Ph.D. Degrees Awarded

Tulane University's Department of Chemistry has awarded over 250 doctoral degrees. Many of these awardees have gone on to be renown professors and senior research scientist throughout the world. Below is a list of the majority of these awardees, and some of their present positions.

*Note brackets indicate where our alumni went

2025

Li Gu
"Late 3-d Metal Complexes Supported by N,N,C-Heteroscopionate Ligandss"
Research Advisor:  Alex McSkimming
September 4, 2025

Dalath Kasun Mendis
"Controlling Electron Transfer in Alkyne-Bridged Donor–Acceptor Dyads: Torsional Effects, Rate Modulation with Mid-IR, and Updated Global Analysis"
Research Advisor:  Igor Rubtsov
May 27, 2025

Yahya Ismaiel (GMP Analytical Chemist, ARL Bio Pharma)
"Macrocyclizations Within Yocto-liter Spaces And The Factors Affecting Them"
Research Advisor: Bruce Gibb
May 22, 2025

Ruiqing Wang (Contract Sicentist III, Abbvie)
"Role of Ions in Supramolecular Chemistry"
Research Advisor: Bruce Gibb
May 8, 2025

Mario Gonzalez
"Enhancing Sensor Selectivity Using Extracting Agents and Transmembrane Transport"
Research Advisor: Nathalie Busschaert
April 11, 2025

Valeriia Karpovych "Molecular Beam Methods for Pyrolitic Chemistry:  Pyrolysis Products of Composite Solid Propellants"
Research Advisor: Mark Sulkes
February 7, 2025

Thien Tran (HPC Research Scientist, The University of Texas at Dallas)
"Probing non-covalent interactions in β-hairpin peptides: a bottom-up approach"
Research Advisor: Bruce Gibb
January 23, 2025

2024

Mohammad Amin Zarandi 
"Development of Flurophore-Labled DNA Nano Structures for Photonic Applications"
Research Advisor: Janarthanan Jayawickramarajah
December 20, 2024

Qingxin Chen (QC Chemist, Long Island Labs LLC)
"Photophysical Behavior of Ru(II) Complexes with Modified Ligands in Excited State Based on Ru(tpy)(bpy)Cl"
Research Advisor: Russell Schmehl
December 19, 2024

Rayhanus Salam (Postdoctoral Fellow, Tulane University School of Medicine)
"Development Of Anion Transporters and their Applications"
Research Advisor: Nathalie Busschaert
December 18, 2024

Brennan Curole (Postdoctoral Researcher, LSU Health Sciences Center NewOrleans)
"Employing Polyethylene Glycol for Various Synthetic and Conservation Applications"
Research Advisor: Scott Grayson
November 21, 2024

Artem Sribnyi (Photonics Packaging Automation Engineer, SiPhox Health)
"Development of a Fully Automated Dual-Frequency Spectrometer for Surface-Enhanced 2D ATR IR Studies"
Research Advisor: Igor Rubtsov
October 28, 2024

Hannah Aziz
"Unraveling the Mechanism of the Glucose Dehydrogenase Activity of Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase"
Research Advisor: Larry Byers
October 7, 2024

Che Wu (Postdoctoral Associate, University of Pittsburgh)
"Group 10 Metal Dithiolene Complexes as Molecular Qubit Precursors"
Research Advisor: James Donahue
August 30, 2024

Justin Barnes (GMP Analytical Laboratory Supervisor, ARL Bio Pharma)
"Synthesis Characterization and Reactivity of Copper Containing Small Molecules to Model Enzymatic Active Sites"
Research Advisor: James Donahue
March 28, 2024

Moamen Ismail (Quality Control Scientist, Vyriad)
"Structure-Based Drug Design of Homomeric Bivalent Sulfonamide Protein Inhibitors"
Research Advisor: Janarthanan Jayawickramarajah
February 24, 2024

Gayathri Ragunathan
"Triangular [Mo3(µ3-E)(µ2-EE’)3(Q2LR2)3]+ (E = S; E’ =  S, or Se; L = CN or P; Q =  S, or Se) Clusters: Synthesis, Cryatalographic, Photocatalytic  Hydrogen Evolution Activity And Surface- Tethered Molybdenum Sulfide Cluster For Solar Water Splitting "
Research Advisor: James Donahue
February 22, 2024

2023

Noah Beltrami (Scientist I, StealthCo)
"Development of Cucurbit [6] URIL Bioconjugates and Investigation of their Application "
Research Advisor: Janarthanan Jayawickramarajah
December 20, 2023

Fengqi Zhang (R&D Chemistry III, MacDermid Alpha Electronics Solutions)
"Effect of Excited State Localization on Excited State Proton Transfer and Energy Transfer Reactions"
Research Advisor: Russell Schmehl
September 1, 2023

Yuchen Du (Client Relationship Manager, Genesis Drug Discovery & Development)
"Synthesis and Structures of Crowded Biaryls "
Research Advisor: Robert Pascal
August 1, 2023

Sarah Marshall (Scientific Grant Writing Consultant, Eva Garland Consulting, LLC)
“Synthetic Anion Transporters and Their Applications”
Research Advisor: Nathalie Busschaert
July 31, 2023

Elliot Williams
“Lipid Synthesis and Small Molecule Lipid Recognition”
Research Advisor: Nathalie Busschaert
June 27, 2023

Tammy Leong (Process Integration Technology Development Engineer, Samsung Electronics, Austin TX )
“Ultrafast Laser Spectroscopy of Vibrational Energy Transport in Conjugated Chains and Metal Complexes”
Research Advisor: Igor Rubtsov
April 19, 2023

2022

McKenna Redding (Research Chemistry, Coreshell Technologies, Inc.)
"Synthesis and Characterization of bis-MPA-based Polymers: An Investigation of Polymer Architecture "
Research Advisor: Scott Grayson
December 2, 2022

Dilanka V. D. Walpita Kankanamalage (R&D Project Manager I, ARL Bio Pharma)
“Host-Guest Based Supramolceular Approaches to Input Responsive DNA Nanomachines”
Research Advisor: Janarthanan Jayawickramarajah
December 1, 2022

Sarah Herschede (ORISE Fellow, BARDA)
“Development of membrane-active small molecules with antibacterial activity”
Research Advisor: Nathalie Busschaert
August 17, 2022

Paolo Suating (Assistant Professor, DePaul University College of Science and Health)
“Wading Through the Spectrum of Wetness: Tailored Solvation of Weakly-Hydrated Pockets”
Research Advisor: Bruce Gibb
April 20, 2022

2021

Christopher Keller (Environmental Health Safety Specialist, Amazon)
“Design and Application of Amphiphilic Grafted Nanoparticles as Oil Dispersants”
Research Advisor: Scott Grayson
November 30, 2021

Emily Schmidt (Adjunct Professor, Point Loma Nazarene University)
“Destabilization of Biologically Relevant Quadruplex Structures in the HOTAIR Gene Sequence”
Research Advisor: Janarthanan Jayawickramarajah
July 27, 2021

Nicholas Ernst (Visiting Assistant Professor, Purdue University Northwest)
“Solubility Tuning Using the Hydrophobic Effect and its Derivatives”
Research Advisor: Bruce Gibb
June 8, 2021

Oluwapelumi Kareem (Industrial Hygiene Research Chemist, BASF)
"Synthesis, Characterization, and Potential Application of Linear Bis-MPA"
Research Advisor: Scott Grayson
April 27, 2021

Ross Zaenglein (Raw Materials Scientist, Eurofins)
"Investigation of the transition state of Beta-glucosidase of T. Maritima"
Research Advisor: Larry Byers
April 14, 2021

Kristina Martinez (Senior Process Engineer, ASM)
"Tuning Excited-State Reactivity Toward Proton Transfer, Electron Transfer, or Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer for Ru(II) Complexes"
Research Advisor: Russ Schmehl
April 2, 2021

2020

Ibrahim Alhroob (Visiting Professor, Grambling State University)
"Molecular Beam Study of Triglycerides Pyrolysis Chemistry"
Research Advisor: Mark Sulkes
August 25, 2020

Xiao Li (Procter and Gamble)
"Electron Transfer in Bis-Alkynyl and Butadiyne-Bridged Donor-Bridge-Acceptor Compounds and its Modulation with Short Mid-IR Laser Pulses"
Research Advisor: Igor Rubtsov
July 30, 2020

Karry LeBlanc (Chemistry III, Florida Department of Health-Bureau of Public Health Laboratories)
"A Mechanistic Model of Hemoglobin Glycosylation"
Research Advisor: Larry Byers
July 29, 2020

Xiaoyang Cai (Research Scientist II, Tribioscience Inc)
"Intrinsic and Extrinsic Factors Controlling Reactions Within Nano Space"
Research Advisor: Bruce Gibb
July 27, 2020

Shane McGlynn (Instructor, Loyola University New Orleans)
"Measuring Reactive Thresholds: Tunable Bimolecular Abstraction Reactions Initiated by Atomic Bromine"
Research Advisor: Brent Koplitz
July 24, 2020

Pravin Pathak (Senior Chemist, Jordi Labs)
"DNA Self-Assembly and Host-Guest Chemistry for Programmed Photonic Nanostructures and Switches"
Research Advisor: Janarthanan Jayawickramarajah
July 16, 2020

Megan Woods (Senior Payload Test Engineer, Ball Aerospace, Broomfield, CO)
"Cooper Whisker Formation in the Presence of Pulsed Laser Deposited Molybdenum Disulfide"
Research Advisor: Brent Koplitz
May 19, 2020

Robert Mackin (Research Chemist, USDA ARS New Orleans)
"Low-Temperature Energy Transport in Oligomers and Infrared Studies of Thin Films on Plasmonic Nanoantenna Arrays"
Research Advisor: Igor Rubtsov
April 15, 2020

Kelly Dougherty (Chemist, FDA Arkansas Laboratory)
"Synthesis of Compounds with very Large Specific Rotations"
Research Advisor: Robert Pascal
April 14, 2020

Matthew Sullivan 
"Properties and Applications of the Hydrophobic Effect with Host-Guest Systems"
Research Advisor: Bruce Gibb
April 3, 2020

Wei Yao (Scientist, Seattle Genetics Inc.)
"The Ion Specific Effects on Macromolecular Systems"
Research Advisor: Bruce Gibb
March 26, 2020