Doctoral Students

2024

Aran Barton

• Mentors: Dr. Maria Tamargo (Subproject 3)

Jonathan Victoria Camacho

• Mentor: Dr. Ubaldo Cordova (Subproject 2)

Daria Kafeeva

• Mentors: Dr. Alexander Khanikaev & Dr. Maria Tamargo (Subproject 3)

Bibi Khan

• Mentors: Dr. Nicolas Giovambattista & Dr. Gustavo Lopez (Subproject 2)

Britney Singh

• Mentors: Dr. Donna McGregor & Dr. Rein Ulijn (Subproject 2)

Karamoko Soumahoro

• Mentor: Dr. Matthew Sfeir (Subproject 3)

Wilmer Martinez Valle

• Mentor: Dr. Ubaldo Cordova (Subproject 2)

2023

Emily Charleson

• Mentors: Dr. Raymond Tu & Dr. Elizabeth Biddinger (Subproject 2)

Siedah Hall

• Mentor: Dr. Matthew Sfeir & Dr. Gabrielle Grosso (Subproject 3)

Rohma Khan

• Mentors: Dr. Carlos Meriles & Dr. Johannes Flick (Subproject 3)

Sina Mohammadi

• Mentors: Dr. Maria Tamargo & Dr. Mohammed-Ali Miri (Subproject 3)

Justin Pinca

• Mentors: Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar & Dr. Gustavo Lopez & Dr. Nicolas Giovambattista (Subproject 2)

Abdou Niang

• Mentors: Dr. Roger Dorsinville & Dr. Swapan Gayen (Subproject 3)

Patrick Yang

• Mentor: Dr. Stephen O'Brien & Dr. Sanjoy Banerjee (Subproject 2)

2022

Natalie Boykoff

• Mentors: Dr. Stephen O'Brien & Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar (Subproject 2)

Daniel Carter

• Mentors: Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar & Dr. Alexander Couzis (Subproject 2)

Paola Colon de Leon

• Mentors: Dr. Rein Ulijn & Dr. Raymond Tu (Subproject 2)

Mohammad Hassan

• Mentors: Dr. Johannes Flick & Dr. Carlos Meriles (Subproject 1)

Keidy Matos

• Mentors: Dr. Adam Braunschweig (Subproject 2)

Eric McPherson

• Mentors: Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar (Subproject 2)

2021

Serah Essang

• Mentors: Dr. Adam Braunschweig & Dr. Vinod Menon (Subproject 2)
• Withdrew from IDEALS Program and selected a new mentor within the CUNY Doctoral Program

Samhita Kattekola

• Mentors: Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar & Dr. Alex Couzis (Subproject 2)

Janel Rivera-Cancel

• Mentors: Dr. Gustavo Lopez & Dr. Nicolas Giovambattista (Subproject 2)

Gershon Starr

• Mentors: Dr. Ray Tu & Dr. Xi Chen (Subproject 2)

September 1, 2021: IDEALS II BEGINS

2020

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"

Nasim Farahmand

• Mentors: Dr. Stephen O'Brien & Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar (Subproject 2)
• Received PhD in September 2021
• Thesis: "Characterization and Applications of Europium Based Perovskite Oxide Nanoparticles"

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"

Baseemah Rucker

• Mentors: Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar & Dr. Alexander Couzis (Subproject 2)

2019

Candice Forrester

• Mentors: Dr. Gustavo Lopez & Dr. Maria Tamargo (Subproject 1)

Ahamed Jubair

• Mentors: Dr. Swapan Gayen & Dr. Maria Tamargo (Subproject 3)

Andrew Levine

• Mentors: Dr. Adam Braunschweig & Dr. Rein Ulijn (Subproject 2)
• Received PhD in April 2021
• Thesis: "Emergent Photophysics in Diketopyrrolopyrrole Superstructures"

Doug MacPherson

• Mentors: Dr. Rein Ulijn & Dr. Raymond Tu (Subproject 2)
• Received PhD in December 2022
• Thesis: "Leveraging Bio-Inspired Molecules for Cancer Theranostics"

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"

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"

2018

Vasilios Deligiannakis

• Mentors: Dr. Maria Tamargo & Dr. Carlos Meriles (Subproject 1)
• Received PhD in January 2020
• Thesis: "II-VI Type-II Quantum Dot Superlattices for Novel Applications"

Omari Kirkland

• Mentors: Dr. John Lombardi & Dr. Vinod Menon (Subproject 3)
• Received PhD in June 2023
• Thesis: "SERS for the Detection of Trace Materials"

Gabriel Lopez-Morales

• Mentors: Dr. Gustavo Lopez & Dr. Vinod Menon (Subproject 3)
• Received PhD in October 2022
• Thesis "Engineering rare-earth based color centers in wide bandgap semiconductors for quantum and nanoscale applications"

Samsondeen Raheem

• Mentors: Dr. Rein Uljin & Dr. Raymond Tu (Subproject 2)
• Withdrew from Chemistry Doctoral Program to join Pharmacy Doctoral Program

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"

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

2017

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."

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."

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."

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."

2016

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"

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"

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."

Megan Webster

• Mentors: Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar & Dr. Marco Castaldi (Subproject 2)
• Received PhD in September 2019
• Thesis: "Investigation of the Synthesis and Optoelectronic Properties of Ultrasmall CdSe Quantum Dots"

Associated Doctoral Students

Entela Buzi

• Mentor: Dr. Lia Krusin-Elbaum (Subproject 1)

Ayesha Lakra

• Mentor: Dr. Lia Krusin-Elbaum (Subproject 1)

Yamuna Paudel

• Mentor: Dr. Matthew Sfeir (Subproject 3)
• Received PhD in September 2024
• Thesis: "Design, Fabrication, and Spectroscopy of Photocatalytic Materials in Visible Spectrum"

Afrin Tamanna

• Mentor: Dr. Lia Krusin-Elbaum (Subproject 1)

Fariha Tasnim

• Mentor: Dr. Stephen O'Brien (Subproject 2)

September 1, 2021: IDEALS II BEGINS!

Haiming Deng

• Mentors: Dr. Lia Krusin-Elbaum & Dr. Kyunghwa Park (Subproject 1)
• Received PhD June 2021
• Thesis: "Quantum Transport in Topological Magnets"

Thor Axtmann Garcia

• Mentors: Dr. Maria Tamargo & Dr. Aidong Shen (Subproject 1)
• Received PhD September 2017
• Thesis: "Heterjunction Engineering for Next Generation Hybrid II-VI Materials"

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"

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"

Shihua Zhao

• Mentor: Dr. Lia Krusin-Elbaum (Subproject 1)
• Received PhD in January 2023
• Thesis: "Revealing Three-Dimensional Magnetic Texture with Machine Learning Models"

Postdocs

2023

Ali Eltareb - October 2023 to Present

• Giovambattista Lab (Subproject 2)
• Current NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Brooklyn College

Richard Monge - September 2023 to Present

• Meriles Lab (Subproject 3)
• Current MPS-Ascend Postdoctoral Research Fellow at City College of New York

Jisoo Moon - July 2023 to Present

• Krusin-Elbaum Lab (Subproject 1)
• Current Research Associate at City College of New York

2022

Gabriel Lopez-Morales - October 2022 to Present

• Flick Lab (Subproject 3)
• Current NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow at City College of New York

2021

Xiaxin Ding - October 2021 to August 2023

• Krusin-Elbaum Lab (Subproject 1)
• Former Research Associate at City College of New York
• Currently pursuing Master's in Data Science

Seda Kelestemur - December 2021 to Present

• Eisele Lab (Subproject 2)
• Current Research Associate at City College of New York

Piyali Maity - December 2021 to Present

• Eisele Lab (Subproject 2)
• Current Research Associate at City College of New York

September 1, 2021: IDEALS II BEGINS!

2020

Vasilios Deligiannakis - January 2020 to July 2021

• Tamargo Lab (Subproject 1)
• Former Research Associate at City College of New York
• Current Technical Sales Manager at Riber Inc.

Kaushini Wickramasinghe - December 2020 to Present

• Tamargo Lab (Subproject 1)
• Currently Research Associate at City College of New York

2019

Nick Proscia - September 2019 to April 2020

• Menon & Meriles Labs (Subproject 1)
• Current NRC Post-Doc at Naval Research Labs

Megan Webster - December 2019 to March 2020

• Kretzschmar Lab (Subproject 2)
• Current Process Engineer at Crane Aerospace and Electronics

2018

Jacob Henshaw - September 2018 to May 2019

• Menon Lab (Subproject 3)
• Currently Research Scientist at Sandia National Lab, Albuquerque, NM

Inna Korzhovska - May 2018 to August 2018

• Krusin-Elbaum Lab (Subproject 1)
• Currently Data Scientist at Amazon - Alexa Department, Seattle, WA

2017

Marcel Claro - October 2017 to June 2018

• Tamargo Lab (Subproject 1)
• Currently Research Scientist at International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL), Braga, Portugal

Thor Garcia - September 2017 to September 2018

• Tamargo Lab (Subproject 1)
• Currently Science teacher at Manhattan International High School, NY, NY

Chris Leishman - September 2017 to December 2017

• Eisele Lab (Subproject 2)
• Research Associate at CCNY from 2016 to 2019

2016

Zhiyi Chen

• Krusin-Elbaum Lab (Subproject 1)
• Currently Research Scientist at Intel Inc.

Jared Day

• Menon Lab (Subproject 1)
• Currently Co-Founder of Startup Company

Luis Hernandez-Mainet - Summer 2016, Summer 2017, and Summer 2019

• Tamargo Lab (Subproject 1)
• Currently an Adjunct Lecturer at Hostos Community College

Uladimir Kartazayeu - April 2016 to Present

• Gayen Lab (Subproject 3)
• Currently Research Associate at CCNY

Nikunjkumar Visaveliya - November 2016 to June 2020

• Eisele Lab (Subproject 2)
• Currently a Research Associate at CCNY

Kuaile Zhao - November 2016 to August 2020

• Tamargo Lab (Subproject 1) from 2018 - 2020
• Shen Lab (Subproject 1) from 2016 to 2018
• Current R&D Engineer

Masters Students

2023

Keith Cannon

• Mentor: Dr. Carlos Meriles (Subproject 1)

2017

Nicole E. Perez Salas

• Mentor: Dr. Ubaldo Cordova, Dr. Madeline Torres-Lugo & Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar (Subproject 2)
• Received Master's of Enginnering in Bioengineering, December 2021
• Currently works for Abbott Laboratories

2016

Sharmin Shaffique

• Mentor: Dr. Maria Tamargo (Subproject 1)
• Received Master's of Science in Chemistry, May 2017

Undergraduates Students

2024

Pieter Orlandini

• Mentor: Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar (Subproject 1)

Rahul Ramkisoon

• Mentor: Dr. Vinod Menon (Subproject 1)

Luna Silva Esquinas

• Mentor: Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar (Subproject 2)

2023

Segundo Chimborazo

• Mentor: Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar (Subproject 2)

Philip Colman

• Mentor: Dr. Stephen O'Brien (Subproject 2)

Andy Cruz

• Mentor: Dr. Vinod Menon (Subproject 1)

Amy Lopez

• Mentor: Dr. Maria Tamargo (Subproject 1)

Nidhi Noble

• Mentor: Dr. Maria Tamargo (Subproject 1)

Miguel Samuel

• Mentor: Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar (Subproject 2)

Luna Silva Esquinas

• Mentor: Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar (Subproject 2)

2022

Segundo Chimborazo

• Mentor: Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar (Subproject 2)

Philip Colman

• Mentor: Dr. Stephen O'Brien (Subproject 2)

Theodore Edwards

• Mentor: Dr. Vinod Menon (Subproject 1)

Amy Lopez

• Mentor: Dr. Maria Tamargo (Subproject 1)

2021

Segundo Chimborazo

• Mentor: Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar (Subproject 2)

Ramsha Malik

• Mentor: Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar (Subproject 2)

2020

Karisma McCoy

• Mentor: Dr. Dorthe Eisele (Subproject 2)

Phillipe Jean-Baptiste

• Mentor: Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar (Subproject 2)

Majharul Hoque

• Mentor: Dr. Milan Begliarbekov (Subproject 1)

2019

Rawan Aldasooky

• Mentor: Dr. Adam Braunschweig (Subproject 2)

Asmanda Espinosa

• Mentor: Dr. Swapan Gayen (Subproject 3)

Phillipe Jean-Baptiste

• Mentor: Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar (Subproject 2)

Majharul Hoque

• Mentor: Dr. Milan Begliarbekov (Subproject 1)

Karisma McCoy

• Mentor: Dr. Dorthe Eisele (Subproject 2)

Jaylene Salas

• Mentor: Dr. Maria Tamargo (Subproject 1)

2018

Steve Alsheimer

• Mentor: Dr. Maria Tamargo (Subproject 1)
• Received Bachelor of Science Degree in Physics, May 2018

Calvin Forde

• Mentor: Dr. John Lombardi (Subproject 3)

Candice Forrester

• Mentor: Dr. Maria Tamargo (Subproject 1)
• Received Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology, May 2018

Carlos Frias

• Mentor: Dr. John Lombardi (Subproject 3)

Kristi Pepa

• Mentor: Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar (Subproject 2)
• Received Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Chemical Engineering, May 2018

2017

Steve Alsheimer

• Mentor: Dr. Maria Tamargo (Subproject 1)

Calvin Forde

• Mentor: Dr. John Lombardi (Subproject 3)

Candice Forrester

• Mentor: Dr. Maria Tamargo (Subproject 1)

Kristi Pepa

• Mentor: Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar (Subproject 2)

2016

Candice Forrester

• Mentor: Dr. Maria Tamargo (Subproject 1)

Kristi Pepa

• Mentor: Dr. Ilona Kretzschmar (Subproject 2)

Graduated

Fellows Doctoral Students

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

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