The Stokes Organic Chemistry Lab

2025

July 9, 2025: Ben Stokes attended the “Empowering Your Teaching with Python” workshop at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

July 1, 2025: Ben Stokes published a review of the use of tetrahydroxydiboron in organic synthesis from 2018–2024 in Encyclopedia of Reagents for Organic Synthesis (link)

June 24, 2025: Some of the ligands synthesized by recent alumni Nico Licauco and Izzy Reyes were the focus of a new paper in Journal of Applied Physics! (link)

June 23, 2025: Angelina Graf, Jasmine Vu, and Ashlynn Van Lare presented research posters at the 2025 National Organic Symposium. Jasmine won a poster award!

June, 2025: Jasmine Vu completed a thesis on her undergraduate research entitled “Synthesis of Shelf-Stable Ligands for Enhanced Quantum Dot Binding”!

May, 2025: Janine Rosenow is named a Clare Boothe Luce Scholar, which will support her proposed research involving the synthesis of chiral quaternary aldehydes! (click for more on the Clare Boothe Luce Scholarship program)

May, 2025: Angelina Graf gave a poster presentation of her research at the Northern California Undergraduate Research Symposium!

May, 2025: Jasmine Vu gave an oral presentation of her research at the Northern California Undergraduate Research Symposium!

April, 2025: Ashlynn Van Lare is named a Clare Boothe Luce Scholar, which will support her proposed research involving the synthesis of ligand-modified quantum dots! (click for more on the Clare Boothe Luce Scholarship program)

April, 2025: Ritter Amsbaugh committed to UC Davis for his PhD studies in chemistry!

2024

April 19, 2024: Liv Alleyne was awarded a De Novo Fellowship to support her proposed research involving deuterium-labeled small organic compounds! (click for more on the De Novo Fellowship)

April 1, 2024: Jasmine Vu was named a Clare Boothe Luce Scholar to support her proposed research investigating ligand–quantum dot interactions! (click for more on the Clare Boothe Luce Scholarship program)

March 28, 2024: Angelina Graf was selected as a DeNardo Science Scholar to support her proposed research involving new methods for quaternary aldehyde synthesis! (click for more on the DeNardo Science Scholars program)

2020

July 31, 2020: Mahshid Yaghoubi passed her qualifying exam and is now a Ph.D. candidate!

May 15, 2020: Kyle Lien passed his M.S. comprehensive exam! Congratulations Kyle!

2019

December 18, 2019: Anar Tohti Nuryar passed her qualifying exam and is now a Ph.D. candidate!

December 17, 2019: Will Spaller passed his qualifying exam and is now a Ph.D. candidate!

November 9, 2019: Ben Stokes was invited to speak at BORAM XVII in June 2020 (at Virginia Tech)!

October 25, 2019: Amir Keshavarz accepted a postdoctoral fellowship from Lin-Zhi International in Silicon Valley!

August 9, 2019: Xiao Cai successfully defended his doctoral thesis! Congratulations Dr. Cai!

August 6, 2019: Our proposal on new deuteriation methods was selected for funding by the UC Cancer Research Coordinating Committee!

August 5, 2019: Amir Keshavarz successfully defended his doctoral thesis! Congratulations Dr. Keshavarz!

July 1, 2019: Will Spaller was selected as a MACES Graduate Fellow for the 2nd year in a row!

July 1, 2019: Kyle Lien was awarded another MACES Summer Graduate Fellowship (for summer 2020)!

July 1, 2019: Our collaborative proposal with Prof. Jennifer Lu’s group was selected for funding by NASA’s Merced nAnomaterials Center for Energy and Sensing (MACES)!

June 28, 2019: Victoria earned a Frances M. Benton undergraduate scholarship from UC Merced!

June 3, 2019: UC LEADS scholar Victoria Lerda joins the group. Welcome, Victoria!

May 20, 2019: Xiao Cai started as a process chemist at STA Pharmaceutical in San Diego!

May 17, 2019: José passed his qualifying exam and is now a Ph.D. candidate!

May 10, 2019: Our dispersion-controlled alkene hydroarylation paper is highlighted in Synfacts! (link)

April 23, 2019: Xiao is selected to present at the 2019 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Graduate Research Symposium!

April 16, 2019: Xiao is granted US citizenship!

April 9, 2019: Jocelyn’s NSF Graduate Research Fellowship application received Honorable Mention!

April 8, 2019: Huong will continue in the group this summer thanks to a 2019 MACES fellowship!

April 1, 2019: Anar’s work on photocatalytic transfer hydrogenation using gold nanoparticles is published in ACS Catalysis!

March 19, 2019: Amir’s new promesogenic quantum dot ligands (patent pending) are published in ACS Applied Nano Materials!

March 1, 2019: Kyle is awarded a 2019 MACES summer graduate fellowship!

February 26, 2019: Xiao (with Anar & Cristian) published a method for dispersion-controlled alkene functionalization in Organic Letters!

February 26, 2019: Anar and Mahshid have been awarded departmental research fellowships for the upcoming summer!

February 22, 2019: Amir’s paper in collaboration with the Hirst group is now online at Nature Communications! Congrats Amir! (Press)

January 21, 2019: Alumni Cristian Ramirez (BS, Dec. 2018) started as a Research Associate at Synthego in Redwood City!

2018

October 26, 2018: Ben is the keynote speaker at the 2018 UIC Chemistry Research Symposium!

September 27, 2018: Jessica has been awarded a Boeing Scholarship from the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE)!

September 26, 2018: Undergraduates Jessica, Jesse, and Huong have received academic year fellowships from MACES!

September 18, 2018: Check out our manuscript describing new ligands that can be used to produce thermostable quantum dot microcapsules via nematic templating! (link)

August 27, 2018: Ben and UC Merced Chemistry colleagues Prof. Erik Menke, Prof. Christine Isborn, Prof. Hrant Hratchian, and Dr. Michelle Leslie, as well as UC Merced Extension Director of Education Programs Dr. Lynn Reimer, received a five year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Undergraduate Education’s Hispanic-Serving Institution Program to develop, implement, and assess new tools and strategies to improve educational outcomes and career awareness for new chemistry majors at UC Merced and beyond.
Press release:  Chemical & Engineering News

August 10, 2018: Thanh-Ngoc Le earned her M.S. degree! Congratulations, Thanh!

June 21, 2018: Ben was named a 2018 Hellman Fellow!

May 29, 2018: Will Spaller earned a 2018 MACES Graduate Fellowship!

May 6, 2018: Group alumnus Gilbert Fernandez accepted an offer to join UC Davis’s 2018 Chemistry Ph.D. cohort!

May 6, 2018: Three of our undergraduates have lined up exciting summer plans: Cristian Ramirez will intern in Prof. Armen Zakarian’s organic chemistry research group at UCSB; Amanda Shein will study abroad at Thammasat University in Thailand and provide medical care to Burmese refugees; Bridget Villanueva will intern in Prof. Dr. Antonio De Maio’s biomedical sciences research group at UC San Diego.

May 2, 2018: Amir Keshavarz is selected to present at the American Chemical Society Division of Organic Chemistry Graduate Research Symposium!

May 2, 2018: Huong Do (UROC Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow) joins the group!

May 1, 2018: Kathy Vue earned an American Chemical Society Project SEED college scholarship!

April 2, 2018: Xiao Cai was invited to intern at the Center for Reaction Engineering at AbbVie this summer!

March 28, 2018: Jesse Cantrell is awarded a 2018 summer undergraduate research fellowship from MACES!

March 25, 2018: Kyle, Jocelyn, and Will travel to Lake Arrowhead to present their research at the 3rd annual UC Chemical Symposium!

March 23, 2018: Jessica Lopez is invited to conduct summer research in Prof. Javier Read de Alaniz’s lab at UC Santa Barbara (sponsored by UC LEADS)!

March 15, 2018: Amir Keshavarz receives a departmental travel award!

March 9, 2018: José is awarded a 2018 departmental summer graduate research fellowship!

March 7, 2018: Xiao is awarded a 2018 departmental summer graduate research fellowship!

March 6, 2018: Amir’s mesogenic ligand synthesis (collaboration with the Hirst lab) is published in Nanomaterials! (link)

January 27, 2018: UC Merced undergrads Jesse Cantrell, Amanda Shein, and Bridget Villanueva start as volunteers in the lab!

2017

December 19, 2017: Amir’s mesogenic ligand synthesis (collaboration with the Ghosh lab) is published in Scientific Reports! (link)

December 8, 2017: Amir was selected for a summer 2018 internship at NASA Ames, where he will develop organofunctionalized nanoparticle sensors!

November 15, 2017: Our collaborative proposal on metallic nanoparticle foams received seed funding from UC Merced’s MACES center!

August 4, 2017: Jessica Lopez (UC LEADS scholar) gave outstanding oral and poster presentations at the UC Merced summer undergraduate research  symposium!

August 3, 2017: Kathy Vue (Golden Valley High School) gave an excellent ACS SEED Symposium talk!

July 18, 2017: Volunteer Anar Tuoheti was admitted to UC Merced’s chemistry Ph.D. program. Congratulations, Anar!

July 13, 2017: Genentech, Inc. donated an HPLC to the group! Thanks Gilbert!

July 7, 2017: Our postdoc, Dr. Steven Cummings, accepted an offer to join Howard University as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry.
Congratulations, Steven! We’ll miss you!

June 26, 2017: New Ph.D. student Will Spaller (B.S., Colorado State University) joins the group. Welcome, Will!

June 25, 2017: Ben, Xiao, Thanh, and Jose travel to the 46th National Organic Symposium at UC Davis.

June 19, 2017: NSF AiMM REU alumni Jocelyn Ochoa (B.S., CSU Long Beach) joins the group as a Ph.D. student. Welcome back, Jocelyn!

June 7, 2017: UC LEADS scholar Jessica Lopez Lara and ACS SEED scholar Kathy Vue join the group. Welcome, Jessica and Kathy!

June 5, 2017: Sustainability news: our lab was certified Silver by My Green Lab.

May 24, 2017: Entering chemistry Ph.D. student Thanh “Kyle” Lien (B.S., CSU Fullerton) joins the lab as a summer volunteer. Welcome, Kyle!

May 4, 2017: Ben received a Faculty Research Grant from UC Merced’s Academic Senate!

May 2, 2017: Xiao, Amir, and Justin’s work on catalytic intramolecular hydroarylation was accepted into Org. Lett.! (link)

April 21, 2017: Our group headlines UC Merced’s mission statement page (www.ucmerced.edu/ucmerced-mission)

April 17, 2017: Anagu “Anar” Tuoheti joins the lab. Welcome, Anar!

April 2, 2017: Ben, Amir, Xiao, Thanh, and Gabby travel to San Francisco to present at the ACS National Meeting!

March 17, 2017: Xiao Cai advanced to Ph.D. candidacy. Congratulations, Xiao!

March 7, 2017: Thanh’s 2nd paper featuring work from her time in Prof. David Brook’s lab (SJSU) is now online in EJOC! (link)

March 6, 2017: Xiao is awarded a 2017 CCB Summer Research Fellowship!

March 5, 2017: Amir’s liquid crystal synthesis work in collaboration with the Hirst lab is published in Proc. SPIE! (link)

March 2, 2017: Albert wins a research fellowship from Associated Students of UC Merced!

January 17, 2017: Undergraduate Cristian Ramirez joins the lab!

January 3, 2017: Our move into our new lab space is nearly complete! Some improvements: student offices separated from lab; twice as many fume hoods; NMR and MS facilities in same building; house nitrogen.

2016

November 30, 2016: Lorenzo accepted a full time position at Memorial Medical Center in Modesto, which he will start in January 2017 (upon completing his B.S.).

November 25, 2016: Amir’s paper featuring work from his time in the late Prof. Joseph Hajdu’s lab (CSUN) is now online in Chem. Phys. Lipids (link)

November 21, 2016: Ben was selected as a 2017 Thieme Chemistry Journal Awardee.

October 13, 2016: Albert presented a research poster at the 2016 SACNAS conference in Long Beach, CA.

September 28, 2016: Amir advanced to Ph.D. candidacy. Congratulations, Amir!

September 27, 2016: Our lab is “Green Lab Certified” by My Green Lab.

September 1, 2016: Our collaboration with Actagro, LLC (Fresno, CA) begins.

August 24, 2016: The group welcomes UC Merced undergraduates Antony Shenny and Lucy Kagiri.

August 18, 2016: Thanh’s paper featuring work from her time in Prof. David Brook’s lab (SJSU) is now online in Tetrahedron. (link)

August 12, 2016: REU student Gabrielle Warren (Walla Walla University) earns an NSF travel award to present her summer project.

June 22, 2016: The group wins a “best poster” award at the 16th French-American Chemical Society meeting.

June 20, 2016: Justin Omaque (B.S., 2016) starts an internship at Rigel Pharmaceuticals.

June 6, 2016: The group welcomes undergraduate research fellows Albert Navarro from UC Merced (CAMP), Daniel Panasenko from American River College (AiMM NSF REU), and Gabrielle Warren from Walla Walla University (AiMM NSF REU).

May 16, 2016: Gilbert Fernandez starts a position as a chemist at Genentech!

May 15, 2016: The group bids farewell to new B.S. graduates Gilbert Fernandez (Chemistry), Justin Omaque (Biology), and Alyssa Jones (Chemistry).

May 2, 2016: Our first publication appears in J. Am. Chem. Soc. (link)

April 28, 2016: Alyssa Jones accepts and offer to join UCSD’s graduate program in chemistry.

March 15, 2016: Amir Keshavarz is awarded a 2016 CCB Summer Research Fellowship!

2015

December 14, 2015: Steven’s paper featuring work from his time in Prof. Christopher Reed’s lab (UC Riverside) is now on  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. (link)

July 1, 2015: Thanh Le joins the lab as a PhD student.

May 15, 2015: Xiao Cai joins the lab as a PhD student.

May 1, 2015: Dr. Steven Cummings joins the lab as a postdoctoral fellow.

March 15, 2015: Amir Keshavarz joins the lab as a PhD student.

January 1, 2015: The group is founded at UC Merced.