POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS
Dr. Satya Rama Krishna Boddu
hf5820@wayne.edu
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (with Prof. M. L. N. Rao)
Project: Phenanthroline-Catalyzed Stereoselective Glycosylation
Dr. Nur-E Alom
hn3691@wayne.edu
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Toledo (Dr. Wei Li)
Project: Stereoselective Glycosylation
Dr. Kartikey Singh
hn6567@wayne.edu
Ph.D. in Medicinal and Organic Synthesis, Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow (Dr. Ramapati Tripathi)
Post-Doc. Bacterial Glycan Synthesis, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai (Prof. Survan S. Kulkarni)
Project: HS-mimicking Glycopolymer for Heparanase inhibition and Tauopathy
Dr. Jayanta Ghorai
jghorai@wayne.edu
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (with P. Anbarasan)
Project: Vaccine adjuvant
Dr. Chun-Xiao Li
lichunxiao1990@wayne.edu
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Nanjing University
Project: Phenanthroline-Catalyzed Glycosylation
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Madhawee Ketipe Arachchi (Fall 2018)
madhaweekat@wayne.edu
B.S. in Chemistry, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, 2017
Project: Stereoselective Synthesis of beta-Fluoroamines
Sachini Rodrigo (Fall 2018, co-advising with Prof. Long Luo)
sachini@wayne.edu
B.S. in Chemistry, University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Project: Electrochemical Organic Synthesis
Connor English (Fall 2019)
connorenglish@wayne.edu
B.A. in Chemistry and Biochemistry, Oberlin College, 2017
Project: Electrochemical Organic Synthesis
Fuad Usman (Fall 2019)
gp5070@wayne.edu
M.S. in Chemistry, Obafemi Awolowo University, 2017
Project: Transition Metal Catalyzed Allylic Fluorination
Joseph Wakpal (Fall 2019)
gw5947@wayne.edu
B.S. in Chemistry, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, 2018
Project: HS Mimetics as Heparanase Inhibitors
Hawau Abdulsalam (Fall 2020)
abdulsalamhawau@wayne.edu
B.S. in Chemistry and Biology, Minnesota State University Moorhead, 2018
Project: HS Mimetics as Heparanase Inhibitors
Teresa Wolak (Fall 2020, co-advising with Prof. Christine Chow)
gg4435@wayne.edu
B.S. in Biochemistry and Chemical Biology, Wayne State University, 2019
Project: Oncocin
Joseph Lange (Fall 2021)
JdLange@wayne.edu
B.S. in Chemistry, University of Michigan at Flint, 2021
Project: Catalytic Asymmetric Fluorination
Suendues Noori (August 2022)
snoori@wayne.edu
B.S. and M.S. in Chemistry, University of Windsor, 2022
Project: Protonated Phenanthroline-Catalyzed Glycosylation
Leila Almounajed (Fall 2022)
leilaa@wayne.edu
B.S. in Chemistry, University of Michigan at Flint
Project: Saponin Vaccine Adjuvants
Felix Chukwu (Fall 2022)
chukwu.felix@wayne.edu
B.S. in Chemistry, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University
Project: Catalytic Asymmetric Reactions
Michael Hotor (Fall 2022)
mhotor@wayne.edu
B.S. in Chemistry, Kwame Nkrumah University
Project: Development of Heparanase and SARS-CoV-2 Inhibitors
Livia Phillip (Fall 2022)
gm9939@wayne.edu
B.S. in Chemistry, Wayne State University
Project: Development of Heparanase Inhibitors
April Tapayan (Fall 2022)
aprilsweettapayan@wayne.edu
B.S. in Chemistry, Mindao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology
Project: Alzheimer’s Disease Project
Rollanda Tella (Fall 2023)
rollandatella@wayne.edu
B.S. in Chemistry, University of Lagos, 2018
Project: Transition Metal Catalyzed Allylic Fluorination
Tony Faraj (Fall 2023)
hp8919@wayne.edu
B.S. in Biochemistry and Mathematics, Eastern Michigan University, 2022
Project: Cis Pt-Arg complex project
Dylan Yost-Slinker (Fall 2023)
dyost@wayne.edu
B.S. in Chemistry, University of California Merced, 2023
Project: FGF2 Project
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
(1) Cyrus Alan-Lee
FORMER GROUP MEMBERS
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS AND VISITING SCIENTISTS/STUDENTS
(1) Jaemoon Zhang (2006 – 2007)
Ph.D. at University of Pittsburg (with C. Wilcox)
Current Position: Cambridge Isotope Lab, Andover, MA
(2) Gregory Mercer (2006 – 2008)
Ph.D. at University of Utah (with M. Sigman)
Current Position: Senior Scientist at Corden Pharmaceutical, Woburn, MA
(3) Joe Topczewski (2011 – 2012)
Ph.D. at University of Iowa, 2011 (with D. Wiemer)
Postdoctoral at University of Michigan, 2015 (with M. Sanford)
Current Position: Assistant Professor at University of Minnesota
(4) Russel Pesavento (Visiting Scientist, 2012 – 2016)
Ph.D. at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (with W. van der Donk)
Postdoctoral at Harvard University (with R. Holm)
Current Position: Clinical Assistant Professor at University of Illinois at Chicago
(5) Benjamin Ayela (04/2018 – 01/2019)
Ph.D. at Institut de Chimie Organique et Analytique (ICOA), Orléans (France).
(6) Swati Nigudkar (04/2018-03/2019)
Ph.D. at University of Missouri (with Alexei Demchenko)
(7) Fei Yu (2010-2019)
Ph.D. at Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (with S. Ma)
Current Position: Process Chemist at Ash Stevens
(8) Chanchamnan Um (2019-2020)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, SUNY Buffalo (with S. Chemler)
Current Position: Professor of Chemistry in Cambodia
(9) Huy Van Le (2019-2020)
Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical/Medicinal Science, Kyushu University (with Miyamoto)
Current Position: Professor of Chemistry at Nong Lam University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
(10) San-Yong Zhu (2018-2020)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, SiChuan University in China (with J. Yang)
Current Position: Associate Professor at ChongQing Medical University, China
(11) Ravi Loka (2012-2021)
Ph.D. in Chemical Biology, University of Alberta (with C. Cairo)
Current Position: Senior Research Scientist, Complex Carbohydrate Center at UGA
(12) Hengfu Xu (2019-2022)
Ph.D. in Chemical Biology, Northwest A & F University (with Z. Pei)
Current Position: Senior Scientist, ASYMCHEM in China
13) Richard Schaugaard (2019-2022)
Ph.D. in Chemistry, Indiana University (with Krishnan)
Current Position: Assistant Professor at Sam Houston State University
GRADUATE STUDENTS
(1) Enoch Mensah (2006 – 2011, five publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2011
Postdoc at University of Michigan, 2013 (with P. Nagorny)
Current Position: Associate Professor at Indiana University Southeast
(2) Matthew McKay (2008 – 2013, five publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2013
Current Position: Senior Patent Agent, Cabot Microelectronics, Chicago, IL
(3) Jeffrey S. Arnold (2008 – 2014, seven publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2014
Current Position: Associate Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Navidea Biopharmaceuticals
(4) Matthew McConnell (2010 – 2015, five publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2015
Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Current Position: Scientist, Obiter Research, LLC, Champaign, IL
(5) Qi Zhang (2010 – 2016, four publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2016
Postdoctoral Fellow at Washington University in St. Louis
Current Position: Senior Scientist, WuXi Shanghai
(6) Edo Mwenda (2012-2017, two publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2017
Current Position: Technology Specialist at Viksnins Harris Padys Malen, Minneapolis, MN
(7) Eric Sletten (2013-2018, eight publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2018
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar at Max Plank with Peter Seeberger
(8) Jason Mixdorf (2015-2019, six publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2019
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar at University of Wisconsin with Brad Christian
(9) Alexandre Sorlin (2015-2020, four publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2020
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar at UCSF with David Wilson
(10) Paul DeMent (08/2017 – 12/2021, 2 publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2021
Current Position: Postdoc at NIH with Victor Pike
(11) Jiayi Li (08/2017 – 07/2022, 6 publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2022
Current Position: Postdoc at MIT with Alison Wendlandt
(12) Brandon Schuff (2006 – 2007, one publication)
M.S. in Chemistry, Montana Sate University, 2007
Current Position: Pfizer, Groton, Connecticut
(12) Alexander Suihkonen (2010 – 2012)
M.S. in Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2012
Current Position: 3M, Minneapolis
(13) Patrick Ndungu (2010 – 2013)
M.S. in Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2013
(14) Greg Jenson (2016-2018)
M.S. in Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2018
(15) Reza Samarbakhsh (2019 – 2020)
M.A. Chemistry, Wayne State University
Current Position: Pharmaceutical Science Graduate Student, WSU College of Pharmacy
(16) Chenlu Liu (2019 – 2021)
M.A. in Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2021
Current Position: Computer Science Graduate Student, Northeastern University
(17) Nuwan Kondasinghe (2019 – 2022)
M.A. in Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2022
(18) James Willey (2011 – 2013, Medical Student)
MD, University of Iowa, 2016
Internal Medicine Resident, University of Iowa, 2016-2019.
Current Position: Associate of Internal, Department of Internal Medicine University of Iowa
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
(1) Nathan Park
Montana State University, B.S. in Chemistry and Environment Sciences, 2009
2011 NSF Pre-doctoral Fellow
2009-2011 – Graduate Student at Sloan Kettering Center (with D. Gin)
2011-2005 – Graduate Student at MIT (with S. Buchwald)
Current Position: Research Scientist at IBM in San Jose, CA
(2) Joseph Azzarelli
Montana State University, B.S. in Chemistry, 2010
2008 MIT Amgen Scholar (with S. Buchwald)
2009 Barry Goldwater Fellowship
2009 ACS SURF Fellow at Stanford (with B. Trost)
2011 – Rhodes Scholar Finalist
2011- 2016 – Graduate Student at MIT (with T. Swager)
(3) Benjamin Naab
Montana State University, B.S. in Chemistry, 2010
2009 Barry Goldwater Fellowship
2009 MIT Amgen Scholar (Declined)
2010 NSF Pre-doctoral Fellow
2010-2005 – Graduate Student at Stanford (with Z. Bao)
Current Position: Senior Scientist at Dow Chemical Company, Boston, MA
(4) Mellie Park (2010 REU Student)
Montana State University, B.S. in Biochemistry, 2010
2012-present – Graduate Student at University of Utah
(5) Gregory Cizio
University of Iowa, B.S. in Chemistry, 2012
2012 – 2014 – Graduate Student at UC-Irvine (with V. Dong)
Current Position: Research Scientist, Gilead, CA
(6) Nate Oldenhuis
University of Iowa, B. S. in Chemistry, 2012
2012 – 2017 – Graduate Student at UC-Irvine (with V. Dong)
2017 – present – NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT with Johnson
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Chemistry, University of New Hampshire
(7) Drew Heitz
University of Iowa, B. S. in Chemistry, 2013
2012 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry SURF Fellow
2013 – present – Graduate Student at University of Pennsylvania (with Gary Molander)
(8) Kathleen White
University of Iowa, B. S. in Chemistry and Biochemistry, 2013
2009 – 2013 University of Iowa Presidential Scholar
2012 MIT Amgen Scholar (with T. Swager)
2013 NSF Predoctoral Fellow
2013 – 2019 – Graduate Student at MIT (with Tim Swager)
(9) Riley Svec
University of Iowa, B.S. in Chemistry, 2015
2014 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry SURF Fellow
2015 – 2020: Graduate Student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (with Paul Hergenrother)
(10) Michael Vinyard
University of Iowa, B.A. in Chemistry, 2016
2012 NASA Scholar
2013 University of Illinois Snyder Scholar
2015 Big Ten Academic Scholarship
2016 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Undergraduate Award
(11) Alexis Ho (2022 Summer Student)
Current: Sophomore at Sam Houston State University
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
(1) Cyrus Alan-Lee
FORMER GROUP MEMBERS
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS AND VISITING SCIENTISTS/STUDENTS
(1) Jaemoon Zhang (2006 – 2007)
Ph.D. at University of Pittsburg (with C. Wilcox)
Current Position: Cambridge Isotope Lab, Andover, MA
(2) Gregory Mercer (2006 – 2008)
Ph.D. at University of Utah (with M. Sigman)
Current Position: Senior Scientist at Corden Pharmaceutical, Woburn, MA
(3) Joe Topczewski (2011 – 2012)
Ph.D. at University of Iowa, 2011 (with D. Wiemer)
Postdoctoral at University of Michigan, 2015 (with M. Sanford)
Current Position: Assistant Professor at University of Minnesota
(4) Russel Pesavento (Visiting Scientist, 2012 – 2016)
Ph.D. at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (with W. van der Donk)
Postdoctoral at Harvard University (with R. Holm)
Current Position: Clinical Assistant Professor at University of Illinois at Chicago
(5) Benjamin Ayela (04/2018 – 01/2019)
Ph.D. at Institut de Chimie Organique et Analytique (ICOA), Orléans (France).
(6) Swati Nigudkar (04/2018-03/2019)
Ph.D. at University of Missouri (with Alexei Demchenko)
(7) Fei Yu (2010-2019)
Ph.D. at Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (with S. Ma)
Current Position: Process Chemist at Ash Stevens
(8) Chanchamnan Um (2019-2020)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, SUNY Buffalo (with S. Chemler)
Current Position: Professor of Chemistry in Cambodia
(9) Huy Van Le (2019-2020)
Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical/Medicinal Science, Kyushu University (with Miyamoto)
Current Position: Professor of Chemistry at Nong Lam University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
(10) San-Yong Zhu (2018-2020)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, SiChuan University in China (with J. Yang)
Current Position: Associate Professor at ChongQing Medical University, China
(11) Ravi Loka (2012-2021)
Ph.D. in Chemical Biology, University of Alberta (with C. Cairo)
Current Position: Senior Research Scientist, Complex Carbohydrate Center at UGA
(12) Hengfu Xu (2019-2022)
Ph.D. in Chemical Biology, Northwest A & F University (with Z. Pei)
Current Position: Senior Scientist, ASYMCHEM in China
13) Richard Schaugaard (2019-2022)
Ph.D. in Chemistry, Indiana University (with Krishnan)
Current Position: Assistant Professor at Sam Houston State University
GRADUATE STUDENTS
(1) Enoch Mensah (2006 – 2011, five publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2011
Postdoc at University of Michigan, 2013 (with P. Nagorny)
Current Position: Associate Professor at Indiana University Southeast
(2) Matthew McKay (2008 – 2013, five publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2013
Current Position: Senior Patent Agent, Cabot Microelectronics, Chicago, IL
(3) Jeffrey S. Arnold (2008 – 2014, seven publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2014
Current Position: Associate Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Navidea Biopharmaceuticals
(4) Matthew McConnell (2010 – 2015, five publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2015
Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Current Position: Scientist, Obiter Research, LLC, Champaign, IL
(5) Qi Zhang (2010 – 2016, four publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2016
Postdoctoral Fellow at Washington University in St. Louis
Current Position: Senior Scientist, WuXi Shanghai
(6) Edo Mwenda (2012-2017, two publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2017
Current Position: Technology Specialist at Viksnins Harris Padys Malen, Minneapolis, MN
(7) Eric Sletten (2013-2018, eight publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2018
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar at Max Plank with Peter Seeberger
(8) Jason Mixdorf (2015-2019, six publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2019
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar at University of Wisconsin with Brad Christian
(9) Alexandre Sorlin (2015-2020, four publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2020
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar at UCSF with David Wilson
(10) Paul DeMent (08/2017 – 12/2021, 2 publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2021
Current Position: Postdoc at NIH with Victor Pike
(11) Jiayi Li (08/2017 – 07/2022, 6 publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2022
Current Position: Postdoc at MIT with Alison Wendlandt
(12) Brandon Schuff (2006 – 2007, one publication)
M.S. in Chemistry, Montana Sate University, 2007
Current Position: Pfizer, Groton, Connecticut
(12) Alexander Suihkonen (2010 – 2012)
M.S. in Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2012
Current Position: 3M, Minneapolis
(13) Patrick Ndungu (2010 – 2013)
M.S. in Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2013
(14) Greg Jenson (2016-2018)
M.S. in Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2018
(15) Reza Samarbakhsh (2019 – 2020)
M.A. Chemistry, Wayne State University
Current Position: Pharmaceutical Science Graduate Student, WSU College of Pharmacy
(16) Chenlu Liu (2019 – 2021)
M.A. in Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2021
Current Position: Computer Science Graduate Student, Northeastern University
(17) Nuwan Kondasinghe (2019 – 2022)
M.A. in Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2022
(18) James Willey (2011 – 2013, Medical Student)
MD, University of Iowa, 2016
Internal Medicine Resident, University of Iowa, 2016-2019.
Current Position: Associate of Internal, Department of Internal Medicine University of Iowa
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
(1) Nathan Park
Montana State University, B.S. in Chemistry and Environment Sciences, 2009
2011 NSF Pre-doctoral Fellow
2009-2011 – Graduate Student at Sloan Kettering Center (with D. Gin)
2011-2005 – Graduate Student at MIT (with S. Buchwald)
Current Position: Research Scientist at IBM in San Jose, CA
(2) Joseph Azzarelli
Montana State University, B.S. in Chemistry, 2010
2008 MIT Amgen Scholar (with S. Buchwald)
2009 Barry Goldwater Fellowship
2009 ACS SURF Fellow at Stanford (with B. Trost)
2011 – Rhodes Scholar Finalist
2011- 2016 – Graduate Student at MIT (with T. Swager)
(3) Benjamin Naab
Montana State University, B.S. in Chemistry, 2010
2009 Barry Goldwater Fellowship
2009 MIT Amgen Scholar (Declined)
2010 NSF Pre-doctoral Fellow
2010-2005 – Graduate Student at Stanford (with Z. Bao)
Current Position: Senior Scientist at Dow Chemical Company, Boston, MA
(4) Mellie Park (2010 REU Student)
Montana State University, B.S. in Biochemistry, 2010
2012-present – Graduate Student at University of Utah
(5) Gregory Cizio
University of Iowa, B.S. in Chemistry, 2012
2012 – 2014 – Graduate Student at UC-Irvine (with V. Dong)
Current Position: Research Scientist, Gilead, CA
(6) Nate Oldenhuis
University of Iowa, B. S. in Chemistry, 2012
2012 – 2017 – Graduate Student at UC-Irvine (with V. Dong)
2017 – present – NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT with Johnson
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Chemistry, University of New Hampshire
(7) Drew Heitz
University of Iowa, B. S. in Chemistry, 2013
2012 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry SURF Fellow
2013 – present – Graduate Student at University of Pennsylvania (with Gary Molander)
(8) Kathleen White
University of Iowa, B. S. in Chemistry and Biochemistry, 2013
2009 – 2013 University of Iowa Presidential Scholar
2012 MIT Amgen Scholar (with T. Swager)
2013 NSF Predoctoral Fellow
2013 – 2019 – Graduate Student at MIT (with Tim Swager)
(9) Riley Svec
University of Iowa, B.S. in Chemistry, 2015
2014 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry SURF Fellow
2015 – 2020: Graduate Student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (with Paul Hergenrother)
(10) Michael Vinyard
University of Iowa, B.A. in Chemistry, 2016
2012 NASA Scholar
2013 University of Illinois Snyder Scholar
2015 Big Ten Academic Scholarship
2016 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Undergraduate Award
(11) Alexis Ho (2022 Summer Student)
Current: Sophomore at Sam Houston State University
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
(1) Cyrus Alan-Lee
FORMER GROUP MEMBERS
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS AND VISITING SCIENTISTS/STUDENTS
(1) Jaemoon Zhang (2006 – 2007)
Ph.D. at University of Pittsburg (with C. Wilcox)
Current Position: Cambridge Isotope Lab, Andover, MA
(2) Gregory Mercer (2006 – 2008)
Ph.D. at University of Utah (with M. Sigman)
Current Position: Senior Scientist at Corden Pharmaceutical, Woburn, MA
(3) Joe Topczewski (2011 – 2012)
Ph.D. at University of Iowa, 2011 (with D. Wiemer)
Postdoctoral at University of Michigan, 2015 (with M. Sanford)
Current Position: Assistant Professor at University of Minnesota
(4) Russel Pesavento (Visiting Scientist, 2012 – 2016)
Ph.D. at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (with W. van der Donk)
Postdoctoral at Harvard University (with R. Holm)
Current Position: Clinical Assistant Professor at University of Illinois at Chicago
(5) Benjamin Ayela (04/2018 – 01/2019)
Ph.D. at Institut de Chimie Organique et Analytique (ICOA), Orléans (France).
(6) Swati Nigudkar (04/2018-03/2019)
Ph.D. at University of Missouri (with Alexei Demchenko)
(7) Fei Yu (2010-2019)
Ph.D. at Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (with S. Ma)
Current Position: Process Chemist at Ash Stevens
(8) Chanchamnan Um (2019-2020)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, SUNY Buffalo (with S. Chemler)
Current Position: Professor of Chemistry in Cambodia
(9) Huy Van Le (2019-2020)
Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical/Medicinal Science, Kyushu University (with Miyamoto)
Current Position: Professor of Chemistry at Nong Lam University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
(10) San-Yong Zhu (2018-2020)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, SiChuan University in China (with J. Yang)
Current Position: Associate Professor at ChongQing Medical University, China
(11) Ravi Loka (2012-2021)
Ph.D. in Chemical Biology, University of Alberta (with C. Cairo)
Current Position: Senior Research Scientist, Complex Carbohydrate Center at UGA
(12) Hengfu Xu (2019-2022)
Ph.D. in Chemical Biology, Northwest A & F University (with Z. Pei)
Current Position: Senior Scientist, ASYMCHEM in China
13) Richard Schaugaard (2019-2022)
Ph.D. in Chemistry, Indiana University (with Krishnan)
Current Position: Assistant Professor at Sam Houston State University
GRADUATE STUDENTS
(1) Enoch Mensah (2006 – 2011, five publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2011
Postdoc at University of Michigan, 2013 (with P. Nagorny)
Current Position: Associate Professor at Indiana University Southeast
(2) Matthew McKay (2008 – 2013, five publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2013
Current Position: Senior Patent Agent, Cabot Microelectronics, Chicago, IL
(3) Jeffrey S. Arnold (2008 – 2014, seven publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2014
Current Position: Associate Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Navidea Biopharmaceuticals
(4) Matthew McConnell (2010 – 2015, five publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2015
Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Current Position: Scientist, Obiter Research, LLC, Champaign, IL
(5) Qi Zhang (2010 – 2016, four publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2016
Postdoctoral Fellow at Washington University in St. Louis
Current Position: Senior Scientist, WuXi Shanghai
(6) Edo Mwenda (2012-2017, two publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2017
Current Position: Technology Specialist at Viksnins Harris Padys Malen, Minneapolis, MN
(7) Eric Sletten (2013-2018, eight publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2018
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar at Max Plank with Peter Seeberger
(8) Jason Mixdorf (2015-2019, six publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2019
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar at University of Wisconsin with Brad Christian
(9) Alexandre Sorlin (2015-2020, four publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2020
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar at UCSF with David Wilson
(10) Paul DeMent (08/2017 – 12/2021, 2 publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2021
Current Position: Postdoc at NIH with Victor Pike
(11) Jiayi Li (08/2017 – 07/2022, 6 publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2022
Current Position: Postdoc at MIT with Alison Wendlandt
(12) Brandon Schuff (2006 – 2007, one publication)
M.S. in Chemistry, Montana Sate University, 2007
Current Position: Pfizer, Groton, Connecticut
(12) Alexander Suihkonen (2010 – 2012)
M.S. in Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2012
Current Position: 3M, Minneapolis
(13) Patrick Ndungu (2010 – 2013)
M.S. in Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2013
(14) Greg Jenson (2016-2018)
M.S. in Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2018
(15) Reza Samarbakhsh (2019 – 2020)
M.A. Chemistry, Wayne State University
Current Position: Pharmaceutical Science Graduate Student, WSU College of Pharmacy
(16) Chenlu Liu (2019 – 2021)
M.A. in Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2021
Current Position: Computer Science Graduate Student, Northeastern University
(17) Nuwan Kondasinghe (2019 – 2022)
M.A. in Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2022
(18) James Willey (2011 – 2013, Medical Student)
MD, University of Iowa, 2016
Internal Medicine Resident, University of Iowa, 2016-2019.
Current Position: Associate of Internal, Department of Internal Medicine University of Iowa
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
(1) Nathan Park
Montana State University, B.S. in Chemistry and Environment Sciences, 2009
2011 NSF Pre-doctoral Fellow
2009-2011 – Graduate Student at Sloan Kettering Center (with D. Gin)
2011-2005 – Graduate Student at MIT (with S. Buchwald)
Current Position: Research Scientist at IBM in San Jose, CA
(2) Joseph Azzarelli
Montana State University, B.S. in Chemistry, 2010
2008 MIT Amgen Scholar (with S. Buchwald)
2009 Barry Goldwater Fellowship
2009 ACS SURF Fellow at Stanford (with B. Trost)
2011 – Rhodes Scholar Finalist
2011- 2016 – Graduate Student at MIT (with T. Swager)
(3) Benjamin Naab
Montana State University, B.S. in Chemistry, 2010
2009 Barry Goldwater Fellowship
2009 MIT Amgen Scholar (Declined)
2010 NSF Pre-doctoral Fellow
2010-2005 – Graduate Student at Stanford (with Z. Bao)
Current Position: Senior Scientist at Dow Chemical Company, Boston, MA
(4) Mellie Park (2010 REU Student)
Montana State University, B.S. in Biochemistry, 2010
2012-present – Graduate Student at University of Utah
(5) Gregory Cizio
University of Iowa, B.S. in Chemistry, 2012
2012 – 2014 – Graduate Student at UC-Irvine (with V. Dong)
Current Position: Research Scientist, Gilead, CA
(6) Nate Oldenhuis
University of Iowa, B. S. in Chemistry, 2012
2012 – 2017 – Graduate Student at UC-Irvine (with V. Dong)
2017 – present – NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT with Johnson
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Chemistry, University of New Hampshire
(7) Drew Heitz
University of Iowa, B. S. in Chemistry, 2013
2012 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry SURF Fellow
2013 – present – Graduate Student at University of Pennsylvania (with Gary Molander)
(8) Kathleen White
University of Iowa, B. S. in Chemistry and Biochemistry, 2013
2009 – 2013 University of Iowa Presidential Scholar
2012 MIT Amgen Scholar (with T. Swager)
2013 NSF Predoctoral Fellow
2013 – 2019 – Graduate Student at MIT (with Tim Swager)
(9) Riley Svec
University of Iowa, B.S. in Chemistry, 2015
2014 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry SURF Fellow
2015 – 2020: Graduate Student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (with Paul Hergenrother)
(10) Michael Vinyard
University of Iowa, B.A. in Chemistry, 2016
2012 NASA Scholar
2013 University of Illinois Snyder Scholar
2015 Big Ten Academic Scholarship
2016 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Undergraduate Award
(11) Alexis Ho (2022 Summer Student)
Current: Sophomore at Sam Houston State University
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
(1) Cyrus Alan-Lee
FORMER GROUP MEMBERS
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS AND VISITING SCIENTISTS/STUDENTS
(1) Jaemoon Zhang (2006 – 2007)
Ph.D. at University of Pittsburg (with C. Wilcox)
Current Position: Cambridge Isotope Lab, Andover, MA
(2) Gregory Mercer (2006 – 2008)
Ph.D. at University of Utah (with M. Sigman)
Current Position: Senior Scientist at Corden Pharmaceutical, Woburn, MA
(3) Joe Topczewski (2011 – 2012)
Ph.D. at University of Iowa, 2011 (with D. Wiemer)
Postdoctoral at University of Michigan, 2015 (with M. Sanford)
Current Position: Assistant Professor at University of Minnesota
(4) Russel Pesavento (Visiting Scientist, 2012 – 2016)
Ph.D. at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (with W. van der Donk)
Postdoctoral at Harvard University (with R. Holm)
Current Position: Clinical Assistant Professor at University of Illinois at Chicago
(5) Benjamin Ayela (04/2018 – 01/2019)
Ph.D. at Institut de Chimie Organique et Analytique (ICOA), Orléans (France).
(6) Swati Nigudkar (04/2018-03/2019)
Ph.D. at University of Missouri (with Alexei Demchenko)
(7) Fei Yu (2010-2019)
Ph.D. at Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (with S. Ma)
Current Position: Process Chemist at Ash Stevens
(8) Chanchamnan Um (2019-2020)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, SUNY Buffalo (with S. Chemler)
Current Position: Professor of Chemistry in Cambodia
(9) Huy Van Le (2019-2020)
Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical/Medicinal Science, Kyushu University (with Miyamoto)
Current Position: Professor of Chemistry at Nong Lam University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
(10) San-Yong Zhu (2018-2020)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, SiChuan University in China (with J. Yang)
Current Position: Associate Professor at ChongQing Medical University, China
(11) Ravi Loka (2012-2021)
Ph.D. in Chemical Biology, University of Alberta (with C. Cairo)
Current Position: Senior Research Scientist, Complex Carbohydrate Center at UGA
(12) Hengfu Xu (2019-2022)
Ph.D. in Chemical Biology, Northwest A & F University (with Z. Pei)
Current Position: Senior Scientist, ASYMCHEM in China
13) Richard Schaugaard (2019-2022)
Ph.D. in Chemistry, Indiana University (with Krishnan)
Current Position: Assistant Professor at Sam Houston State University
GRADUATE STUDENTS
(1) Enoch Mensah (2006 – 2011, five publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2011
Postdoc at University of Michigan, 2013 (with P. Nagorny)
Current Position: Associate Professor at Indiana University Southeast
(2) Matthew McKay (2008 – 2013, five publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2013
Current Position: Senior Patent Agent, Cabot Microelectronics, Chicago, IL
(3) Jeffrey S. Arnold (2008 – 2014, seven publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2014
Current Position: Associate Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Navidea Biopharmaceuticals
(4) Matthew McConnell (2010 – 2015, five publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2015
Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Current Position: Scientist, Obiter Research, LLC, Champaign, IL
(5) Qi Zhang (2010 – 2016, four publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2016
Postdoctoral Fellow at Washington University in St. Louis
Current Position: Senior Scientist, WuXi Shanghai
(6) Edo Mwenda (2012-2017, two publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2017
Current Position: Technology Specialist at Viksnins Harris Padys Malen, Minneapolis, MN
(7) Eric Sletten (2013-2018, eight publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2018
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar at Max Plank with Peter Seeberger
(8) Jason Mixdorf (2015-2019, six publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2019
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar at University of Wisconsin with Brad Christian
(9) Alexandre Sorlin (2015-2020, four publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2020
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar at UCSF with David Wilson
(10) Paul DeMent (08/2017 – 12/2021, 2 publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2021
Current Position: Postdoc at NIH with Victor Pike
(11) Jiayi Li (08/2017 – 07/2022, 6 publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2022
Current Position: Postdoc at MIT with Alison Wendlandt
(12) Brandon Schuff (2006 – 2007, one publication)
M.S. in Chemistry, Montana Sate University, 2007
Current Position: Pfizer, Groton, Connecticut
(12) Alexander Suihkonen (2010 – 2012)
M.S. in Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2012
Current Position: 3M, Minneapolis
(13) Patrick Ndungu (2010 – 2013)
M.S. in Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2013
(14) Greg Jenson (2016-2018)
M.S. in Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2018
(15) Reza Samarbakhsh (2019 – 2020)
M.A. Chemistry, Wayne State University
Current Position: Pharmaceutical Science Graduate Student, WSU College of Pharmacy
(16) Chenlu Liu (2019 – 2021)
M.A. in Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2021
Current Position: Computer Science Graduate Student, Northeastern University
(17) Nuwan Kondasinghe (2019 – 2022)
M.A. in Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2022
(18) James Willey (2011 – 2013, Medical Student)
MD, University of Iowa, 2016
Internal Medicine Resident, University of Iowa, 2016-2019.
Current Position: Associate of Internal, Department of Internal Medicine University of Iowa
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
(1) Nathan Park
Montana State University, B.S. in Chemistry and Environment Sciences, 2009
2011 NSF Pre-doctoral Fellow
2009-2011 – Graduate Student at Sloan Kettering Center (with D. Gin)
2011-2005 – Graduate Student at MIT (with S. Buchwald)
Current Position: Research Scientist at IBM in San Jose, CA
(2) Joseph Azzarelli
Montana State University, B.S. in Chemistry, 2010
2008 MIT Amgen Scholar (with S. Buchwald)
2009 Barry Goldwater Fellowship
2009 ACS SURF Fellow at Stanford (with B. Trost)
2011 – Rhodes Scholar Finalist
2011- 2016 – Graduate Student at MIT (with T. Swager)
(3) Benjamin Naab
Montana State University, B.S. in Chemistry, 2010
2009 Barry Goldwater Fellowship
2009 MIT Amgen Scholar (Declined)
2010 NSF Pre-doctoral Fellow
2010-2005 – Graduate Student at Stanford (with Z. Bao)
Current Position: Senior Scientist at Dow Chemical Company, Boston, MA
(4) Mellie Park (2010 REU Student)
Montana State University, B.S. in Biochemistry, 2010
2012-present – Graduate Student at University of Utah
(5) Gregory Cizio
University of Iowa, B.S. in Chemistry, 2012
2012 – 2014 – Graduate Student at UC-Irvine (with V. Dong)
Current Position: Research Scientist, Gilead, CA
(6) Nate Oldenhuis
University of Iowa, B. S. in Chemistry, 2012
2012 – 2017 – Graduate Student at UC-Irvine (with V. Dong)
2017 – present – NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT with Johnson
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Chemistry, University of New Hampshire
(7) Drew Heitz
University of Iowa, B. S. in Chemistry, 2013
2012 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry SURF Fellow
2013 – present – Graduate Student at University of Pennsylvania (with Gary Molander)
(8) Kathleen White
University of Iowa, B. S. in Chemistry and Biochemistry, 2013
2009 – 2013 University of Iowa Presidential Scholar
2012 MIT Amgen Scholar (with T. Swager)
2013 NSF Predoctoral Fellow
2013 – 2019 – Graduate Student at MIT (with Tim Swager)
(9) Riley Svec
University of Iowa, B.S. in Chemistry, 2015
2014 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry SURF Fellow
2015 – 2020: Graduate Student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (with Paul Hergenrother)
(10) Michael Vinyard
University of Iowa, B.A. in Chemistry, 2016
2012 NASA Scholar
2013 University of Illinois Snyder Scholar
2015 Big Ten Academic Scholarship
2016 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Undergraduate Award
(11) Alexis Ho (2022 Summer Student)
Current: Sophomore at Sam Houston State University
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
(1) Cyrus Alan-Lee
FORMER GROUP MEMBERS
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS AND VISITING SCIENTISTS/STUDENTS
(1) Jaemoon Zhang (2006 – 2007)
Ph.D. at University of Pittsburg (with C. Wilcox)
Current Position: Cambridge Isotope Lab, Andover, MA
(2) Gregory Mercer (2006 – 2008)
Ph.D. at University of Utah (with M. Sigman)
Current Position: Senior Scientist at Corden Pharmaceutical, Woburn, MA
(3) Joe Topczewski (2011 – 2012)
Ph.D. at University of Iowa, 2011 (with D. Wiemer)
Postdoctoral at University of Michigan, 2015 (with M. Sanford)
Current Position: Assistant Professor at University of Minnesota
(4) Russel Pesavento (Visiting Scientist, 2012 – 2016)
Ph.D. at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (with W. van der Donk)
Postdoctoral at Harvard University (with R. Holm)
Current Position: Clinical Assistant Professor at University of Illinois at Chicago
(5) Benjamin Ayela (04/2018 – 01/2019)
Ph.D. at Institut de Chimie Organique et Analytique (ICOA), Orléans (France).
(6) Swati Nigudkar (04/2018-03/2019)
Ph.D. at University of Missouri (with Alexei Demchenko)
(7) Fei Yu (2010-2019)
Ph.D. at Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (with S. Ma)
Current Position: Process Chemist at Ash Stevens
(8) Chanchamnan Um (2019-2020)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, SUNY Buffalo (with S. Chemler)
Current Position: Professor of Chemistry in Cambodia
(9) Huy Van Le (2019-2020)
Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical/Medicinal Science, Kyushu University (with Miyamoto)
Current Position: Professor of Chemistry at Nong Lam University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
(10) San-Yong Zhu (2018-2020)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, SiChuan University in China (with J. Yang)
Current Position: Associate Professor at ChongQing Medical University, China
(11) Ravi Loka (2012-2021)
Ph.D. in Chemical Biology, University of Alberta (with C. Cairo)
Current Position: Senior Research Scientist, Complex Carbohydrate Center at UGA
(12) Hengfu Xu (2019-2022)
Ph.D. in Chemical Biology, Northwest A & F University (with Z. Pei)
Current Position: Senior Scientist, ASYMCHEM in China
13) Richard Schaugaard (2019-2022)
Ph.D. in Chemistry, Indiana University (with Krishnan)
Current Position: Assistant Professor at Sam Houston State University
GRADUATE STUDENTS
(1) Enoch Mensah (2006 – 2011, five publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2011
Postdoc at University of Michigan, 2013 (with P. Nagorny)
Current Position: Associate Professor at Indiana University Southeast
(2) Matthew McKay (2008 – 2013, five publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2013
Current Position: Senior Patent Agent, Cabot Microelectronics, Chicago, IL
(3) Jeffrey S. Arnold (2008 – 2014, seven publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2014
Current Position: Associate Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Navidea Biopharmaceuticals
(4) Matthew McConnell (2010 – 2015, five publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2015
Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Current Position: Scientist, Obiter Research, LLC, Champaign, IL
(5) Qi Zhang (2010 – 2016, four publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2016
Postdoctoral Fellow at Washington University in St. Louis
Current Position: Senior Scientist, WuXi Shanghai
(6) Edo Mwenda (2012-2017, two publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2017
Current Position: Technology Specialist at Viksnins Harris Padys Malen, Minneapolis, MN
(7) Eric Sletten (2013-2018, eight publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2018
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar at Max Plank with Peter Seeberger
(8) Jason Mixdorf (2015-2019, six publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2019
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar at University of Wisconsin with Brad Christian
(9) Alexandre Sorlin (2015-2020, four publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2020
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar at UCSF with David Wilson
(10) Paul DeMent (08/2017 – 12/2021, 2 publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2021
Current Position: Postdoc at NIH with Victor Pike
(11) Jiayi Li (08/2017 – 07/2022, 6 publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2022
Current Position: Postdoc at MIT with Alison Wendlandt
(12) Brandon Schuff (2006 – 2007, one publication)
M.S. in Chemistry, Montana Sate University, 2007
Current Position: Pfizer, Groton, Connecticut
(12) Alexander Suihkonen (2010 – 2012)
M.S. in Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2012
Current Position: 3M, Minneapolis
(13) Patrick Ndungu (2010 – 2013)
M.S. in Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2013
(14) Greg Jenson (2016-2018)
M.S. in Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2018
(15) Reza Samarbakhsh (2019 – 2020)
M.A. Chemistry, Wayne State University
Current Position: Pharmaceutical Science Graduate Student, WSU College of Pharmacy
(16) Chenlu Liu (2019 – 2021)
M.A. in Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2021
Current Position: Computer Science Graduate Student, Northeastern University
(17) Nuwan Kondasinghe (2019 – 2022)
M.A. in Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2022
(18) James Willey (2011 – 2013, Medical Student)
MD, University of Iowa, 2016
Internal Medicine Resident, University of Iowa, 2016-2019.
Current Position: Associate of Internal, Department of Internal Medicine University of Iowa
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
(1) Nathan Park
Montana State University, B.S. in Chemistry and Environment Sciences, 2009
2011 NSF Pre-doctoral Fellow
2009-2011 – Graduate Student at Sloan Kettering Center (with D. Gin)
2011-2005 – Graduate Student at MIT (with S. Buchwald)
Current Position: Research Scientist at IBM in San Jose, CA
(2) Joseph Azzarelli
Montana State University, B.S. in Chemistry, 2010
2008 MIT Amgen Scholar (with S. Buchwald)
2009 Barry Goldwater Fellowship
2009 ACS SURF Fellow at Stanford (with B. Trost)
2011 – Rhodes Scholar Finalist
2011- 2016 – Graduate Student at MIT (with T. Swager)
(3) Benjamin Naab
Montana State University, B.S. in Chemistry, 2010
2009 Barry Goldwater Fellowship
2009 MIT Amgen Scholar (Declined)
2010 NSF Pre-doctoral Fellow
2010-2005 – Graduate Student at Stanford (with Z. Bao)
Current Position: Senior Scientist at Dow Chemical Company, Boston, MA
(4) Mellie Park (2010 REU Student)
Montana State University, B.S. in Biochemistry, 2010
2012-present – Graduate Student at University of Utah
(5) Gregory Cizio
University of Iowa, B.S. in Chemistry, 2012
2012 – 2014 – Graduate Student at UC-Irvine (with V. Dong)
Current Position: Research Scientist, Gilead, CA
(6) Nate Oldenhuis
University of Iowa, B. S. in Chemistry, 2012
2012 – 2017 – Graduate Student at UC-Irvine (with V. Dong)
2017 – present – NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT with Johnson
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Chemistry, University of New Hampshire
(7) Drew Heitz
University of Iowa, B. S. in Chemistry, 2013
2012 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry SURF Fellow
2013 – present – Graduate Student at University of Pennsylvania (with Gary Molander)
(8) Kathleen White
University of Iowa, B. S. in Chemistry and Biochemistry, 2013
2009 – 2013 University of Iowa Presidential Scholar
2012 MIT Amgen Scholar (with T. Swager)
2013 NSF Predoctoral Fellow
2013 – 2019 – Graduate Student at MIT (with Tim Swager)
(9) Riley Svec
University of Iowa, B.S. in Chemistry, 2015
2014 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry SURF Fellow
2015 – 2020: Graduate Student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (with Paul Hergenrother)
(10) Michael Vinyard
University of Iowa, B.A. in Chemistry, 2016
2012 NASA Scholar
2013 University of Illinois Snyder Scholar
2015 Big Ten Academic Scholarship
2016 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Undergraduate Award
(11) Alexis Ho (2022 Summer Student)
Current: Sophomore at Sam Houston State University
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
(1) Cyrus Alan-Lee
FORMER GROUP MEMBERS
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS AND VISITING SCIENTISTS/STUDENTS
(1) Jaemoon Zhang (2006 – 2007)
Ph.D. at University of Pittsburg (with C. Wilcox)
Current Position: Cambridge Isotope Lab, Andover, MA
(2) Gregory Mercer (2006 – 2008)
Ph.D. at University of Utah (with M. Sigman)
Current Position: Senior Scientist at Corden Pharmaceutical, Woburn, MA
(3) Joe Topczewski (2011 – 2012)
Ph.D. at University of Iowa, 2011 (with D. Wiemer)
Postdoctoral at University of Michigan, 2015 (with M. Sanford)
Current Position: Assistant Professor at University of Minnesota
(4) Russel Pesavento (Visiting Scientist, 2012 – 2016)
Ph.D. at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (with W. van der Donk)
Postdoctoral at Harvard University (with R. Holm)
Current Position: Clinical Assistant Professor at University of Illinois at Chicago
(5) Benjamin Ayela (04/2018 – 01/2019)
Ph.D. at Institut de Chimie Organique et Analytique (ICOA), Orléans (France).
(6) Swati Nigudkar (04/2018-03/2019)
Ph.D. at University of Missouri (with Alexei Demchenko)
(7) Fei Yu (2010-2019)
Ph.D. at Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (with S. Ma)
Current Position: Process Chemist at Ash Stevens
(8) Chanchamnan Um (2019-2020)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, SUNY Buffalo (with S. Chemler)
Current Position: Professor of Chemistry in Cambodia
(9) Huy Van Le (2019-2020)
Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical/Medicinal Science, Kyushu University (with Miyamoto)
Current Position: Professor of Chemistry at Nong Lam University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
(10) San-Yong Zhu (2018-2020)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, SiChuan University in China (with J. Yang)
Current Position: Associate Professor at ChongQing Medical University, China
(11) Ravi Loka (2012-2021)
Ph.D. in Chemical Biology, University of Alberta (with C. Cairo)
Current Position: Senior Research Scientist, Complex Carbohydrate Center at UGA
(12) Hengfu Xu (2019-2022)
Ph.D. in Chemical Biology, Northwest A & F University (with Z. Pei)
Current Position: Senior Scientist, ASYMCHEM in China
13) Richard Schaugaard (2019-2022)
Ph.D. in Chemistry, Indiana University (with Krishnan)
Current Position: Assistant Professor at Sam Houston State University
GRADUATE STUDENTS
(1) Enoch Mensah (2006 – 2011, five publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2011
Postdoc at University of Michigan, 2013 (with P. Nagorny)
Current Position: Associate Professor at Indiana University Southeast
(2) Matthew McKay (2008 – 2013, five publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2013
Current Position: Senior Patent Agent, Cabot Microelectronics, Chicago, IL
(3) Jeffrey S. Arnold (2008 – 2014, seven publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2014
Current Position: Associate Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Navidea Biopharmaceuticals
(4) Matthew McConnell (2010 – 2015, five publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2015
Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Current Position: Scientist, Obiter Research, LLC, Champaign, IL
(5) Qi Zhang (2010 – 2016, four publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2016
Postdoctoral Fellow at Washington University in St. Louis
Current Position: Senior Scientist, WuXi Shanghai
(6) Edo Mwenda (2012-2017, two publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2017
Current Position: Technology Specialist at Viksnins Harris Padys Malen, Minneapolis, MN
(7) Eric Sletten (2013-2018, eight publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2018
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar at Max Plank with Peter Seeberger
(8) Jason Mixdorf (2015-2019, six publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2019
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar at University of Wisconsin with Brad Christian
(9) Alexandre Sorlin (2015-2020, four publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2020
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar at UCSF with David Wilson
(10) Paul DeMent (08/2017 – 12/2021, 2 publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2021
Current Position: Postdoc at NIH with Victor Pike
(11) Jiayi Li (08/2017 – 07/2022, 6 publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2022
Current Position: Postdoc at MIT with Alison Wendlandt
(12) Brandon Schuff (2006 – 2007, one publication)
M.S. in Chemistry, Montana Sate University, 2007
Current Position: Pfizer, Groton, Connecticut
(12) Alexander Suihkonen (2010 – 2012)
M.S. in Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2012
Current Position: 3M, Minneapolis
(13) Patrick Ndungu (2010 – 2013)
M.S. in Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2013
(14) Greg Jenson (2016-2018)
M.S. in Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2018
(15) Reza Samarbakhsh (2019 – 2020)
M.A. Chemistry, Wayne State University
Current Position: Pharmaceutical Science Graduate Student, WSU College of Pharmacy
(16) Chenlu Liu (2019 – 2021)
M.A. in Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2021
Current Position: Computer Science Graduate Student, Northeastern University
(17) Nuwan Kondasinghe (2019 – 2022)
M.A. in Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2022
(18) James Willey (2011 – 2013, Medical Student)
MD, University of Iowa, 2016
Internal Medicine Resident, University of Iowa, 2016-2019.
Current Position: Associate of Internal, Department of Internal Medicine University of Iowa
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
(1) Nathan Park
Montana State University, B.S. in Chemistry and Environment Sciences, 2009
2011 NSF Pre-doctoral Fellow
2009-2011 – Graduate Student at Sloan Kettering Center (with D. Gin)
2011-2005 – Graduate Student at MIT (with S. Buchwald)
Current Position: Research Scientist at IBM in San Jose, CA
(2) Joseph Azzarelli
Montana State University, B.S. in Chemistry, 2010
2008 MIT Amgen Scholar (with S. Buchwald)
2009 Barry Goldwater Fellowship
2009 ACS SURF Fellow at Stanford (with B. Trost)
2011 – Rhodes Scholar Finalist
2011- 2016 – Graduate Student at MIT (with T. Swager)
(3) Benjamin Naab
Montana State University, B.S. in Chemistry, 2010
2009 Barry Goldwater Fellowship
2009 MIT Amgen Scholar (Declined)
2010 NSF Pre-doctoral Fellow
2010-2005 – Graduate Student at Stanford (with Z. Bao)
Current Position: Senior Scientist at Dow Chemical Company, Boston, MA
(4) Mellie Park (2010 REU Student)
Montana State University, B.S. in Biochemistry, 2010
2012-present – Graduate Student at University of Utah
(5) Gregory Cizio
University of Iowa, B.S. in Chemistry, 2012
2012 – 2014 – Graduate Student at UC-Irvine (with V. Dong)
Current Position: Research Scientist, Gilead, CA
(6) Nate Oldenhuis
University of Iowa, B. S. in Chemistry, 2012
2012 – 2017 – Graduate Student at UC-Irvine (with V. Dong)
2017 – present – NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT with Johnson
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Chemistry, University of New Hampshire
(7) Drew Heitz
University of Iowa, B. S. in Chemistry, 2013
2012 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry SURF Fellow
2013 – present – Graduate Student at University of Pennsylvania (with Gary Molander)
(8) Kathleen White
University of Iowa, B. S. in Chemistry and Biochemistry, 2013
2009 – 2013 University of Iowa Presidential Scholar
2012 MIT Amgen Scholar (with T. Swager)
2013 NSF Predoctoral Fellow
2013 – 2019 – Graduate Student at MIT (with Tim Swager)
(9) Riley Svec
University of Iowa, B.S. in Chemistry, 2015
2014 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry SURF Fellow
2015 – 2020: Graduate Student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (with Paul Hergenrother)
(10) Michael Vinyard
University of Iowa, B.A. in Chemistry, 2016
2012 NASA Scholar
2013 University of Illinois Snyder Scholar
2015 Big Ten Academic Scholarship
2016 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Undergraduate Award
(11) Alexis Ho (2022 Summer Student)
Current: Sophomore at Sam Houston State University
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
(1) Cyrus Alan-Lee
FORMER GROUP MEMBERS
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS AND VISITING SCIENTISTS/STUDENTS
(1) Jaemoon Zhang (2006 – 2007)
Ph.D. at University of Pittsburg (with C. Wilcox)
Current Position: Cambridge Isotope Lab, Andover, MA
(2) Gregory Mercer (2006 – 2008)
Ph.D. at University of Utah (with M. Sigman)
Current Position: Senior Scientist at Corden Pharmaceutical, Woburn, MA
(3) Joe Topczewski (2011 – 2012)
Ph.D. at University of Iowa, 2011 (with D. Wiemer)
Postdoctoral at University of Michigan, 2015 (with M. Sanford)
Current Position: Assistant Professor at University of Minnesota
(4) Russel Pesavento (Visiting Scientist, 2012 – 2016)
Ph.D. at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (with W. van der Donk)
Postdoctoral at Harvard University (with R. Holm)
Current Position: Clinical Assistant Professor at University of Illinois at Chicago
(5) Benjamin Ayela (04/2018 – 01/2019)
Ph.D. at Institut de Chimie Organique et Analytique (ICOA), Orléans (France).
(6) Swati Nigudkar (04/2018-03/2019)
Ph.D. at University of Missouri (with Alexei Demchenko)
(7) Fei Yu (2010-2019)
Ph.D. at Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (with S. Ma)
Current Position: Process Chemist at Ash Stevens
(8) Chanchamnan Um (2019-2020)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, SUNY Buffalo (with S. Chemler)
Current Position: Professor of Chemistry in Cambodia
(9) Huy Van Le (2019-2020)
Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical/Medicinal Science, Kyushu University (with Miyamoto)
Current Position: Professor of Chemistry at Nong Lam University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
(10) San-Yong Zhu (2018-2020)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, SiChuan University in China (with J. Yang)
Current Position: Associate Professor at ChongQing Medical University, China
(11) Ravi Loka (2012-2021)
Ph.D. in Chemical Biology, University of Alberta (with C. Cairo)
Current Position: Senior Research Scientist, Complex Carbohydrate Center at UGA
(12) Hengfu Xu (2019-2022)
Ph.D. in Chemical Biology, Northwest A & F University (with Z. Pei)
Current Position: Senior Scientist, ASYMCHEM in China
13) Richard Schaugaard (2019-2022)
Ph.D. in Chemistry, Indiana University (with Krishnan)
Current Position: Assistant Professor at Sam Houston State University
GRADUATE STUDENTS
(1) Enoch Mensah (2006 – 2011, five publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2011
Postdoc at University of Michigan, 2013 (with P. Nagorny)
Current Position: Associate Professor at Indiana University Southeast
(2) Matthew McKay (2008 – 2013, five publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2013
Current Position: Senior Patent Agent, Cabot Microelectronics, Chicago, IL
(3) Jeffrey S. Arnold (2008 – 2014, seven publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2014
Current Position: Associate Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Navidea Biopharmaceuticals
(4) Matthew McConnell (2010 – 2015, five publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2015
Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Current Position: Scientist, Obiter Research, LLC, Champaign, IL
(5) Qi Zhang (2010 – 2016, four publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2016
Postdoctoral Fellow at Washington University in St. Louis
Current Position: Senior Scientist, WuXi Shanghai
(6) Edo Mwenda (2012-2017, two publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2017
Current Position: Technology Specialist at Viksnins Harris Padys Malen, Minneapolis, MN
(7) Eric Sletten (2013-2018, eight publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2018
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar at Max Plank with Peter Seeberger
(8) Jason Mixdorf (2015-2019, six publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2019
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar at University of Wisconsin with Brad Christian
(9) Alexandre Sorlin (2015-2020, four publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2020
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar at UCSF with David Wilson
(10) Paul DeMent (08/2017 – 12/2021, 2 publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2021
Current Position: Postdoc at NIH with Victor Pike
(11) Jiayi Li (08/2017 – 07/2022, 6 publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2022
Current Position: Postdoc at MIT with Alison Wendlandt
(12) Brandon Schuff (2006 – 2007, one publication)
M.S. in Chemistry, Montana Sate University, 2007
Current Position: Pfizer, Groton, Connecticut
(12) Alexander Suihkonen (2010 – 2012)
M.S. in Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2012
Current Position: 3M, Minneapolis
(13) Patrick Ndungu (2010 – 2013)
M.S. in Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2013
(14) Greg Jenson (2016-2018)
M.S. in Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2018
(15) Reza Samarbakhsh (2019 – 2020)
M.A. Chemistry, Wayne State University
Current Position: Pharmaceutical Science Graduate Student, WSU College of Pharmacy
(16) Chenlu Liu (2019 – 2021)
M.A. in Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2021
Current Position: Computer Science Graduate Student, Northeastern University
(17) Nuwan Kondasinghe (2019 – 2022)
M.A. in Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2022
(18) James Willey (2011 – 2013, Medical Student)
MD, University of Iowa, 2016
Internal Medicine Resident, University of Iowa, 2016-2019.
Current Position: Associate of Internal, Department of Internal Medicine University of Iowa
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
(1) Nathan Park
Montana State University, B.S. in Chemistry and Environment Sciences, 2009
2011 NSF Pre-doctoral Fellow
2009-2011 – Graduate Student at Sloan Kettering Center (with D. Gin)
2011-2005 – Graduate Student at MIT (with S. Buchwald)
Current Position: Research Scientist at IBM in San Jose, CA
(2) Joseph Azzarelli
Montana State University, B.S. in Chemistry, 2010
2008 MIT Amgen Scholar (with S. Buchwald)
2009 Barry Goldwater Fellowship
2009 ACS SURF Fellow at Stanford (with B. Trost)
2011 – Rhodes Scholar Finalist
2011- 2016 – Graduate Student at MIT (with T. Swager)
(3) Benjamin Naab
Montana State University, B.S. in Chemistry, 2010
2009 Barry Goldwater Fellowship
2009 MIT Amgen Scholar (Declined)
2010 NSF Pre-doctoral Fellow
2010-2005 – Graduate Student at Stanford (with Z. Bao)
Current Position: Senior Scientist at Dow Chemical Company, Boston, MA
(4) Mellie Park (2010 REU Student)
Montana State University, B.S. in Biochemistry, 2010
2012-present – Graduate Student at University of Utah
(5) Gregory Cizio
University of Iowa, B.S. in Chemistry, 2012
2012 – 2014 – Graduate Student at UC-Irvine (with V. Dong)
Current Position: Research Scientist, Gilead, CA
(6) Nate Oldenhuis
University of Iowa, B. S. in Chemistry, 2012
2012 – 2017 – Graduate Student at UC-Irvine (with V. Dong)
2017 – present – NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT with Johnson
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Chemistry, University of New Hampshire
(7) Drew Heitz
University of Iowa, B. S. in Chemistry, 2013
2012 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry SURF Fellow
2013 – present – Graduate Student at University of Pennsylvania (with Gary Molander)
(8) Kathleen White
University of Iowa, B. S. in Chemistry and Biochemistry, 2013
2009 – 2013 University of Iowa Presidential Scholar
2012 MIT Amgen Scholar (with T. Swager)
2013 NSF Predoctoral Fellow
2013 – 2019 – Graduate Student at MIT (with Tim Swager)
(9) Riley Svec
University of Iowa, B.S. in Chemistry, 2015
2014 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry SURF Fellow
2015 – 2020: Graduate Student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (with Paul Hergenrother)
(10) Michael Vinyard
University of Iowa, B.A. in Chemistry, 2016
2012 NASA Scholar
2013 University of Illinois Snyder Scholar
2015 Big Ten Academic Scholarship
2016 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Undergraduate Award
(11) Alexis Ho (2022 Summer Student)
Current: Sophomore at Sam Houston State University
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
(1) Cyrus Alan-Lee
FORMER GROUP MEMBERS
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS AND VISITING SCIENTISTS/STUDENTS
(1) Jaemoon Zhang (2006 – 2007)
Ph.D. at University of Pittsburg (with C. Wilcox)
Current Position: Cambridge Isotope Lab, Andover, MA
(2) Gregory Mercer (2006 – 2008)
Ph.D. at University of Utah (with M. Sigman)
Current Position: Senior Scientist at Corden Pharmaceutical, Woburn, MA
(3) Joe Topczewski (2011 – 2012)
Ph.D. at University of Iowa, 2011 (with D. Wiemer)
Postdoctoral at University of Michigan, 2015 (with M. Sanford)
Current Position: Assistant Professor at University of Minnesota
(4) Russel Pesavento (Visiting Scientist, 2012 – 2016)
Ph.D. at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (with W. van der Donk)
Postdoctoral at Harvard University (with R. Holm)
Current Position: Clinical Assistant Professor at University of Illinois at Chicago
(5) Benjamin Ayela (04/2018 – 01/2019)
Ph.D. at Institut de Chimie Organique et Analytique (ICOA), Orléans (France).
(6) Swati Nigudkar (04/2018-03/2019)
Ph.D. at University of Missouri (with Alexei Demchenko)
(7) Fei Yu (2010-2019)
Ph.D. at Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (with S. Ma)
Current Position: Process Chemist at Ash Stevens
(8) Chanchamnan Um (2019-2020)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, SUNY Buffalo (with S. Chemler)
Current Position: Professor of Chemistry in Cambodia
(9) Huy Van Le (2019-2020)
Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical/Medicinal Science, Kyushu University (with Miyamoto)
Current Position: Professor of Chemistry at Nong Lam University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
(10) San-Yong Zhu (2018-2020)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, SiChuan University in China (with J. Yang)
Current Position: Associate Professor at ChongQing Medical University, China
(11) Ravi Loka (2012-2021)
Ph.D. in Chemical Biology, University of Alberta (with C. Cairo)
Current Position: Senior Research Scientist, Complex Carbohydrate Center at UGA
(12) Hengfu Xu (2019-2022)
Ph.D. in Chemical Biology, Northwest A & F University (with Z. Pei)
Current Position: Senior Scientist, ASYMCHEM in China
13) Richard Schaugaard (2019-2022)
Ph.D. in Chemistry, Indiana University (with Krishnan)
Current Position: Assistant Professor at Sam Houston State University
GRADUATE STUDENTS
(1) Enoch Mensah (2006 – 2011, five publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2011
Postdoc at University of Michigan, 2013 (with P. Nagorny)
Current Position: Associate Professor at Indiana University Southeast
(2) Matthew McKay (2008 – 2013, five publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2013
Current Position: Senior Patent Agent, Cabot Microelectronics, Chicago, IL
(3) Jeffrey S. Arnold (2008 – 2014, seven publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2014
Current Position: Associate Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Navidea Biopharmaceuticals
(4) Matthew McConnell (2010 – 2015, five publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2015
Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Current Position: Scientist, Obiter Research, LLC, Champaign, IL
(5) Qi Zhang (2010 – 2016, four publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2016
Postdoctoral Fellow at Washington University in St. Louis
Current Position: Senior Scientist, WuXi Shanghai
(6) Edo Mwenda (2012-2017, two publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2017
Current Position: Technology Specialist at Viksnins Harris Padys Malen, Minneapolis, MN
(7) Eric Sletten (2013-2018, eight publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2018
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar at Max Plank with Peter Seeberger
(8) Jason Mixdorf (2015-2019, six publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2019
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar at University of Wisconsin with Brad Christian
(9) Alexandre Sorlin (2015-2020, four publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2020
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar at UCSF with David Wilson
(10) Paul DeMent (08/2017 – 12/2021, 2 publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2021
Current Position: Postdoc at NIH with Victor Pike
(11) Jiayi Li (08/2017 – 07/2022, 6 publications)
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2022
Current Position: Postdoc at MIT with Alison Wendlandt
(12) Brandon Schuff (2006 – 2007, one publication)
M.S. in Chemistry, Montana Sate University, 2007
Current Position: Pfizer, Groton, Connecticut
(12) Alexander Suihkonen (2010 – 2012)
M.S. in Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2012
Current Position: 3M, Minneapolis
(13) Patrick Ndungu (2010 – 2013)
M.S. in Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2013
(14) Greg Jenson (2016-2018)
M.S. in Chemistry, University of Iowa, 2018
(15) Reza Samarbakhsh (2019 – 2020)
M.A. Chemistry, Wayne State University
Current Position: Pharmaceutical Science Graduate Student, WSU College of Pharmacy
(16) Chenlu Liu (2019 – 2021)
M.A. in Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2021
Current Position: Computer Science Graduate Student, Northeastern University
(17) Nuwan Kondasinghe (2019 – 2022)
M.A. in Chemistry, Wayne State University, 2022
(18) James Willey (2011 – 2013, Medical Student)
MD, University of Iowa, 2016
Internal Medicine Resident, University of Iowa, 2016-2019.
Current Position: Associate of Internal, Department of Internal Medicine University of Iowa
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
(1) Nathan Park
Montana State University, B.S. in Chemistry and Environment Sciences, 2009
2011 NSF Pre-doctoral Fellow
2009-2011 – Graduate Student at Sloan Kettering Center (with D. Gin)
2011-2005 – Graduate Student at MIT (with S. Buchwald)
Current Position: Research Scientist at IBM in San Jose, CA
(2) Joseph Azzarelli
Montana State University, B.S. in Chemistry, 2010
2008 MIT Amgen Scholar (with S. Buchwald)
2009 Barry Goldwater Fellowship
2009 ACS SURF Fellow at Stanford (with B. Trost)
2011 – Rhodes Scholar Finalist
2011- 2016 – Graduate Student at MIT (with T. Swager)
(3) Benjamin Naab
Montana State University, B.S. in Chemistry, 2010
2009 Barry Goldwater Fellowship
2009 MIT Amgen Scholar (Declined)
2010 NSF Pre-doctoral Fellow
2010-2005 – Graduate Student at Stanford (with Z. Bao)
Current Position: Senior Scientist at Dow Chemical Company, Boston, MA
(4) Mellie Park (2010 REU Student)
Montana State University, B.S. in Biochemistry, 2010
2012-present – Graduate Student at University of Utah
(5) Gregory Cizio
University of Iowa, B.S. in Chemistry, 2012
2012 – 2014 – Graduate Student at UC-Irvine (with V. Dong)
Current Position: Research Scientist, Gilead, CA
(6) Nate Oldenhuis
University of Iowa, B. S. in Chemistry, 2012
2012 – 2017 – Graduate Student at UC-Irvine (with V. Dong)
2017 – present – NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT with Johnson
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Chemistry, University of New Hampshire
(7) Drew Heitz
University of Iowa, B. S. in Chemistry, 2013
2012 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry SURF Fellow
2013 – present – Graduate Student at University of Pennsylvania (with Gary Molander)
(8) Kathleen White
University of Iowa, B. S. in Chemistry and Biochemistry, 2013
2009 – 2013 University of Iowa Presidential Scholar
2012 MIT Amgen Scholar (with T. Swager)
2013 NSF Predoctoral Fellow
2013 – 2019 – Graduate Student at MIT (with Tim Swager)
(9) Riley Svec
University of Iowa, B.S. in Chemistry, 2015
2014 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry SURF Fellow
2015 – 2020: Graduate Student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (with Paul Hergenrother)
(10) Michael Vinyard
University of Iowa, B.A. in Chemistry, 2016
2012 NASA Scholar
2013 University of Illinois Snyder Scholar
2015 Big Ten Academic Scholarship
2016 ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Undergraduate Award
(11) Alexis Ho (2022 Summer Student)
Current: Sophomore at Sam Houston State University