Past Summer Research Projects

Broene Group:

• Candice Ballarin '25: "Using Cyclic Carbenes As Catalysts in an Olefin Dimerization"
• Katie Rea '25: "Photochemical Impacts on Cobalt Catalysis in Linear Alpha Olefin Production"
• Liam Roehr '25: "Optimizing the Synthesis of Cyclopentadienylcobalt Diethene"
• Meredith Stetter '23

Dube Group:

• Katharine Barrett '23: "Investigating the Role of Helicobacter pylori Glycan Biosynthesis in Evading Host Immune Cell Recognition"
• Aniqa Chowdhury '26: "Screening Small Molecule Glycosylation Inhibitors and Assessing Their Impact on Glycoprotein Biosynthesis and Bacterial Fitness"
• Will Surks '24: "Investigating the impact of Helicobacter pylori glycans on immune recognition and response"
• Foje-Geh Tendoh '24: "Investigation of Bacterial Glycans and Glycan Transporters using Novel Sugar Probes"
• Bryant Ung '24: "Metabolic Labeling of glycans on common gut bacteria"

Gorske Group:

• Geoffrey Atulo '24: "Investigation of the catalytic competency of imidazolium N-oxides at the N-termini of peptoid turn catalysts for trifluoromethylation of carbonyls"
• Kristen Kinzler '25: "Addition of Hydrogen Bonding Groups to Peptoid Catalysts to Increase Enantioselectivity"
• Devin O'Loughlin '24: "Investigating the Impact of Electron-Withdrawing Side Chains on Trifluoroacetic Acid Degradation of N-Acylated Peptoids"
• Claire Stoddard '25: "Investigating the Effects of Ring-containing-sidechains on Peptoid Conformation"
• Karin van Hassel '24: "Electronic Interactions with Thionated Peptoid Side Chains for Polyproline Type II Helix Mimicry"

Lutz Group:

• Lily Clifford '26
• Dana Zhao '26

Ortoll-Bloch Group:

• Morgan Adams '24: "Using Thin-Film Polymeric Surfaces for Aspirin Polymorph Control"
• Gabriel Bloom-O'Sullivan '25: "Characterizing Cobalt Hydroxide Carbonate Crystallization Pathways on Functionalized Surfaces"
• Brendan Hill '25: "Molecular Additives for Polymorph Control of Paracetamol Crystallization"
• Isabelle Lee '25: "Exploring the Non-Classical Crystallization Pathways of Cobalt Hydroxide Carbonate"

Takematsu Group:

• Jack Callahan '23: "Moving Multiple Charges with Light in Derivatized Naphthlene Photoacids"
• Zelia Egan '25: "Diprotic Excited State Proton Transfer in Ionic Liquids"
• Monty Mero '25: "Excited State Proton Transfer within 2-Naphtol Triplet Excited State"
• Rachel Nealon '23: "Moving Multiple Charges with Light in Derivatized Naphthlene Photoacids"
• Sebastian Perez '25: "Bridging Photoacides to photobases using Schiff-base design"
• Ibrahim Saleh '23: "Bridging Photoacides to photobases using Schiff-base design"

Tate Group:

• Miles Bartlett '26: "Bimetallic Catalyst Project"
• Jotham Casey '25: "Synthesizing Bimetallic Catalysts for Hydrogen Activation in the Production of Renewable Fuels"
• Charlotte Hodge '25: "Bimetallic Catalyst Synthesis in the Study of Alternative Renewable Fuel Sources"
• Aidan Michelow '25: "Synthesis of a catalyst for renewable fuel production"

Broene Group:

• Colleen McAloon '23: "Phenylisocyanide Ligand Synthesis and Coordination to Cobalt as a Catalyst for Dimerization of Linear Alpha Olefins"
• Charles McLarnon '24: "Quantifying the Effect of a Constrained Olefin Dimerization Catalyst"

Dube Group:

• Katharine Barrett '23: "Investigating the Role of Helicobacter pylori Glycan Biosynthesis in Evading Host Immune Cell Recognition"
• Lucas DiCerbo '23: "Using Substrate Decoys to Characterize Glycosylation Pathways in H. pylori"
• Phuong Luong '22: "Metabolic Labeling of Bacterial Glycans Using Rare Azido L-Sugars"
• Isabella Quintana '23: "Examining the Effects of Disrupting Helicobacter pylori's Glycosylation Pathway"

Gorske Group:

• Geoffrey Atulo '24: "Investigation of the Catalytic Competency of Imidazolium N-oxides at the N-termini of Peptoid Turn Catalysts for Trifluoromethylation of Carbonyls"
• Hanna Cha '25: "Investigation of the Catalytic Competency of C-terminal and N-terminal Extensions of Peptoid Turn Catalysts for Trifluoromethylation of Carbonyls"
• Daniel Chi '24: "Investigation of the Role of Steric Interactions at the C-termini of Peptoid Turn Catalysts for Trifluoromethylation of Carbonyls"
• Eva Dowd '22: "Investigation of the Roles of Hydrogen Bonding and Steric Interactions at the C-termini of Peptoid Turn Catalysts for Trifluoromethylation of Carbonyls"

Lutz Group:

• Mario Mero '25: "Computational Investigation of C—H Activation by Fe(depe)2"

Stemmler Group:

• Olivia Choi '24: "Antimicrobial Peptides in the Lobster Homarus americanus: Changes to Hemocyte Population Throughout the Lobster Molt Cycle"
• Jordy Dushime '23: "Semi-Quantitative Analysis of a Defensin-Type Antimicrobial Peptide in Hemolymph from the Lobster Homarus Americanus as a Function of Molt"
• Kevin Fleshman '23: "Photocatalytic Degradation of Sunscreen Active Ingredients using TiO2 and BiOCl"
• Emily Herndon '23: "An Investigation of Neuropeptide Identity in Three Crab Species with Different Dietary Preferences"
• Thomas Lang '23
• Safa Salman '23

Takematsu Group:

• Isaac Bediako '24: "Bridging Photoacids to Photobases using Schiff-Base Design"
• Jack Callahan '23: "Moving Multiple Charges with Light in Derivatized Napthalene Photoacids"
• Rachel Nealon '23: "Computational Investigations of Theta Oscillations in Episodic Memory Post-Retrieval using Granger Analysis"
• Ibrahim Saleh '23: "Synthesizing & Characterizing Photoacid 2-hydroxy-8-napthalamiline"

Tate Group:

• Maryam Akramova '24: "Optimization of Synthetic Methods for Imidazolium Cyclopentadienides"
• Zachary Leibowitz '24: "Bimetallic Catalysis Project"
• Eliana Roberts '23: "Synthesis of Bimetallic Catalyst for Hydrogen Activation"
• Melissa Su '24: "Steric and Electronic Modification of Imidazolium Cyclopentadienides"

Vasudevan Group:

• Mariah McKenzie '23: "Charge Delocalization in Heterocyclic Amine and its Impact on Sorption Mechanisms"

Broene Group:

• Colleen McAloon '23: "Phenylisocyanide Ligand Synthesis and Coordination to Cobalt as a Catalyst for Dimerization of Linear Alpha Olefins"
• Fiona O'Carroll '22

Dube Group:

• Phuong Luong '22: "Metabolic glycan labeling of bacterial glycans using rare azide-containing L-sugars"
• Missy Demczak '21: "Confirming glycoprotein visualization in Ralstonia pickettii via glycan modifying reagents"

Dzubak Group:

• Yucheng Hua '22
• Nothando Khumalo '23
• Chloe Renfro '21: "Assessing the Accuracy of Quantum Monte Carlo Pseudopotentials for CO2 Capture in Metal Organic Frameworks"
• Ibrahim Saleh '23

Stemmler Group:

• Emily Davis '21
• Jordy Dushime '23
• Alejandro Garcia '21
• Emily Pan '22
• Jeffrey Price '22: "The Photocatalytic Degradation of Beta-Blockers: A Structure-Activity Study"

Takematsu Group:

• Alex Kreines '22: "Changing the Excited State Proton Transfer Pathway of 8-amino-2-naphthol with Acetonitrile and Water"
• Oliver Nix '22: "Investigating the Photoacidity of 8-benzylideneamino-2-naphthol"

Vasudevan Group:

• Chess Cawley '22: "Predicting Anionic Pharmaceutical Sorption to Soils Using Probe Compounds"
• Ben Cook '21: "Novel Computational Tools to Predict Anionic Pesticide and Pharmaceutical Sorption to Soil Oxides"
• Seamus Frey '23: "Factors influencing the sorption of 3-ethylpyridine to Calcium Montmorillonite"
• Mariah McKenzie '23

Stemmler Group:

• Usira Ali '22
• Eva Dowd '22: "Neuromodulation in the crabs Pugettia producta and Libinia emarginata: Neuropeptide Identification via Mass Spectrometry"
• Jeffrey Price '22: "Mass Spectrometric and Bioinformatic Analysis of Neuromodulators in Libinia emarginata"
• Emily Pan '22: "Bioinformatics approaches to discovering antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in the American lobster, Homarus americanus"

Broene Group:

• Michael Harris '20: "Variable Energy Photochemical Reactions for the Completion of a Cobalt Catalyst to Dimerize Linear α-Olefins"
• Julia Morris '18: "Using Organic Chemistry to move towards a greener future: experimental investigation into the dimerization of linear alpha olefins"

Dube Group:

• Adedunmola Adewale '22: "Discovery of genes required for glycolipid biosynthesis in the gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori"
• Hyungyu Lee '19: "Comparison of Covalent Delivery Methods and Their Effects for Immune-mediated Killing of Helicobacter pylori"
• Chiamaka Okoye '21: "Investigating the glycosylation pathway of Helicobacter pylori’s glycoproteins for drug targeting"
• Ilana Olin '20: "An Innovative Approach to Improving Antibiotics: Investigating the Efficacy of Inhibiting Pathogen Glycosylation to Synergistically Improve Existing Antibiotics"
• Owen Tuck '20: "Inhibition of Helicobacter pylori glycoprotein biosynthesis"

Stemmler Group:

• Ruby Ahaiwe '21: "Antimicrobial Peptides in the Lobster Homarus americanus and Concentration Changes Throughout the Molt Cycle"
• Edward Bull '20: "The characterization of glycosylated neuropeptides from the lobster, Homarus americanus"
• Carlos Campos '22: "The Photocatalytic Degradation of Common Pharmaceuticals and Characterization of their Products"
• Fiona O'Carroll '22: "The Photocatalytic Reaction Pathway of Ibuprofen and BiOCl"

Takematsu Group:

• Gabrielle Vandendries '21: "Spectroscopic study of ionic liquids on aminonaphthols"
• Jialin Xie '21: "Examining the Photochemistry of Cyano-substituted Aminonaphthol"

Aeppli Group:

• Thomas Regan '20: "How does oil photo-oxidation influence the toxicity of oil? Predicting toxicity of oil photo-products"

Dube Group:

• Tessa Epstein '19: "Screening Novel Inhibitors of Helicobacter pylori"
• Hyungyu Lee '19: "Comparison of covalent delivery methods and their effects for immune-mediated killing of Helicobacter pylori"
• Cathy Liu '19: "Examining the glycosylation pathway in Helicobacter Pylori using mass spectrometry"
• Daniel Williams '19: "Small molecule inhibition of Helicobacter pylori glycosylation"

Gorske Group:

• Rebecca Londoner '20: "Naptoid helices as scaffolds for trifluoromethylation catalysts"
• David Shank '19: "Increasing Polymer Length to Stabilize Peptoid Helices"
• Bennett Sneath '20: "Peptoid turns as scaffolds for bifunctional trifluoromethylation catalysts"
• Katharine Toll '20: "The Effect of peptoid oligomeric length on the enantioselectivity of catalysis of trifluoromethylation"

Stemmler Group:

• Kai'olu DeFries '19: "Photocatalytic Degradation of Ibuprofen and Ketoprofen"
• Bolor-Erdene Jagdadagdorj '19: "Using Exact Mass Measurements and Labeling to Assess Compositional Changes: a Specific Application in High-Resolution Mass Analysis of Wood-Derived Bio-Oils"
• Valeria Magallan '19: "Reactions Responsible for Aging in Wood-Based Pyrolysis Oil: Coniferyl Alcohol, Variants and the Role of Protonated Quinone Methides"
• Louis Mendez '19: "The Development of a Mass Spectrometric Method for the Detection of Neuropeptide Receptors in the American Lobster Homarus americanus"
• Taylor Yoder '19: "The Quantification of Antimicrobial Peptides Throughout the Molt Cycle of the American Lobster, Homarus americanus"

Takematsu Group:

• Paige Brown '19: "Proton Transfer in 3-amino-2-naphthol"
• Kacie Nelson '19: "Degradation Pathways in Aminonaphthols"

Vasudevan Group:

• Alexander Ederer '19: "Evaluating the Effect of Charge Delocalization on Heterocyclic Cationic Amines"
• Chiamaka Okoye '21: "Predicting Sorption of Anionic Pharmaceuticals to Soils Using Probe Compounds"
• Ronmel Rugama-Montenegro '20: "Evaluating the Effect of Charge Delocalization on Cationic Heterocyclic Amine Sorption"
• Tyler Shonrock '20: "Predicting Sorption of Anionic Pharmaceuticals to Soils Using Probe Compounds"

Broene Group:

• Ryan Keefe '18: "8‐Quinoyl‐Tetramethylcyclopentadiene: A Supporting Ligand for the Cobalt Catalyzed Dimerization of Linear α‐Olefins"
• Patrick Kelly '18: "Photochemical Modification of an Alpha‐ Olefin Dimerization Catalyst"
• Julia Morris '18: "Doing Good by Doing Well‐ An Experimental Investigation into More Efficient Production of Linear alpha Olefins"

Dube Group:

• Hailey Blain '18: "Analysis of Glycoprotein Production in Antibiotic Resistant Strains of Helicobacter pylori"
• Daniel Williams '19: "Targeting of Helicobacter pylori Using Photodynamic Therapy Agents"

Eustis Group:

• Paige Brown '19: "Laser Spectroscopy of Estrogen Pollutants found in Natural Waters"
• Bennett Sneath '20: "Experimental and Theoretical Analyses of the Photochemically Driven Reaction between Para‐nitroanisole and Pyridine"

Gorske Group:

• Stephan DeCarlo '18: "Elucidation of Structure‐Function Relationships for Peptoid Catalysts of Enantioselective Trifluoromethylations"
• Sophia Conwell '18: "Modification of Peptoids for Enhanced Biomimicry of Signaling Proteins"
• Jack Sharland '18: "Study of thionated Beta‐amino‐amide side chains in PPII mimetic peptoids"

Stemmler Group:

• Daniel Do '17: "Identification of Antimicrobial Peptides in the American Lobster, Homarus americanus, via LC‐ESI‐MS/MS"
• Valeria Magallan '19: "Reactions Responsible for Aging in Wood‐ Based Pyrolysis Oil: The Role of Formic and Acetic Acid"
• Louis Mendez '19: "Identification of neuropeptide receptors in the lobster Homarus americanus"
• Cindy Rivera '18: "Identification of Homarus americanus Lobster Neuropeptides through Mass Spectrometry and Transcriptomics"

Takematsu Group:

• Laura Cotter '18: "Proton Transfer in Aminonaphthols"
• Kacie Nelson '19: "Probing Proton Transfer in Aminonaphthol ‐ B‐Cyclodextrin Biological Models"

Vasudevan Group:

• Leah Alper '17: "Prediction Sorption of Anionic Pharmaceuticals to Soils: An Evaluation of Probe Compounds"
• Jorge Gomez '18: "Predicting the Sorption of Substituted Pyridines to Aluminosilicate Clays"
• Eric Guiang '18: "Pharmaceuticals in the Environment: Sorption of Polyfunctional Ionogenic Organic Compounds"
• Emma Landes '19: "Evaluation of the Effects of Difference in Size and Electronic Structure on Sorption of Anti‐Inflammatory Anionic"
• Samuel Shaheen '18: "Pyridine Sorption to Aluminosilicate Clays: Influence of Solid Phase Composition and Structure"

Broene Group:

• Ryan Keefe '18: "Optimization of Linear Alpha Olefin Production through a Cationic Cobalt Catalyst with an Isocyanide Supporting Ligand"
• Hyungyu Lee '18: "Synthesis of a phenylphosphabenzene ligand for the improvement of a cobalt-based α-olefin dimerization catalyst"
• Bennett Wolf '18: "Synthesis of a Cobalt(1) Catalyst for C-H Activation"

Dube Group:

• Ryan Herman '17: "Comparison of Covalent therapeautics for targeting of Helicobacter pylori glycoproteins"
• Haley Miller '16 (Co-advised with Elizabeth Stemmler): "Addition of Basic Sites to the Glycans of Helicobacter pylori to increase MS/MS Peak Abundance"

Eustis Group:

• Michael Paul '17: "Experimental Determination of the Redox Potentials of Environmentally Relevant Pollutants"
• David Ruuska '17: "Calculation of aqueous redox potentials for organic pollutants"

Gorske Group:

• Sophie Conwell '18: "Modification of Peptoids for Enhanced Biomimicry of Signaling Proteins"
• Charles Gerrity '17: "Enantiselective Trifluormethylation of Carbonyls Using Peptiod Catalyst"
• Emily Mumford '17: "Effects of Peptoid Secondary Structure on Enantioselective Trifluromethylation"
• Jack Sharland '18: "Study and Development of Peptoid Beta-amino Acid Sidechains for Catalyst"

Nagle Group:

• Ben Torda '18: "Experimental and Computational Study of Platinum Excimer and Exciplex Formation"

Stemmler Group:

• Caroline Corban '17: "Characterization and quantification of molt-related hormones in crustaceans using mass spectrometry"
• Haley Miller '16 (Co-advised with Danielle Dube): "Addition of Basic Sites to the Glycans of Helicobacter pylori to increase MS/MS Peak Abundance"
• Lauren Nguyen '17: "Characterization of Reactions Responsible for Aging in Wood-Based Pyloris Oil"
• Cindy Rivera '18: "Identification of H. Americanus Lobster Neuropeptides through Mass Spectrometry and Transcriptomics"

Takematsu Group:

• Malcolm Groves '17: "Proton Transfer in Aminimaphthols"
• Alexander Poblete '17
• Holly Rudel '17: "Intramolecular Proton Transfer in Aminonaphthols"
• Jonathan Welch '17: "Photophysical properties of 2-napthol and the effect of complexation with β-cyclodextrin"

Vasudevan Group:

• Leah Alper '17: "Evaluation of Benzoic Acid as a Probe for Pharmaceutical Sorption to Soils"
• Danielle Freeman '17: "Sorption of Pharmaceuticals and Pesticides in Soils:The Need for a Predictive Model to Assess Risks to Humand an Ecological Health"
• Samuel Shaheen '18: "Structure-Based Analysis of Pyridine Cation Exchange in Montmorillonite Clay"