Employment history

Graduate Research Assistant in John Klier and Shelly R. Peyton’s Laboratory

2019 – 2025

Research Project #1: Ultrasonically cured epoxy thermosets
- Synthesized brush type copolymers of glycidyl methacrylate by RAFT polymerization
- Characterized polymers by NMR, GPC, linear rheology
- Induced gelation through ultrasonic irradiation
Research Project #2: Core-shell bottlebrush copolymer thermosets
- Synthesized dual-functional ATRP inimers, RAFT agents
- Synthesized a suite of linear and core-shell bottlebrush copolymers of glycidyl and butyl methacrylate through a combination of RAFT and ATRP
- Characterized polymers by NMR, GPC
- Formulated high performance bottlebrush resins and characterized through DMA
- Side Project: Bis(xanthate) mediated photoiniferter polymerization
- Demonstrated controlled polymerization and chain extension of acrylic/acrylamide monomers in air in the presence of O,O-Diethyl 1,2-disulfanedicarbothioate under 405nm light
- Demonstrated ultrafast gelation under 405nm light of ⍺,⍵-functionalized prepolymer in water

2017 – 2019

Research Project #1: Studying phase behavior of poly-zwitterionic coacervates, their material properties, and diffusion properties
- Formulated polyampholyte coacervates at different charge ratios
- Characterized material properties by linear rheology, FRAP
Research Project #2: Effect of Polyampholyte Net Charge on Complex Coacervation between Polyampholytes and Inorganic Polyoxometalate Giant Anions
- Performed titrations on polyampholyte/POM coacervates in the presence of salts to determine their electric potential
Research Project #3: Doxorubicin encapsulation in poly-zwitterion coacervates
- Formulated polyampholyte coacervate droplets loaded with doxorubicin by ultrasonication
- Characterized droplets by LSCM, DLS
Research Project #4: Microbead self assembly at water/lutidine interfaces
- Prepared self-assembled microbead domes in water/lutidine mixtures
- Characterized temperature dependency of self-assembly using a custom made heating chamber, LSCM

2014

Research Project: Total synthesis of avenic acid derivative
- Performed the total synthesis of avenic acid conjugated with arginine using a number of common techniques such as hydrogenation over palladium, BOK protection/deprotection, Steglich esterification
- Characterized reaction yield, products at every step