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Graduate Students

First Year

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Owethu Bukula
​Owethu is originally from South Africa and completed her BS in Mechanical Engineering at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Her research journey began under Professor Sonya Smith, researching the thermal challenges in electro-thermal systems. In the Summer of 2022, she conducted research under Professor Xavier Roy as an REU student to develop experimental methodologies for testing the conductivity of air-free, 2D materials. Owethu has rejoined the Roy lab as a joint student in both the Roy and Hone labs. Outside the lab, she enjoys baking and exploring the city.
Email: 
[email protected]

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​Aracely Gonzalez
Aracely was born and raised in Oceanside, California. She ventured just a little bit north to the University of California, Riverside for her undergraduate studies. At UCR she explored the bottom-up synthesis of silicon nanoclusters, conjugated oligosilanes, and germanium doped nanoclusters under Prof. Timothy Su. After obtaining her BS in Neuroscience with a minor in Chemistry, Aracely decided to branch out from California by continuing her studies at Columbia, joining both the Nuckolls and Roy labs as a joint student. In her free time she enjoys reading, people watching, and trying new foods. 
Email: 
[email protected]

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Emma Lian
Emma
 was born and raised in Brooklyn and completed her undergraduate studies in Long Island, receiving her BS in chemistry at Stony Brook University. There, she worked under Professor Benjamin Hsiao to repurpose different forms of biomass waste into nanocellulose fibers for sustainable applications. In the summer of 2023, she was a MRSEC REU student here at Columbia and worked under Professor Milan Delor. Now, she has returned as a joint student between the Roy and Nuckolls groups. Outside of the lab, Emma enjoys playing ultimate frisbee, doing arts and crafts, and trying new restaurants around the city.
Email: 
[email protected]

Second Year 

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Anna Champ
​Anna grew up just outside New Orleans, Louisiana before moving to College Station, Texas to attend Texas A&M University (whoop!). While there, she studied anion exchange reactions of cesium lead halide perovskite nanorods under Professor Matthew Sheldon. After completing her B.S. in Chemistry, Anna finally left the South to begin her studies at Columbia, joining both the Roy and Nuckolls labs as a joint student. Outside of the lab, she enjoys crafting delicious meals, playing rugby, and hanging out in nature. 
Email: [email protected]

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Kevin Fleshman
Kevin was born and raised in Southern California before relocating to Brunswick, Maine for his undergraduate education at Bowdoin College. While there, he studied the photocatalytic degradation of synthetic estrogen compounds using metal oxide semiconductors under the guidance of Professor Elizabeth Stemmler. He received his B.A. in Chemistry and Africana Studies in 2023. Kevin then joined the Roy group in the fall of 2023 and began exploring the synthesis of 2D materials such as transition metal nitride halides (TMNH). When not in the lab, he likes to write poetry, explore new parks, go on runs at sunset, and try new foods across the city.
Email: [email protected]

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Nethmi Hewage
Nethmi grew up in Sri Lanka before moving to Iowa for her undergraduate studies. She received her B.S. in Chemistry from Iowa State University. There, she did research with Prof. Kirill Kovnir on the synthesis of pnictides and sulfide compounds for energy applications. In the fall of 2023, she joined the Roy group at Columbia where she works on developing 2D materials.
Nethmi is also the recipient of the 2024 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. In her free time, she is extremely fond of watching Taylor Swift's interviews on the internet and exploring NYC. 
Email: ​[email protected]

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Palak Jariwala 
Palak grew up in Northern Virginia and moved to Los Angeles where he attended UCLA. At UCLA, he received his B.S. in Chemistry/Materials Science and worked on solid-state organic photochemistry with Prof. Miguel Garcia-Garibay. Moving back to the East Coast, Palak is now a joint student between the Roy and Nuckolls groups. He is 
also the recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Outside of the lab, Palak enjoys exploring new restaurants in NYC, playing video games, and watching NFL.
​Email: ​[email protected]

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André Koch-Liston
Born and raised in Brazil, André majored in Chemistry at Princeton, where he investigated the (in)stability of lanthanide antimony tellurides under Prof. Leslie Schoop. André moved up to New York as a joint student in the Roy and Delor Groups, where he is interested in imaging energy transport in solids to guide material synthesis. Beyond the lab, he's obsessed with fixing electronics, biking NYC boroughs, and reading cognitive psychology.
Email: [email protected]


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Yoon Nah
Yoon was born and raised in Seoul, Korea, where her academic journey took root. She earned her B.S. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science from Ewha Womans University. There, she studied perovskite light-emitting diodes and became captivated by their vibrant emissions. This fascination led her to venture to the United States to deepen her understanding of electrons, photons, and excitons. At Columbia, Yoon is a joint student between the Roy and Delor groups. Outside the lab, Yoon finds comfort in the simple delights of food, such as oatmeal raisin cookies, cinnamon raisin bagels, and anything containing raisins.
Email: [email protected]


Fourth Year

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Jordan Cox
Jordan grew up in Saint Petersburg, Florida before moving to Pennsylvania for her undergraduate studies. She received her B.S. in Chemistry from Dickinson College where she conducted research with Professor Sarah St. Angelo on silver-zinc oxide hetero-nanomaterials for dye photocatalysis. In the summer of 2021, Jordan moved to New York to join the chemistry department at Columbia working with cluster-based materials in the Roy group. Outside of lab, Jordan enjoys cooking, swimming in the Columbia pool, and spending time with her kittens.
Email: [email protected]

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Margalit (Margo) Feuer
Margo is originally from Los Angeles, California until she moved to New Haven, Connecticut for college. She completed her B.S. in Chemistry at Yale University where she worked on transition-metal catalysts with Profs. Gary Brudvig and Robert Crabtree. Afterwards, she moved back West to work for Beyond Meat as a food developer. In the fall of 2021, she joined the Roy Group at Columbia where she works on the intercalation of 2D magnetic materials.
Margo is also the recipient of the 2023 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Out of lab, catch her roller blading and thinking about carbon capture. 
Email: [email protected]  

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Chun-Ying Huang
Chun-Ying received his B.S. and M.S. in Chemistry from National Taiwan University, where he studied the fundamental photophysics of organic chromophores with Professor Pi-Tai Chou. Realizing his distaste for organics, he moved to NYC and turned to the world of inorganic materials. Chun-Ying joined the Roy and XYZ group in the fall of 2021 as a joint student. Now he is working on understanding the magnetic and photophysical properties of two-dimensional materials. Outside of the lab, he enjoys exploring sweets (especially ones of Japanese style), concerts, and museums in NYC. 
Email: 
[email protected]

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Jacklin Smith 
Jack grew up in Newbury Park, California until he moved to the Bay Area to attend UC Berkeley. While there, he studied anionic behavior at water-air interfaces using SFG spectroscopy under Prof. Richard Saykally. He completed his B.S. in both Chemistry and Chemical Engineering in 2021. Continuing his studies at Columbia in NY, he is a joint student in the Roy and Nuckolls groups working on synthesis and characterization of doped organic superconductors. In his free time, Jack can be found on the volleyball court, playing piano, baking like a pro, or eating like a pro.
Email: [email protected]

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Emma York
Emma grew up in Santa Barbara, California and completed her B.S. in chemistry at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. At Columbia, she is a joint student between the Roy and Venkataraman groups and her research explores the optoelectronic behavior of a variety of molecules using the scanning tunneling microscope break junction (STM-BJ) technique. Outside of school, Emma enjoys print making, rowing, and coffee. 
Email: [email protected]

Fifth Year

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Jessica Yu
Jessica grew up in San Diego, California and moved to the Bay Area where she received her B.S. in Chemistry at UC Berkeley. As an undergraduate, she conducted research with Professor Paul Alivisatos investigating the etching trajectories of gold nanorods. Jessica left California for New York, joining the Roy Group in the fall of 2020, though she is still convinced that the West coast is the better coast. In her free time she enjoys rock climbing, animal documentaries and trying new Chobani flavors.
Email:
[email protected]

Postdoctoral Researchers

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Daniel Chica
​​Daniel grew up in Jacksonville, Florida where he stayed to receive his B.S. in Chemistry and Physics from the University of North Florida. He then traversed the U.S. to Evanston, Illinois where he received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University developing flux and chemical vapor transport synthesis methods for chalcogenides under the direction of Prof. Mercouri Kanatzidis. At Columbia, he is working on discovering and studying the physical properties of novel 2D magnetic and cluster-based compounds in the chalco-halide class. During his free time, he enjoys cooking and riding his bike along the Hudson river.
Email: 
[email protected]

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Jeongheon Choe
Jeongheon grew up in South Korea. He received his B.S. and M.S. in Physics from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), where he studied the molecular dynamics and packing structures of fullerenes using transmission electron microscopy. Then, he moved to the University of Texas at Austin to complete his Ph.D. with Prof. Xiaoqin Li. This research focused on studying collective excitations in magnetic materials using inelastic light scattering. At Columbia, Jeongheon is a joint postdoc in the Roy and Zhu groups, working on studying excitons, electrons, and magnon dynamics in emerging semiconductors.
Email: [email protected]


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​Samra Husremovic
Samra, originally from Bosnia and Herzegovina, moved to the U.S. for her undergraduate studies at Bates College, where she researched a topics from plasmonic nanoparticles to catalysis. She earned her Ph.D. at UC Berkeley under Professor Kwabena Bediako, focusing on tuning emergent physics in atomically thin crystals. Her work led to the development of ultrathin magnetic materials and multistate-switching systems. Now as a postdoctoral researcher, she is exploring chemical modifications to tailor properties of topological materials. Outside the lab, Samra enjoys swimming, birdwatching, and learning about deep-sea fish.
Email: [email protected]​

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Jiayi Li
Jiayi grew up in Sichuan, China. He completed his undergraduate studies in materials chemistry at Peking University. He then obtained his Ph.D. at Stanford University under Hema Karunadasa, focusing on novel organochalcogenide-halide perovskites and the properties of perovskites under high pressure. At Columbia, Jiayi is working on synthesis and post-synthetic modifications of new 2D materials. In his free time, he enjoys exploring the city, playing board games, and spending quality time with cats.
Email: 
[email protected]​

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Willa Mihalyi-Koch
Willa grew up in upstate New York and studied Chemistry at Hamilton College. She then moved to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for her Ph.D. where she worked with Prof. Song Jin to study how structural symmetry and chirality can be tuned in low-dimensional organic-inorganic halide perovskite materials and nanostructures. At Columbia, she's working on developing new inorganic 2D materials.
Email: 
[email protected]


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Arun Ramanathan
Arun grew up in Coimbatore, at the foothills of the mighty Western Ghats in Southern India. He completed his undergraduate education in materials science and engineering from PSG College of Technology. Arun then got his PhD from Georgia Institute of Technology under Henry S. La Pierre studying the electronic structure of high-valent lanthanides. At Columbia, Arun is working on developing new 2D materials.
​Email: [email protected]

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Xiaoyu Song 
Xiaoyu grew up in Sichuan, China. She received her B.S. in chemistry from Nanjing University. Then, she moved to Princeton University to complete her Ph.D. studies with Prof. Leslie Schoop. Xiaoyu’s doctoral research focused on applying soft chemical synthesis methods to novel 2D magnetic and superconducting transition metal dichalcogenides. At Columbia, she is working on discovering new layered and 2D materials with new synthetic approaches and exploring their property-structural relationships.
Email: 
[email protected]

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Mike Ziebel
Mike grew up outside Philadelphia and completed his undergraduate studies at Northwestern University, where he researched organic photovoltaic materials with Prof. Sam Stupp. He then completed his Ph.D. work with Prof. Jeff Long at UC Berkeley, studying the electronic and magnetic properties of metal–organic frameworks. At Columbia, Mike is a joint post-doc in the Roy and Dean groups, working on developing new two-dimensional materials.
Email: [email protected]

Associate Research Scientist

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Ilana Stone
​Ilana is a native New Yorker and a Columbia University super alum. She started in 2003 as a philosophy major, completed her PhD in chemistry in the Roy and Lambert labs in 2021, and finally returned as an Associate Research Scientist. Before becoming a chemist, she was a poker player, a Wall Street trader and a journalist. She also enjoys eating donuts and plotting murder mystery novels.
Email: 
[email protected]

Undergraduate Students

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Vinicius Avelar, Columbia College '26
Vinicius was born and raised in Brazil. He works as a joint student between the Roy and X.Y. Zhu groups at Columbia, exploring coherent magnonics in 2D magnetic semiconductors. He plans to major in Chemical Physics and hopes to go to graduate school. In his free time, Vinicius likes to read fanfiction, study political theory, and listen to rock songs.
Email: [email protected]

Alumni

Christie Koay - PhD 2024 - Now: Postdoc at Princeton
Jennifer Han - PhD 2024 - Now: Associate at Fish and Richardson
Wendy He - PhD 2024 - Now: Postdoc at
 MIT
Victoria Posey - PhD 2024 - Now: BASF PhD Leadership Development Program 
Evan Teldford  - Postdoc 2020-2024 - Now: Scientist at C12 
Jinwoo Kim - Postdoc 2022-2023 - Now: Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology
Elena Meirzadeh - Postdoc 2018-2023 - Now: Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the Weizmann Institute 
Amymarie 
Bartholomew - Postdoc 2019-2022 - Now: Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Yale University
David Needell - Postdoc 2022 - Now: VC Investor for Disruptive Science
Alexander Aydt  - PhD 2022 - Now: Senior Manager, Business Development at Lipoid LLC

Ren Wiscons - Postdoc 2019-2021 - Now: Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Amherst College
Rachel Starr - PhD 2021 - Now: AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the U.S. Department of State
Avalon Dismukes - PhD 2021 - Now: Art Conservation Scientist, The Metropolitan Museum of Art 
Jake Russell - PhD 2021 - Now: Founder at Orpheus Ocean
Douglas Reed - Postdoc 2018-2021 - Now: Assistant Professor of Chemistry at UW - Seattle
Kihong Lee - PhD 2019 - Now: Postdoc at Cornell
Evan Doud - PhD 2019 - Now: Postdoc at UCLA
Anastasia Voevodin - PhD 2019 - Now: Investment Professional at Avoro Capital Advisors
Bonnie Choi - PhD 2018 - Now: Associate at Goodwin Intellectual Property
Andrew Pinkard - PhD 2018 - Now: Patent Agent at Wolf Greenfield Intellectual Property
Evan O'Brien - PhD 2018 - Now: Seer Biotechnology
Giselle Elbaz - PhD 2017 - Now: Postdoc in Nanoelectronic at Institut Neel CNRS in Grenoble
Wee-Liat Ong - Postdoc 2015-2017 - Now: Associate Professor ZJU-UIUC Institute
​Alaina Hartnett - Undergraduate researcher - Barnard Chemistry - Now: PhD student, Harvard
Secunda Kariuki - Undergraduate researcher - Columbia College
Ari Turkiewicz - Undergraduate researcher - Columbia APAM - Now: Postdoc, Harvard University
Jessica Karch - Undergraduate researcher - Columbia Chemistry - Now: PhD student, UMass Boston

Chiara Butler - Undergraduate researcher - Columbia Chemistry
Maria Paley - Undergraduate researcher - Barnard Chemistry - Now: PhD student, UC Berkeley
Isabel Klein - Undergraduate researcher - Barnard Chemistry - PhD student, CalTech, Now: Associate at Rhapsody Venture Partners 

Ivy Huan - Undergraduate researcher - Columbia Chem Eng - Now: PhD student, Northwestern
Gloria Chyr - Undergraduate researcher - MIT Eng
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Hannah Christianson - Undergraduate researcher - Barnard Chemistry - Now: PhD student, UC Berkeley
Claire Looney -  Undergraduate researcher - Barnard Chemistry - Now: Researcher at Memorial Sloane Kettering Cancer Center
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