Postdocs and Students
Research Group Summer 2024 (Rosemary, Maggie, Maral, Anila, Alice, Aaron, Stevie and Serban)
Professor Yasuaki Einaga and students during a visit in June 2023
Summer REU Group and Mentors 2023....Well done Kolton and Marissa!!
Summer 2023
Spring 2022
Mid-SURE, July 2018
Summer 2017
Summer 2016
Students in the group conduct cutting-edge research and develop strong skills in the areas of critical thinking, problem solving, interdisciplinary research and team work, written and oral communication, safety, and ethics. Recent graduates are now employed as a postdoctoral fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory (NM), a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Kansas, staff scientists (coating technologies and electrochemistry) for Chemeon Ltd. (Minden, NV) and Henkel Technologies (Madison Heights, MI), two staff scientists (corrosion and material science) for Rivian Electric Vehicles (Irvine, CA), an Associate Professor at the University of Michigan-Flint, and a staff scientist for General Motors-Global Battery Systems Laboratory (Warren, MI).
Currrent Research Group
Maggie Conway. Maggie is a 5th year Ph.D. student in the Department of Chemistry. She is investigating the electrochemical reduction of nitrate at boron-doped microcrystalline and ultrananocrystalline diamond electrodes. Of interest are the roles of the carbon electrode microstructure, electrode pretreatment, and electrolyte solution on the kinetics of the reduction reaction and the products formed. A goal is to produce value-added products from the electrosynthesis of the aqueous pollutant. Various electrochemical methods and GC are being used in the work. conway14@chemistry.msu.edu
Aaron Jacobs. Aaron is a 3rd year Ph.D. graduate student in the Department of Chemistry. He is working on the application of electrochemical sensors and immunosensors, and HPLC, to chemically analyze exhaled breath condensate (EBC) biospecimens obtained from human and animal subjects for biomarkers and chemical patterns of respiratory disease. Specifically, he is fabricating and testing chemically-modified electrochemical sensors (inkjet-printed and screen-printed carbon electrodes, as well as boron-doped diamond electrodes) for measuring biomarkers of oxidative and nitrosative stress in EBC biospecimens obtained from healthy human and animal subjects and subjects ill with respiratory disease. Key biomarkers being targeted are pH, NO, H2O2, peroxynitrite and 4-nitrotyrosine. jacob417@msu.edu
Rosmary Augustine. Rosemary is a 3rd year Ph.D. graduate student in the Department of Chemistry. She is investigating the mechanisms and kinetics of aryl diazonium admolecule formation on carbon surfaces using electrochemically-assisted and spontaneous formation processes. The impact of these adlayers on electrochemical reaction kinetics (ferri/ferrocyanide and oxygen reduction) are being investigating. The surface pretreatments are being developed for carbon fiber composite materials to mitigate galvanic corrosion effects on on aluminum alloys when mechnically joined with the composites in aeropsace structures. august81@msu.edu
Stevie Adams. Stevie is a 3rd year Ph.D. student in the Department of Chemistry. She is using rotating disk voltammetry and Raman spectroscopy to study the impact surface oxides on carbon electrodes have on aryl diazonium admolecule formation using electrochemically-assisted and spontaneous formation processes. The impact of these adlayers on electrochemical reaction kinetics (ferri/ferrocyanide and oxygen reduction) are being investigating. She is also looking into how effective different aryl diazonum molecules are at forming mono or multilayers on carbon surfaces and their impact on electrochemical reaction kinetics. adamsst8@msu.edu
Maral Rahim Soroush. Maral is a 2nd year Ph.D. graduate student in the Department of Chemistry. She is studying the electrosynthesis of glycerol at boron-doped diamond electrodes with the goal of producing value-added products. Of interest are the roles of electrode pretreatment and electrolyte solution on the kinetics of the oxidation reaction and the products formed. Various electrochemical methods and HPLC are being used in the work. rahimma1@msu.edu
Zia Uddin Mahmud. Zia is a 2nd year Ph.D. student on the Department of Chemical Engineering and Material Science (co-advised with Dr. Carl Boehlert). He is investigating the effect of surface texture, microstructure, and chemistry on the mechanical and electrochemical properties of titanium alloy, Ti-5553, prepared by selective laser melt (SLM) additive manufacturing. He is examining the effect of heat treatment on these properties and the effect of chloride anion on the corrosion behavior of the alloy during full immersion testing. Various electrochemical methods, SEM-EBSD, XRD and tensile testing are being used in the work. mahmudzia@msu.edu
Anila Panackalpurackal. Anila is a 2nd year Ph.D. student in the Department of Chemistry. She is investigating the electrochemical properties of titanium alloy, Ti6Al-4V. panackal@msu.edu
Dr. Alice Njue. Dr. Njue is a visiting professor from Egerton University (Njoro, Kenya). She is a fellow in the Alliance for African Partnership program. Her research involves studies of the electrochemical oxidation and flow injection analysis with amperometric detection of the cancer drug, cisplatin, at boron-doped diamond electrodes. njuealic@msu.edu
Dr. Serban Peteu. Dr. Peteu is a research scientist working on the preparation of an electrochemical sensor for peroxynitrite and its application as part of an electrochemical platform (inkjet-printed carbon electrodes) for measuring biomarkers of oxidative and nitrosative stress in EBC biospecimens obtained from human and animal subjects who are healthy and ill with respiratory disease. peteu@msu.edu
**Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Program