Principal INvestigator

Dr. Martin Thuo is the principal investigator for the material sciences laboratory at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He is an assistant professor in the chemistry department and the center for green chemistry at UMass Boston. Here’s a link to Dr. Thuo’s CV.

Post-doctoral research fellows

Dr. Ian Tevis received his PhD in Chemistry from Northwestern University under Professor Samuel I. Stupp. After finishing his thesis work on small molecule self-assembly in organic solar cells, Ian worked as a Process Development Research Scientist for NanoIntegris. Ian joined the Thuo lab as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the fall of 2013. Ian research interests are in synthesis of nanomaterials and controlling the organization of materials on the nanoscale. Ian’s current projects center on semiconducting nanomaterials, nanoparticles, and electron microscopy.

Graduate Students

Lucas Newcomb hails from Norway, Maine with a bachelors of science in chemistry and a minor in biology. His current work focuses on molecular electronics and spin polarized charge transport. He teaches general and organic chemistry laboratory sections for the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He also created and maintains this website for the material sciences group.

Stephanie Oyola‘s work focuses on the formation of soft nanoparticles through surface/interface-initiated polymerization. This is an ongoing project that is related to the low-cost microfluidic devices project (with Julian Halbertsma-Black). She is a first year graduate student from Puerto Rico with an industrial chemistry background. Her research interests are materials sciences and engineering.

Undergraduate students

	Zhi Li was born in China and moved to America when he was 10 years old. He is the first in his family to attend college. His scientific interests are mostly in biology and chemistry. Currently, he is working on low cost diagnostic devices for the developing world. His goals are to attend medical school or graduate school in order to obtain a M.D. or PH.D.
	Farha Mithila is from Bangladesh. Currently, she is completing her sophomore year as a biochemistry major at UMass Boston. The project she works on has to do with steric effects in norbornenes resulting from hyperconjugation and induction effects. She is interested in analysis-based areas of chemistry, for example medicinal chemistry and industrial chemistry. She wants to pursue a career where she can concentrate on the analytical part of science and create new opportunities for the betterment of the community.
	Cissy Nsubuga, of Randolph, Massachusetts, was born in Gaborone, Botswana. At the age of five she emigrated from Botswana to Uganda where she resided for eight years before immigrating to the States at the age of thirteen. She is currently pursuing her first Bachelors’ of Science in Biology has decided to also pursue a Bachelors’ of Science in Chemistry. She would ultimately like to pursue a career in the medical research field, specifically in the area of tissue engineering.
	Julian Halbersta-Black is an undergraduate studying chemistry and double majoring in biology. His research is focused on low-cost diagonistics and microfluidic devices.
	Andrew Heim grew up in Boston and attended Bunker Hill Community College prior to enrolling at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He is working towards a major in biology and is interested in low cost diagnostics. He plans to pursue a career in teaching and materials science research.