In order to celebrate a two-week stretch in which we welcomed an outstanding new class of first-year graduate students and bid farewell to our wonderful high school interns, the Engle lab took part in its first group scavenger hunt. May planned a fast-paced, action-filled trek around UCSD, finishing with a leisurely hike from the Birch Aquarium down to the beach. A fun evening of burrito eating, swimming, and burying unsuspecting PIs in the sand ensued. Special thanks to May, May’s friend Pearl, and John for helping to organize a great day.

Click here for a photo reel.

Wrapping up their final week in the Engle lab with gripping lectures and stimulating poster presentations, Jessica and Daizy conclude their seven-week internship at TSRI. Though everyone in the lab is sad to see them go, we can’t wait to watch as these two young women take the science world by storm next year in college and beyond. Thanks for the great memories, Jessica and Daizy! Also, props to their awesome lab mentors, John, Joe, and Annabelle, for helping to make it a great summer for our interns!

Arriving from the Eastern Hemisphere for a new Chemistry adventure Zichen (Forrest) Wang starts his 6 month exchange in the Engle Lab. Resolute in the face of powerful jet lag, Forrest was quick to start screening and put his past experience under Professor Shou Fei Zhu at Nankai University to use.

After braving four harsh winters in the tundras of Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania, Van returned to the sweet shores of California to satiate her desire to further impact the field of organic chemistry in the Engle Lab. Honing her skills in the Kozlowski lab, Van studied hydrogen bonding colorimetric sensors in the field of organocatalysis. Eager to add the powerful applications of transition metals in organometallic chemistry to her mastery list, Van was quick to don a TSRI lab coat and organize her bench.

After getting settled on the opposite side on the country, Rei arrives to start her research in the Engle lab at Scripps. A legendary Head Manager for the mens’ varsity basketball team, Rei completed her undergraduate degree at Princeton University and completed research under the guidance of Prof. Robert Knowles in the field of asymmetric catalysis. Excited to put her skills to the test, she was quick to prepare her hood for many columns to come.

After enduring a long trans-Pacific flight, Mingyu lands safely in San Diego and eagerly begins research in the Engle lab. Prior to moving to the wild, wild West Coast of the United States, Mingyu completed his undergraduate studies at Nankai University, where he studied transition metal catalysis in the research laboratory of Prof. Bing-Tao Guan. In pursuit of new frontiers in catalysis (and tasty Japanese food), Mingyu also spent six months in the research lab of Prof. Zhaomin Hou at RIKEN in Japan, where he explored rare earth metal catalysts for novel C–H functionalization reactions.

After finding a new (used) convertible fit for cruising up and down the San Diego coastline, Andrew arrives to begin his research in the Engle lab at Scripps. An accomplished metal worker, who has been known to forge a mean sword and shield if you ask nicely, Andrew completed his undergraduate degree at Caltech, where he developed new silylation methods with Prof. Robert H. Grubbs. He also honed his organometallics skills as a SURF student at ICIQ with Prof. Vladimir Grushin studying Cu–CF3 complexes.

After surviving TSRI LSSI boot camp and navigating her way through traffic on the I-5 from Southwest High School, Daizy De La Torre was eager to start discovering the world of organic chemistry in the Engle lab, beginning with Thin Layer Chromatography.

Daizy De La Torre

Taking a break from life at Maranatha Christian High School, Jessica Xu joins the Engle lab for 7 weeks of summer. Having cleaned her hands from helping the lab with many high-vac oil changes, she jumped right into compound purification by Column Chromotagraphy.

Flying into sunny San Diego for a change of scenery, Joshua arrives from King’s College in London to conduct research in the Engle Lab. Even in the face of powerful jetlag, Josh set up his first reaction in the lab and isolated pure product with ease.