Conner Hoelzel and Nicole Famularo Recognized for Leadership and Service
Congratulations to Conner Hoelzel and Nicole Famularo, winners of the Department of Chemistry Student Leadership Award and Student Service Award respectively.
The Student Service Award was designed to recognize graduate students who have proven to be outstanding examples of dedicated service to either their research lab, student organization, or departmental committee.
This year, the Student Service Award was presented to Nicole Famularo. She is a member of the Keating group; her research focuses on directed self-assembly of nanoparticles.
Famularo was recognized for her extraordinary dedication to STEM outreach activities within the department and in the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC). In addition to participating in various activities benefiting regional youth through student organizations, Famularo served as the MRSEC Outreach Team Leader, a role that required her to organize over one hundred volunteers for Arts Fest outreach activities that reached over one thousand youth and their guardians at last year's festival.
Nicole Famularo Receives the Student Service Award
“I am extremely honored to have been awarded the Student Service award from the Department of Chemistry for my work with the Graduate Women in Science and the MRSEC,” Famularo says, “I feel so privileged to have had these opportunities to bring outreach and professional development to the students in the Department of Chemistry, and I look forward to continuing my efforts in the future!”
The Student Leadership Award was designed to recognize graduate students who have proven to be outstanding leaders, within either the research lab or the science community at large.
The 2019 Student Leadership Award was awarded to Conner Hoelzel. Hoelzel is a third year graduate student in the Zhang group. “I’m honored to have received the Student Leadership Award,” Hoelzel notes, “I would like to thank the Student Counseling and Awards Committee along with my advisor, Dr. Zhang, for the opportunity and consideration.”
Conner Hoelzel Receives the Student Leadership Award
Hoelzel was recognized for helping launch the Chemical Biology Seminar Series. This series, which meets every Monday for a presentation by a student or a postdoc working in the area of chemical biology, broadly defined. “In the establishment of the Chemical Biology Student Seminar, we have aimed to create a open platform for free scientific discussion between labs that typically might not communicate,” Hoelzel explains, “I hope these efforts in addition to others continue to make Penn State Chemistry a welcoming environment for work and study.” This year, Hoelzel helped to expand the series to include a student-invited outside speaker in the fall and to welcome a Penn State Chemistry alumna to speak in the spring.
The Department of Chemistry thanks Hoelzel and Famularo for their service to the chemistry community.