Post-Doc Fellows
Dr. Dhruba Poudel
Education
M.S. in Organic Chemistry, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio
Profile
Dhruba was born in Nawalparasi, Nepal – 125 miles southwest from capital city, Kathmandu. He received his Master’s degree in Organic Chemistry from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal. After teaching at the undergraduate level for 5 years, he moved to the US in 2016 to pursue his doctoral degree. Accordingly, he completed his PhD in Chemistry from Miami University of Ohio in 2021 under the supervision of Dr. Richard T. Taylor with the primary focus of his research being organic synthesis (using click chemistry) and polymers (dendrimers, glycosaminoglycans, molecular antenna and fluorescence transfer, and bioconjugates). In 2021, Dhruba came to Penn State as a post-doctoral researcher. Besides research work, he loves to spend time with his family, watch movies, and play soccer.
Dr. Raj tak
Education
M.Sc. in Chemistry, University of Rajasthan – Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
Ph.D. in Chemistry, Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute – Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India
Postdoctoral Fellow, Microbial Chemistry Research Foundation – Tokyo, Japan
Profile
Raj was born in Rajasthan, India. He completed his Master’s degree from Rajasthan University Jaipur, Rajasthan. He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, India in 2018 under the supervision of Late Prof. Dr. R. I. Kureshy. His doctoral research work focused on the “Development of chiral catalyst for various organic transformations”. Later on, in 2019 he received the prestigious JSPS Post-Doctoral Fellowship and worked under Prof. Dr. Masakatsu Shibasaki at the Microbial Chemistry Research Foundation (BIKAKEN), Tokyo, Japan until August 2021. Raj joined the Giri group in September 2021, where he focused on asymmetric dicarbofunctionalization reactions of alkene. Apart from research, he loves to play cricket and listen to music. He has since traveled to Scotland for a post-doc as a Marie Curie Fellow!
Dr. amrit Pokhrel
Education
M.Sc. in Chemistry, Tribhuvan University – Kathmandu, Nepal
Ph.D. in Chemistry, The University of New Mexico – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Profile
Amrit was born and raised in Nepal, where he completed his master’s degree in Chemistry at Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu. After spending some time teaching Chemistry at undergraduate level, he went on to pursue doctoral studies at The University of New Mexico under the guidance of Dr. Martin Kirk. While there, his research mainly focused on design, synthesis and characterization of model complexes related to Molybdoenzymes and investigating geometric and electronic properties of the synthesized models using multiple spectroscopic techniques and computational methods. After graduating in summer of 2021, he moved to Penn State and joined the Giri group as a postdoctoral researcher. Outside of the lab, he enjoys spending time with his family, traveling, watching movies, playing games, and listening to music. Amrit has now taken a position in Maryland.
Dr. Rishi Sapkota
Education
M.Sc. in Organic Chemistry, Tribhuvan University – Kathmandu, Nepal
M.S. in Organic Chemistry, New Mexico State University – Las Cruces, New Mexico
Ph.D. in Chemistry, New Mexico State University – Las Cruces, New Mexico
Profile
Rishi was born Sindhupalchok, Nepal where he grew up and completed his Master’s in Organic Chemistry from Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu. He taught for 6 years at National School of Science (NSS) in Kathmandu before moving to the United States for his higher education where he completed his master’s and then his Ph.D. in 2018 at NMSU under the supervision of Dr. Jeffrey Arterburn. After finishing his Ph.D., he worked as a college assistant professor at NMSU and then decided to do a post-doc at NMSU with Dr. Jeffrey Arterburn. Rishi came to Penn State in August 2019 to do an additional post-doctoral position. He has now started a position at Adesis, Inc. in Delaware.
Dr. DS Niroula
Education
M.Sc. in Organic Chemistry, Tribhuvan University – Kathmandu, Nepal
M.S. in Organic Chemistry, Middle Tennessee State University – Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Ph.D. in Chemistry, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology – Socorro, New Mexico
Profile
DS received his master’s degree in Chemistry from Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, Nepal. After teaching undergraduate students at United Academy in Kathmandu, he came to the United Stated to pursue his M.S. in chemistry at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) where he worked with Dr. Norma K. Dunlap in a project related with the synthesis of belactosin A. He then completed his Ph.D. in 2019 at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology under the supervision of Dr. Rodolfo Tello-Aburto where he conducted research in the synthesis of the biological evaluation of beta-lactone proteasome inhibitors and anti-cancer agents. DS came to Penn State in August 2019 to pursue a post-doctoral position in the Giri lab where he worked on the design of enantioselective alkene dicarbofunctionalization reactions. DS left the Giri group in July 2021 after accepting a position as a Senior Process Chemist at Cambrex.
Dr. Santosh Gurung
Currently a Senior Chemist at Eurofins PSS Insourcing Solutions.
Graduate Students
Galymzhan Moldagulov
Education
B.S. in Chemistry, Minor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Republic of Korea
Profile
Galymzhan is from Aktau, Kazakhstan. He graduated from Aktau Bilim-Innovation High-School, where he devoted his extracurricular time to studying chemistry and proved his knowledge in intellectual competitions, including the International Chemistry Olympiad. Then he moved to South Korea to pursue his Bachelor’s degree in KAIST, where he did an individual study on “Total Synthesis of High-Order Securinega Alkaloids via the Rauhut-Currier Type Reactions” with Dr. Sunkyu Han, and then his Bachelor’s thesis on “Degradation of Polyethylene Glycol by Mechanochemical and Photocatalytic Methods” under the supervision of Dr. Soon Hyeok Hong. Galymzhan is an active member of Republican Board of Chemistry Olympiad Compilers (QazChO), where he authored 15 original exam tasks for Kazakhstan’s National Chemistry Olympiad and mentored students at IChO 2022 in Tianjin, China. Galymzhan is a big fan of ice-skating, cycling, industrial metal and alternative rock.
Danny Lux
Education
B.S. in Chemistry, Stony Brook University – Stony Brook, New York
M.S. in Chemistry, Stony Brook University – Stony Brook, New York
Profile
Danny was born in New Rochelle, New York. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemistry from Stony Brook University in 2017 and 2018, respectively, where he worked to build macrocycles for use as hosts for the preparation of carbyne, the sp-hybridized allotrope of carbon. Danny joined the Giri research group in 2019, where he seeks to develop and employ novel methods in the concise synthesis of pharmaceutically-active compounds
Julia Katzbaer
(Co-advised with Dr. Elizabeth Elacqua)
Education
ity – Columbus, Ohio
Profile
Julia is from Delaware, Ohio. She attended The Ohio State University, where she majored in biochemistry and minored in chemistry. She did research in the lab of Dr. Noel Paul, seeking to develop a carborane-based macrocycle for metal ion chelation. She completed her bachelor’s degree in 2018. In her free time, Julia enjoys hiking, cooking, gardening, and watching animal videos.
Zelie HUMMER
Education
B.S. in Chemistry, Saint Vincent College, Latrobe, Pennsylvania
Profile
Zelie is from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Saint Vincent College in 2020, where she majored in chemistry and minored in creative writing. During a summer internship at the University Of Pittsburgh in 2019, she worked in Dr. Yiming Wang’s Group seeking to develop a catalytic method for the functionalization of allenes. Outside of the lab Zelie enjoys reading, writing, photography, and spending time with her pet rabbit.
IOANNIS STYLIANOU
Education
B.S. in Chemistry, University of Leeds, UK
MRes in Organic Chemistry: Drug Discovery, University College London (UCL), UK
Profile
Ioannis is from Nicosia, Cyprus. His MRes research project at UCL “Inhibitors of Covid-19 Protease” was under the supervision of Prof. Alethea Tabor. Aim of his research was the discovery of broad-spectrum antivirals, through a combination of computational design and screening against the main viral protease. His B.S research project, under the supervision of Dr. Martin McPhille, focused on the synthesis of fluorine-containing molecules for chemical biology and drug discovery which play a critical role in the development of bioactive drugs. He joined Prof Giri’s group in January 2023 and currently working on catalytic photoredox functionalization of enol silanes. In his free time, he enjoys playing soccer, listen to music and play games.
Laura Wickham
Education
B.S. in Chemistry, Marist College – Poughkeepsie, New York
Profile
Laura was born in Staten Island, NY and grew up in Middletown, NJ. She attended Marist College where she earned her B.S. in Chemistry. While there, she worked with Dr. Jocelyn Nadeau synthesizing and studying the photophysical properties of solvatochromic compounds containing fluorene-quinoxaline donor-acceptor chromophores. Laura graduated from the Giri group in 2022.
Roshan K. Dhungana
Education
M.Sc. in Organic Chemistry, Tribhuvan University – Kathmandu, Nepal
Ph.D in Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University – State College, Pennsylvania
Profile
Roshan was born in Dhanusha, Nepal. He received his Master’s degree with distinction from Tribhuvan University in Nepal in Organic Chemistry under the supervision of Dr. Suryakant Kalauni. After earning his M.Sc., he worked as a chemistry lecturer in Kathmandu engineering college (KCST), Morgan international college, and Nimble Academy. Roshan joined the Giri Research Group in the spring of 2016 and when not in the lab he loves to watch soccer, cricket, listen to music, and spend time with his family. Roshan graduated in 2021 and is now a posdoctoral researcher in the lab of Gary Molander at the University of Pennsylvania.
Lucas J. Chesley
Education
B.A. in Chemistry and French, The University of New Mexico – Albuquerque, New Mexico
M.S. in Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University – State College, Pennsylvania
Profile
Lucas was born in Chicago, Illinois and grew up in Marshall, Minnesota. He moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico to compete his bachelor’s degree and received a B.A. in both Chemistry and French in 2017 where he did research under Dr. Lina Cui in total synthesis of heparanase imaging molecules to monitor heparanse activity in cancer cells. Lucas decided to attend Penn State University for graduate school and joined the Giri group in Fall 2018. In his free time, Lucas enjoys learning new languages and is proficient in Russian, German, and French. Additionally he enjoys cooking, hiking, and watching movies. Lucas graduated in 2021 and is now a research scientist at the Novartis Institute of Biomedical Research.
Robert W. Lebrun
Education
B.S in Biology, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology – Socorro, New Mexico
Profile
Rob was born in Los Alamos New Mexico. He received his B.S. Degree in Biology from New Mexico Tech and did his research with drug synthesis and testing under the supervision of Dr. Snezna and Dr. Frolova . Later he worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a post-baccalaureate student and worked there as an energetic materials chemist for two years. Rob was a part of the Giri research group from January 2017 to June 2020. When not in the lab, Rob enjoys backpacking, camping, climbing, mountain biking, snowboarding, learning new things, and working on various electrical and mechanical engineering projects.
Shekhar KC
Education
M.Sc. in Inorganic Chemistry, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
Ph.D. in Chemistry, The University of New Mexico
Profile
Shekhar was born in Syangja, a western part of Nepal. He received his M.Sc. Degree in Inorganic Chemistry from Tribhuvan University and did his research under the supervision of Dr. Paras Nath Yadav. Later he joined St. Xavier College, Kathmandu, and worked there as a lecturer for three years. Shekhar then resumed his higher studies at UNM in Fall 2014 and joined Dr. Giri’s research lab in 2015. He graduate with his Ph.D. in the Giri group in spring 2019. Shekhar completed a post-doc fellowship at the University of California San Diego with Professor Valerie Schmidt in 2020 and completed a second post-doc at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln under Professor James Takacs. Shekhar is currently working as a Senior Development Chemist at Johnson Matthey.
Namrata Khanal
Education
M.S. in Chemistry,
Profile
Namrata Khanal received B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Chemistry from Tribhuvan University, Nepal. Later, she moved to USA and joined University of Texas at El Paso. After graduating with M.S. in Chemistry from UTEP, she moved to UNM for doctoral study. Namrata is currently a graduate student at the University of New Mexico.
Prakash Basnet
Education
M.Sc. in Organic Chemistry, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
Ph.D. in Chemistry, The University of New Mexico, 2018
Profile
Prakash Basnet was born in Tanahun, Nepal. He completed his MSc in organic chemistry and graduated with Distinction from Tribhuvan University under the supervision of Dr. Bimala Subba. As a graduate student, he conducted research related to the natural products. He worked as a chemistry instructor at Araniko H.S. Boarding School. Enthralled by the power of education, he aspired to obtain higher degree and moved to the U.S. in 2013 as a graduate student at UNM. In the Fall of the same year, he joined Giri Research Group and graduate with his Ph.D. in the fall of 2018. Prakash completed a post-doc fellow at the University of Pennsylvania with Professor Marisa Kozlowski in 2021 and now works as a chemist for Johnson Matthey.
Bijay Shrestha
Education
M.Sc. in Organic Chemistry, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
Ph.D. in Chemistry, The University of New Mexico
Profile
Bijay Shrestha was born in Kathmandu, Nepal. He graduated with distinction from Tribhuvan University (Nepal) with an M.Sc. in organic chemistry in 2008 under the supervision of Dr. Surya Kant Kalauni. After graduation, he worked as chemistry lecturer in Morgan International College (Nepal) for 3 years. He joined Giri Research Group in the Fall of 2013 and graduate with his Ph.D. in spring 2018. Bijay is completed a post-doc fellow at UIUC with Professor Scott Denmark in 2021 and is currently a post-doc at UCLA.
Surendra Thapa
Education
B.A. in Chemistry, South Dakota State University
Ph.D, in Chemistry, The University of New Mexico
Profile
Surendra Thapa was born in 1987 and raised in Kathmandu, Nepal. He graduated with a BA in Chemistry from South Dakota State University in Brookings, SD in 2010. In 2012, he began his graduate studies at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, NM where he worked with Dr. Tatiana Timofeeva, Dr. Kaiguo Chang and Dr. Carol Linder. He joined the Giri group in the summer of 2013 and graduate with his Ph.D. in spring 2018. Surendra completed a post-doc at Harvard University with Professor Jarad Mason in 2020 and now works as a chemist for Johnson Matthey.
Ryan Pike
Education
B.A. in Chemistry, The University of New Mexico
M.S. in Chemistry, The University of New Mexico
Profile
Ryan graduated from Los Lunas High School, located 20 miles south of Albuquerque in the class of 2010. In his final year at UNM, Ryan joined the Giri research group in the Fall of 2014. Outside of class, he enjoys hiking, exercising, and playing sports. Ryan graduate with his Master’s in Chemistry in the Giri group in fall 2017.
Undergraduate Students
Joshua SangallI
REU Undergraduate Student
Profile
AVA DEL RIO
Profile
Ava is from Allentown, Pennsylvania. Currently, she is a third-year undergraduate student at Penn State majoring in chemistry. She joined the Giri research group in the summer of 2021 as an REU student to gain experience and knowledge in chemistry research. In her free time, she enjoys the arts, cooking, traveling, and spending time with her friends and family!
Aaron Tsai
Profile
Aaron is an undergraduate chemistry major from State College, PA. He joined the Giri group in summer 2022 in order to gain experience in an organic synthesis lab. In his free time, he enjoys tennis, origami, chess, and spending time in nature with friends.
Anurag Kumar
Profile
Anurag was born in Pittsburgh, PA. He graduated from Franklin Regional high school in 2018 and currently an undergraduate student at Penn State majoring in chemistry. Anurag joined the Giri research group in 2020 to expand his experience in chemistry research. He enjoys tennis, soccer and watching movies.
Nick Secosky
Profile
Nick is from Mount Pleasant, PA. He completed his bachelors degree in chemistry at Penn State in Spring of 2022. He has since begun work at Millipore Sigma. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, hunting and fishing!
Elaf Alasadi
Profile
Elaf was originally from the Middle East. She graduated from Highland high school in 2011 and currently an undergraduate student at UNM majoring in chemistry. She joined the Giri Group in Fall 2015 to develop advanced laboratory skills and enhance her learning experience as a chemistry major. In her free time, Elaf likes reading novels, dancing, working out, and snow boarding.
John Max Dawkins
Profile
Max was born in Fountain Hills, Arizona in 1992. He moved to New Mexico in 1996, where he attended high school at Albuquerque Academy. Graduating in 2011, Max began attending the University of New Mexico in the fall of 2011. He spent a year on the National Student Exchange at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for 2012-13 and returned to spend the remainder of his undergraduate career at UNM. Max joined the Giri research group for the summer of 2015. When Max is not in the lab, he enjoys playing golf, skateboarding, cycling, and playing the guitar.
Jamie Fenton
Profile
Jamie was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She graduated from La Cueva high school in 2016 and is currently an undergraduate student at Dartmouth college. She is studying biochemistry and cultural anthropology with an emphasis on Asian and Middle Eastern studies in the hopes of attending medical school and furthering her research in both disciplines. She joined the Giri group in 2018 to hone her laboratory skills and begin to develop techniques for my own future research projects.
Kira Hughes
Profile
Currently a graduate student at the University of Washington.
Christine Lucky
Profile
Christine graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, 
located in Virginia in 2013. She is currently an undergraduate student at Washington University in St. Louis. She joined the Giri group as a REU student for the summer of 2015. In her free time, Christine likes to read, spend time with family, and play ultimate Frisbee.
Adam Montoya
Profile
Adam graduated from Española Valley High School, located in Northern New Mexico
, in 2010. Currently in his fourth year attending UNM, Adam joined the Giri research group in the summer of 2014. In his free time, he enjoys golfing, playing guitar, and visiting his family back home.
Patrick Riedel
Profile
Patrick was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1994. He graduated from Del Norte
high school in 2012. In the spring of 2014 Patrick joined the Giri Research group. Outside of taking classes and being in the lab, he enjoys reading, cycling and watching films. Patrick is currently a graduate student at the University of New Mexico.
Amanda Rodriguez
Profile
Amanda is originally from Chicago, Illinois. She graduated from Volcano Vista H.S. in 2012. She is currently an undergraduate student at UNM. With passion for resear
ch, Amanda joined the Giri research group in Spring of 2015. In her free time, Amanda likes to do yoga, spend time with family and friends, and play the violin.
Devin Rollins
Profile
I was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico and graduated from Cibola Hi
gh School in 2017. I am currently an undergraduate student at UNM studying Biochemistry and Psychology. In my free time I am an avid runner, and I also enjoy biking and hiking.
Natalia Tenorio
Profile
Natalia Tenorio was born and raised in Las Cruces, NM. She studied Geology at the N
ew Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NMT), in Socorro, NM, for 3 years before transferring to UNM in the Fall of 2015. She is currently a junior undergraduate Chemistry major, minoring in Earth Science and Mathamatics. She joined Dr. Giri’s team in the Summer of 2016 as a Research Aide. Natalia is currently a graduate student at the University of New Mexico.
Adarsh Vangala
Profile
Adarsh Vangala was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1995. He attended high 
school at Albuquerque Academy, and after graduating he started attending the University of New Mexico in the fall of 2012. Adarsh joined the Giri group during the summer of 2013. In his free time, Adarsh enjoys reading and playing tennis.
High School Students
Ariana Munoz
Hello, my name is Ariana Munoz. I am a high-school student looking to pursue a c
areer in the medical field. I am currently attending South Valley Academy and am really excited to be a part of Professor Ramesh Giri’s Lab with this summer internship opportunity.
Edgar Portillo
Hi, I am Edgar Portillo and I volunteer in the chemistry lab lead by Mr. Giri. I started working in the Lab since June 1st, 2015 and I’ve used my great Math skills and applied them to the lab as I go along. Ever since I was a little I’ve always wanted to become a cop and as I grew older my career interest changed to becoming an Engineer to be exact a Biomedical Engineer. But this year I discovered I was really good at another field in the Engineering field and that other field is Civil Engineer. Since my Father works in a Civil Engineer business I’ve discovered my changes in landing a good job in the civil engineering field was great. I joined the lab because I ‘m great with numbers and my professor recommended me and even though my mind not be set in the a chemical or biology field my mind might change again and this volunteer internship is definitely helping. I continue working in the Chemistry Lab and my math skills continue to help me get the job well done.
Jackson Rider
Jackson is currently a student at Albuquerque Academy, class of 2015. He has lived in New Mexico for his whole life, and loves to play and watch soccer. His favorite team
s are Arsenal and Barcelona. Jackson also ran track and cross country while in high school. He will be attending Colorado State University and intends to major in Mechanical Engineering, and minor in Aerospace Engineering. He is also highly interested in all the different types of sciences and Chemistry has always been something very interesting to him.
Jasmain Rodriguez
Jasmain Rodriguez is currently a high school student. She attends South Valley
Academy and is part of the class of 2016. Jasmain was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She loves being with family and friends and she enjoys going out to different places. Jasmain has always been interested in science but her high school chemistry class was quite different and more interesting to her.