Congratulations to Cole Bellomo, selected as the 2026 Chemistry Excellence in Research and an ACS 2026 Undergraduate Award in Organic Chemistry!

"My name is Cole, and I just graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry. Born and raised in Tucson, I’m a second-generation member of the University of Arizona dedicated to both the university and my local community. During my undergraduate studies, I dedicated myself to expanding research capabilities for both me and underrepresented peers in the College of Science.  

I started my journey as a member of the MCBC club, where I participated in curricular discussions aimed at encouraging undergraduate students to engage in professional research. After changing majors, I found a strong academic and professional home in Dr. Pyun’s research lab.  

In Dr. Pyun’s lab, I began by following established protocols for organic reactions and soon evolved into designing and optimizing my own experiments. Throughout the three years of research, I’ve been able to perform my own experimental design and optimization under the guidance of Professor Jeffrey Pyun. This work contributed to the development of novel optical polymers and resulted in my inclusion as a co-author in a peer-reviewed publication.  

Beyond research, I’ve been dedicated to mentorship and cooperation with all kinds of peers in my undergraduate. As a mentor in research, I have regularly mentored new students to foster a collaborative environment and improve project efficiency. My time in the lab allowed me to shift from being a trainee to a mentor role, where I’ve had the opportunity to train different groups of people. I taught incoming undergraduates the process of Inverse Vulcanization and other in-house polymerizations, helping develop safe lab practices. Working with multiple generations of graduate students and post-doctoral researchers has strengthened my resolve to pursue a PhD.  

My achievements at this university have been recognized with multiple awards. I have received the Wildcat Distinction Tuition scholarship and the Arizona Society for Coatings Technology Scholarship because of research. I received Dean’s list for the first two years of my undergraduate degree. I was also able to participate in talks outside of the University of Arizona as well as multiple poster sessions, including NGRPC at ASU, to present my research. This upcoming fall, I plan to begin my doctoral program in organic chemistry at the University of Arizona." ~ Cole