Alumni

Name: Raoul Buffat
Years: 2008
Position: Visiting Scientist
Went on to: Rolex

Name: Michael J. Serpe
Years: 2006-2009
Position: Postdoctoral Researcher
Went on to: Professor, University of Alberta

Name: Dong Wu
Years: 2009-2010
Position: Postdoctoral Researcher
Went on to:  Postdoc, UNC

Name: James W. Ogle
Years: 2008-2010
Position: Postdoctoral Researcher
Went on to: Head of Innovation, Oil & Gas at Pilot Chemical Co.

Name: Donghua Xu
Years: 2008-2011
Position: Postdoctoral Researcher
Went on to: Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Science

Name: Jeremy Lenhardt
Years: 2007-2011
Degree: Ph.D.
Thesis Title:  Mechanisms, Dynamics, and Applications of Mechanically-induced Reactions
Went on to: Deputy Group Leader, High Performance Materials, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories

Name: Matt Cashion
Years: 2010-2011
Position: Research Associate
Went on to: Cashion Rods

Name: Hope Klukovich
Years: 2009-2012
Degree: Ph.D.
Thesis Title:  Expanding the Scope of Mechanically Active Polymers
Went on to: Professor, U.S. Air Force Academy & Deputy Director, Commander’s Action Group

Name: Yifei Wang
Years: 2011-2013
Degree: M.S.
Thesis Title: Probing Mechanical Activation of Covalent Chemistry in Crosslinked Polymer Gels

Name: Ashley Black Ramirez
Years: 2009-2013
Degree: Ph.D.
Thesis Title:  Polymer Remodeling Enabled by Covalent Mechanochemistry
Went on to: Independent Business Owner, Huntsville, AL

Name: Jennifer Hawk
Years: 2007-2014
Degree: Ph.D.
Thesis Title:  Structure-Activity Relationships in Hybrid Covalent/Metallosupramolecular Polymer Networks
Went on to: Assistant Professor, Converse College, Spartanburg, SC

Name: Zhenbin Niu
Years: 2011-2014
Position: Postdoctoral Researcher
Project: Strength in Mechanical Bond Scissions
Went on to: Dow Chemical, Midland, MI

Name: Zachary Kean
Years: 2010-2014
Degree: Ph.D.
Thesis Title:  Force-Responsive Polymers, Networks, and Catalysts
Went on to: Dow Chemical, Midland, MI

Name: Bobin Lee
Years: 2010-2015
Degree: Ph.D.
Thesis Title: Characterizing the Mechanical Strengths of Chemical Bonds via Sonochemical Polymer Mechanochemistry
Went on to: LG Haus Sys, Korea

Name: Junpeng Wang
Years: 2010-2015
Degree: Ph.D.
Thesis Title: Characterization and Application of Force-Induced Reactions
Went on to: Assistant Professor, U. Akron Department of Polymer Science

Name: Emilee Renk
Years: 2014-2015
Degree: M.S.
Thesis Title: Investigating the Role of Defects on Mechanical Properties of Model Network Hydrogels
Went on to: Arclin, Moncure, NC

Name: Greg Gossweilier
Years: 2011-2016
Degree: Ph.D.
Thesis Title: Mechanochemistry for Adaptive Materials and Devices
Went on to: Michelin, Greenville, SC

Name: Anthony DiLauro
Years: 2014-2016
Position: Postdoctoral Researcher
Project: Mechanophore Design and Synthesis
Went on to: Research Space, Durham, NC

Name: Tao Xing
Years: 2016-2017
Position: Visiting Scholar
Project: NIR Mechanophores and Self-healing Polymers
Went back to: Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics

Name: Hyunhyub Ko
Years: 2016-2017
Position: Visiting Scholar
Project: Mechanochemistry and Soft Devices
Went back to: Professor, UNIST

Name: Jonghwa Park
Years: 2016-2017
Position: Visiting Student
Project: Mechanochemistry and Soft Devices
Went back to: Complete his Ph.D. in the Ko lab at UNIST

Name: Chia-Chih “George” Chang
Years: 2016-2017
Position: Postdoc
Project: Mechanophore Development
Went on to: Assistant Professor, National Chiao Tung University

Name: Hent Schuurman
Years: 2018
Position: Visiting Student
Project: Single Molecule Tracking (with Kevin Welsher)
Went back to: Complete his M.S. at Waginengen

Name: Cameron Brown
Years: 2012-2018
Position: Ph.D. Student
Thesis Title: Structure-Activity Relationships in Mechanophores with Latent Conjugation
Went on to: Eastman Chemical, Kingsport, TN

Name: Meredith Barbee
Years: 2014-2019
Position: Ph.D. Student
Thesis Title: Controlling and Exploiting Spiropyran-Based Mechanochromism
Went on to: UT Chattanooga, via Postdoc in Knight Group (UNC)

Name: Yangju Lin
Years: 2015-2020
Position: Ph.D. Student
Thesis Title: Molecular-Level Engineering of Stress-Responsive Materials
Went on to: University of Waterloo, via Postdoc in the Bao lab (Stanford)

Name: Yudi Zhang
Years: 2015-2020
Position: Ph.D. Student
Thesis Title: From Molecular to Macroscopic Mechanochemical Responses
Went on to: Consultant, Boston Consulting Group

Name: Anton Razgoniaev
Years: 2018-2020
Position: Postdoc (joint with Franz)
Project: Mechanochemistry of Metal Complexes
Went on to: Postdoc with Mark Thompson, USC

Name: Zi Wang
Years: 2016-2021
Position: Ph.D. Student
Thesis Title: Engineering Mechanics of Polymers and Gels Through Molecular Design
Went on to: Postdoc with Brett Helms, LBNL

Name: Brandon Bowser
Years: 2016-2021
Position: Ph.D. Student
Thesis Title: Covalent Mechanochemistry of Four-membered Carbocycles
Went on to: Lord Corporation, Cary, NC

Name: Evan Lloyd
Years: 2021
Position: Postdoc
Project: Mechanical Metamaterials
Went on to: Boeing Corp., St. Louis, MO

Name: Liqi Wang
Years: 2017-2022
Position: Ph.D. Student
Thesis Title: Mechanochemical Reaction Development for Addition, Elimination, and Isomerization
Went on to: Management Consulting, ZS

Name: Patricia Johnson
Years: 2016-2022
Position: Ph.D. Student
Thesis Title: A Model Elastomer with Modular Metal-Ligand Crosslinking
Went on to: Associate Editor, Wiley Publishing

Name: Shu Wang
Years: 2017-2022
Position: Ph.D. Student
Thesis Title: Bridging Molecular Mechanochemistry and Network Fracture Mechanics
Went on to: Postdoc with Xuanhe Zhao, MIT

Name: Yichen Yu
Years: 2017-2022
Position: Ph.D. Student
Thesis Title: Mechanical Force Modulated Organometallic Transformations
Went on to: Software Engineer, Google

Name: Cary Ritter
Years: 2017-2022
Position: Ph.D. Student
Thesis Title: Mechanochromism and Strain-induced Crystallization in Thiol-yne-derived Stereoelastomers
Went on to: Postdoc and Venture Capital, Duke University

Name: Nick Van Zee
Years: 2022-2024
Position: Postdoc
Project: The Mechanophore Effect
Went on to: Hoya Corp., Ramsey, MN