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So Lab at CSU Chico
Chemical solutions for challenges in physics 
News
January 23, 2023:
The So Lab grows by 2 members - we welcome Ernesto Lucatero and Angelo Vicini to our group! They'll be mentored by Angel and Julia, respectively. Let's do some environment-saving science!
January 20, 2023: 
Monica attends the 2023 ESCIP Workshop in Santa Clara, CA and met other hardcore Pythoners...as well as two potential research collaborators! Thanks to Prof. Grace Stokes and ESCIP organizers for putting this 2-day workshop together!
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January 13, 2023:
Angel blows it out of the water with a huge turnout at her poster at the 2023 CSUPERB conference in Santa Clara, CA! She discussed her progress on making nanosponges on Mucor hyphae fungus to remove lead(II) from water. Great job, Angel!
October 21, 2022:
Monica and Julia present a lightning talk and oral/poster presentation, respectively, at the Agricultural Research Institute's Annual PI Meeting in Sacramento, CA on their work on their recently funded work on semi-transparent agrivoltaics! Go Wildcats!
October 7, 2022:
Thanks to University of Texas-Dallas for inviting Monica to give a talk on "Tunable Hybrid Materials for Studying Energy and Charge Transport".
June 27, 2022:
Congrats to Julia for earning the Student Award for Research & Creativity for her fall research proposal, "Semi-Transparent Agrivoltaics for a Sustainable Future"! 
May 26, 2022:
Monica earns her second grant in one week! Thanks to Agriculture Research Institute for funding our work on "Assessment of Lettuce Responses to Lighting using Semi-Transparent Agrivoltaics" for $250,000 for 3 years! 
May 24, 2022:
Monica is honored to have earned funding from the American Chemical Society's Petroleum Research Fund for Undergraduate Research, entitled "Tunable Porous Membranes for Separation of Petroleum-Relevant Products". She and her students will be funded for $70,000 for 3 years. 
May 17, 2022:
Congrats to Celia, Carlos, and Monica for publishing the 8th group paper in Journal of Chemical Education! This was a paper we started 2 years ago during the pandemic and is finally out! This will be of interest to lab instructors teaching structure-function-property relationships to undergraduates using concepts from inorganic, physical, and materials chemistry.
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  • May 4, 2022:
Congrats to Nick and Carlos for earning the Outstanding Student in Chemistry and Outstanding Student in Biochemistry Awards, respectively, at the 2022 Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry Awards Ceremony! Nick is off the Univ. Illinois Chicago for his PhD in physics, while Carlos will be applying to medical schools. Congrats, So Lab alum!
May 2, 2022:
Congrats to Julia for earning the People's Choice Award for her first poster at the Chico State's College of Natural Sciences Poster Session!
April 26, 2022:
Congrats to Preston for earning the Student Award for Research & Creativity for his summer research proposal on "Nanomaterials for Greener Solar Energy"! We also welcome two new members, Julia Penick and Angel Cash, to the So Lab! Julia will be working on studying effects of lighting of agrivoltaics on plant growth, while Angel will be investigating how to remove lead from water using biodegradable MOF-sponge composites.  
April 13, 2022:
Congrats to Monica for earning tenure and promotion to associate professor of chemistry! 
March 21, 2022:
The So Lab welcomes our first postdoctoral researcher, Dr. Robabeh Bashiri! She will be working on the NSF funded project for the next two years!
March 20, 2022:
Monica presented at the San Diego American Chemical Society National Meeting on: "From insulator to semiconductor: Effect of guest-host interactions on charge transport in metal−organic frameworks."
March 3, 2022:
Congrats to Carlos for earning the CSU COAST grant award! He'll be working on optimizing MOF composite materials for oil removal from the Huntington Beach Oil Spill.
February 24, 2022:
The So Lab welcomes our newest student, Preston Lawson! He will be working on our solar energy conversion project.
February 3, 2022:
Monica, Carlos, and Nick were interviewed on how they're saving the world by engineering MOFs for sustainability technologies on Blue Dot, an NSPR podcast hosted by David Schlom. NSPR is ​an NPR-affiliated public radio broadcaster.
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November 12, 2021:
Congrats to Monica for earning a 1-year sabbatical over AY 2022-2023! She will be working with So Lab members on the projects funded by the NSF and Lantis University Foundation. 
September 15, 2021:
  • The So Lab is accepting a two-year postdoctoral researcher in materials/inorganic chemistry at CSU Chico; apply here. Review for applications starts Friday, Jan. 14, 2022.
August 30, 2021: 
Congrats to Monica for earning the NSF LEAPS-MPS award entitled, "Tunable Hybrid Materials for Studying Charge Transport". The $250,000 award will be used to enhance research training and education at Chico State for two years! 
July 7, 2021: 
Thanks to Stanford Linear Accelerator Center for inviting Monica to give a talk on "Programmable Nanosponges for Next-Generation Solar Energy Conversion Technologies".
June 24, 2021:
Forever grateful to the Gates Foundation, Monica interviewed with the Gates Millennium Scholars Program and discussed her pathway to becoming an assistant professor at CSU Chico. Check it out here! 
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June 15, 2021:
Congrats to Nick! He earned a Student Award for Research & Creativity for his summer research proposal on using nanosponges for next‐generation solar energy conversion technologies! 
June 1, 2021:
Congrats to Sungwon and Monica for publishing the 7th group paper in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces! This was a paper four years in the making and is finally out! Many thanks to our collaborators from Sandia National Laboratories, Cambridge University, Oxford University, and University of Oregon!
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May 14, 2021:
The So Lab "MOF-ia" celebrates completing a challenging year of remote and in-person research during the pandemic with a well-deserved group BBQ and So Lab tumblers!
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May 7, 2021:
Congrats to Celia for earning the Outstanding Senior in Chemistry Award! She will be starting her PhD in Chemistry at UC Santa Cruz in September 2021!
May 3, 2021:
Double congrats to Nick and Celia for each earning the Superior Undergraduate Poster Award at the annual CSU Chico College of Natural Sciences Poster Award!
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April 23, 2021: 
Congrats to Monica for earning one of 11 2021-2022 STEM-NET Faculty Fellows Grant! She'll be working with faculty across the California State University system to cross-pollinate and propose multi-campus collaborative projects in both education and research! 

April 6, 2021:
Hooray to Carlos for earning the LSAMP Student Research Scholar Award to support his summer research on decontaminating water that feed into Lake Oroville, which impacts millions of Californians. He also earned the Land Garcia Foundation Scholarship to help his future career. Double congrats!
March 11, 2021:
Congrats to Monica! She has earned the 2021 Lantis Endowed University Chair Award and will receive $40,000 over 3 years to support undergraduate researchers and make substantial progress on programming nanosponges for water remediation. 
March 8, 2021:
Celia earned a Center for Water & Environment Research Award for her work on nanosponges for water decontamination of local waterways. ​A job well done!
January 28, 2021: 
Congrats to Celia! She earned a Student Award for Research & Creativity for her spring research proposal on water decontamination using nanosponges! 
January 26, 2021:
After a 2 month hiatus, the So Lab moves to the new Science Building (SCI 340)! With access to state of the art instruments and modernized laboratory facilities, we are excited to continue our research in-person!
July 27, 2020: 
The So Lab concludes their first summer of remote research! Despite the pandemic, we were able to accelerate discovery of conductive MOF materials via a machine learning collaboration with Lawrence Livermore National Lab! Hooray for progress! We can't wait to start up in-person research in Fall 2020!
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May 22, 2020:
The So Lab sweeps the awards for the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry (not in-person this year due to COVID-19)! 
Carlos earned the Outstanding Award in Organic Chemistry, while Nikita earned the Outstanding Student in Physical Chemistry Award and Grover Willis Scholarship! Last but not least, Sydney earned the Outstanding Service in Peer Led Learning Award. Congrats, team!
May 15, 2020:
Welcome aboard to Susie Uribe, Celia Todd, and Nikita Barnett! Also, congrats to Carlos and Susie for each earning the Chico STEM Connections Collaborative Award for their remote research projects for Summer 2020! 
May 4, 2020:
When it rains, it pours! Congrats to Carlos for earning the Student Award for Research & Creativity for his summer research proposal! And hearty congrats to James and Sydney for having their perspective article (aka our sixth group paper) published in APL Materials! 
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April 27, 2020:
Carlos presents his poster at the College of Natural Sciences' first Virtual Poster Session. Nice job!
March 13, 2020
The So Lab shuts down in-person research due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We will find a way to continue research!
November 28, 2019:
Here is another reason to give thanks on Thanksgiving Day! Congrats to Sungwon, Nicole, and Monica for publishing their first group book chapter on solar energy conversion materials and processing techniques! Hooray!
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August 29, 2019: 
PI Dr. Yasar, along with co-PIs Monica, Meehan, Alavi, and Anderson earn the NSF MRI for "Acquisition of Raman Spectrometer to Enable Nanoscale Multi-Disciplinary Research & Education in Advanced Materials, Health, and Energy​". The new Raman confocal microscope will be housed at Chico State! Congrats, team!
August 6, 2019:
On her birthday, Monica gave an invited talk, "Synthesis and Characterization of Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) Thin Films: Towards Solar Energy Conversion Devices", at the Gordon Research Conference in Andover, NH. Hooray!
July 24, 2019:
James and Sydney present at the Poster on the Patio at Sandia National Laboratories. Great job, So Team!
April 2, 2019:
Monica and James presented at the 257th American Chemical Society’s National Meeting & Exposition in Orlando's Orange County Convention Center on T 4/2/19.
(1) 8:50-9:10AM @ Room W221E: "
Doping of metal-organic frameworks towards electronics"
(2) 5:30-7:30pm @ West Hall C: "Fabrication of metal-organic graphene analogue materials using langmuir-blodgett method​"
March 11, 2019:
Monica received the Visiting Faculty Program Award from Department of Energy. She will be doing research on conductive MOFs with her Chico State students, along with Drs. Mark Allendorf and Vitalie Stavila at Sandia National Laboratories during Summer 2019. ​Congrats! ​
December 28, 2018:
Sungwon and James publish the 4th group paper in Crystals! Congrats, So Lab! What a great holiday group gift!
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October 10 2018:
Monica gave a FREE talk at the Gateway Science Museum's Museum without Walls. You can view her talk "Solving Challenges in Sustainability Using Nanomaterials"! 
September 28, 2018: 
When it rains, it pours! Monica earns the Student Learning Fee awards to upgrade software and hardware for the x-ray diffractometer and purchase a new tabletop AFM! Congrats!
July 25, 2018:
James and Sungwon present at the Poster on the Patio at Sandia National Laboratories. Great job, So Team!
June 21, 2018: 
​Monica earns the 2018 Research Scholarship and Creativity Award. She and her students will be working on "Improving Filtration Efficacy of Nanosponges for Decontaminating Water". Congrats! 
June 2, 2018:
Monica will be giving a talk entitled, "Becoming an Assistant Professor at a Primarily Undergraduate Institution: Past, Present, and Future" at UC Berkeley. Stop by and say hi if you're in the Bay Area!
May 16, 2018:
Monica earns the CSU Chico's Student Learning Fee Award for "Critical Upgrades for an Outdated X-ray Diffractometer". Congrats!
May 3, 2018: 
The So Lab sweeps the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry Awards Ceremony! James earned the  Outstanding Award in Organic Chemistry Laboratory and STEM Connections Collaborative Award, while Sungwon earns the CSUPERB Summer Research Award and honors in the major as a graduating chemistry major. Both will be doing research at Sandia National Laboratories this summer. Congrats!
March 18-21, 2018: 
​Monica presented two talks at the 255th American Chemical Society’s National Meeting & Exposition in New Orleans's Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.
(1) T 3/20 5:30PM @ Hall D: "
Synthesis and Characterization of Novel Palladium- and Platinum-Based Metal-Organic Frameworks for Thermoelectrics"
(2) W 3/21 4:05PM @ Room 211: "Fabrication and Characterization of Conductive Metal-Organic Framework Coatings by Automated Liquid Phase Epitaxy for Electronics​"
March 8, 2018:
Want to learn how to be a powerful negotiator? To celebrate International Women's Day 2018, Monica presented a seminar, "Being a Powerful Negotiator: How to Know What You Want and Get What You Deserve" at CSU Chico. See video here.
February 17, 2018: 
Monica received the Visiting Faculty Program Award from Department of Energy. She will be doing research on conductive MOFs with her Chico State students, along with Drs. Mark Allendorf and Vitalie Stavila at Sandia National Laboratories during Summer 2018. ​Congrats! ​
January 9, 2018:
Vivien, Connor, and Jerah publish the third group paper & first J. Chem. Educ. paper! Congrats, Chico State team! Here's to hoping for more publications in 2018!  
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November 1, 2017:
Sungwon earned the Student Awards from Research and Creativity for her proposal, “Sponges for Decontaminating Water with Endocrine-disrupting Chemicals and Carcinogens”! Congrats!
September 8 & 29, 2017:
Nicole and Sungwon present their summer research work at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Seminar Series. Amazing job, ladies! See their work highlighted in Chico State's Experience Excellence feature "Research that Matters". Check it out here.
July 29, 2017: 
Vivien and Sungwon present at the Poster on the Patio at Sandia National Laboratories. Great job, ladies!
May 16, 2017:
Monica earns the 2017 Research Scholarship and Creativity Award. She and her students will be working on "
Sponges for Decontaminating Water with Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals & Carcinogens". 

May 12, 2017: 
Vivien and Nicole present their posters at College of Natural Sciences Poster Session! Good job!

Monica's faculty research poster was also selected for Gateway Science Museum's 3rd Annual Research at the Ready exhibition. Go check it out from Sat. May 27th - Sun. Sept. 3rd, 2017!
May 3, 2017: 
Monica earns the 2017 CSU Program for Education and Research in Biotechnology (CSUPERB) New Investigator Award. She and her students will be working on "Sponges for Decontaminating Water with Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals & Carcinogens". Hooray!

The So Lab also welcomes its newest member, Sungwon Yoon. She also received the Grover Willis Award and CSUPERB Award for Summer Research. Cheers!
April 18, 2017:
Monica earns the 2017 Council on Ocean Affairs, Science & Technology (COAST) Grant Development Program award. She and her students will be working on "Contaminant-selective sponges for removal of ocean toxins". Hooray!
April 15, 2017:
Congrats to Vivien and Jerah! They will be starting PhD programs in chemistry at UC Santa Cruz this fall! 
April 10, 2017: 
Nicole earns the Chico STEM Connections Collaborative Award to do research at Sandia National Laboratories this summer! Congrats!
April 4-6, 2017: 
​Monica presented three talks at the 253rd American Chemical Society’s National Meeting & Exposition in San Francisco, CA.
(1) T 4/4 11:05AM: POLY @ Moscone 122
(2) W 4/5 11:30AM: CHED @ SF Marriott Marquis Nob Hill B
(3) Th 4/6 12:05PM: INOR @ Moscone 3000
March 17, 2017: 
​Monica was invited to give a talk titled “Fabrication and Characterization of Perovskite Solar Cells: An Integrated Laboratory Experience” at California State University, Los Angeles.
March 10, 2017: 
​Monica was invited to give a talk titled “Fabrication and characterization of solution processed perovskite solar cells by undergraduates at California State University, Chico” at California State University, Sacramento. 
February 21, 2017:
Monica and Vivien received the Visiting Faculty Program Award from Department of Energy. They will be doing research on conductive MOFs with Drs. Mark Allendorf and Vitalie Stavila at Sandia National Laboratories during Summer 2017. ​Congrats! ​
February 3, 2017:
​The So Lab welcomes its newest member, Nicole Mackie! Hooray!
December 13, 2016:
​Monica earns the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Grant from Chico State's Faculty Development Program for her proposal, “Fabrication and Characterization of Solution Processed Perovskite Solar Cells by Undergraduates at California State University, Chico”. Hooray!
October 27, 2016: 
​The So Lab was invited to give research seminars at Sandia National Laboratories. Great job, students! 
September 12, 2016:
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Monica will be presenting at the 5th International Conference on Metal-Organic Frameworks & Open Framework Compounds in Long Beach, CA. Her talk, "Layer-by-Layer Coordinated Thin Films of Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs): New Artificial Platforms for Solar Energy Capture and Directional Electronic Energy Transfer," will occur from 10:45-11:05 am in the Catalina Room of the Long Beach Hilton.
August 8, 2016: 
​Monica and Amin (ECE) get their first conference paper on ion selective electrodes accepted! Amin will present at the IEEE Sensors 2016 Conference in Orlando, FL from Oct. 30-Nov. 2, 2016! Congrats, Chico State team!
June 19, 2016:
​Congrats! Jerah, Vivien, and Connor publish their first review article in Advances in Materials Science and Engineering! Find it fresh off the press here!
May 17, 2016:
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Our group research poster was selected for Gateway Science Museum's 2nd Annual Research at the Ready exhibition. Go check it out from Sat. May 28th - Sun. Sept. 4th, 2016!
May 10, 2016:
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Jerah, Vivien, and Connor win the People's Choice Award at Chico State's 12th Annual College of Natural Sciences Poster Session. Congrats!
May 5, 2016:
The So Lab sweeps the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry Awards Ceremony. Vivien receives the Dave Ball Summer Research Award and the Grover Willis Scholarship. Connor wins the Larry Kirk Research Award, and Jerah earns the RESP Research Stimulation Grant Award. Congrats!
March 13, 2016:
  • Monica presented at the 251st ACS National Meeting & Exposition in San Diego, CA. Her talk, "Layer-by-Layer Coordinated Thin Films of Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs): New Artificial Platforms for Solar Energy Capture and Directional Electronic Energy Transfer," occurred from 10:45-11:05 am in Room 31C of the San Diego Convention Center.
 March 12, 2016: 
Jerah, Vivien, and Connor presented their poster, "Fabrication and Characterization of Solution-Processed Perovskite Solar Cells," at the Young Researchers' Conference at UCLA's Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IPAM) from 3:00-4:00pm. 
March 8, 2016:
Monica earned a Research Stimulation Grant from Chico State's Office of Research and Sponsored Programs for her proposal, “Exploiting Metal Organic Framework Chemistry for Efficient Solar Energy Conversion”.
January 19, 2016: 
The So Lab quadruples in size, as ​Jerah Barnett, Vivien Cherrette, and Connor Hutcherson join the group. Welcome!
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