News and Achievements

Greetings from sunny, beautiful Pullman, WA. As the new chair, I want to take a moment to introduce myself. I am a physical chemist, and my research interests lie at the intersection of molecular spectroscopy and chemical physics, with a focus on quantum fluids, quantum solids, and other extreme environments.

Learn about the new Integrated Sciences building, and the One Nuclear Initiative, co-led by Dr. Ivan Popov.

Chemistry’s Professor of the Year, 2026 CAS Awardees, Teaching and Learning Grant Recipient, Faculty Promotion, and In Memoriam: Kenneth L. “Ken” Nash.

Chemistry’s Employee of the Year Nikki Clark, welcome new employee Yizel Zayas, and farewell to Miles McKeown and Ethan Knigge.

Alumni updates for Robert P. Hayes and Dr. Kamal Seneviratne.

Newly Funded Awards and Renewals September 1, 2025 – August 31, 2026, totaling $3,139,126.

Read about our Chemistry Research Assistant & Teaching Assistant of the Year, the 2026 Top Senior Awards, Graduating students, and awardees from the Symposium for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (SURCA).

In this work, Iaroslav Gureev, a graduate student in Prof. Popov’s group, used computational methods to study how uranium interacts with surrounding ligands in a new series of U(III) iodide and borohydride Cp* terphenylamido complexes synthesized by another graduate student, Vincent Groner, in Prof. Boncella’s group. The study examined how uranium interacts with ligand atoms and investigated how increasing the size of the terphenyl substituents influences the effectiveness of steric protection of the uranium center.

Exploring the Surface Chemistry of Cobalt Prophyrin Complexed with Iodine Using Single Molecule Microscopy and Theory. Understanding the interactions between molecules on surfaces is crucial for advancing technologies in sensing, catalysis, and energy harvesting. In this study, we explore the complex surface chemistry resulting from the interaction of Co(II)octaethylporphyrin (CoOEP) and iodine, I2, both in […]

Newly Funded Awards and Renewals Collaboration.

Roy Filby may have retired from Washington State University more than two decades ago, but at the WSU Nuclear Science Center that he helped shape, his calculations are still in use, and his impact is still being felt.

The effort to modernize Washington State University’s scientific learning spaces has received a boost, as Ned and Nancy Wogman pledged $3 million to outfit three instructional chemistry laboratories in the planned Integrated Sciences Building on the Pullman campus.

For the first time, a team of researchers at Washington State and Brown universities has observed how relativity alters chemical bonds involving heavy atoms, where electrons move at nearly light speed.

August 1 marked the 30-year anniversary of the Ask Dr. Universe program.

A Washington State University researcher has been elected to the board of directors of the Washington State Academy of Sciences, and nine other WSU scientists have been named as members in recognition of outstanding scientific and technical achievement.

Chemistry professor Kirk Peterson spoke with New Scientist about his recent publication in Science Magazine about the first observation of relativistic chemistry, using a bismuth carbide charged molecule.