Group Alumni

Caroline Grand

Caroline received her PhD in the Reynolds group from 2010 – 2014. Her research focused on soluble isoindigo polymers for organic photovoltaic applications. After graduating, she began working as a research chemist for Dow Electronic Materials outside of Boston, with her research focusing on InterConnect Technology

Justin Kerszulis

Justin Kerszulis received his PhD in the Reynolds group from 2009 – 2014. His research focused on electrochromic polymers. After graduating, Justin moved on to Kinestral in San Fransisco to work as a research scientist on polymeric ion conducting layers in electrochromic devices (ECDs) as well as technical lead for anode and cathode materials in ECDs.

Hayden Black

After obtaining his PhD from UNC Chapel Hill and working as a postdoc at McGill University, Hayden worked as a postdoc in the Reynolds group from 2014-2015, focusing on the synthesis and physical characterization of π-conjugated semiconductors for solar energy applications. After leaving the Reynolds group, Hayden went on to work as a staff scientist at Sandia National Lab.

Ray Bulloch

Ray, a native Floridian, joined the Reynolds group during the fall term of 2010. He earned his B.S. in Chemistry at Florida State University while working under the direction of Dr. Michael Roper. He remains a steadfast Seminoles fan. Ray received his PhD in July, 2015. After graduating, Ray went on to work as a research scientist at Intel

Joshua Hollett

Joshua received his Masters from the Reynolds group from 2012-2015. His research focused on donor-acceptor chromophore-cataylst assemblies for solar fuels. After graduating, Josh moved on to work as a chemist for Allnex Resins in Alpharetta, GA.

Toan Pho

Toan worked in the Reynolds group as a postdoc from 2012-2015 after receiving his PhD from the Wudl group at UC Santa Barbara. After the Reynolds group, Toan went on to a professional development program with BASF.

Natasha Teran

Natasha Teran, who hails from the Philippines, joined the Reynolds group after starting her graduate studies in the spring of 2010. Her research focused on the synthesis and study of structure-property relationships of telechelic donor-acceptor oligomers and their corresponding polymers, as well as the synthesis and characterization of donor-acceptor chromophores for nonlinear optics. Natasha received her PhD in chemistry in October, 2015

Xiaochu Ba

Xiaochu is from Hebei province, China. He received his B.S degree in chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he worked under Professor Jianjun Cheng. Xiaochu joined the Reynolds group during the fall of 2014, as a jointly advised student with Dr. Seth Marder. He graduated with his M.S. degree in organic chemistry in December of 2016.

Erdal Uzunlar

Erdal received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering in 2015 from Georgia Tech. His Ph.D. work involved materials and processing research for chip-chip interconnection and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) packaging. His research in the Reynolds group focused on electrochromic polymers and electrochromic devices on novel substrates. Erdal left the group in the fall of 2016 and currently lives in Troy, New York with his wife and baby daughter.

Jeff Hernandez

Jeff was born in Caracas Venezuela and grew up in Clearwater Florida. He attended the University of South Florida for his undergraduate where he worked on viscoelastic properties of polymers and novel synthesis of polymers. He received his degree in Chemistry and moved to Georgia Tech in Fall of 2012 where he joined the Reynolds group. Jeff graduated in the spring of 2017 with his Ph.D. and continued his career in polymer science at Solvay Specialty Polymers in Alpharetta, Georgia.

Bing Xu

Bing joined the Reynolds group as a postdoctoral fellow in August 2015. She was born and raised in North China. After receiving her B.S. in Chemistry from Nankai University, she came to the United States to pursue Ph.D. degree at University of Southern California. She focused her Ph.D. work on investigating the structure-property-performance relationships of semiconducting polymers. Her current research is to develop new polymer materials for organic photovoltaics.

Rylan Wolfe

Rylan was born in Minnesota and raised in North Dakota. He graduated from North Dakota State University with a B.S. in Chemistry, where he worked under Dr. Seth Rasmussen in conjugated organic materials and Dr. Ihle in kinetic theory of self-propelled particles. He joined the Reynolds group in the fall of 2012.

Brian Schmatz

Brian Schmatz joined the Reynolds group in 2013 after receiving his B.A in Chemistry from NYU. His research focused on polymers, in particular on the design and synthesis of amorphous polymers for hole transport materials, OPVs, and PLEDs. Brian’s passion was sustainability, and served as the co-chair of the Student Government Sustainability Committee. After receiving his Ph.D. Brian joined BASF where he continues to combine his interests in polymers and sustainability.

Kin Lo

Kin graduated with his Ph.D. in the spring of 2017 and continued his research as a postdoc in the Reynolds group. In January 2019 Kin joined the Kohl group in the Chemical and Bimolecular Engineering department at GT.

Dylan Christiansen

Dylan is from Fort Walton Beach, Florida. He graduated from the University of West Florida with a B.S. in Chemistry in 2013. While at UWF he worked under Dr. Michael Huggins on synthesis and characterization of pyrrole-based liquid crystals and under Dr. Leonard ter Haar on DFT calculations involving olivine crystal structures as analogs for lithium ion battery cathodes. He joined the Reynolds group in the fall of 2013, and his research focuses on synthesis and characterization of conjugated electrochromic polymers. Dylan defended in April 2019 and is now working as a research scientist at iGlass in Irvine, CA.

Melony Ochieng

Melony was born in Kisumu Kenya and grew up in Durham North Carolina. She graduated from North Carolina Central University (NCCU) with a B.S in chemistry and pharmaceutical sciences. While at NCCU she worked under the supervision of Dr. Darlene Taylor on the synthesis and characterization of pH & temperature sensitive hyperbrached polyglycerol polymer for the delivery of cancer drugs. She joined Dr. Reynolds group in the fall of 2015. Her research focuses on the synthesis and characterization of conjugated polyelectrolytes. Melony defended in the spring of 2019 and is now working as a research engineer at Intel in Portland, OR.

Michel de Keersmaecker

Michel was born and raised in Belgium. He received his PhD in Analytical Chemistry in 2015 from Ghent University studying various electrochemistry and surface analysis techniques on metal substrates. He started as a postdoctoral fellow in the Reynolds group to work in the areas of electrochromic devices and conjugated polymer electrochemistry.

Graham Collier

Graham, originally from Fayetteville, NC, received his B.S. in chemistry in 2011 from the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Upon graduation, Graham enrolled in the Master of Science program at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and studied porphyrin chromophores under the direction of Dr. Michael Walter. After graduating in 2013, Graham enrolled in the chemistry Ph.D. program at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville with a concentration in polymer chemistry. Graham’s dissertation entailed studying structure-property relationships of purine-based polymers and chromophores under the guidance of Dr. Mike Kilbey. Graham received his Ph.D. in 2017 and joined the Reynolds Research Group as a Postdoctoral Research Associate studying conjugated polymers for electrochromism.

Sandy Pittelli

Sandy was born and raised in Annapolis, Maryland. She joined the Reynolds group after graduating from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a B.S. in Chemistry. Her research focuses on the chemical oxidation of electrochromic and conducting polymers.

Ian Pelse

Ian was born in New Jersey and received his undergraduate chemistry degree from Bard College in NY, working on high resolution direct laser writing methods under Dr. Chris LaFratta. He joined the Reynolds group in Fall 2014 to work on characterization, performance, and morphology of semiconducting polymers. After receiving his PhD, he worked with both Meisha Shofner and the Reynolds group as a postdoc before taking a position at Henkel.

Austin Bassett

Austin was born in Utah and raised in Nevada. He received his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Nevada-Reno (UNR). During his time at UNR he worked in Dr Wesley Chalifoux’s lab synthesizing modified nanographenes. He joined the Reynolds Group to synthesize conjugated polymers for electrochromic purposes.

Gus Lang

Gus was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. He earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from USC where he worked with fiber reinforced composite materials. He joined the Reynolds group in the fall of 2015. His research focuses on studying conductive cellulose based substrates for electrochromic and energy storage devices.

Linda Nhon

Linda was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida. She attended the University of Florida where she received her B.S. in Microbiology and Cell Science. She joined the Reynold’s group in Fall 2015. Linda’s research focuses on the synthesis and characterization of chromophore/catalyst assemblies used in dye sensitized photoelectrosynthesis cells.

Lisa Savagian

Lisa joined the Reynolds Group in 2016 as a graduate student in Materials Science and Engineering. Before earning her B.S. in Chemistry from Hope College in 2016, she conducted research at the University of Strathcylde, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Lisa’s work in the Reynolds Group aims to develop processing and patterning methods for conjugated polymer-based devices.

Zach Seibers

Zach was born in Mississippi and raised in Tennessee. In 2011, he received his B.S. degree in chemical engineering from Tennessee Technological University. After a brief stent in industry as a consultant, he chose to enroll in The University of Tennessee’s Energy Science & Engineering Ph.D. program with a concentration in materials science. His dissertation focused on investigating strategies to control the morphological behavior of organic solar cells and was performed under the direction of Dr. Mike Kilbey. After graduating in December 2016, Zach attended a short-term postdoc program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the Macromolecular Nanomaterials group where he specialized in mass spectroscopy analysis of polymers. Zach joined the Reynolds group as a postdoc in October of 2017 and worked on developing radiation shielding materials for space applications. In 2021 he joined Solvay.

Abigail Advincula

Abigail joined the Reynolds Group in 2016 as a graduate student in Materials Science and Engineering. She completed her B.S.E. in Polymer Science & Engineering at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH. During her time there, she worked in a tissue engineering laboratory under Professor Jon Pokorski and completed summer research experiences at The Lubrizol Corporation and Texas A&M. The focus of Abigail’s work in the Reynolds Group is on synthesis and characterization of bulk heterojunction polymers for organic photovoltaics. In her spare time, she enjoys reading and running.

Brandon DiTullio

Brandon is from Charleston, South Carolina. He completed both his B.S. and M.S. in Chemistry at Furman University. Working in tandem with Drs. Timothy Hanks and Paul Molino, Brandon conducted research in the area of organic, conductive polymer synthesis and characterization. He joined the Reynolds group in the fall of 2017, and plans to work on synthesizing and characterizing polymers for use in biotechnology.

Austin Jones

Austin was born and raised in Hagerstown, Maryland and obtained his Bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Frostburg State University (western Maryland) in 2013. After careful consideration and encouragement from his undergraduate advisor, he decided to pursue higher education at the University of Florida under the mentorship of Professor Kirk Schanze. Here he became interested in conjugated materials with an emphasis on synthesizing oligomers for the purpose of studying photoinduced electron transfer. In 2017, he was awarded his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry and moved to Atlanta to begin his postdoctoral work under Professor John Reynolds in the field of polymer/material chemistry. Bridging off of his photophysical and synthetic background, he continued to build his conjugated material knowledge by synthesizing polymers for photovoltaic and redox-active purposes. Additionally, he had the opportunity to fabricate solar cell devices to continue building a comprehensive background in conjugated molecules now including photophysics, synthetic chemistry, and device assembly. Austin is currently a Research Scientist at Solvay Specialty Polymers

James Ponder

James, originally from Fort Lauderdale Florida, received his B.S. degree in chemistry from the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. During his time there he conducted research under Dr. Kenneth Laali in the field of ionic liquids. James joined the Reynolds group in the spring 2012 and graduated with his Ph.D. in the summer of 2017. He joined the McCulloch group at Imperial College London to continue research on electroactive polymers for several years before returning to Georgia Tech and serving as a postdoc in Shannon Yee’s group.

Jalen Borne

Jalen was born in Marietta, Georgia, and graduated with his B.S. in Chemistry from Georgia Tech. He researched different methods of energy storage like ammonia, batteries, and hydrazine with Mohammadreza Nazemi, Matthew McDowell, and Los Alamos National Laboratory, respectively. He joined the Reynolds group in 2022 as a Master’s student in Materials Science and Engineering, where he plans to work on fabricating and characterizing organic photovoltaic devices. In his free time, he loves singing in choir and writing about science communication.

Sina Sabury

Sina joined the Reynolds group in 2021 as a postdoctoral fellow. He received his BS and MS in Polymer Science and Engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology. He then enrolled in The University of Tennessee-Knoxville pursuing a PhD in chemistry with a concentration on Polymer Chemistry under the supervision of Dr. Mike Kilbey. His dissertation was focused on diversifying conjugated polymers through side chain engineering. Sina’s research in the Reynolds group centered around developing polymers for non-fullerene organic photovoltaics. In 2023 he joined Bakelite Synthetics. In his spare time, Sina enjoys hiking and watching sport competitions, specifically basketball.

Jonas Braun

Jonas Braun joined the group in 2015 as a materials science and engineering (MSE) major undergraduate student. He worked in the Reynold’s Lab as a member of the MSE Undergraduate Research Scholar Program and is very involved in recruitment with his department. Jonas is a member of the Georgia Tech Marching and Symphonic Bands and has participated in the Georgia Tech Pep Band. Jonas enjoys rock climbing, eating, glazing, baking, film, artisan breads, exploring new places, hiking, and environmental service. His favorite band is the Killers. Jonas left the group at the end of 2015.

Elliot Brim

Elliot Brim was born just an hour away in Suwanee, Georgia and have lived there all of his life. He is finishing his third and final year of my undergraduate degree in Chemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is working with Zach Seibers on producing polymer-graphene composites for purposes of radiation shielding. He deeply enjoys exploring new places, and look forward to where his next stint in education will take me as he will pursue graduate school.

Abigail Dejneka

Abby is from Corning, NY. She is currently working towards a BS in Materials Science and Engineering with a Concentration in Structural and Functional Materials and a Minor in Computing and Intelligence. She joined the Reynolds group in Summer 2021 and expects to graduate in Spring 2024. In her free time, Abby enjoys running, playing soccer, and rock climbing.

Anna Dillon

Anna was raised in Peachtree Corners, Georgia. She joined the Reynolds group in the spring of 2019 and graduated Georgia Tech in 2020 with BS in Chemistry. She is currently studying at the Georgia State University’s College of Law.

Elin Howard

Elin was raised in Aberdeen, Scotland and her family is from Norway and the United States. She joined the Reynolds group in Fall 2018 and worked on the synthesis and characterization of a family of electrochromic polymers, graduating in 2020 from Georgia Tech with a BS in Materials Science and Engineering. She is currently a Marie Skłodowska Curie Fellow working towards her PhD at the NOVA School of Science and Technology.

Nicole Kennard

Nicole was born and raised in Acworth, GA, and is an undergraduate student studying Materials Science & Engineering at Georgia Tech. She joined the Reynolds group during the spring of 2014 and left the group in the fall of 2016. She is currently involved in research regarding sustainability in another lab at Georgia Tech and in the fall will travel to the UK to pursue an M.S. degree in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security as a Fulbright Scholar.

Lakshmi Prerana Panchumarti

Prerana grew up in Tampa, Florida and came to Georgia Tech to study Materials Science and Engineering (MSE). She worked in the Reynolds group from 2019-2021, studying various electrochromic polymers under the guidance of Eric Shen and Anna Österholm, before joining the Ramprasad group. She graduated in 2022 with a BS in Materials Science and Engineering, and is currently working as a Materials Engineer at Boeing.

Finn Ramos

Finn was born in Palo Alto California but lived most of his life in New Mexico and Oregon. He started at GT in 2018 and joined the Reynolds Group in the beginning of  2020. In his free time Finn enjoys biking and hiking and is involved with the GT Chem-E-Car Team.

Justin Speregen

Justin grew up in Dacula, Georgia. He joined the Reynolds group in early 2020. In the spring of 2021 he graduated from Georgia Tech with B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering concentrating on polymers and fibers. Justin began pursuing a Ph.D. in the fall of 2022 at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Simone Tennyson

Simone Lena Tennyson was born and raised in Atlanta, GA. She completed high school in Spring 2017 with a dual enrollment program at Georgia State University and began at Georgia Tech in the Fall 2017 semester as a junior. She joined the Reynolds group in Fall 2017. Simone plans to complete her BS in Chemistry with a concentration in Materials and Polymer Science and continue to graduate school.

Ben Tong

He was born in Hong Kong and moved to Georgia in 2008. He is currently working towards a B.S. in chemistry at Georgia Tech. He joined the Reynolds group Fall 2021 and is expecting to graduate Fall 2022. In his free time, he enjoys weightlifting and is involved with Wreck Racing.

Charlie Womack

Charlie was born in Cartersville, Georgia, but raised in Milton, Florida. After graduating from Milton High School in 2020, he decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry at the University of West Florida. Charlie, a rising junior, is currently working with the Reynolds group at Georgia Tech over the summer of 2022. His research focuses on the synthesis and characterization of electrochromic materials. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with family and reading.