Pictured, left: Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Professor, Andrew Terentis, Ph.D.; chemistry student Jared Kahn; and Professor Salvatore Lepore, Ph.D.
Congratulations to FAU senior Chemistry student Jared Kahn! He received the Most Outstanding Senior Undergraduate Organic Chemistry Student award from the American Chemical Society (ACS), Division of Organic Chemistry for the 2021-22 academic year.
Kahn’s mentor and FAU Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Salvatore Lepore, Ph.D., nominated him for the award.
“I was honored to hear that Dr. Salvatore Lepore nominated me for this award because it meant that he could see the passion and determination that I have,” Kahn said. “Dr. Lepore has been my mentor for the past year, and it would be an understatement to say anything less than that he completely changed my life. After working [as his] undergraduate research assistant, I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in organic chemistry.”
The Undergraduate Award Committee, Division of Organic Chemistry for the ACS, one of the premier chemical societies in the world, invited chemistry departments to nominate a top graduating senior student majoring in either chemistry or biochemistry who demonstrated an excellence in organic chemistry based on a combination of research experience, coursework and a desire to pursue a career in chemistry.
“Jared aptly fit the [nomination] description!” said Dr. Lepore. “He was the top student in my Organic Chemistry 3 course. He went on to engage in undergraduate research in my group and within six months was performing research at the level of a second-year graduate student.”
Additionally, Dr. Lepore added that Jared has made some fundamental contributions including the development of a new reaction method to make medicinally relevant compounds. He will also be a coauthor on at least one paper later this year for this and other contributions.
In May, Kahn graduated from FAU. He was accepted into the fall 2022 Chemistry Ph.D. program at FAU, where he will continue his research under Dr. Lepore.
