Alumni

The Department of Chemistry is planning a special celebration in the fall of 2028, tentatively as part of Homecoming events. This will be the 160th anniversary of the year that Karl Anton Goessmann (later Charles A. Goessmann) came to Amherst to take a position at the still-new Massachusetts Agricultural College as Professor of Chemistry, beginning the journey that has led to our present day, internationally recognized department at UMass Amherst. Please mark this timeframe (typically first half of October) to come and join us to see the many campus improvements, new chemistry facilities, and reminisce. 
We are in the early stages of planning and welcome your comments or suggestions, as well as hearing about your fond memories! Please submit ideas and share your thoughts. Spread the word to classmates, friends, and family to make this a big draw on campus!

by Dave Adams

Lynne and I established the Adams Scholarship in Chemistry as a token of our appreciation for the awards and scholarships I received at UMass, especially UMass Chemistry.  It is our wish that future worthy undergraduate chemistry majors might receive similar recognition, help, and encouragement.  In a way, this scholarship is a big “Thank You” to the Chemistry Department, its programs and faculty, for the helping hand I received in both my career and life from the department.  But the purpose and meaning of this scholarship goes much deeper than that.  Here is the rest of the story!

Lynne and I both matriculated at UMass as chemistry majors in the fall 1963. Neither of us knew how we would pay the $932 total annual bill, but summer jobs and on campus work helped. Lynne eventually turned her academic interest to computer science. She eventually became a full professor at North Shore Community College in Beverly, MA. I stuck with chemistry and strongly wanted to conduct research in Marv Rausch’s lab after my sophomore year.  Scholarships from the Chemistry Department and the benevolence of my friend from Amherst, Bruce Colby, allowed that to happen. Bruce, also a chemistry major, lived on Amity Street.  His parents let me stay there during the summer of 1965 – they understood poor aspiring chemistry majors!  Well, that summer research led to further research, which led to publications, then grad school at UConn, and a post-doc at Penn State.  Then came a 38-year teaching career at North Shore Community College, Bradford College, Babson College, Harvard University, and, of course, UMass Amherst for the last 10 years (1999-2009).  Since Lynne retired in 1999, she has enjoyed 27 years of retirement, the last 17 together with me. All that began with a summer research opportunity.  We hope our scholarship provides the same opportunity for its recipients.  

This all began in Marv Rausch’s sophomore chemistry majors’ organic class in New Goessmann. We used the small brown Brewster and McEwen text (written by then Department Head William E. McEwen). Marv was an excellent lecturer.  He loved what he was doing.  In the course of the semester, he invited students from the class individually to the Student Union Hatch for coffee and conversation.  As a result of our meeting, he offered me a research position in the summer on 1965, as described above. I spent two years working with Marv in the basement of Old Goessmann.  In that same lab were Chet Jablonski, ’67, Don Ciapenelli, ’66, and George Schloemer, ’67.  We went to his group meetings, attended group parties, gave research reports, and did all the things his graduate students did. My senior research was jointly supervised by Marv and Pete Lillya.  Upon entering graduate school at UConn in fall 1967, I knew exactly what to expect, transferred several of my undergraduate courses for graduate credit, and already had one publication in the Journal of Organic Chemistry on the Clemmensen reduction of benzoylferrocene.  I passed my cumulative exams first time around, and considered myself one of the best prepared incoming graduate students in that department.  All this is a testament to the first-class preparation I had at UMass Amherst Chemistry.

All this undergraduate experience that prepared me for graduate school and my career beyond started from a summer research opportunity with a small stipend.  We are hopeful that the Lynne E. and David L. Adams Undergraduate Research Scholarship in Chemistry will do the same for some future chemistry majors. It is not a major donation, but for that student who uses it as intended, it could make all the difference, as it did for me!

2025 Adams Scholarship Awardee 

by Kyle Uchneat 

The Lynne E. and David L. Adams Undergraduate Research Scholarship has helped me become the best researcher I can possibly be. I am a senior undergraduate chemistry major working in the DV Group, and the skills that I have learned, whether at the bench or in the books, have been invaluable.

My current project focuses on the synthesis of conjugated, small molecules that are used to dope organic semiconductors. By altering the structure of the small molecules, the mobility, conductivity, and overall efficiency of the semiconductor can be improved. Specifically, I am simplifying the reaction conditions for a conjugated, cyclic lactone and various diketones to form a single, conjugated molecule via an aldol condensation reaction. I work closely with graduate students to characterize these compounds via NMR, IR, and mass spectrometry. 

While this scholarship has allowed me to spend more time in the lab during the semester, it has also allowed me to support my goals over the recent summer and winter breaks while working at Phoenix Chemical, Inc., in Branchburg, NJ. There, I assist in the research and development of fatty acid esters to use in a wide range of personal care products. 

I feel very lucky to be supported by this fund, as it has allowed me to develop as a scientist both in the DV Group and in the personal care industry. I am confident that I am more than prepared for graduate school because of my experiences in my research lab, and that was made possible by this scholarship.
 

Alumnus Dr. Kenrick Lewis (PhD ’77 ) was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science degree by the University of Alberta this past June for being one of the most impactful chemists of his generation. Lewis's 48 year career has enriched our daily life through transformative innovations in silanes and silicones. One of his nominators said, "Everyone has likely used a product derived from Lewis's chemistry in the last 24 hours." 

In 2021, Dr. Lewis was highlighted as a trailblazer by Organometallics for his career and contributions in organometallic chemistry. Dr. Lewis is a pioneer in silicones research in work beginning in the late 70’s. Paul J. Chirik, author of "Pioneers and Influencers: A Profile of Dr. Kenrick Lewis" stated, “…in the end, what I think would make Ken happy is knowing that the next time you use a kitchen spatula, caulk your shower, or use any other of a host of silicone products, you might think of him and the teams of chemists that did the creative science to bring them to you.”

Augustine “Gus” Silveira, Jr. and Beverly A. Silveira have established an Organic Chemistry Award.  The purpose of this gift is "to provide scholarship support to undergraduate and graduate students whose overall performance excels in courses and research within organic chemistry, as determined by the Chair of the Chemistry Department."

Gus was a graduate student of Prof. Earl McWhorter and worked on the synthesis of substituted chrysenes. He is a Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at SUNY Oswego, celebrated for more than three decades of transformative leadership in the department. He joined SUNY Oswego in 1963 and became chair of the Chemistry Department in 1967, guiding its growth and national reputation while earning the university’s highest academic rank in 1976. Gus is a dedicated educator and prolific scholar and has received over 50 research grants and awards, published extensively, and helped secure ACS accreditation for Oswego’s chemistry programs. At SUNY-Oswego, he worked on cross-coupling reactions including those with organozinc reagents which now bear the name Negishi Coupling (Negishi won the Nobel Prize in 2010). 

Derrick Maxwell BS '14 received the 2025 College of Natural Sciences (CNS) Early Career Alumni Award.  "My career feels like it has followed a path less traveled by, and like Frost may have alluded, I am grateful," Maxwell says. "The undergraduate experience and education I received at UMass first showed me how to spot unconventional opportunities and run down those roads without wondering where the others may have led."   

Maxwell began his academic journey at UMass, graduating in 2014 with a BS in Chemistry. He completed a graduate certificate in Engineering Leadership and an MS and earned a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Northeastern in 2024, researching batteries, electrolyzers, and fuel cells. Early work included DOE-funded spectroscopy as a post-baccalaureate fellow; he later worked at Nanoramic Laboratories on NASA- and DOE-funded ultracapacitors and at A123 Systems, advancing to lead engineer and contributing to patents and pre-lithiation research. In 2022 he founded Amel Energy, based in the IALS Collaboratories at UMass Amherst, developing safer, PFAS-free solvent and binder systems for lithium-ion batteries. “Being selected for this award is a true honor,” Maxwell says.
 

A Journey of Purpose Begins – From Sri Lanka to UMass

I grew up in a very rural village in Sri Lanka, where daily life was shaped by scarcity—no electricity, no computers, and limited access to clean water. Yet, one resource surrounded us in abundance: sunlight. Watching our village remain in the dark despite endless sunshine planted a powerful question in my mind. Why should access to energy and clean water depend on where you are born? This curiosity did more than shape my childhood; it gave me purpose. I became determined to pursue science not as an abstract discipline, but as a tool to solve real-world problems like equitable access to energy and clean water. So, my journey began. In Fall 2002, I was fortunate to be accepted into the Chemistry program at UMass Amherst. 

For my husband and me, it was a leap into a world we had never experienced before. We had never been on an airplane, 

never navigated big cities, and had no family nearby. Yet we were never alone. From the very beginning, the department’s mentor–mentee program was our anchor. We were welcomed by a senior graduate student, Rebecca Eden, who served as our American host and guide. What began as mentorship soon grew into a lifelong friendship—one that reminded us that science advances best when it is rooted in humanity and kindness.  The UMass Chemistry community became our family. That sense of belonging helped transform my first months at UMass from uncertainty into purpose.
 

UMass: The Beginning of a Long Road

I began my first semester at UMass surrounded by the vibrant colors of fall, on a campus full of promise and possibility. Graduate‑level courses were intense, the teaching assistantship was demanding, and late nights in the Chemistry Resource Center (CRC) in old Goessman became routine. I can still see myself tucked in front of a computer, navigating core courses, and refining problem sets from organic chemistry classes. Amid these daily responsibilities, lab rotations quickly became my most favorite graduate experience. My first rotation, in Professor Vincent Rotello’s lab, was my introduction to organic synthesis at a level I had previously only read about. As the rotation wrapped up, I realized it had offered more than techniques and experience: a path toward the kind of scientist I wanted to become. My second lab rotation was also pivotal. I joined the lab of Professor Peter Uden, someone I admired long before I arrived at UMass. Without his help, my journey might never have begun.  On the first day of my lab rotation, he asked a simple, life‑defining question: What do you want to do after your PhD? What career path do you see for yourself? I told him I aspired to an academic life leading my own research group. He paused and told me that his lab wasn’t the lab I should be joining, and that I should join Professor Lahti’s group. This advice was pure gold. The very next day, in early spring of my second semester, I met Professor Paul Lahti, whose group was at the forefront of conjugated polymers for organic light‑emitting diodes (OLEDs). From the moment I arrived, senior group members—Zeynep Delen, Martha Baskett, and Patrick Taylor—welcomed me with warmth and generosity. 

By my second year, I was fully immersed in research on designing and synthesizing oligomeric and polymeric conjugated systems for OLEDs. We collaborated with Professor Karaz's group (PSE) to build devices and test our materials in thin‑film displays.  For the first time, I saw our molecules leave the notebook and the lab bench to become functional devices. The thrill of that moment still animates my work today. And it wasn’t all experiments and manuscripts: the memories of group social gatherings are truly priceless. Weekly ice cream trips to a nearby farm and Friday happy hours reminded me that success is more than experiments and publications.

As the semesters rolled into years, choosing Professor Lahti as my advisor revealed itself as the best decision of my graduate career. He became a lifelong mentor. I watched his example: his focus on student growth, his dedication to rigorous feedback, the way he navigated academic challenges with honesty and resolve, and his steady persistence. Under his guidance, I learned how to design ambitious projects without losing sight of practicality, how to accept 

critique as a gift, and how to lead teams with care. The opportunities I received through our group and the department were tremendous. I still remember the joy of winning first place for Best Poster at ResearchFest in two consecutive years. During my fourth year, just weeks before I defended my dissertation, my first son Bhanuka was born. I completed my defense and then began postdoctoral training in the Polymer Science and Engineering department with Professor Todd Emrick (PSE). That season of life—motherhood, defense, the postdoctoral transition—was intense and beautiful. 

The Chemistry program at UMass taught me to think beyond silos: beyond “Can this be discovered?” to “Can it be implemented, scaled, and sustained?”  My experience gave me a toolkit for solving complex problems at the crossroads of materials science, environmental sustainability, and convergence thinking. Just as important, as someone whose journey began in a village without electricity, I understood what access, or the lack of it, means in daily life. At UMass, I found a community that valued diverse perspectives and encouraged me to bring my story into my scholarship. Inclusive excellence was a lived practice. That sense of belonging strengthened my resolve to ensure my work would not sit on a shelf or remain trapped in journals, but reach the communities that needed it most.
 

After UMass

In Fall 2009, I left UMass to begin my first tenure‑track position as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Western Kentucky University. It was the start of a new chapter, but I carried UMass with me—in the questions I asked, in the way I mentored, and in how I built my lab. UMass gave me things no syllabus can capture: resilience, a compass for purpose, and a practice of mentorship. The training programs, faculty guidance, and professional development prepared me not only for publishing papers and teaching, but to build teams, steward resources, and translate ideas into action. The movement from discovery to actual deployment has defined my career ever since. My research has evolved from conjugated polymers to battery materials, critical mineral supply chains, and sustainable energy technologies, all designed by a central goal: a secure, resilient, and equitable clean‑energy future. I’ve focused on bridging the gap from the lab to bench and to the factory floor, leading research programs that take innovations from proof‑of‑concept to real‑world solutions. That includes work positioned to support domestic battery manufacturing, reduce dependence on foreign critical materials, and accelerate the transition to electrified transportation and clean energy. Along the way, I’ve learned that advancing science is inseparable from building ecosystems — interdisciplinary teams, industry partnerships, and workforce development pipelines — that turn breakthroughs into sustained global impact. 

 

UMass’s influence is visible in the platform that I’ve built to move science into practice. Moving to UNC Greensboro and gaining access to a highly interdisciplinary doctoral granting program, Nanoscience, was a significant leap. The Nanoscience graduate program has enabled me to develop a transformative research enterprise at the intersection of chemistry, biology, physics, and computer science. I am deeply grateful to be at UNC Greensboro, where my ideas have been allowed to grow, mature, and translate into real‑world impact. I co‑founded a startup, Minerva Lithium, to help accelerate the journey from innovative materials to accessible solutions for lithium-ion batteries. I launched the BRIGHT Institute at UNC Greensboro, designed to catalyze research, innovation, and workforce development in energy storage and microelectronics. I have mentored over 45 undergraduates and 11 PhD trainees, and I continue to mentor emerging scientists and engineers who will carry the field forward. Each of these efforts reflects a simple legacy forged at UMass: science must be in service to people, place, and progress.

The work itself spans the full spectrum from fundamental insight to applied deployment. We innovate, we design programs that prepare students not only to succeed in the lab, but to lead in the pilot plant, the manufacturing line, and the startup pitch room. What I love most is seeing these threads braid together: a student who starts with a literature review ends up co‑authoring a paper, then prototypes a device, then interns with an industry partner, and finally accepts a job that builds the clean‑energy economy we desperately need. That growth, from curiosity to career, from lab result to regional impact, is what my experience has taught me to see and to build.

My journey also reflects a commitment to ensuring that the doors of opportunity stay open for students who, like me, began far from the centers of power. I try to mentor with intentionality, to create research on‑ramps for students from all backgrounds, and to shape projects so that the “why” is as clear as the “how.” When students see that their work connects to real landscapes and real lives—whether it’s a rural town in North Carolina, a factory floor in the Midwest, or a village across an ocean—their motivation shifts from dream to purpose. 

Through all of this, I remain grateful to the mentors and colleagues who shaped me at UMass —Professors Uden, Lahti, Thayumanvan, Barnes, Emrick, Venkataraman, and so many others whose advice continues to guide my choices. I am equally grateful for the friends who became family, for the department staff whose unseen labor held us up, and for the culture that dared us to ask ambitious questions and gave us the tools to pursue answers. Especially at moments when the path felt uncertain, this taught me to extend that same dedication to my own students and collaborators.

I see clearly how UMass Amherst transformed my life. It was not just an academic home, but a launchpad. I learned to lead with purpose, to innovate with intention, and to keep asking the hardest, most complex questions: Can this discovery change the way we live? Can it be scaled ethically and equitably? Will it reach the people who need it most? Every project I lead, every partnership I build, and every student I mentor is, in some way, an attempt to honor that training.

Today, as I work with colleagues across academia, industry, and government to advance sustainable battery materials, strengthen domestic manufacturing, and prepare a future workforce for the clean‑energy economy, I feel the continuity from Amherst to now. The vision I carried out of UMass of science translated at scale in service to society has become my career. And while the work continues to evolve, the promise remains the same: that a child looking up at an unrelenting sun should not have to choose between heat and light, between thirst and opportunity.

UMass prepared me not only for a career, but a life of impact—rooted in empathy alongside curiosity, and measured by what reaches the world beyond the lab. For that, I am profoundly grateful. I carry the UMass legacy forward every day: in the institutes we build, the startups we launch, the students we mentor, and the communities we serve. From village roots to global impact, the journey continues, and the light we once only imagined is now something we can help deliver.
 

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