Chemistry Majors & Degrees

Chisondi Warioba '21 graduated from Westmont as a triple major in Chemistry, Physics, and Biology. He is pursuing a PhD at the University of Chicago in medical physics. Warioba is a Recipient of the NSF (National Science Foundation) Graduate Research Fellowship Program in the Field of Study Engineering - Biomedical Engineering.  His award announcement states: "Being chosen as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow is a significant national accomplishment and places you among an elite group of fellows, many of whom have gone on to distinguished careers in STEM or STEM education". Warioba's plans for the future are to attend medical school as he aspires to become a physician-scientist.

Karli Holman ’17 is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in chemistry at Caltech focusing on natural product synthesis. At Westmont, she had the opportunity to be a teaching assistant for organic chemistry, and also completed a major honors thesis project on organic synthesis. Karli served on the Urban Initiative core team, and led a trip to serve the homeless in San Francisco over spring break. She was also a regular participant in Westmont's dance program and the Fringe student theater festival.

Aaron Wilk ’16 graduated with a triple major in chemistry, biology and music. An outstanding concert pianist, he conducted scientific research with Westmont professors. In the fall of 2016, he began an M.D./Ph.D. program at Stanford University. The eight-year program will prepare him for a career as a physician/scientist.

Elizabeth Simoneit ’15  graduated from Westmont with degrees in Spanish and chemistry and won the Kenneth Monroe Award for academic achievement, campus leadership and impact on fellow students. She pursued two majors so she could communicate with Spanish-speaking patients in their own language and volunteer in communities where doctors aren’t easily accessible..After spending a year teaching English in Querétaro, Mexico, she enrolled at the University of  South Florida College of Medicine in fall 2016. Dr. Simoneit is a  family physician in Ventura, California. She is affiliated with the Ventura County Medical Center.

Dr. Aaron Barnes ’12 has graduated from Dartmouth Medical School, where he found he was more prepared than most of his classmates from Ivy League schools. A double major in biology and chemistry, he says the summer research he conducted with Professor Kristi Lazar Cantrell ’00 gave him an advantage few medical students could match. He also learned that working in the lab didn’t fit him and continued to pursue his interest in medicine, provides more interaction with people. After completing a residency at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Dr. Barnes returned to his hometown of Anchorage, Alaska. He is a vascular surgeon at Alyeska Vascular Surgery.

Dr. Kristi Lazar Cantrell ’00 graduated from Westmont and earned a master’s degree at Princeton University and a doctorate from the University of Chicago. She returned to Westmont in 2010 to teach chemistry and provide the kind of mentoring that has influenced her life so profoundly. She worked as a teacher’s assistant at Westmont and dreamed about teaching. Her area of expertise is in protein aggregation, including the deposits of misfolded proteins thought to be responsible for many degenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s. She involves students in this research.

Christopher Aubuchon ’94 never expected to go to college but applied to Westmont at the last minute. His professors inspired him to study science, and he earned a doctorate in chemistry at Stanford University. After graduating, he co-founded Exajoule, a company that designs Micro-Electro-Mechanical systems (MEMS) components for manufacture. Westmont honored him as Young Alumnus of the Year in 2004. Most recently, he founded and serves as CEO of FILLD, an on-demand refueling service that eliminates the need to stop at a gas station. He has also worked with the Corporate Development group of Tessera Technologies.