News
2026
- June – Dr. Morgenstern awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor effective in August
- May – Gracie Thomas and Hayden Braun joined group as undergraduate and graduate researchers, respectively
- May – ACS Omega collaborative paper with Dr. Owens (UCCS Chemistry) on electrospray ionization microdroplet reactions of tetramine published by Jon and Jacob
- April – Nathan presented an undergraduate research seminar
- April – Nick received an undergraduate research academy (URA) award
- April – Nick and James presented at the Colorado Springs Undergraduate Research Forum (CSURF)
- April – J. Phys. Chem. B collaborative paper with Dr. Ashkarran (UCCS Physics) on charge transfer through peptides published with Jen
- February – Dr. Morgenstern gave a seminar at CU Denver
- February – Nathan accepted into PhD program at CSU Fort Collins
- January – James Mulcahey, Raul Venzor, and Nick Brancieri joined group as undergraduate researchers
2025
- December – Katie and Nathan presented posters at Mountain Lion Research Day
- November – Hunter defended his master’s thesis
- October – Katie, Hunter, Nathan, and Dr. Morgenstern presented at the regional ACS meeting in Albuquerque, NM
- October – Structural Chemistry paper on the effects of electric fields on gradient path curvatures by Niko published
- August – Dr. Morgenstern presented at the International Conference on Chemical Bonding in Kauai
- July – Dr. Morgenstern presented at the ChemEd conference in Golden, CO
- June – Jen defended their master’s thesis
- April – Katie presented a poster at the Colorado Springs Undergraduate Research Forum (CSURF)
- April – Nathan received an undergraduate research academy (URA) award
- January – Nathan Maruska joined group as undergraduate researcher
UCCS researchers at the Rocky Mountain Regional ACS meeting in Albuquerque, October 2025
2024
- December – Jacob, Katie, and Jen presented posters at Mountain Lion Research Day
- August – Jon defended his master’s thesis
- August – Jon, Jen, and Niko presented posters at the ACS conference in Denver
- May – Jacob Cook joined group as undergraduate researcher
- April – Hunter received UCCS Graduate Student Research Fellowship
- April – Dr. Morgenstern received funding from the Committee on Research and Creative Works (CRCW) to study how electric fields can reposition critical points for catalysis
- April – Hunter and Niko presented posters at the Colorado Springs Undergraduate Research Forum (CSURF)
- January – Katie Ly joined group as undergraduate researcher
Jon Gertner successfully defending his MSc thesis in August 2024
2023
- November – Jen presented Intro to Project seminar
- November – Jon presented Departmental Plan to Finish seminar
- September – Hunter Redmon joined group as undergraduate researcher
- August – Student presentations at Departmental Summer Symposium by Jon, Jen, and Niko
- July – Logan defended his master’s thesis
- June – Logan and Dr. Morgenstern presented at the CSC Conference in Vancouver
- June – Jen began master’s work on drug design for Human African Trypanosomiasis
- May – Niko received Undergraduate Research Academy (URA) award
- May – J. Phys. Chem. B paper on effect of electric fields on charge density by Logan and Megan published
- April – Jon received UCCS Graduate Student Research Fellowship
- January – Niko Hughes joined group as undergraduate researcher
UCCS Chemistry and Biochemistry students at the 2023 Departmental Summer Research Symposium. Morgenstern group members include Jen Burrows, Niko Hughes, Jon Gertner, and Logan Epperson
