Undergraduate Scholar Spotlight
Devin Matthews
Devin Matthews came to The University of Texas at Austin from Tulsa, Oklahoma
with a clear intent to study theoretical chemistry. Now a research assistant in the lab of
Professor John Stanton, Devin works alongside some of the department’s best graduate
students and postdoctoral associates writing computer programs that run calculations
to carry out quantum-mechanical calculations on molecules. Devin’s excellence in the
classroom and the lab has earned him two highly prestigious scholarships: the Norman
Hackerman Endowed Presidential Scholarship and the Charles Morton Share Trust
Scholarship, both of which serve to defray his research expenses. The Dean’s Scholars
senior balances 16 hours of coursework with approximately 15 hours per week of research
that has led to four published papers, a feat not even many graduate students can boast.
After graduation the ambitious student plans to attend graduate school in chemistry,
complete a Ph.D. and become a professor. The scholarships Devin has earned are not only
highly laudatory of his excellence as a student researcher, but they allow him to fund
his research projects, purchase books and supplies, and travel to academic conferences
where he can learn about the newest advances in chemistry, meet important contacts, and
present his own work, all without requiring him to take on a part time job or significant
debt, which would distract from his research and classes. We need your financial support
to help our outstanding students like Devin realize their full potential.
Graduate Fellow Spotlight
John DeLorbe
Great football, great weather, and most of all, a great chemistry program brought
Delaware native John DeLorbe to The University of Texas at Austin to start work on a
Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 2004. Now just a few months from presenting a defense
of his dissertation and completing his degree, John has become a standout graduate
researcher and a fine example of the excellent students our department is so fortunate
to boast. John is a recent recipient of the American Chemical Society Fellowship in
Medicinal Chemistry, a Dorothy B. Banks Fellowship, and a Pfizer Organic Chemistry
Fellowship, which were all awarded in recognition of his outstanding work in bioorganic
chemistry and protein-ligand interactions, which has applications in pharmaceutical
development. John has published an academic article on his work and another is being
readied for submission. A student in the lab of Professor Stephen F. Martin, John spends
between 60 and 70 hours a week in the lab at work, and the fellowships he has earned
have allowed him to tirelessly focus on his chemistry without worrying about taking on
a part-time job or a loan to fund his research, travel to conferences to present his work
and make important contacts, or generally cover living expenses. When John completes
his Ph.D. this summer, he plans to move on to a postdoctoral associate position at The
University of California at Irvine, and would like to eventually work in medicinal
chemistry and pharmaceuticals, developing and refining medications to revolutionize
the future of healthcare.
John is an outstanding example from a graduate student body of over 250 at The
University of Texas at Austin that are some of the best and brightest young chemists
of our time. John and his classmates will go on to make advances in pharmaceuticals,
cancer treatment and detection, energy conservation and production, water purification
methods, medical treatment and diagnostic methods, and more things that have yet
to even be conceptualized. We need your financial support to assist these bright young
scientists in the dawn of their careers.
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