People
Group Leader
James Shepherd
Degree: BA, MSci (2009) PhD (2013) University of Cambridge
Hometown: Colchester, England (“England’s oldest recorded town”)
Year started at MSU: 2024
What is your project?
I am trying to set up a research program that studies the theory of chemical bonding
at the interface with informatics. With my group, we are trying to build a diverse
group of individuals with their own projects, goals and ambitions. We are working
together to learn and grow.
Graduate Students
Hayley Petras
Degree: BS in Chemistry (2017), Drake University, IA; with Math minor.
Why this group?
This group is exciting because computational chemistry has the potential to grow tremendously
in the future and I want to be a part of that.
What makes you passionate about your work?
When I get to study mathematical equations.
What do you enjoy most about your work?
There is always something new to learn.
William Van Benschoten
Hometown: Fountain City, WI
Degree: B.S. ACS Chemistry, Mathematics Minor
Role in group:
Currently, learn from my peers!
Why this group?
We are working on building/applying the mathematical models which are used to ascertain
information of the quirky world of the quantum. There are very few people doing this
work.
Emily Campbell (née Landgreen)
Hometown: Stillwater, MN
Degree: BS in ACS Biochemistry (2019), Winona State University
Role in Group:
Current Group member
Why this group?
This group has a lot of collaborations with other groups in and out of the department.
This allows for more connections to be made and to learn about many different areas.
Gabe Smith
Hometown: Cedar Rapids, IA
Degree: B.S. in Biochemistry (2020), Loras College, IA
What makes you passionate about your work?
I enjoy working on new, interesting, and unsolved problems.
I also love to see those 'ah ha' moments on students faces when they learn something
new or overcome a hard problem.
Ryan Baker
Hometown: Sullivan, IL
Degree: BS in ACS Chemistry, Eastern Illinois University (2021)
What makes you passionate about your work?
Learning new things about chemistry and sharing them with others.
How do you intend to make use of your PhD in the future?
Become a professor at an undergraduate university.
Sara Amano
Degree/Major:
BA in Biochemistry (2022), Grinnell College, IA
Why this group?
Computational chemistry is a topic that incorporates more than only chemistry, introducing
me to new ideas/fields that I didn’t know before.
Consultants
Claire Kopenhafer
Research Consultant at the Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research
Hometown: Laingsburg, MI
Degrees: PhD in Astrophysics & Computational Math, Science, & Engineering
Why this group: I get to employ my technical expertise and software best practices with a research group who appreciates what those skills contribute to research
What makes me passionate: I like using my knowledge of computing to help other researchers do their research more effectively. We're all excited by our research questions and want to reduce the barriers between us and our work.
What activity I enjoy the most: I really enjoy the days when I can devote several hours to getting deep into code development.
My project: Parallelizing some of the research group's software (uegCCD) and providing general
support to the group for using MSU's High-Performance Computing Center (HPCC).
Adding parallelism to software let's research tackle more complex problems and answer
bigger questions!
Alumni
Sai Ramadugu
Hometown: Hyderabad, India
Degree: MSc (2004, Biochemistry) University of Hyderabad, PhD (2013, Chemistry) University
of Iowa
Why this group?
I am software consultant for the group. Playing with scientific codes to be able to
do cutting-edge research excites me more than anything else.
What is your project?
Compiling and maintaining various quantum chemistry codes that are used in the Shepherd
Group and generating integral files to be able to do Quantum Monte Carlo simulations.
Tina Mihm
Hometown: Crystal Lake, IL
Degree: BA Chemistry (2017), Carthage College, WI
What is your project?
Modeling and performing calculations on Jellium system
What makes you passionate about your work?
Learning anything new about chemistry
What do you enjoy most about your work?
Programing with groupmates
Laura Weiler
Hometown: Atlanta, GA
Major: Physics, Computer Science
Role in group:
Undergraduate Researcher
Why this group?
It’s exciting to be a part of a group which is conducting cutting edge research while
also remaining interested in education and engagement.
Samantha Country
Hometown: Naperville, IL
Major: Chemical Engineering BSE
Why this group?
Our group is unique because we are constantly doing what we can to challenge ourselves and
help each other to improve academically.
What makes you passionate about your work?
I am driven to contribute to this group because I encounter many challenges that help
me to think in different ways than I am used to.
Bingdi Yang
Hometown: Heze, Shandong, China
Major: Computer Science and Engineering BSE
Why this group?
I found it that the idea of using python to solve chemistry equations is very cool
and is a brand new exploration for me as well!
Lauren Andrews
Hometown: Round Lake Heights, IL
Major: Chemistry
Gabe Armas
Hometown: Riverside, CA
Major: Chemistry
What work activity do you enjoy most?
I personally enjoy talking with others about the problems that are occuring in our
work and helping each other work it out.
Alex Sanchez
Hometown: Muscatine, Iowa
Major: Nuclear Medicine Technology
Sungmin Moon
Hometown: Seoul, South Korea
Major: Chemistry
Emily Amato
Hometown: Oxford Junction, IA
Major: Chemistry
What work activity do you enjoy the most?
I enjoy using computers to visualize and analyze molecular structures, especially
orbitals. For me, the ability to see an accurate representation of the 3D structure
of an individual molecule is one of the highlights of computational chemistry.
Collin Sindt
Hometown: Dubuque, IA
Major: Chemical Engineering with a minor in French
Joe Chapski
Hometown: Glen Ellyn, IL
Major: Computer Science and Engineering
What makes you passionate about your work?
I love that my work is used to make other people's live easier. The better I am at
my job the more productive others can be in their roles and that drives me to do the
best that I can.
Raghaib Al Lawati
Hometown: Muscat, Oman
Major: Biomedical Sciences
Why this project?
This project stood out to me because of how it aims to understand the effect of assessment
tools on student reasoning.
Lucy Siwicki
Hometown: Naperville, IL
Major: Biology, pre-med track, minor in Spanish
Role in Group: undergrad research assistant, currently Emily is mentoring me and getting me started with beginners' projects.
Kristin Boyler
Hometown: Bettendorf, IA
Major: Mechanical Engineering, minor in Math
Role in group: Undergraduate Researcher
Taylor DeMello
Hometown: Las Vegas, Nevada
Major: Neuroscience, Mathematics with Chemistry, Biology minors
Role in group:
Undergraduate Researcher
Songhang Man
Hometown: Guangzhou, China
Degree: High School Student
Why this group?
This group is welcoming and kind to me. I love to be in a group where people collaborate
in one project, and everybody bears a responsibility to the group. I like this kind
of groupwork and the relationship built on top of the groupwork.
Jenna Ringwald
Hometown: Ankeny, Iowa
Major: Chemistry Major
Role in Group:
Undergraduate Researcher
Why this group?
I like that this group gives me the opportunity to learn new skills that I can take
with me through the rest of my studies in chemistry!
Undergraduate Research Teams
Summer 2022
Who is on the team?
Owen Millers
Sydney Wilson
Lydia Heckler
What is your project?
The project entailed learning about computational chemistry and using it to study
the effect of Al cluster size on H2 bonding. We used IQMol to build molecules and
wrote inputs to optimize the geometry of different molecules and calculate energies,
Mulliken charges, and Mulliken spin. The final goal was to increase the size of the
Al nanoparticle to establish a relationship between Mulliken charge and nanoparticle
size. As a team, we’ve learned how to work together to solve problems and make conclusions
about our data.
Summer 2021
Who was on the team?
Jennifer Lane-Murcia
Heeseon Shin
Quintin Blad
Chengcheng Liu
What is your project?
Over the summer undergraduate research opportunity, our team investigated, replicated, extended, and reflected on Metal-Organic Framework research. We worked on researching the possibility of using an X-MOF (X = Fe, V) as a catalyst for the CO2 reduction reaction. We learned about computational chemistry, how to use different programs, as well as learn about the research project and how to work well as a team.
Summer & Fall 2020
Who was on the team?
John Albert
Lauren Andrews
Chris McBride
What is your project?
We design catalysts that function to reduce CO2 to CO which can ultimately be used
for the production of fuels. This was done utilizing density functional theory to
test the effects on catalytic binding energy by modifying metal center, coordinating
atom and electron density. Specific attention has been applied to CO2 coordination
to the catalyst and the resultant effect on binding energy.
Why is it interesting?
If we can find a catalyst to reduce the amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere, we can greatly
improve the environmental impact that this excess CO2 has had. The use of this converted
CO2 for fuel would be a very valuable energy source.
Spring 2019
Who is on the team?
Gabe Armas
Sungmin Moon
Seth Hoogendoorn
Emily Amato
Jingwen Chan
What is your project?
We perform calculations using Gaussian and QChem to better understand pyrazine carbon
systems.
Group Photos
