The College of Liberal and Professional Studies is pleased to congratulate Carley Leedy and Sijie Chen on being named Dean's Scholars. This honor is presented annually to students who exhibit exceptional academic performance and intellectual promise.
Undergraduate programs
Carley Leedy, Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences
Carley Leedy is pursuing a Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences with a concentration in Data Analytics and Psychological Sciences. She plans to graduate in December 2026 and will also earn four certificates: Applied Positive Psychology, Data Analytics, Professional Writing, and Upskill. Carley is a veteran who served as an intelligence analyst in the US Army. While at Penn, Carley participated as a summer fellow in the Research Experience for Veteran Undergraduates at Yale, working in Yale’s Cognitive and Neural Computation Laboratory. Carley plans to pursue a master’s in industrial-organizational psychology.
Professional master’s programs
Sijie Chen, Master of Chemical Sciences, Organic Chemistry
Originally from Jurong, China, with an undergraduate degree in organometallic catalysis and organic methodologies from China Agricultural University, Sijie Chen is currently a second-year graduate student in the group of Patrick J. Walsh, William Warren Rhodes-Robert J. Thompson Professor of Chemistry. Sijie is working on the organocatalyzed Matteson reaction, which has the potency of being applied in bioactive molecules synthesis and the drug industry, and his research has produced a forthcoming publication.
Read more about the 2026 School of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Scholars >
