Professor Keriann Backus receives a 2023 Undergraduate Research Week Faculty Mentor Award, which honors the considerable dedication of faculty mentors who have served as effective research mentors to undergraduate students. 

As part of the UCLA Undergraduate Research Week, which was held on May 22-26, 2023, undergraduate student researchers who presented their work during the Undergraduate Research Showcase were invited to nominate their mentor for a Faculty Mentor award to recognize the meaningful role their mentor has played in their undergraduate experience, research or career exploration, and the support they have received from their mentor for their professional goals. 

From the nominated faculty members, the Research Week campus committee chose the following winners who were honored at the Undergraduate Research Week Awards Ceremony:  

Recipients of the 2023 Faculty Mentor Awards:

Keriann M. Backus, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Peyman Benharash, Surgery
Adam Bradley, PhD, English
Jun Chen, Bioengineering
Patricia Cheng, PhD, Psychology
Joseph G. Crompton, Surgical Oncology
Zhefeng Guo, Neurology
Andrea Hevener, Medicine
Alexander Hoffmann, Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics
Bemmy Maharramli, PhD, Center for Community Learning
Rafail Ostrovsky, Computer Science, Mathematics
Cecilia Rios-Aguilar, PhD, Education
Catherine M. Sandhofer, PhD, Psychology
Alice Soragni, Orthopaedic Surgery
Erina Vlashi, Radiation Oncology
Xinshu Xiao, Integrative Biology and Physiology

Previous Chemistry & Biochemistry faculty to receive Undergraduate Research Week Faculty Mentor awards are Professors Anastassia Alexandrova and Margot Quinlan in 2018, and Professors William Gelbart and Alex Spokoyny in 2020, and Professors Louis Bouchard and Paula Diaconescu in 2022.

Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, penny@chem.ucla.edu.