Biography

Hi, everyone! I’m Alex. I’m originally from Long Island, NY, and I earned my B.S. in chemistry from UCLA. During my time on the best coast, I worked in the Spokoyny and Houk groups, and was also a member of AXΣ, the professional chemistry fraternity ⌬. Aside from chemistry, I love exploring restaurants & bars, going to the mall, and event planning! During the pandemic, however, I’ve been having more Zoom nights with friends, watching reality TV/novelas/K-dramas, and occasionally playing my violin, Snow. I also serve on the departmental DEI committee on grad student diversity training & inclusive classrooms!

Awards

• CSE Graduate Student Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award, 2024

• CAS Future Leader, 2024

• Institute for Future PUI Faculty, 2024

• Departmental Third Year Graduate Student Research Symposium Honorable Mention, 2023

• Merck Research Award for Underrepresented Chemists of Color, 2023

• Carl Storm Underrepresented Minority Fellowship, Gordon Research Conferences, 2023

• Departmental Outstanding Graduate TA Award Honorable Mention, 2022

• COGS Teaching Excellence Outstanding TA Award, 2022

• NSF Graduate Research Fellow, 2022

• Inaugural Departmental Diversity and Inclusion Award, 2021

• Jane B. Spence Departmental First Year Fellowship, 2020

Publications Outside the Group

• Su, J.; Mo, J.-N.; Chen, X.; Umanzor, A.; Zhang, Z.; Houk, K. N.; Zhao, J. Generation of Oxyphosphonium Ions by Photoredox/Cobaloxime Catalysis for Scalable Amide and Peptide Synthesis in Batch and Continuous-Flow. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022, 61 (5), e202112668. 

• Stevens, S. L.; Phung, A. C.; Gonzalez, A.; Shao, Y.; Moully, E. H.; Nguyen, V. T.; Martin, J. L.; Mao, C.; Saebi, A.; Mosallaei, D.; Kirollos, M.; Chong, P.; Umanzor, A.; Qian, K.; Marin, G.; Ebrahim, O. M.; Pathuri, R. S.; Hopp, M.; Ramachandran, R.; Waddington, M. A.; Spokoyny, A. M. Narratives of Undergraduate Research, Mentorship, and Teaching at UCLA. Pure Appl. Chem. 2021, 93 (2), 207–221. 

• Mu, X.; Axtell, J. C.; Bernier, N. A.; Kirlikovali, K. O.; Jung, D.; Umanzor, A.; Qian, K.; Chen, X.; Bay, K. L.; Kirollos, M.; Rheingold, A. L.; Houk, K. N.; Spokoyny, A. M. Sterically Unprotected Nucleophilic Boron Cluster Reagents. Chem 2019, 5 (9), 2461–2469.