Grace Scofield and Haleigh Bos Awarded 2026 GAANN Fellowships

Grace Scofield and Haleigh Bos have been awarded the 2026 Department of Education GAANN Fellowships. The Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) Fellowship is a prestigious program designed to train the next generation of teachers and scholars in critical areas of national need. This fellowship offers a unique opportunity for students committed to advancing both research and teaching. Fellows engage in cross-disciplinary research, collaborating with two distinct research groups to develop interdisciplinary projects. In addition to their scientific work, GAANN Fellows receive specialized training in evidence-based teaching practices. The award includes a one-year stipend, along with full tuition coverage and health insurance.

GAANN Fellowship awardees Grace Scofield (left) and Haleigh Bos

About the Awardees

• Grace Scofield is a fourth-year graduate student jointly advised by the Liu and Brummond groups. Her research operates at the intersection of synthetic organic chemistry, computational modeling, and data science to predict chemical reactivity and selectivity. Most recently, she published a predictive model for the thiol reactivity of N-heteroaryl α-methylene–γ-lactams in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (2025), aiming to advance the design of targeted covalent inhibitors. She also pioneered the Heteroaryl Descriptors (HArD) Database, published in Scientific Data (2025), which provides calculated quantum chemical fingerprints for over 31,500 heteroarenes to facilitate machine learning in chemistry. Currently, Grace is expanding her insight-driven approach to elucidate the mechanisms of iron- and nickel-catalyzed radical cross-coupling reactions. Grace is also a recipient of the 2025 GAANN Fellowship.

• Haleigh Bos is also a fourth-year graduate student jointly advised by the Liu and Brummond groups. Her research focuses on developing mechanistic models to predict the reactivity of intramolecular dearomative didehydro-Diels-Alder precursors. Her work aims to deepen the understanding of complex reaction pathways, facilitating the synthesis of novel organic frameworks. Haleigh is currently collaborating with Merck & Co. to use data-driven strategies to predict ligand and substrate effects on asymmetric Paulson–Khand reactions. The goal of her research is to develop a predictive model for reactivity and selectivity predictions to accelerate the experimental discovery of new catalyst systems.

Please join us in congratulating Grace and Haleigh on this well-deserved recognition!