News

UNC Charlotte broke ground for a new science building that will reshape the way sciences are taught at UNC Charlotte. Set to be opened in 2021, the 130,000 square foot bulding will host both classrooms and laboratories. The building has been designed for interdisciplinary research and collaboration. “This one-stop-shop for our chemistry, biology and physics […]

Margaret Kocherga, a 3rd year graduate student in the Nanoscale Science Ph.D. program, received the award for best oral presentation by a student at the 50th North American Silicon Symposium in Columbia, SC on May 15th, 2019. The North American Silicon Symposium brings together individuals from industry and academia to celebrate innovation in silicon chemistry. […]

Priya Vadarevu wins Thomas L. Reynolds Graduate Research Award. This Reynolds Fellowship assists with the costs that are overlooked in other funding sources and to help students stay focused on their research goals. More information about the award can be found here. Priya currently works with Dr. Vivero-Escoto.

Justin Halman was the 1st place overall category winner with his poster “Structure and Composition Determine Immunorecognition of Nucleic Acid Nanoparticles” at the Charlotte Biomedical Engineering and Science (CBES) 11th Annual Graduate Student Poster Competition. Morgan Chandler with her poster “Molecular Engineering & Design Focus Area” was a CBES associated winner. Both Justin and Morgan […]

Beth Scarbrough received an Honorable Mention in the 2019 National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). This prestigious, highly competitive program supports exceptional graduate students pursing research in STEM. Beth is a second year PhD student at UNC-Charlotte and focuses on life at the nanoscale. Her graduate studies address key questions regarding the […]

UNC Charlotte held the annual Colors of Chemistry day-long program where children from a variety of schools were able to participate in hands-on activities, including colorful slime, colorful lather printing, and the M&M color wheel. A demonstration show and t-shirt tie dying ended the exciting day. Thank you to Morgan Chandler, Margaret Kocherga, Nickolas Sayresmith, […]

Congratulations to Nanoscale Science students Margaret Kocherga and Morgan Chandler for winning 1st and 2nd at the 19th Annual Graduate Research Symposium. To see all the award winners, click here. Margaret Kocherga’s oral presentation on “New Materials for Organic Electronics” won 1st place in the Liberal Arts & Sciences division of the conference. Margaret works […]

Ms. Margaret Kocherga, a Ph.D candidate in the Nanoscale Science program at UNC Charlotte, is the recipient of the Younger Chemist Committee (YCC) of the American Chemical Society (ACS), Leadership Development Award. This award supported her participation in the YCC Leadership Development Workshop held in Atlanta, Georgia in January of this year. Her contributions, volunteer […]

Why should you join the Nanoscale Science Ph.D. program? Ask our students! “For me, the Nanoscale Science PhD program provided as diverse a PhD as you are willing to try. In this program I was able to get outside of my comfort zone and learn how physicists, engineers, chemists, and biologists solve problems and utilize […]

Zachary Lyles and Katelyn Erickson both have successfully defended their theses to their committees and have graduated the Nanoscale Science Ph.D. program! We wish them well on their new lives as Dr.’s of Nanoscale Science. To learn more about Zach’s research, please click here. To learn more about Kate’s research, please click here.

Metal sulfide clusters are attractive components for flow batteries owing to the abundance of their constituent atoms and their tunable size, solubility, and redox properties. Here, we demonstrate that we can prepare an atomically precise cobalt sulfide cluster in a single step using low-cost precursors and water solubilizing phosphine ligands. The resulting cluster undergoes two […]

The overall goal of this project is to develop novel biodegradable multifunctional hybrid polysilsesquioxane nanoparticles to carry photosensitizing agents. By fine tuning the chemical features of polysilsesquioxane nanoparticles, the degradability of these materials under specific conditions and their interaction with mammalian cells can be controlled. The success of the proposed work will open new synthetic […]

Amanda Reid has received the prestigious Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Individual Predoctoral Fellowship (F31) from NIH. Here is an excerpt from her fellowship “Alternative therapeutic targets have become a major topic in research with growing concerns over the alarming rate of antibacterial resistance. In contrast, many symbiotic bacteria that aid in human […]

The Association of Nanoscale Science Graduate Students hosted its first annual poster session. Continuing Nanoscale Science and Chemistry graduate students, as well as faculty, presented posters designed to showcase the different areas of science currently being researched at the university.

Margaret Kocherga received an Honorable Mention in the 2018 National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). The program recruits high-potential, early-career scientists and engineers and supports their graduate research training in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Margaret is a Ph.D. student in Nanoscale Science at UNC Charlotte. Her research is in […]

Mubin Tarannum and Katelyn Erickson Win Graduate School Fellowships Mubin Tarannum wins Reynolds Research Award Mubin Tarannum is one of nine Ph.D. students at UNC Charlotte to win the Reynolds Research fellowship award. Her project involves testing a procedure for pancreatic cancer therapy using mesoporous silica nanoparticles to break down barriers to treatment. Mubin currently […]

Dr. Afonin has recently been awarded an R01 grant from the NIH. This grant will help his lab pursue the study of the characterization of various multifunctional nucleic acid nanoparticles and understand their immunotoxicity and immunogenicity. More information can be found here.

This Fellowship program provides stipend support for master’s and doctoral students to engage in thesis and dissertation-related research during the summer (May 21-August 10, 2018) under the guidance of their advisor. To be eligible, students must be enrolled in one of the College’s thesis or dissertation-based graduate programs and be in good academic standing. They […]