vet studies though Cody’s research at the moment is mainly focused on organic and biochemistry. Cody is a fall SURF student working in Prof. Peng’s lab. Cody is currently doing cytotoxicity assays with their novel chemotherapeutics and plans to do in vivo studies soon with the same chemotherapeutics working with graduate student Thilini Fernando. While Cody does not have any direct plans to work in the chemistry field, he intends to become a zoological vet in the future.
Nicholas Pajek is a biochemistry major carrying out research to develop a paper-based analytical device (PAD) for the determination of metal ions working in Prof. Dietz’s lab as a summer and fall SURF student. Ultimately, the goal is to introduce PADs in our undergraduate analytical courses (esp. CHEM 221). In this project, Nick has been working with graduate student Tori Williamson. Nick hopes to pursue a career in chemical research following graduation.
Joseph Parlier is a double major in Chemistry and Mathematics and member of the Honors College who was a summer SURF and current SERA student in Prof. Woehl’s lab. Joe is assisting with the setup of the research lab, which was delayed by almost one year because the lasers were not operational due to the inadequate cooling capacity of the in-house chilled water loop. He is also becoming knowledgeable about point spread function theory, which is a current theoretical research focus in the Woehl Lab. In particular, he is looking into the use of two- and three-dimensional Jones matrices to model the evolution of the electric field’s amplitude vector as light waves traverse the optical elements in a typical microscopy setup. Joe is interested in pursuing graduate school in a chemistry related field.
Natalie Raschka is a Biomedical Science student that is also pursuing chemistry and biology minors. She is currently a SURF student in Prof. Peng’s lab for the fall. She is assisting Thilini Fernando in her Cytotoxicity lab. Her research project focuses on the cytotoxicity study of photo inducible DNA cross-linking agents. Natalie has a goal of applying to medical school to either become a physician or a researcher.
Lucas Ross is Chemistry major who is a fall SURF student working in Prof. Saha’s lab. He is currently developing a machine learning model to predict binding energy of two proteins.
Angelina Skoropat is a senior majoring in Biochemistry who intends to pursue a career in veterinary medicine. In the Frick lab, Angie is studying malate dehydrogenase (MDH), which is an enzyme crucial in various metabolic pathways, including the citric acid cycle. Abnormal MDH levels have been implicated in heart attacks and some cancers, making MDH a potential target for therapeutic intervention. To facilitate the analysis of MDH, Angie will use recombinant DNA techniques to generate genes encoding MDH fused to either a yellow or green fluorescent protein. When expressed in cells, the genes can be used to track MDH levels in response to cellular stress, potentially leading to insights into various human diseases, such as diabetes or cancer. Proteins produced by the new genes could also be used to understand how MDH catalyzes multiple chemical reactions.
Undergraduate Degrees Conferred in Spring 2025
Biochemistry:
Samantha Mae Dresselhaus
Alexander Taro Freeman
Allison Getty
Zain Cadin Miles
Elizabeth Marie Reece
Mitchell James Worman
Chemistry Majors:
Daniel Macfarlane Smith
Emma Marie Stutler
Chemistry Minors:
Hailey Rae Ammerman
Emily Estelle Belmont
Zechariah Thomas Cummings
Trinity Nicole Ikner
Hammad Khan
Aaron Martell Moreno-Padilla
Cora Elizabeth Norrbom
Jatin Pandey
Emily Ruth Stange
Daniel Szwed
Makena Rose Vesperman
Laurel Paige Wegerbauer