Congratulation to Emily Nortmann for a successful defense in her thesis and admittance into The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill PHD program for environmental engineering!

We would like to welcome a new Graduate Student into Dr. Popolan-Vaida’s lab, Madgee Pierre Louis. She is joining us from Saint Joseph’s University – Hawk Hill Campus in Philadelphia and is currently pursuing her masters in Chemistry. Thank you for joining us Madgee, we are looking forward to the great things you accomplish!

Undergraduate student Emily Nortmann had many great achievements during the Fall 2024 semester. All of her hard work was recognized by being awarded the Honor Undergraduate Thesis (HUT) Scholarship and an Undergraduate Research Grant. 

The members of the Popolan-Vaida lab were delighted to introduce elementary and middle school students to the principles of rocket propulsion at the Fall 2023 UCF STEM Day!

Congratulations to Emily for being selected to receive the Undergraduate Student Research Grant from the UCF Office of Undergraduate Research!
 

We would like to welcome Alexander Georgiev, an undergraduate student here at UCF,  for joining our lab. Welcome Alexander!

Alec passes his candidacy examination and becomes a PhD candidate. Congratulations Alec!

Arden successfully defended her Honors Undergraduate Thesis. Congratulations Arden!

Dr. Popolan-Vaida has been honored as this year’s Undergraduate Mentor of the Year! We are so grateful to Dr. Popolan-Vaida for her unwavering support and enthusiasm for scientific inquiry.

Alec, Emily, and Arden presented their poster’s at UCF’s Student Scholar Symposium event, which is a part of UCF’s annual Research Week which celebrates exciting research being carried out at the university across all disciplines.

Alec and Arden traveled to New Orleans for this year’s Spring Meeting of the American Chemical Society. They had the chance to share the group’s research with a wide audience and learned about the newest discoveries across numerous fields of chemistry.

Dr. Popolan-Vaida’s students Alec, Arden, Emily, and Yitong presented their research on aerosol and fuel oxidation at this year’s Florida meeting of the American Vacuum Society. They were excited to learn about the newest developments in vacuum science happening right here in Florida, and Arden took home the first place prize for the Renewable Energy poster competition!

Welcome new PhD students Minh Tran and Bui Khe to the Popolan-Vaida lab! They will be working to uncover the fate of atmospheric aerosols released by natural and anthropogenic activity.

Dr. Popolan-Vaida has been awarded the 2024 Outreach Volunteer of the Year Award for the ACS Orlando Section. Dr. Popolan-Vaida is being celebrated for her service to the community in arranging engaging outreach events such as the Chemistry Week events at the Orlando Science Center. Congratulations!

Emily Nortmann has been awarded an Undergraduate Research Grant for the Spring 2024 semester from the Office of Undergraduate Research.

Arden was honored to receive recognition from the Orlando Section of the American Chemical Society as the Outstanding Student at a Research Institution for 2023. Arden is being recognized for her academic excellence in chemistry, dedication to research, and contributions to the community through scientific outreach. Congratulations!

Dr. Popolan-Vaida and her students give a presentation and hold a hands on demonstration on the topic of combustion and rocket propulsion at UCF’s Fall 2022 STEM Day.

Guests from across the Orlando area came to the Orlando Science Center to celebrate National Chemistry Week and learn about the role chemistry plays in keeping us all healthy through fun demonstrations and activities.

Dr. Popolan-Vaida presents our research at the ISSPIC conference in Berlin, Germany.

Welcome Zachary Clarke to the Popolan-Vaida research group!

Arden has been chosen by the UCF Office of Undergraduate Research as the Distinguished Undergraduate Researcher for the month of July. Congratulations, Arden!

Arden presents her research on Criegee intermediate pathways at the UCF Summer Research Showcase as the culmination of her participation in the UCF Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship.

Dr. Popolan-Vaida and her students, Alec and Arden, complete a successful beamtime at the Advanced Light Source in Berkeley, California.

Alec and Arden were proud to represent the Popolan-Vaida group at the 2023 ACS Florida Annual Meeting and Exposition (FAME), where they shared their research on the ozone-assisted oxidation of crotonaldehyde and cloud condensation nuclei activity of maleic acid particles.

Congratulations to Chloe and Elaina on the graduation from UCF! We wish them all the best with their future endeavors!

Dr. Popolan-Vaida’s students share their research with aspiring undergraduate researchers for the UCF Intro to Research Event.

Arden, Chloe, and Elaina present their research at the 2023 UCF Student Scholar Symposium. Special congratulations to Elaina for receiving the Judge’s Choice Award for Poster Session 2!

Arden gives her first poster presentation at the 2023 NanoFlorida conference and receives the honorable mention for the undergraduate research competition.

Congratulations to Arden for being selected to receive the UCF Office of Undergraduate Research Student Research Grant.

Dr. Popolan-Vaida’s group organizes demonstrations and hands-on experiments for ACS National Chemistry Week at the Orlando Science Center

Dr. Popolan-Vaida and her students give a lab tour and talk about their research with UCF undergraduate students for the UCF Intro to Research event.

Dr. Popolan-Vaida publishes her first article as a submitting corresponding author in Angewandte Chemie: “Formation of Organic Acids and Carbonyl Compounds in n-Butane Oxidation via γ-Ketohydroperoxide Decomposition”

Dr. Popolan-Vaida’s students give a lab tour and presentation on cloud formation for students from the New Image Youth Center in Parramore, Orlando.

Congratulations to Chloe and Elaina for being selected to receive the UCF Office of Undergraduate Research Student Research Grant.

Dr. Popolan-Vaida receives an Early Career Award from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Congratulations to Alec and Giovanni on graduating from UCF!

Congratulations to Alec and Nath who presented their first posters at the American Vacuum Society Conference, Florida Chapter.

Dr. Popolan-Vaida and her students give a minilecture on the topic of rocket propulsion and hold demonstrations for guests at the Spring 2022 UCF STEM Day.

Dr. Popolan-Vaida gives an invited talk for the chemistry department of the University of Iowa.

Arden joins Popolan-Vaida’s research group. Welcome, Arden!

Dr. Popolan-Vaida and her group’s recent publication in the Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics journal has been selected as a 2021 HOT Article. The article describes the reaction network of acetaldehyde oxide Criegee intermediate and has as a first author a former UCF Chemistry undergraduate student, Alan Conrad.

Dr. Popolan-Vaida’s group organizes demonstrations and hands-on experiments for ACS National Chemistry Week at the Orlando Science Center

Chloe joins Popolan-Vaida’s research group. Welcome, Chloe!

Alec joins Popolan-Vaida’s research group. Welcome, Alec!

Elaina and Giovani join Popolan-Vaida’s research group. Welcome, Elaina and Giovani!

Dr. Popolan-Vaida’s group demonstrates experiments which address the question “Exothermic or endothermic reaction?” at the Fall 2020 UCF STEM Day.

Dr. Popolan-Vaida and her group group gives a lecture on the question “How are clouds formed?” and invite visitors to tour the laboratory at the Fall 2019 UCF STEM Day.

Dr. Popolan-Vaida and her group group gives a lecture on the question “Atmospheric aerosols: What are they and why are they so important?” and invite visitors to tour the laboratory at the Fall 2018 UCF STEM Day.

 
Lindsey and Alan joins Popolan-Vaida’s research group.  Welcome, Lindsey and Alan!

Congratulations to Brett who presented his first poster at the American Vacuum Society Conference, Florida Chapter.

Dr. Popolan-Vaida and her group give a lecture on the topic “Mysteries of Cloud Formation” followed by demo experiments at the Knight for a Day UCF Open House

Natasha joins Popolan-Vaida’s research group. Welcome, Natasha!

Popolan-Vaida’s research group moves into a new building. Our laboratory is located into the newly  constructed Research 1 Bldg., Room 264.

 
Laura, Jaclyn, and Brett join Popolan-Vaida’s research group. Welcome, Laura, Jaclyn, and Brett!

Denisia joins Chemistry Department at UCF
New Faculty 2017 – College of Sciences
The College of Sciences is excited to introduce 20 new faculty members into nine departments in 2017.