Graduated

Fellows Doctoral Students

2026

Candice Forrester

• Mentor: Dr. Maria Tamargo & Dr. Gustavo Lopez (Subproject 1)
• Received PhD in March 2026
• Thesis: “Structural, Electronic and Magnetic Properties of High Curie Temperature (Sb2Te3)1-x(Mnsb2Te4)x Structures and Altermagnetic α-MnTe Quantum Materials Grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy”
• Current Postdoctoral Research Associate at Institute de Nanosciences de Paris (INSP) at Sorbonne University

 Ahamed Jubair

• Mentor: Dr. Swapan Gayen & Dr. Maria Tamargo (Subproject 3)
• Received PhD in August 2026 
• Thesis: “Optical spectroscopic and quantum electronic properties of ZnCdSe/ZnCdMgSe heterostructures and pyrylium salts”

 Samhita Kattekola

• Mentor: Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar & Dr. Alex Couzis (Subproject 2)
• Received PhD in August 2026
• Thesis: “Engineering Hyperbolic Metamaterials: from Characterization to Colloids”

Eric McPherson

• Mentor: Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar (Subproject 2)
• Received PhD in July 2026
• Thesis: “Exploring the Network Formation of Magnetic Janus and Two-Patch Particles through Self-Assembly”
• Current Postdoctoral Research Associate with Prof. Kyle Bishop at Columbia University

Gershon Starr

• Mentor: Dr. Raymond Tu & Dr. Xi Chen (Subproject 2)
• Received PhD in May 2026
• Thesis: “Analysis of Molecular Order by Synchrotron based X-ray Techniques: from Aggregates to Crystals”

Patrick Yang

• Mentor: Dr. Stephen O’Brien & Dr. Sanjoy Banerjee (Subproject 2)
• Received PhD in January 2026
• Thesis: “Calcium Zincate Cycling and Failure mechanisms: Pathways to Commercialization for Grid Scake Energy Storage”

2025

Natalie Boykoff

• Mentors: Dr. Stephen O’Brien & Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar (Subproject 2)
• Received PhD in October 2025
• Thesis: “Nanoparticles for Advancements in Radiopharmaceutical Technologies”
• Current CCO/CSO at LabABLE

Siedah Hall

• Mentors: Dr. Matthew Sfeir & Dr. Gabrielle Grosso (Subproject 3)
• Received PhD in December 2025
• Thesis: “Highly sensitive ultrafast spectroscopy of exciton dynamics in nanomaterials”
• Current Postdoctoral Research Associate at Brookhaven National Laboratory

Janel Rivera-Cancel

• Mentors: Dr. Nicolas Giovambattista & Dr. Gustavo Lopez (Subproject 2)
• Received PhD in August 2025
• Thesis: “The role of water in peptide behavior and peptide-based water-responsive crystals”
• Current R&D Scientist at PepsiCo

2024

 Didier Ndengeyintwali

• Mentors: Dr. Pouyan Ghaemi & Dr. Vinod Menon (Subproject 3)
• Received PhD in August 2024
• Thesis: “Interplay of magnetic impurities and superconductivity in topological materials”

2023

 Ali Eltareb

• Mentors: Dr. Nicolas Giovambattista & Dr. Gustavo Lopez (Subproject 2)
• Received PhD in August 2023
• Thesis: “The Role of Nuclear Quantum Effects in Supercooled Water and Amorphous Ice”
• Current Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Recipient at Brooklyn College

 Omari Kirkland

• Mentors: Dr. John Lombardi & Dr. Stephen O’Brien (Subproject 3)
• Received PhD in June 2023
• Thesis: “SERS for the Detection of Trace Materials”
• Current Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Recipient at University of The District of Columbia

 Richard Monge

• Mentors: Dr. Carlos Meriles & Dr. Vinod Menon (Subproject 3)
• Received PhD in August 2023
• Thesis: “Dynamics of Spin and Charge of Color Centers in Diamond Under Cryogenic Conditions”
• Current MPS-Ascend Postdoc at CCNY

2022

 Douglas MacPherson

• Mentors: Dr. Rein Ulijn & Dr. Raymond Tu (Subproject 2)
• Received PhD in December 2022
• Thesis: “Leveraging Bio-Inspired Molecules for Cancer Theranostics”
• Current Research Associate at H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC

 Ido Levy

• Mentors: Dr. Maria Tamargo & Dr. Lia Krusin-Elbaum (Subproject 1)
• Received PhD in October 2022
• Thesis: “Growth, Optimization, and Characterization of Topological Insulator Nanostructures by Molecular Beam Epitaxy”
• Current Postdoc at New York University with Prof. Javad Shabani

 Gabriel Lopez-Morales

• Mentors: Dr. Gustavo Lopez & Dr. Vinod Menon & Dr. Carlos Meriles (Subproject 3)
• Received PhD in October 2022
• Thesis: “Engineering rare-earth based color centers in wide bandgap semiconductors for quantum and nanoscale applications”
• Current Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Recipient at CCNY

 Shejla Pollozi

• Mentors: Dr. Donna McGregor & Dr. Gustavo Lopez (Subproject 2)
• Received PhD in October 2022
• Thesis: “Design and applications of fmoc-histidine and aspartic acid tripeptides as proton conductive materials”
• Current Senior Associate Consultant at Clarion

2021

 Nasim Farahmand

• Mentors: Dr. Stephen O’Brien & Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar (Subproject 2)
• Received PhD in October 2021
• Thesis: “Characterization and Applications of Europium Based Perovskite Oxide Nanoparticles”
• Current Research Scientist at L’Oreal

 Andrew Levine

• Mentors: Dr. Adam Braunschweig & Dr. Rein Ulijn
• Received PhD in April 2021
• Thesis: “Emergent Photophysics in Diketopyrrolopyrrole Superstructures”
• Current R&D Director at GrapheneCA

 Anthony Cruz-Balberdy

• Mentors: Dr. Gustavo Lopez & Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar (Subproject 3)
• Received PhD in April 2021
• Thesis: “Computational Modeling of Water and Proteins in Drug Discovery”
• Current Staff Scientist at Ventus Therapeutics

2020

 Robert Collison

• Mentors: Dr. Jacob Trevino & Dr. Stephen O’Brien (Subproject 2)
• Received PhD in October 2020
• Thesis: “Interactions of Organic Fluorophores with Plasmonic Surface Lattice Resonances”
• Current Post-Doc at University of California, Riverside with Prof. Luat Vuong and Prof. Richard Wilson

Kara Ng

• Mentors: Dr. Dorthe Eisele & Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar (Subproject 2)
• Received PhD in July 2020
• Thesis: “Excitons in Self-Assembled Hybrid Systems of Molecular Aggregate Light-Harvesting Nanotubes: Charge-Transfer Substrates and Solution-Stabilized Nanocomposites”
• Current Staff Scientist at Kinnos

2019

 Vasilios Deligiannakis

• Mentors: Dr. Maria Tamargo & Dr. Carlos Meriles (Subproject 1)
• Received PhD in December 2019
• Thesis: “II-VI Type-II Quantum Dot Superlattices for Novel Applications.”
• Current Technical Sales Manager at Riber Inc.

 Megan Webster

• Mentors: Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar & Dr. Marco Castaldi (Subproject 2)
• Received PhD in October 2019
• Thesis: “Investigation of the Synthesis and Optoelectronic Properties of Ultrasmall CdSe Quantum Dots.”
• Former NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship Recipient
• Former Post-Doc at City College of New York
• Current Process Engineer at Crane Aerospace and Electronics

 Cody Youmans

• Mentors: Dr. Pouyan Ghaemi & Dr. Kyungwha Park (Subproject 3)
• Received PhD in September 2019
• Thesis: “Interplay of Magnetism, Superconductivity, and Topological Phases of Matter.”
• Current Adjunct Lecturer at City College of New York

 Fred Pearsall

• Mentors: Dr. Stephen O’Brien & Dr. Jackie Li (Subproject 2)
• Received PhD in April 2019
• Thesis: “Synthesis and Characterization of Dielectric and Multiferrioc Nanocrystalline Transition Metal Oxide Materials and Nanocomposites.”
• Current Technical Product Marketing Specialist at Veeco

 Nick Proscia

• Mentors: Dr. Vinod Menon & Dr. Carlos Meriles (Subproject 1)
• Received PhD in February 2019
• Thesis: “Control of light-matter interactions via nanostructured photonic materials.”
• Former Post-Doc at City College of New York
• Former NRC Post-Doc at Naval Research Labs
• Current Research Physicist at Naval Research Labs

2018

 Jacob Henshaw

• Mentors: Dr. Carlos Meriles & Dr. Vinod Menon (Subproject 3)
• Received PhD in August 2018
• Thesis: “Charge State Dynamics and Quantum Sensing with Defects in Diamond.”
• Former NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Recipient
• Former Post-Doc at City College of New York
• Former Post-Doc at Sandia National Laboratories
• Current Senior Member of Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories

 Sean O’Neil

• Mentors: Dr. Raymond Tu (Subproject 2)
• Received PhD in June 2018
• Thesis: “Evolution of mechanical properties for stimuli-responsive peptide-PEG bioconjugates.”
• Former Post-Doc at City College of New York
• Current Research Scientist at Jansen Pharmaceuticals

 John Villanova

• Mentors: Dr. Kyungwha Park & Dr. Lia Krusin-Elbaum (Subproject 1)
• Received Phd in May 2018
• Thesis: “Examining Topological Insulators and Topological Semimetals Using First Principles Calculations.”
• Former Post-Doc at University of Arkansas in Dr. Salvador Barraza-Lopez’s group
• Current Post-Doc at Oak Ridge National Lab

Associated Doctoral Students

Serah Essang

• Mentor: Dr. Alexander Greer
• Received PhD in October 2025
• Thesis: “Mechanistic Studies of Aerobic Photochemistry: Gold Nanoclusters, Nanoparticles, and Solution-Phase Systems”

 Yamuna Paudel

• Mentor: Dr. Matthew Sfeir (Subproject 3)
• Received PhD in September 2024
• Thesis: “Design, Fabrication, and Spectroscopy of Photocatalytic Materials in Visible Spectrum
• Current Module Development Engineer at Intel

 Shihua Zhao

• Mentors: Dr. Pouyan Ghaemi & Dr. Jiadong Zang (Subproject 1)
• Received PhD in January 2023
• Thesis: “Revealing Three-Dimensional Magnetic Texture with Machine Learning Models”

 Hailin Richard Huang

• Mentors: Dr. Rein Ulijn & Dr. Stephen O’Brien (Subproject 2)
• Received PhD in June 2023
• Thesis: “Design and Synthesis of Surface-Functionalized Nanomaterials for Cancer Theranostics”
• Current Field Applications Scientist at RedshiftBio

 Haiming Deng

• Mentors: Dr. Lia Krusin-Elbaum & Dr. Kyungwha Park
• Received PhD June 2021
• Thesis: “Quantum Transport in Topological Magnets”
• Current Radiation Engineer at Millenium Space Systems, in California

Thor Axtmann Garcia

• Mentors: Dr. Maria Tamargo & Dr. Aidong Shen
• Received PhD September 2017
• Thesis: “Heterjunction Engineering for Next Generation Hybrid II-VI Materials”
• Currently Science teacher at Manhattan International High School, NY, NY