The Newest Badger Chemists: Ph.D.

A group of graduates in cap and gown stand on a red and white staircase.
Ph.D. recipients at the May 2024 graduation celebration. Photo: Ilia Guzei

Congratulations to our recent graduates.

December 2023

Austin Vincent Carr (Smith)
Novel Algorithms and Software for the Acquisition and Analysis of Mass Spectrometry-Based Proteomics Data

Hillary Dequina (Schomaker)
Progress Toward the Total Synthesis of Nogalamycin and Expanding the Scope of Heterocycles in DNAEncoded Libraries

Catherine Elisabeth Earl (Hamers)
Reciprocal Redox of Biomolecules on Metal Oxide Nanomaterial Surfaces

Jonathan M. Ellis (Buller)
Biocatalytic Synthesis of γ-Hydroxy Amino Acids and Computational Exploration of SequenceActivity Landscapes

Laura Dynan Elmendorf (Brunold)
Combined Spectroscopic and Computational Studies of Free and Enzyme-Bound B12 Species

Adam Michael Hilbrands (Choi)
Development of Bi-Based Photoelectrodes for Solar Fuel and Chemical Production

Louis V. Morris (Hamers)
Understanding the Reactivities and Mechanisms of Action of Organosilicons As Additives for Next-Generation Lithium-Ion Battery Electrolytes

Ashley Phetsanthad (Li)
Developing Mass SpectrometryBased Strategies for the Enhanced Characterization of Biomolecules in the Nervous System

Thomas John Polaske (Blackwell)
Discovery and Development of Small Molecule Probes for the Study of Quorum Sensing in the Bacterial Pathogen Staphylococcus aureus

Madeleine Grace Roberts (Burstyn)
Carbon Monoxide-Dependent DNA Binding of Heme-Containing Transcription Factors CooA and RcoM

Cody Alan Schilling (Boydston)
Towards Chemical Length-Scale Control in Additive Manufacturing: Innovations in Polymer Material Design and Technology

Chase Parker Schultz (Widicus Weaver)
Rotational Spectroscopy of Prebiotic Molecules

Karina Targos (Wickens)
New Strategies in Oxidative Bond Formation

Zhongrui Zhang (Tang)
Expanding the Horizon of Proteolysis Targeting Chimeras (PROTACs) in Rapid Platforms, CLIPTAC, and the Exploration of E3 Ligase Substrate Receptors

Min Zhu (Gong)
Guanidium-Rich Lipopeptide-Based Nanoparticles Efficiently Deliver Genome Editors in Skeletal Muscles and Retinal Pigment Epithelium

May 2024

Brett Daniel Akana-Schneider (Weix)
Expansion of Reductive CrossCouplings: Reductive Arylation of Nitroarenes and Improved Methods for Nickel-Catalyzed CrossElectrophile Coupling

Michelle Elizabeth Akana (Weix)
Computational Approaches to Improve Catalyst Design in Nickel-Catalyzed Cross-Electrophile Coupling

Hung H. Dang (Cavagnero)
Exploring Kinetic Controlled Protein Solubility Under Physiologically Relevant Conditions

Sean Richard Gitter (Boydston)
Polymer Design Enabled by Catalysis

Ruixian (Eric) Han (Rienstra)
Solid-State NMR Methods and Applications at High Magnetic Fields

Delaney Brenna Kilgour (Bertram)
Marine Reactive Trace Gases and Their Impacts on Atmospheric Chemistry in the Marine Boundary Layer

Joseph Yoojong Kim (Wright, E.)
Development and Application of CryoElectron Tomography Technologies for Neuronal Cell Biology

Tae Wook Kim (Gellman)
Study of Ligand-Receptor Interaction of the Parathyroid Hormone Receptor Type 1 and Its Intracellular Trafficking

Xin Yi Amber Lim (Fredrickson)
18-n+m Isomerism in Transition MetalMain Group Intermetallics: Chemical Pressure-Directed Configurations of Electronically Viable Structures

Karli Ashton Lipinski (Hoskins)
Influence of Spliceosome Proteins on RNA Interactions in Pre-mRNA Splicing

Nathan Lee Loud (Weix)
High-Throughput Enabled Cross-Electrophile Couplings of Heteroaryl Electrophiles

Connor Robert Protter (Hamers)
Surface Interactions and Applications of Copper Sulfide

Vincent P. Rigoglioso (Boydston)
Assessing and Optimizing the Performance of PhotoredoxMediated Metal-Free Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization in Batch and Flow Reactors

Christopher Robert Roy (Jin)
Heterostructures and Hyperspectral Microscopy of Lead Halide Perovskite Semiconductors

Emily Zerull Schroeder (Schomaker)
Expanding the Scope of Intramolecular Silver-Catalyzed Nitrene Transfer: Enantioselective Aminations and Chemoselective Dearomatizations

William Thompson (Widicus Weaver)
Tracing Chemical Complexity From the Laboratory to the Cosmos Alicia Marie Tripp (Hamers) Surface Functionalization of 2D Nanomaterials

August 2024

Meghan Elise Campbell (Buller)
Stereoselective Biocatalytic C–C Bond Formation for the Generation of γ-Hydroxy Amino Acids and Exploration of Promiscuity-guided Engineering Methods for the Development of Generalist Biocatalysts

Alyah Faith Chmiel (Wickens)
Potent Photoreductants for Organic Synthesis

Mario A. Cribari (Martel)
Enzymatic Catalysis With Applications in Organic Synthesis and Plastic Waste Degradation

Kimberly Sue Deglopper (Stowe)
How Assessments Influence the Conceptual Ideas Students Invoke for Explaining Chemical Phenomena and Modeling and Characterizing Epistemic Ideas for Teaching and Learning Chemistry

Mareena Cindy Franke (Weix)
Selectivity, Scalability, and Sustainability in Cross-Electrophile Coupling Using Electrochemistry

Melissa Nicole Hall (Stahl)
Leveraging Heterogeneous Metal on Nitrogen-doped Carbon Materials for Aerobic Oxidation Catalysis: Fundamentals and Application to Diazo Compound Synthesis

Yun Hu (Schomaker)
Design, Synthesis, and Applications of Heterocyclooctynes and Small-Strained Rings: Advancing Bioorthogonal Chemistry and DNAEncoded Libraries

Jacob Henry Jansen (Hermans)
Heterobimetallic Lewis Acid Catalyst Development for Polyesterification and Depolymerization

James Christopher Langford (Yang)
Accurate Quantum Descriptions of Proton and Electron Motion in Molecular Systems

Yejung Lee (Ediger)
Stability and Structure of TwoComponent Vapor-Deposited Glasses of Organic Semiconductors

Matthew Steven Lish (Golden)
Development of a QuinazolinoneFocused, Mannich-Coupled, Domino Rearrangement and Its Utility in the Discovery and Optimization of AntiAmoebic Scaffolds

Ashley Nicole Ogorek (Martell)
Design and Evolution of Biological Macromolecules for Applications in Proximity Labeling and Plastic Degradation

Katherine Anne Parrish (Goldsmith)
Investigating Chiral Light-Matter Interactions in Photonic Materials

John Gerrit Pavek (Smith)
Development of Methods to Improve the Efficiency of Proteoform Identification by Mass Spectrometry in Complex Systems

Edward Bay Pimentel (Martell)
Development of DNA-Based Tools for Enzyme-Mimicking Catalysis and Catalyst Discovery

Kyana M. Sanders (Fredrickson)
Designing Modular Intermetallic Compounds with Chemical Pressure: Intergrowth Assembly Principles Derived from the Entanglement of Interface Nuclei

Emma E. Santa (Blackwell)
Investigating the Mechanisms of LuxR-Type Quorum Sensing Receptor Activation and Inhibition in the Opportunistic Pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Jason Michael Scheeler (Wright)
Spatially and Temporally Resolved Spectroscopy of Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Semiconductors

Cara Elizabeth Schwarz (Stowe)
Exploring Students’ Conceptual and Epistemic Learning in Model-Centered Chemistry Courses

Jamorious Smith (Buller)
Leveraging the Promiscuity of PLPDependent Enzymes to Generate Useful Biological Tools

Julia Devorah Byron Smith (Gopalan)
Synthetic Methodologies to Tune Mixed Polymer Brush Morphology

Zhiming Su (Stahl)
Nickel-Catalyzed Cross-Electrophile Coupling: Methodology Development and Mechanistic Insights

Jonathan Samuel Van Buskirk (Fredrickson)
Identifying Solutions to Packing Frustrations in Complex Intermetallics

Zhongyi Wan (Schmidt)
Computational Modeling of Solidphase Epitaxy in Polymorphic and Complex Oxides

Fengrui Wang (Lynn)
Design of Functional Soft Materials for Environmental Sensing and Antifouling Applications

Rui Wang (Jin)
Modular Electrochemical Synthesis and Resource Recovery Using Ion-Selective Redox Reservoirs

Eric Paul Weeda (Stahl)
Single-Step Aerobic Depolymerizations of Lignin to Oxidized Aromatics

Xin Yuan (Choi)
Mechanism and Control of Reductive Pathways in Electrochemical Biomass Upgrading

Zhijun Zhu (Li)
Deep Structural Omics: Enhancing Precision to Facilitate Characterization of Molecular Mechanism of Diseases