Steve's Seminar

On Wednesday, Steve presented his "capstone" seminar. This is the major project he had to do to get his Masters degree in Chemistry. As long as he completes the class he is currently taking (which will wrap up in early June), he'll get his degree.

He did an absolutely wonderful job. But you don't have to take his biased wife's word for it. I'm now going to embarrass him by sharing his academic committee's review of the presentation.

"Ste(v)en Loveridge presented a seminar on the development of the metastatic breast cancer drug Halaven for his Master's capstone presentation. This talk was truly outstanding, with a highly polished performance rarely seen even from graduate students at professional meetings, and slides that were clean, clear and error free.

There were many strengths evident from the talk. The topic choice was important and timely. The content was similarly impressive, with a detailed overview of the entire development story, including in depth coverage of primary literature from a wide array of different fields, presented in an approchable and comprehensive (manner). (H)is command of scientific terms and understanding of the literature was also first class. The committee was also impressed by his articulate response to the variety of questions asked at the end of the lecture.

Overall, an impressive performance, and a very strong pass."

All I can say is: "booyah!"

Forgive the quality of some of the pictures, they were taken on a cell phone (thanks for sending them along, Arnold!).

Steve with his boss and advisor, Phil Crews:

Steve with several friends from the chemistry department: Jack (farthest left - took over the NMR facility that Steve was helping with part-time - had absolutely glowing things to say about Steve), Eric (second from left - current Ph.D. student working with Steve), Katie (second from right - graduated Ph.D. student that Steve very much enjoyed working with for many years) and Laura (farthest to right - the incredibly awesome Ph.D. student who sat through Steve's practice presentations TWICE to give him feedback and still came to the real thing!):

(of course, his dorky wife is blinking... oh well)

Lastly, me and Steve, as he holds the traditional chemistry department "pimp cup" of victory, filled with champagne: