Group Members

Current Group Members

Claire Boelke (Ph.D. student)

Claire joined the P.H.Y.C. group in 2018. Her research, in collaboration with Inpria, currently focuses on thin films and the effects of differing ligand structures. The diversity of disciplines within the P.H.Y.C. group helps her to understand both the inorganic and organic intricacies of this research.

Claire grew up in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and graduated from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh with a B.S. in Professional Chemistry. Her undergraduate research focused on organometallic catalysis for applications in renewable energy. Claire is also on track to complete the college teaching certificate program in order to achieve her goal of becoming a professor. She enjoys reading, going to the beach, and DJing local parties in her free time.

Henry Wise (Ph.D. student)

Henry joined the P.H.Y.C. group in 2017 as an undergraduate researcher and continued his research as a Ph.D. student in 2019. His research focuses on using deep learning to predict the electronic structure of semiconducting amorphous oxides.

Henry was born and raised in Tacoma, Washington. After high school, he focused on music and played in numerous bands in various cities throughout the Pacific Northwest and California. He returned to school at 25, attending Portland Community College before transferring to Oregon State University to complete his B.S. in chemistry with a minor in Mathematics in 2019. During his time as an undergraduate student, he sought opportunities to participate in teaching and mentoring activities, working as a lab teaching assistant and tutor in addition to developing new lab modules for chemistry students. His passions include chemistry education, playing music, and mathematical modeling.

Clara Wheeler (Ph.D. student)

Clara joined the P.H.Y.C. group in 2019.

Abdikani Omar Farah (Ph.D. student)

Abdikani (Omar) Farah joined the P.H.Y.C. group in 2020.

Jacqueline Laddusaw(Ph.D. student)

Jacquejoined the P.H.Y.C. group in 2022.

Luis Borrego-Castaneda(Ph.D. student)

Luis the P.H.Y.C. group in 2024.

Luis was born and raised in Denver, CO. Here, he pursued his undergraduate degree in Chemistry as a first-generation graduate student at Colorado School of Mines in 2022. While working under the mentorship of Dr. Alan Sellinger, his initial research focused on the fabrication of plastic scintillators for the detection of harmful nuclear radiation. He decided to continue his studies as a PhD student at Oregon State University, shifting his interests to computational chemistry under the supervision of Dr. Paul Ha-Yeon Cheong. In his free time, Luis is a musician and loves to play his guitar all around campus when he gets the chance, hiking, video games, and especially DnD. He also knows three languages, Spanish, English, and French.

Alumni

2023

Gisela González-Montiel

Postdoctoral Researcher at Wiest lab at the University of Notre Dame

2022

Joe Harper, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Researcher at Los Alamos National Lab

Taisiia Feoktistova, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist at Merck

Kaylee Cayton, Post-Bacc
Independent Software Developer and Game Designer

2021

Camille Richardson, Ph.D.
Chemist at Verax Chemical Company

Christopher Malmberg, Ph.D.
Mask Operations Module and Yield Engineer at Intel

2020

Jin Kyoon Park, Post-Doc
Associate Professor at Pusan National University

Mykhaylo (Michael) Yatskin, Ph.D.
TD Module and Integration Yield Engineer at Intel

Markas Grove, Ph.D.
Chemistry Teacher at Mount Rainer High School

Katie Caspary, M.S.
Research Chemist at Seattle Genetics

Shelby Dorn, M.S.
Student Programs Specialist at University of Nebraska-Lincoln

2019

Cory Perkins, Post-Doc
Founder and CEO at nexTC Corp.

Paul Sibbald, Post-Doc
Associate Professor at Stetson University

Alexander Brueckner, Ph.D.
Computer-Assisted Drug Design Scientist at Bristol Myers Squibb

Jacob Buchanan, Ph.D.
Actuary at Milliman

2018

Daniel Walden, Ph.D.
Principal Scientist, Computational Chemistry at VERISIMLife

2017

Lindsay Wills, Ph.D.
Undergraduate Advisor at OSU

2016

O. Maduka Ogba, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor at Chapman University

Kevin Snyder, M.S.
Chemistry Teacher at Montrose High School

2015

Ryne Johnston, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist at Schrödinger

Thomas J. Mustard, Ph.D.
Associate Principle Scientist at Schrödinger

Ommidala Pattawong, Ph.D.
Instructor at Linn-Benton Community College

Benjamin Hanken, Post-Doc
Ideum

2013

I-Ya Chang, Post-Doc
Kyoto University

2011

Matthew Pierce, M.S.
Independent Chemistry Tutor