Current Members
Jianing Gan
Education: B.S., Chemistry, Peking University, 2018
Ph.D. Candidate, Penn State, 2018-Present
Research Interests: My research aims to use time-resolved infrared (TRIR) spectroscopy to understand excited state dynamics in organic and inorganic photovoltaic materials.
Yue Yuan
Education: B.S., University of Science and Technology of China, 2019
Ph.D. Candidate, Penn State, 2019-Present
Research Interests: My research aims to use transient absorption spectroscopy to understand excited state dynamics in halide perovskites and colloidal quantum dots.
Education: B.S., UCSD, 2019
Ph.D. Candidate, Penn State, 2019-Present
Research Interests: My research centers around understanding electrocatalytic reaction mechanisms using infrared detected spectroelectrochemistry.
Education: B.S., Chemistry, Nanjing University 2020
Ph.D. Candidate, Penn State, 2020-Present
Research Interests: My research focused on understanding nitrogen electrocatalytic reaction mechanisms using spectroelectrochemistry.
Education: B.S., Chemistry, Manipal University, Jaipur 2019
M.S., Chemistry, Sharda University, Greater Noida 2021
Ph.D. Candidate, Penn State, 2021-Present
Research Interests: My research aims to understand exciton dynamics in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) such as WS2.
McKenna Grega
Education: B.S., Biochemistry, Mansfield University, 2021
Ph.D . Candidate, Penn State, 2021-Present
Research Interests: My research focuses on investigating the excited state surface chemistry of colloidal quantum dots for photocatalysis.
Previous Members
JOHN R. SWARTZFAGER
Education: B.S., Chemistry, SUNY ESF, 2016
Ph.D . Candidate, Penn State, 2016-2023
Research Interests: John’s research at Penn State focused understanding thermally activated delayed fluorescence in organic semiconductors
Education: B.S., 2019
M.S., Penn State, 2019-2023
Kelsey Schlegel
Education: B.A., Biochemistry, Messiah College, 2016
Ph.D ., Penn State, 2016-2021
Research Interests: Kelsey’s research centered around synthesizing transition metal doped quantum dots (TM-QDs) and then understanding the mechanisms of charge transport through TM-QD thin-films.
Kyle T. Munson
Education: B.S., Chemistry, Rowan University, 2015
Ph.D ., Penn State, 2015-2020
Research Interests: Kyle’s graduate work focused on understanding the photophysics of hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites to act as the main solar absorbing material in novel optoelectronic devices.
Eric R. Kennehan
Education: B.S., Chemistry, Youngstown State University, 2014
Ph.D ., Penn State, 2014-2019
Research Interests: While at Penn State, Eric’s research interests included understanding exciton dynamics in organic photovoltaics and lead sulfide quantum dots along with instrument and technique development.
Grayson S. Doucette
Education: B.S., Materials Science and Engineering, Virginia Tech, 2014
Ph.D., Penn State, 2014-2019
https://www.linkedin.com/in/grayson-doucette-985979116/
Research Interests: While at Penn State, Grayson’s research aimed to understand the electronic processes which inhibit efficient charge transport in electronic materials. To accomplish this, Grayson developed electronic characterization techniques to work in tandem with our existing vibrational spectroscopy capabilities.
Chris Grieco
Education: B.S., Chemistry, Rochester Institute of Technology, 2012
B.S., Applied Mathematics, Rochester Institute of Technology, 2012
Ph.D. Penn State, 2012-2017, Postdoc, OSU, Bern Kohler, 2017-Present
Research Interests: While at Penn state, Chris’ research interests centered around relating the structure and organization in organic solid-state systems to charge transport dynamics. He is currently a post doc in Bern Kohler’s Lab at OSU where he uses transient 2D-IR spectroscopy to investigate proton transfer dynamics in biological systems.
Rob S. Stewart
Education: B.S., Chemistry, Canisius College, 2011
Ph.D. Penn State, 2016
Research Interests: Rob’s research focused on understanding the role of chemical, structural, and morphological influences on the photophysics and charge carrier dynamics in semiconductors for photovoltaics; specifically, semiconductor quantum dots and organometallic perovskites.
Adam Rimshaw
Education: B.S., Chemistry, Ursinus College, 2011
Ph.D. Penn State, 2016
Research: Adam’s research focused on ultrafast and nanosecond vis/NIR and mid-IR spectroscopy on organic electronic materials.
Alec V. Larsen
Education: B.S., Chemistry, Brigham Young University-Idaho, 2013
M.S. Penn State, 2016
Research Interests: Alec graduated with a Master in chemistry in 2016. While at Penn State his research focused on understanding the photophysical properties of photovoltaic materials.
Chris Averill
Education: B.S., Chemistry, University of Wyoming, 2010
M.S., Chemistry, Penn State 2013
Research: Chris graduated with a Masters in Chemistry in 2013. He is currently a Technical Analyst at Nexight Group in Washington DC.
Kwang Jeong
Education: B.S., Chemistry, Korea University, 2007 Ph.D., Penn State, 2013
Postdoc, University of Chicago, Philippe Guyot-Sionnest Group, 2013-Present
Assistant Professor at Korea University (2015)
Research: Kwang graduated in 2013 with a PhD in chemistry. He is currently an assistant professor at Korea University His work in the Asbury Lab focused understand how different ligands on quantum dots influenced charge transport.
Jihye Kim
Education: B.S., Chemistry, Korea University, 2008
Ph.D. Penn State, 2013
Research: Jihye worked on measuring vibrational and electronic features of quantum dots after various ligand exchange reactions. She graduated in 2013 with a PhD in chemistry.
Ryan Pensack
Education:
B.S., Chemistry, Rutgers University, 2006
Ph.D., Penn State, 2012
Postdoc, Princeton University, Gregory Scholes Group, 2012-2017
Staff Scientist, Ultrafast Spectroscopy, Boise State university, 2017-Present
Research: Ryan graduated in 2012 with a PhD in chemistry. He is currently working as an ultrafast spectroscopy staff scientist at Boise State University. His work in the Asbury lab involved developing ultrafast techniques for solvatochromism-assisted vibrational spectroscopy in organic materials.
M.S. Students
Kyle M. Banyas (2007-2011)
Larry W. Barbour (2005-2008)
Maureen Hegadorn (2005-2008)
Alexi S. Main (2005- 2008)