Knight Group Updates
March 2024
Jack Foley awarded the UNC Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship!
February 2024
Professor Knight is named a 2024 Sloan Research Fellow
January 2024
Congratulations to Dr. Erin Day on defending her PhD!
December 2023
The Knight group welcomes a new undergraduate researcher, Kevin O’Keefe!
Supraja Chittari is the recipient of the Dr. Albert Ledoux Award
Nicholas Calzadilla is the recipient of the Killian Family Graduate Student Excellence Fund
Matthew Bogen is the recipient of the Thomas L. Isenhour and E.A. Booth Chemistry Fund
Benjamin Allen wins the Flyod Edmister Award
Supraja Chittari and Peter Dykeman-Bermingham are recipients of the Professor James Talmage Dobbins Sr. Memorial Award
November 2023
The Knight group welcomes three new graduate students - Bridgette Poff, Jaina Bemis, and Will Swofford!
Savannah Grizzard wins the Tanya R. Ellison Scholarship!
Emily Barkley wins the James H. Maguire Memorial Award!
October 2023
Ben Allen, Emily Barkley, Matt Bogen, Nick Calzadilla, Supraja Chittari, Kevin Coghlan, Erin Day, Peter Dykeman-Bermingham, Savannah Grizzard, and Matt Sanders all presented their work at SERMACS.
May 2023
Matt Bogen, Nick Calzadilla, Kevin Coghlan, Peter Dykeman-Bermingham, Matt Sanders, and Abby presented at the Triangle Soft Matter local conference.
April 2023
Hot of the press from Matt Sanders and Supraja Chittari: “Versatile Triphenylphosphine-Containing Polymeric Catalysts and Elucidation of Structure–Function Relationships.”
March 2023
Peter Dykeman-Bermingham presented at UNC organic chemistry seminar on “Controlling hierarchical structure and function of polymer nanoparticles with di(phenylalanine).”
Matt Bogen gave his 3rd year talk “Identifying design principles for selective ion binding in synthetic polymers” at the UNC polymer chemistry seminar.
Erin Day awarded ACS POLY Excellence in Graduate Polymer Chemistry and presented in a special session at ACS Indianapolis.
Melissa Yu honored with the 2023 American Chemical Society Undergraduate Award in Organic Chemistry.
Supraja Chittari presented her work “Design principles of nonequilibrium self-assembly” at the UNC physical chemistry seminar the day after her paper was accepted in JACS!
January 2023
Kevin Coghlan gave a research talk, “Assembly and sequencing of biohybrid block copolymer libraries” to the UNC polymer chemistry seminar.
Rachel Cooke defends her Masters in Chemistry.
November 2022
Our two seniors were honored at the UNC chemistry undergraduate awards banquet. Alan Wang received Jason D. Altom Memorial Award for Undergraduate Research. Melissa Yu received the inaugural Linda Spremulli Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research, in honor of the Department’s first female faculty member (and first biochemist) and which recognizes research potential of a senior undergraduate woman majoring in chemistry based on their outstanding participation in and contribution to mentored research at UNC.
Rachel Cooke presented “ Synthesis and Assembly of Biohybrid Polymer Libraries” about her work with DNA-polymer conjugates to the UNC organic chemistry seminar.
The Knight group welcomes a new graduate student, Nick Calzadilla!
October 2022
Matthew Sanders presented his research, “Design and synthesis of macromolecular palladium catalysts for enhanced cross-coupling efficacy” to the UNC organic chemistry seminar.
May 2022
Nicole Sherman wins the 2022 Emmet Gladstone Rand Premedical Scholarship!
Kara Bucci, Jeshurun Luke, and Nicole Sherman graduate from UNC
April 2022
Alan Wang, Kara Bucci, and Melissa Yu each presented their work at the 23rd Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research.
Kathleen Ready awarded the UNC Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship!
March 2022
Jeshurun Luke selected as the UNC recipient of the 2022 ACS Undergraduate Award in Organic Chemistry!
Nicole Sherman received the Emmett Gladstone Rand Premedical Scholarship, which is presented to exceptionally talented graduating seniors intending to pursue a career in medicine or in the allied health sciences.
February 2022
Ben Allen presented a wonderful talk on his work, “Mapping the Morphological Space and Dynamics of Peptide-Polymer Amphiphiles” to the UNC Biological Chemistry division.
January 2022
The Knight group welcomes four new UNC undergraduate researchers - Emily Barkley, Jack Foley, Kathleen Ready, and Savannah Grizzard!
November 2021
Erin Day presented a spectacular 4th year talk on her work, “Sequence-Dependent Hydrophobic Collapse of Peptidomimetics.”
Alan Wang and Melissa Yu both honored with the James H. Maguire Memorial Award.
Melissa Yu was awarded the AXS Sophomore Chemistry Award.
October 2021
The Knight group welcomes Gabi West, a first year graduate student in the analytical chemistry division.
August 2021
Matt Sanders awarded the Burroughs Wellcome Fellowship.
July 2021
Hailey Taylor awarded a Masters in Chemistry.
June 2021
Supraja Chittari received the Chemistry Department Teaching Assistant Award!
Peter Dykeman-Bermingham was accepted into the UNC Chemical Biology Interface Training Program.
Jackie Warren completed her time as a post-baccalaureate researcher. We are excited to say that she’s staying close by as she is starting at UNC Medical School this fall!
April 2021
Delaney Davis defended her undergraduate Honors Thesis titled “Evolving Peptoid-Based Hydrophobic Binding Pockets.”
March 2021
Supraja Chittari was awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.
Rachel Cooke named an Honorable Mention for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.
Peter Dykeman-Bermingham was awarded the Student Undergraduate Teaching Award.
The lab received funding from the W.M. Keck Foundation for a collaborative project with Drs. Charles Carter and Qi Zhang to study the origins of life.
February 2021
Professor Knight received the NSF CAREER Award.
Dr. Meredith Barbee accepted a faculty position at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
January 2021
The Knight group welcomes a new UNC undergraduate - Alan Wang.
November 2020
The Knight group welcomes four new first year graduate students - Matthew Bogen, Supraja Chittari, Kevin Coghlan, and Peter Dykeman-Bermingham.
It was big night at the 2020 Junior/Senior Awards Banquet! Delaney Davis was awarded the Jason D. Altom Memorial Award for Undergraduate Research which recognizes the research potential of undergraduate chemistry majors. Nicole Sherman and Jeshurun Luke were awarded the James H. Maguire Memorial Award which recognizes outstanding and academically gifted junior chemistry majors.
September 2020
The Knight group welcomes our second post-doctoral researcher - Dr. Zoe Wright!
August 2020
Rachel Cooke and Ben Allen were both awarded 2020 Teaching Assistant Awards from the Department of Chemistry.
Undergraduates Melissa Yu and Delaney Davis were interviewed by the Daily Tar Heel about their experiences working in the lab during the COVID-19 pandemic.
June 2020
Rachel Cooke was accepted into the UNC Certificate Program in Translational Medicine with funding.
The lab received funding from the ACS PRF.
Ben Allen was awarded a Molecular and Cellular Biophysics Training Grant.
Emily Beyer awarded a Masters in Chemistry.
May 2020
Jackie Warren and Caleb Cox graduated from UNC.
Professor Knight gave an interview about teaching virtually at UNC.
Delaney Davis, Melissa Yu, and Jeshurun Luke were all awarded summer research awards from UNC Chemistry.
Jackie Warren was awarded the Emmett Gladstone Rand Premedical Scholarship which honors talented senior undergraduate students intending to pursue a career medicine.
Caleb Cox was awarded the Francis P. Venable Medal, which honors outstanding graduating seniors from UNC Chemistry.
April 2020
The Knight group welcomes a new UNC undergraduate - Kara Bucci.
Erin Day was awarded the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship.
March 2020
Caleb Cox was awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.
December 2019
Professor Knight was awarded a Junior Faculty Development award from UNC.
November 2019
The Knight group welcomes two UNC undergraduates - Nicole Sherman and Melissa Yu.
Caleb Cox was awarded the Jason D. Altom Memorial Award for Undergraduate Research which recognizes the research potential of undergraduate chemistry majors.
October 2019
The Knight group welcomes four new first year graduate students - Benjamin Allen, Rachel Cooke, Hailey Taylor, and Matt Sanders.
Emily Beyer received a teaching award from UNC Chemistry.
August 2019
The Knight group welcomes Jeshurun Luke, a UNC sophomore.
Erin Day received the Steelman Graduate Award from UNC Chemistry.
July 2019
Meredith Barbee received a poster award at the GPC Conference.
May 2019
The Knight group welcomes our first postdoc - Meredith Barbee.
Delaney Davis and Jackie Warren received summer research awards from UNC Chemistry.
April 2019
Erin Day received an Honorable Mention in the NSF GRFP Competition.
November 2018
The Knight group is now on twitter! @KnightGroupUNC.
Emily Beyer and Erin Day joined the Knight group’s first graduate class.
September 2018
The Knight group welcomes Jackie Warren and Caleb Cox, two UNC juniors.
July 2018
Delaney Davis joined as the group’s first undergraduate student.