Group Members
Meet the Team!
Postdoctoral Scholars
Rui Zhang
Rui joined us in Fall 2021. She obtained her Ph.D from Iowa State University. She works on modular synthesis and characterization of conjugated molecules for plant health monitoring
Pravini Fernando
Pravini joined us in Fall 2023. She obtained her PhD in Physics from State University of New York at Binghamton. She works on probing chirality induced spin selectivity and its impact on optoelectronic properties.
Xiao Huan
Xiao joined us in Fall 2023. He obtained his PhD from Hong-Kong University. He focuses on developing 4D photonic structures using bottlebrush block copolymer.
Graduate Students
Kavinraaj Elangovan
Kavin joined us in Fall 2020 and received his Bachelor degree from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He is currently working on developing wearable sensors to detect volatile organic chemicals emitted by plants, which will be used to monitor and control their growth.
Changhyun Hwang
Changhyun joined us in Fall 2020 after finishing his Bachelor degree from Korea University. He focuses on building an AI-guided autonomous additive manufacturing platform.
Sanghyun Jeon
Sanghyun joined us in Fall 2021. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from Korea University. His research focuses on understanding and control of assembly pathways of conjugated polymers.
Tiara Torres Flores
Tiara joined us in Fall 2021 after obtaining her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez. She is working on automated synthesis of mesopolymers used in organic photovoltaics.
Janice Baek
Janice joined us in Fall 2022 after finishing her Bachelor’s degree from UIUC. She is now working on understanding assembly pathways of oligomers and polymers through solution processing.
Johnny Austin Lomas
Austin joined us in the Fall of 2022 after earning his bachelor’s degree from Texas Tech University. His research focuses on autonomous experimentation and its applications to the 3D printing of structure color.
Priyotosh Bairagya
Priyotosh joined us in Fall 2022. He completed his Bachelor’s degree in 2020 from Jadavpur University. He is interested in understanding assembly pathways of chiral polymers for OPV applications.
Yen-Chi Chen
Yen-Chi joined us in Fall 2022 after finishing his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in National Taiwan University. He investigates how printing flow affect and control the chirality of organic electronics.
Alec Matthew Damron
Alec joined us in Fall 2023 and received his Bachelor degree from the Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He is currently working on understanding general assembly pathways of organic solar cells and how that determines efficiency, stability and processibility.
Ziming Wang
Ziming joined us in Fall 2024. She received her Master’s degree from University of Science and Technology of China. Her research focuses on understanding chiral assemblies of achiral conjugated polymers and characterizing their multiscale structures.
Chetan Prasad
Chetan joined us in the Fall of 2024 after earning his Integrated Master’s degree from National Institute of Science Education and Research, India . His research focuses on building an autonomous analysis system for chiral conjugated polymer.
Undergraduate / Visiting Students
Jasmine Williams, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (UIUC), 03/2023 – present (mentor: Priyotosh)
Luna Ahn, Chemistry (UIUC), 02/2024-present (mentor: Sanghyun)
Ayse Senlik, Chemistry (UIUC), 02/2024-present (mentor: Sanghyun)
Alwan Kameron Jacob Nuval, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (UIUC), 02/2024-present (mentor: Yen-Chi)
Bowen Hao, Chemistry (UIUC), 06/2024-present (mentor : Alec)
Jiaxuan Wang, Chemistry (UIUC), 09/2024-present (mentor: Yen-Chi)
Haoru Li, Computer Engineering (UIUC), 11/2024-present (mentor : Austin)
Raghav Rajan, (UIUC),11/2024-present (mentor: Xiao)
Nathan spohnholtz, Material Science and Engineering (UIUC), 02/2025-present (mentor : Kavin)
Neha Nadgauda, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (UIUC), 02/2025-present (mentor : Kavin)
Ph.D. and Postdoc. Alumni
Zhuang Xu
Ph. D., 2019 – 2024
Now a Staff Scientist at Iridescent Sensors Inc.
Siqing Wang
Ph. D., 2019 – 2024
–
Azzaya Khasbaatar
Ph. D., 2019 – 2024
Now a Senior Research Specialist at Dow Chemical
Jong-Hoon Lee
Postdoc, 2021 – 2024
Now an Assistant Professor at Kyonggi University, South Korea.
Kyung Sun Park
Postdoc, 2017 – 2023
Now an Account Technologist at Applied Materials
Gonzalo
Campillo-Alvarado
Postdoc, 2020 – 2022
Now an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Reed College in Portland, OR.
Justin Kwok
Ph. D., 2015-2022, Postdoc, 2022
Now a Etch Engineer at Lam Research.
Daniel Davies
Ph. D., 2016-2022, Postdoc, 2022
Now a Process Engineer at Lam Research.
Bijal Patel
Ph. D., 2016 – 2021
Now an ORISE fellow at U.S. Department of Energy(DoE).
Prapti Kafle
Ph.D., 2016 – 2021
Now a Senior Scientist at Merck
Sangkyu Park
Postdoc, 2017 – 2020
Now a Senior Researcher at Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Institute of Advanced Composite Materials, Functional Composite Materials Research Center.
Songsong Li
Postdoc, 2020 – 2021
Now an Assistant Professor of Polymer Science and Engineering at HKBU
Ge Qu
Ph.D., 2014 – 2019
Now a process engineer in Applied Materials.
Erfan Mohammadi
Ph.D., 2014 – 2019
Now a PCB Engineer at Apple.
Hyunjoong(Tim) Chung
Ph.D., 2014 – 2019
Now a Dry Etch Module Engineer at Intel Corporation.
Fengjiao Zhang
Postdoc, 2015 – 2018
Now Professor at University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Undergraduate and M.S. Alumni
Yifu Zhang, B.S., 1/2015 – 12/2016
Kurtis Niemeyer, B.S., 3/2015 – 12/2015
Reahman Afshar, B.S., 3/2015 – 4/2016
Adam Lui, B.S., 5/2015 – 5/2016
Rebecca Boehning, B.S., 8/2015 – 5/2017
Weikun Zhu, B.S., 8/2016 – 5/2018 (now pursuing PhD at MIT)
Shanwen Chen, B.S. 10/2016 – 5/2018
Samdisha Punjani, B.S. 02/2017 – 5/2018
Michelle Brown, B.S. 08/2017 – 05/2019
Nicole Jugovich, B.S. 08/2017 – 3/2018
Julian Fanghanel, M.S., 5/2017-7/2018 (now pursuing PhD at Penn State)
Anastasiya Lukiyanenko, B.S., 10/2017 – 12/2018
Rishabh Sanghavi, B.S., 10/2017 – 12/2018
Do Hoon Kim, B.S., 8/2018 – 5/2019 (now pursuing PhD at Michigan)
Angela Johnson, B.S. (Chicago State U., I-MRSEC REU program), 5/2019-7/2019
Dongqi Zhao, B.S. (Tianjin U.), 7/2019-10/2019 (will pursue PhD at UPenn from 2020)
Adithya Sundar, B.S., 8/2019 – 5/2020
Kush Patel, B.S., 01/2019 – 03/2021 (now pursuing PhD in Chemical Engineering at Northwestern)
Yilong (Larry) Chang, B.S., 01/2019 – 03/2021 (now pursuing MS in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford)
Caroline Kasprzak, B.S., 01/2019 – 05/2020
Brandon Onusaitis, B.S., 10/2019 – 05/2021 (now pursuing PhD at Northwestern University)
Ibukun Ajifolokun, B.S., 01/21 – 05/2021
Giorgio Graziano, B.S., 05/2019 – 05/2021
Ritin Joseph, B.S., 08/2021 – 12/2021
Bindu Edupulapati, B.S., 08/2020 – 05/2022
Charlene Gopatta, B.S., 06/21 – 05/2022
Jessica Komar, B.S., 08/21 – 05/2022
Michael Bernhardt, B.S., 05/2019 – 06/2022
Andrew Cheng, B.S., 05/2021 – 08/2022
Rachel Jamilyn Liu, B.S., 09/2020 – 12/2022
Jackie Hagel, B.S., 01/2021 – 05/2023
Rishabh Jois, B.S., 09/2022 – 05/2023
Gabriella Synadinos, B.S., 09/2021 – 05/2023
Raymond Susilo, B.S., 01/2022 – 05/2023
Michael Tiran, B.S., 03/2023 – 05/2023
Adi Taire, B.S., 03/2023 – 05/2023
Frank Lu, B.S., 10/2023 – 01/2024
Nikhil Jose, M.S., 05/2023 – 05/2024
Allison Lau, B.S., 02/23 – 05/2024
Ziming Wang, visiting student, 09/2023 – 05/2024
Piyush Pahuja, B.S., 05/2023 – 05/2024
Lyuwei Su, B.S., 05/2024 – 08/2024
Ming Creekmore, B.S. (RIT), 05/2024 – 12/2024
Aishwarya Kuzhiyil, B.S., 09/2023 – 01/2025
Chloe Lin, B.S., 01/2024 – 12/2024
Xipin Nina Chen, B.S., 01/2024 – 06/2024
Shubham More, B.S, 03/2023
prof. Ying Diao
213 ROGER ADAMS LABORATORY
600 S. MATHEWS AVE.,
URBANA, IL 61801