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Current REFS

Meet our current ChemREFS team! If you would like to schedule a confidential meeting for any reason, feel free to email one of us individually (except those listed under “StudentREFS in Training”) or the whole group at chemrefs@mit.edu. The FacultyREFS listed at the bottom of the page are here to help in this same capacity, so don’t hesitate to email one of them if you believe their perspective will be most helpful to you. Otherwise, we look forward to seeing all of you around the department and at ChemREFS-run events! 

StudentREFS

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Alexa Alexiu (alexiu@mit.edu)
Van Voorhis Group | 4th year | Theoretical

Alexa grew up in Romania, before moving to the UK for her undergraduate degree in (the other) Cambridge. She is a grad student in the Van Voorhis group, where she works on developing computational methods to study interesting materials for quantum dots and solar cells. When she’s not coding at her desk, Alexa likes going on photo walks, reading, and making hyper-specific Spotify playlists.

Sunhee Bae (baebae@mit.edu)
Kiessling Group | 6th year | Biological

Sunhee was born in Seoul, South Korea and spent her pre-college years moving to a new city every 3 years on average. She completed her undergraduate degree in Seoul National University and moved to Boston to study bacterial glycans in the Kiessling Group and break her personal record for the longest time lived in one city. Sunhee spends her spare time hiking and climbing, and convincing her friends to buy a bike.

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Maya Chattoraj (mchatt@mit.edu)
Tisdale Group | 4th year | Physical

Maya grew up in the Chicago area and completed her undergraduate degree at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is a graduate student in the Tisdale Lab (in the chemical engineering department) where she uses ultrafast spectroscopy to study interfacial charge transfer. Outside of the lab, Maya spends her time being a gym bro, meal prepping, and reading.

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Anna Davis (agdavis@mit.edu)
Jeremiah Johnson Group | 3rd year | Organic/PPMS

Anna grew up in Greensboro, NC and traveled down the road for undergrad at Duke University. She is a graduate student in the Johnson Group where she studies network toughening and counts loops. When she is not making and degrading polymers you can find her on a run, exploring greater Boston, or curled up with a good book and probably some candy.

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Kunal Lodaya (klodaya@mit.edu)
Surendranath Group | 6th year | Inorganic

Kunal grew up in Chapel Hill, NC, and completed his undergrad right near home at the University of North Carolina. He currently works in the Surendranath Group researching electrochemical conversation of nitrogen oxides. Outside of the lab, he enjoys rock climbing, video games, and playing D&D with his friends, while also raising two beautiful cats.

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Vennela Mannava  (vmannava@mit.edu)
Surendranath Group | 5th year | Inorganic

Vennela grew up in MA and completed her undergrad at the University of Chicago. Missing the slightly warmer northeastern winters, she moved back to MA for grad school, joining the Surendranath Group to study the electrochemistry of adsorbed molecules. In her spare time, she enjoys doing jigsaw puzzles and exploring Boston.

Kaelyn McFarlane-Connelly  (kaelynmc@mit.edu)
Bawendi Group | 4th year | Physical

Kaelyn grew up in the California Bay Area but moved to complete her undergraduate degree in snowy upstate New York at the University of Rochester. She is now a second year in the Bawendi Lab where she makes tiny cubes and then shoots lasers at them. Outside of research, she enjoys climbing, trying new recipes, and playing DND!

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Katie Pelham (kapelham@mit.edu)
Elkin Group | 3rd year | Organic

Katie grew up in the Catskill mountains in NY and obtained her B.A. in chemistry from Skidmore College. After graduating, she worked as a medicinal chemist for three years before returning to graduate school and joining the Elkin lab to research organic methodology. Outside of lab, she enjoys being outdoors—hiking, skiing, gardening, and camping, or enjoying live music, crafting, baking or reading while indoors..

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Omar Salinas  (osalinas@mit.edu)
Peng Group | 4th year | Biological

Omar grew up in Chicago, IL, and completed his undergrad at the University of Chicago. When he is not making and studying upconverting nanoparticles, Omar enjoys dancing (hip-hop and a little contemporary), cooking/baking, trying new foods, exploring the East Coast, and adding more hats to his collection!

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Alice Su (alicesu@mit.edu)
Dincă Group | 5th year | Inorganic

Alice grew up and completed her undergrad in Munich, Germany. When she is not making materials in lab, you can likely find her strolling around some body of water, pitching a tent and enjoying the sunshine. At home she likes to make art for her apartment or her friends.

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Alev Studenikina (alev848@mit.edu )
Peng Group | 3rd year | Physical/ Theory

Alev was born in Moscow, Russia, attended high school in the UK, and then decided to keep moving and came to the US to do her undergrad at Princeton University. When Alev is not busy trying to get upconverting nanoparticles to do her bidding, you can find her binging fantasy novels, dancing, catching up with her family, keeping up her doodle Instagram account, and learning how to be a menace in different languages (currently, the Chinese-speaking members of the Peng lab are taking the brunt of it).

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David Ullery  (ulleryd@mit.edu)
Freedman Group | 5th year | Inorganic

David grew up in Cincinnati and stayed in Ohio to obtain his undergraduate degree from Ohio State University. He now studies molecular qubits in the Freedman group and is working to synthesize new chromium compounds of all colors in the rainbow (currently has OGBIV) . Outside of the lab he enjoys going to the gym, playing Zelda, and camping.

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Marissa Vera (mvera@mit.edu)
Kiessling Group | 5th year | Chemical Biology

Marissa grew up in Laredo, Texas before moving to complete her undergrad at the University of Texas at Austin. She’s currently a graduate student in the Kiessling Group, where she studies lectin-glycan interactions. Outside of the lab, Marissa enjoys making collages, horror movies (the artsy kind), thrifting, and watching her dog chase bubbles.

StudentREFS in Training

FacultyREFS

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Matthew Shoulders (mshoulde@mit.edu)
Professor of Chemistry

Matt earned his B.S. in chemistry at Virginia Tech in 2004 and his Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2009. After postdoctoral research at Scripps Research Institute, he began his independent career as a faculty member in the MIT Department of Chemistry in 2012. His lab studies the molecular mechanisms of protein folding in cells and uses evolution as a tool to understand proteostasis and develop new biotechnologies. Matt was a founding member of the MIT Chemistry Department’s Quality of Life Committee, and he has chaired QoL since 2019. In 2018, Matt’s contributions to mentorship were recognized by MIT’s student-nominated Committed to Caring Award for outstanding graduate student mentorship. In 2022, he received the MacVicar Faculty Fellowship for exemplary and sustained contributions to undergraduate teaching and education at MIT. Matt has been a FacultyREF since 2021.

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Timothy Swager (tswager@mit.edu)
John D. MacArthur Professor of Chemistry

Tim is a native of Montana. He received a BS from Montana State University in 1983 and a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in 1988. After a postdoctoral appointment at MIT, he joined University of Pennsylvania 1990-1996 and returned to MIT in 1996 as a Professor of Chemistry and served as the Head of Chemistry from 2005-2010. His research interests are in design, synthesis, and study of organic-based electronic, sensory, energy storage, membranes, liquid crystals, and colloids.