Group News
August 2023
Sam defended his PhD! He presented his work on Sustainably Polymers and we couldn't be prouder of him and can't wait to see what he accomplishes next! He has been a crucial part of our team for the last five years!
Rina defended her PhD! She is the first in our group to reach this big milestone and we couldn't be prouder of her. We are all so lucky she chose to work with us!
Nathan passed his cumulative exams! Great work!
June 2023
Bess went to Actinides 2023 in Golden, CO. She gave a plenary talk on our work to understand electronic structure and bonding in uranium-arene and uranium-arenide complexes.
Later in the month, Bess headed to PNNL for a visit. She had a great time touring the labs and seeing where the transuranic work is done! Meeting researchers and sharing our work was also a blast.
April 2023
Bess, Jorge, and Sam all presented their work at the NSF Center for Sustainable Polymers Annual Meeting in Minneapolis. Despite the freezing rain, they had a great time learning about the work being done by colleagues and friends in the center. For the team-building activity, center members participated in axe throwing. Bess was not brave enough, but Sam and Jorge did great! We were especially impressed by the number of bullseyes Sam was able to make! Watch out!
Right after the CSP meeting, Bess was back on the road to DC for the DOE Heavy Element Chemistry PI Meeting. She was really happy to share some of the work Sabyasachi, Rina, and Nathan are doing. Our continued collaboration with former postdoc, now Professor Riffat Parveen was also highlighted. We can't wait to keep pushing this project and look forward to sharing our work at the next meeting in two years!
At the very end of the month, most of the group attended the ACS Sioux Valley Local Section's Annual Award Banquet. Sam and Rina recieved the Outstanding Graduate Research Award and Nathan recieved the Outstanding Senior Undergraduate Student Award. Congratulations and well deserved!!
April 2023
The undergrads in the group are making us so proud! Christina published her very first paper on Mn(III) Spin-Crossover Complexes after working with Sabyasachi last summer. Then, Naomi was awarded the UDiscover fellowship to support her summer research project this summer. We can't wait to see what they will continue to do on our team.
March 2023
The group has been out giving talks at conference! Sabyasachi presented his work at the 2nd International Workshop on Theory Frontiers in Actinide Science in late Febuary, and with only a few days back in Vermillion to rest, headed out to Las Vegas for the APS meeting where he presented again. A few weeks later, Bess, Jorge, Sam, and Rina traveled to Indianapolis for the ACS meeting. Between the four of us, we gave five talks and three poster presentations. It has been a great month of sharing our work and catching up with our friends, collaborators, and colleagues.
January 2023
Mahfuz got a job as a Production Chemist at Entegris. We are happy for him and wish him luck in his next adventure.
October 2022
Bess, Jorge, Sam, Rina, and Sabyasachi traveled to the 2022 American Chemical Society Midwest regional meeting in Iowa City. We had a great time talking science with new and old friends.
October 2022
Welcome to Rob Lewis! Rob is a visiting PhD student from our collaborator Ellen Matson's group at the University of Rochester. He will spend a little over a month in Vermillion performing calculations on teh molecules he has already synthesized in the lab!
October 2022
Welcome to Nathan Loutsch and Naomi Rehberg! Nathan is an MS student in the 3+2 program and is interested in studying heavy element chemistry. Naomi is an undergraduate student interested in atmospheric chemistry. Both of them have done research in experimental groups and are excited to start their theory projets. We are so happy to have you on the team!
August 2022
Sam went to the ACS meetign in Chicago! He presented work in collaboration with the Tolman group that was supported by the NSF Center for Sustainable Polymers.
July 2022
This month Parisa Fasihianifard sucessfully defened her M.Sc. thesis! We are so proud of her work. She will head to UC Riverside in a month to start her Ph.D. We look forward to seeing what the rest of her career will bring! Congratulations Parisa!
June 2022
Our group was awarded a Department of Energy (DOE) Early Career grant! This $750,000 grant will support work modeling actinide chemistry using multireference methods for the next five years. We are really excited about the work we will do together!
May 2022
Summer undergraduate researchers have joined the group! Welcome to Lacee, Jeff, and Nadira! We are looking forward to the work you will do! Jeff and Lacee are participating in the the NSF REU program at USD. Nadira is supported by the NSF Center for Sustainable Polymers and performing collaborative work with Prof. Salman Seyhan at Clark Atlanta University.
April 2022
Bess, Jorge, and Sam attended the NSF Center for Sustainable Polymers annual meeting in Minneapolis. Both Sam and Jorge presented their work and we had a great time interacting with other center members.
March 2022
Bess, Sabyasachi, and Rina are heading to ACS in San Diego soon! We have missed sharing our science and talking to other researchers in person. We can't wait!
November 2021
Ashen has defended his Master's thesis! Good job!!
September 2021
Jorge has joined our team as a postdoctoral researcher working in the NSF Center for Sustainable Polymers. Welcome!!
July 2021
Summer undergraduate researchers Emma and Christina have been doing a great job. They are getting ready for their final seminar and poster presentations at the end of the month and we are so proud of them!
March 2021
Mahfuz has joined our team as a new M.Sc. student. Welcome!!
October 2020
Parisa has joined our team as a new M.Sc. student. Welcome!!
August 2020
Rina and Sam sucessfully defended their Master's theses! Congrats and we are proud of you!!
January 21st, 2020
We have a new undergraduate student, Braxton Schmidt, joining our group. Welcome!
October 2019
We have a new graduate student joining our group. Ashen will be co-advised (Miro group) and will work in the EPSCoR Track II project. Welcome to the group!
October 18th, 2019
Clara and our summer 2019 REU student, MaKenna, went to the Midwest Regional Meeting (MWRM). Clara gave a talk and presetned a poster (she won the 3rd place prize! MaKenna presented a poster and won the first place prize! Great work!!
August 28th and 29th, 2019
Bess and Brian are going to the ACS National Meeting in San Diego. Come see Bess speak on Wednesday the 28th or Brian on the 29th. Hope to see you there!
August 13th, 2019
The NSF Center for Sustainable Polymers (CSP) was renewed! We look forward to the research we will be able to do over the next five years. Read more here (link)
June 6th, 2019
Bess gave a talk at the annual meeting for the Center for Functional Fluorinated Materials (CFFM).
May 28th, 2019
The summer students are here! Welcome to MaKenna Koble from Augustana Unviersity and welcome back to USD student Clara Kirkvold
May 1st, 2019
Undergraduate researcher and USD Chemistry major Clara Kirkvold (pictured on right) recently was awarded the Goldwater Scholarship! Congrats Clara! Read more here (link)
May 1st, 2019
We got group news!