News

Shiyu, alongside Raphaële, posing with the amazing awards she earned

Shiyu is Awarded the Willard L. McRary Prize

June 12, 2026

Shiyu received the prestigious Willard L. McRary Prize from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry! This award was created in honor of Willard L. McRary, Professor of Chemistry, 1940-58, and is given to graduating seniors whose attainment in chemistry is outstanding and reflects the promise of the same high-quality scientific achievement that characterized the career of its namesake. Shiyu was also awarded the Phi Lambda Upsilon Award and graduated with Highest Honors!

FUSE group photo at Carpinteria Middle School on April 28, 2026.

Volunteering with FUSE!

April 28, 2026

Alden, Emma, Tyler, Erick, and Julia had a blast with the Family Ultimate Science Exploration (FUSE) program this week when they went to Carpenteria Middle School to host workshops for the students and their families. The theme was Waves so they taught participants about the various forms and properties of waves using slinkies and spectrometers and even guided them in making simple homemade speakers!

Maggie and Cody presenting their posters at ENC 2026.

ENC 2026

April 17, 2026

Maggie and Cody presented posters at this year's Experimental NMR Conference in Asilomar. They enjoyed meeting other members of the magnetic resonance community, from fellow graduate students to facility managers and professors. They also caught up with an old postdoc, now assistant professor of chemistry at the Danish Technical University, Dr. Leo Gordon!

Alden at the 11-BM beamline at the Diamond Light Source in the UK.

Last BAG time at Diamond Light Source

March 13, 2026

Hanna, Erick, and Alden took a trip to Didcot, UK, to perform synchrotron XRD at the I-11 beamline of Diamond Light Source. They acquired valuable data for our group and for our colleagues in other UCSB groups, and also got a tour of the Bruce Lab from our former colleague Amelia, now at Oxford!

Eliana with her poster at the 2026 Batteries GRC in Ventura.

Batteries GRC 2026

February 20, 2026

Ash and Eliana presented posters at this year's Batteries Gordon Research Conference and Gordon Research Seminar in Ventura. They enjoyed learning from other students and faculty and hearing new perspectives on their research, and thought it was exciting to see a zoomed-out view of current work in the battery community. They both enjoyed the chance to chat and network with other students, and Eliana got a chance to catch up with old friends in the Chueh Group!

Group members at the bowling lanes for our 2025 end-of-the-year social

Farewell to Elizabeth

December 10, 2025

Our group had a fun time at the bowling alley again as an end of the year celebration and farewell party for Elizabeth. We will miss her dearly and wish her all the best in her next chapter!

Anaya Khanzode speaking on the “Finding Internships in Materials Science” panel, moderated by Alden.

Undergraduate Internship Panel

November 18, 2025

The group had a great time at the “Finding Internships in Materials Science” panel for UCSB undergrads, which Alden planned and moderated, and at which Anaya served as a panelist. We shared resources and opportunities for internships in academia and industry.

Julia, Alden, Emma, Cody, Ash, Eliana, Maggie, and Hanna dressed as Scientist Barbies for Halloween 2025.

Battery Scientist Barbies

October 30, 2025

At the annual Materials Student Association Halloween coffee hour and costume contest, many of our group members donned pink as Battery Scientist Barbies!

Alden and Erick at the 2025 Tony Evans 5K wearing the event tshirt.

2025 Tony Evans 5K

October 18, 2025

Alden and Erick represented the Clément group this year at the Materials Department's Tony Evans 5K race.

Julia and Alden at the Elings bamboo garden

Welcome Alden and Julia!

October 10, 2025

Say hello to the newest graduate students in our group! Alden will be using 17O NMR to study redox processes in manganese oxide materials and Julia will combine NMR and magnetometry to correlate electronic structure with redox behavior in various cathode materials. We're very excited to welcome them to Santa Barbara and to see what they can discover during their research here!