Three of our doctoral students, Xiulong Jin, Yuqing Zhang and Li Lin, recently passed their graduation thesis defenses. Their topics were “Synthesis and biomedical applications of multifunctional core-shell plasmonic nanomaterials” (Jin), “Intraoperative diagnosis and eradication of tumors with gap-enhanced Raman tags” (Zhang) and “The synthesis, optical properties and immunoassay applications of gap-enhanced Raman tags (GERTs)” (Lin). During their defenses they introduced and summarized the work performed throughout their Ph.D study and discussed the details of their research with the professors of the defense committee. Both their research work and their performances during the defense were praised highly by the committee. All three doctoral students passed their graduation defenses and obtained their Ph.D degrees.