Kayla Poling receives the ULRI Fellowship for her Chemistry Ph.D. work
First-year Chemistry Ph.D. student Kayla Poling has been selected as one of six Case Western Reserve University graduate students to join the 2025 ULRI Graduate Fellowship Program. Organized by the ULRI STEM Pathways Program at CWRU and sponsored by Underwriters Laboratories, Inc., the fellowship provides $50,000 in individual support over five years, including a stipend bonus and discretionary funds to support travel and conference participation. Fellows will also take part in unique career, professional, and leadership development opportunities throughout the program.
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Poling entered the Chemistry Ph.D. program in Fall 2025 after earning her B.S. in Chemistry from Case Western Reserve University in May 2025. As an undergraduate, she conducted research in Dr. Clemens Burda’s laboratory, where she synthesized deep eutectic solvents (DES) with varied compositions to systematically evaluate their electrochemical properties. This work contributed to her co-authorship on a 2024 publication in Advanced Materials Interfaces.
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Poling has also received research funding through CWRU’s Undergraduate Research Office in Summer 2024, supporting her work on next-generation energy storage technologies. In addition, she has been an active member of the Electrochemical Society Student Chapter at CWRU. She plans to continue advancing her interests in electrochemistry, green chemistry, and energy storage during her doctoral studies, with the goal of contributing to a more sustainable energy ecosystem.
Congratulations to Kayla Poling on earning this outstanding and well-deserved fellowship!
Thrilled to congratulate Dr. Clemens Burda on ACS Publications naming his 2005 Chemical Reviews article “Chemistry and Properties of Nanocrystals of Different Shapes” the Most Accessed Article of the year. The work connected nanocrystal shape with plasmonic and catalytic properties and became a foundational reference for materials design. Congratulations, Dr. Burda.
