Booker Laboratory

Boxes were packed, equipment was moved, and we are finally settling down in Philadelphia! Although we will need some more time to have everything up and running (mainly the large instrumentation), we have already started getting the hang of research here at UPenn. If you are our new neighbors in the Chemistry Building, feel free to stop by and say hi!

The Booker Laboratory is moving! We will be joining the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics and the Department of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania. Squire will be taking on a role as a Penn-Integrates-Knowledge Professor. We are excited to meet our new colleagues in Philly. See below for the Department’s announcement posts on X.

https://x.com/PennChemistry/status/1851307807230083212

https://x.com/BB_UPenn/status/1851306350703493321

We are thankful for a great year of Science here at Penn State. Bring on 2024! Here are some fun pictures from our lab holiday party at Olga’s.

Congratulations Squire! Please check out the PSU writeup (credit: Kathryn Harlow) about our boss’ most recent award. Thanks for being the best role model Squire!

https://science.psu.edu/news/squire-booker-honored-2023-percy-l-julian-award

Congratulations to Yuki for taking home FIRST prize during the Penn State REU poster symposium. We are all proud of you!  And a special shout out to her mentor Dr. John Alumasa for supporting her every step of the way.

Group picture from Spring 2023. (Top from left) Vivian, Doug, Olga, David, Jiayuan, Syam, and Amy (Bottom from left) Dante, John, Bo, Ravi, Cody, Nick, and Squire. (Not pictured but missed = Yuki!)

Congratulations to our senior research experts, Olga and Doug, on their promotion. We are grateful to have you in the laboratory!

Congrats to Douglas Warui, Tapas Mal, Olga Esakova, and Michelle Spiering on being promoted to Associate Research Professor!@psu_chemistry @PSUScience #chemistry #Promotion pic.twitter.com/litTj5uVgQ

— Penn State Chemistry (@psu_chemistry) May 24, 2023

One of our fantastic undergraduate researchers, Yuki Yoshida, has earned a Goldwater Scholarship. This prestigious award was given to two Penn State students, Yuki and Kueyoung Kim from the Zarzar laboratory.  They both have excelled academically and successfully started their research careers while here at the university. For a full write-up on Yuki and Kueyoung, please read the Penn State article found here.