At the Women Chemists Committee (WCC) Luncheon on Aug. 25 in Chicago, Amaya Pablo, a graduate student at Northern Arizona University pursuing a Master of Public Health degree with an emphasis in Indigenous health, received the 2026 Overcoming Challenges Award. It was presented by WCC chair Indu Kheterpal and Committee on Chemists with Disabilities chair Partha Basu.
Jin Xuen Lau of the University of Texas at Austin received the 2026 Priscilla Carney Jones Scholarship. She is currently working as an undergraduate research assistant at UT Austin with Emily Que. Lau’s focus is synthesizing fluorescent probes to study the metalation states of zinc-dependent enzymes. Her research further investigates how disruptions in cellular zinc homeostasis may be implicated in disease development. Her career goal is to lead research, in an academic setting or at a national laboratory, focused on protein targeting and the development of chemical tools or small molecules that modulate biochemical pathways.
Hallee Boyd of Oregon State University; Y. Emily Du of Princeton University; Karli Gaffrey of Colorado School of Mines; Golsa Gheibi of the California Institute of Technology; Pegah Honarmand of the University of California-Irvine; Virginia Jiang of Princeton University; Joyce Laboy Figueroa of the University of Puerto Rico, Humacao; Julianne Oshiro of the University of California, Los Angeles; Holly Weilbaker of the University of Wisconsin–Madison; and Kerui Xu of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign received the WCC/Lilly Emerging Talent Award, sponsored by Eli Lilly and Company. Winners presented their research at a special poster session held Aug. 25 at ACS Fall 2026.
Lucy Huffman of the University of Rochester; Julia McAfee of the University of Virginia; Komal Na of University of California, Santa Barbara; Sara Nixon of University of Texas at Austin; Nhu Quach of the University of Minnesota; Laura Rodriguez of the University of Maryland; Ana Serna Moyeda of the University of Pennsylvania; and April Sweet Tapayan of Wayne State University received the WCC 2026 Merck Research Award, sponsored by Merck & Co. Winners presented their research in a special symposium held Aug. 24 at ACS Fall 2026.
WCC presented two 2026 ChemLuminary Awards at ACS Fall 2026 recognizing ACS local sections that have held events and established programs to engage, recognize, mentor, and promote research by and accomplishments of women chemists. The Most Outstanding Local Section Women Chemists Committee Award was presented to the East Central Illinois Section, and the Best Local Section Women Chemists Event/Activity Award was presented to the Indiana Section.
Next year, WCC will mark its 100th anniversary and will welcome all its awardees over the years to events being planned for ACS Spring and Fall 2027 to join the celebration. For more information on WCC awards and recognition, visit https://acswcc.org/awards/.
