The group on campus (summer 2024).
Gabriel Ménard
Principal Investigator
Gab joined the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCSB in 2015 as an Assistant Professor. In 2021, he was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure and, in the summer of 2022, he moved back to Canada to join the University of Calgary.
Born and raised in Eastern Ontario, Canada, near the nation's capital, Gab first completed his B.Sc. in Chemistry at the University of Ottawa in 2006. He then moved to the west coast of Canada to undertake his M.Sc. at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver working on early metal dinitrogen activation in Prof. Mike Fryzuk's group (2008). Gab then pursued another one of his passions, studying climate change and its impacts by completing a Master's in Environmental Studies (M.E.S.) at York University in Toronto (2010). In 2009, he joined Prof. Doug Stephan's group at the University of Toronto to undertake his Ph.D. studies working on small molecule activation – in particular greenhouse gases – using P/Al-based frustrated Lewis pairs, and finishing up in 2013. Finally, Gab went to the U.S. to pursue his post-doctoral studies in Prof. Ted Betley's group at Harvard University. Here, he gained experience working on first-row transition metal clusters investigating metal-metal communication, high-valent Ni clusters, and small molecule activation.
See Gab's CV here.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Mahendra Awasthi, Ph.D. – UCalgary
Experiences: PDF, University of Calgary, 2024-present
PDF, IIT Bombay, 2022-2024
Education: Ph.D., IIT Indore, 2022
M.Sc., Lucknow University, 2016
B.Sc., Lucknow University, 2014
Bio: Mahendra received his Ph.D. from IIT Indore, India, under the supervision of Prof. Sanjay Kumar Singh. He enjoys playing cricket and reading books and unwinds by playing the guitar and listening to music and spending the remaining time in the lab.
H.D.A. Chathumal Jayaweera, Ph.D. – UCalgary
Experiences: PDF, University of Calgary, 2022-present
Education: Ph.D., University of South Carolina, 2022
B.Sc., University of Colombo, 2015
Bio: Chathumal received his Ph.D. from University of South Carolina, under the supervision of Prof. Dmitry Peryshkov. There he worked on small molecule activation using metal-boron bonds in carborane clusters and carborane carbanions. In 2022 he moved to UCalgary to work with Prof. Warren Piers on Mo-oxo complexes. Currently, he is working on designing carborane based ligands for capture and release of rare earth elements.
Jitendrasingh Rajpurohit, Ph.D. – UCalgary
Experiences: PDF, University of Calgary, 2023-present
PDF, Université Laval, 2022-2023
PDF, Tel Aviv University, 2019-2022
Education: Ph.D., IIT Bombay, 2019
M.Sc., Pondicherry University, 2012
B.Sc., University of Mumbai, 2010
Bio: Jitendra received his Ph.D. from IIT Bombay, India, under the supervision of Prof. Maheswaran S. In his spare time, he enjoys watching and playing cricket, and spending time with his lovely daughter.
Graduate Students
Gustavo Alcántara – UCSB and UCalgary
Education: Ph.D. student, UCSB, 2020-present
B.A., UT El Paso, 2020
Hometown: El Paso, Texas
Bio: Gustavo was born in El Paso, TX and earned his BA degree in Biochemistry from The University of Texas at El Paso in 2020. There, he worked under the guidance of Professor Skye Fortier on making a terminal uranium nitride and making a dysprosium single-molecule magnet. In fall 2020, Gustavo moved to Santa Barbara to become a mediocre surfer and to pursue a PhD in chemistry in the Ménard group.
Hila Benhaim – UCSB and UCalgary
Education: Ph.D. student, UCSB, 2019-present
B.A., Hunter College, 2019
Hometown: Queens, New York
Bio: Hila escaped the hustle of New York where she received her BA in Chemistry, working under the supervision of Dr. Spiro Alexandratos. In her spare time, she enjoys concerts, traveling, and going to the movies.
Oluwatemitope Familoni – UCalgary
Education: Ph.D. student, UCalgary, 2022-present
M.Sc., Beijing Institute of Technology, 2017
Hometown: Ekiti State, Nigeria
Bio: Temi joined the group recently. He is someone that chases his curiosity, if not doing science he is interested in other topics like finance and psychology. He enjoys sauntering, playing sports, and having family time outside the lab.
Ruvini Kirihettiliyanage – UCalgary
Education: M.Sc. student, UCalgary, 2023-present
B.Sc., UCalgary, 2023
Hometown: Colombo, Sri Lanka
Bio: Ruvini received her B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Calgary in 2023 and worked under the supervision of Prof. Jen Love. In her free time, Ruvini is usually out exploring the Rockies or has her nose burried in a fantasy book.
Maxwell Lohoar – UCalgary
Education: M.Sc. student, UCalgary, 2023-present
B.Sc. (Honours), Dalhousie University, 2023
Hometown: Rothesay, New Brunswick
Bio: Maxwell received his B.Sc. in Chemistry from Dalhousie University in 2023 under the supervision of Prof. Saurabh Chitnis. In his spare time, Maxwell enjoys getting outside, playing guitar, and playing sports.
Sania B. Mostaghimi – UCalgary
Education: M.Sc. student, UCalgary, 2023-present
B.Sc., University of Tabriz, 2022
Hometown: Tabriz, Iran
Bio: Sania received her B.Sc. from the University of Tabriz under the supervision of Prof. Mahmoud Zarei. In her spare time, Sania enjoys hiking, eating sushi, reading social sciences books, and watching anime.
Dylan Van Spankeren – UCalgary
Education: B.Sc., Thompson Rivers University, 2024
Hometown: Calgary, AB
Bio: Dylan competed on the men's volleyball team while an undergrad at TRU and further did two years of undergraduate research under Dr. Heidi Huttunen-Hennelly and Dr Kinglsey Donkor separating polypeptides using capillary electrophoresis. In his spare time, Dylan likes hiking or spending time outside.
Undergraduate Students
George Doerksen – UCalgary
Education: B.Sc., University of Calgary, 2021-present
Hometown: Calgary, AB
Bio: George joined the lab in fall 2024. When he isn't thinking about chemistry he is probably thinking about Dungeons & Dragons.
Sabrina Hussain – UCalgary
Education: B.Sc., UCalgary, 2021-present
Hometown: Calgary, AB
Bio: Sabrina joined the lab in the summer of 2023. When not in the lab or studying for her courses, you'll most likely find Sabrina baking, spending time in nature, or reading.
Jessica Lam – UCalgary
Education: B.Sc., University of Calgary, 2020-present
Hometown: Calgary, AB
Bio: Jessica joined the lab in fall 2024. In her spare time, she likes making balloon animals, watching cat videos, and going grocery shopping.
Nhu Tran – UCalgary
Education: B.Sc., UCalgary, 2020-present
Hometown: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Bio: Nhu joined the lab in the summer of 2024. Nhu enjoys cooking, baking, reading detective and horror books.
Alumni
Post-doctoral fellows:
Dr. Jiaxiang Chu, 2016-2018. Current position: Assistant
Professor, UCAS (China).
Dr. Benjamin Rennie, 2023-2024.
Graduate students:
Dr. Timothy Carroll, Ph.D., 2020. Current position:
Research Chemist, Clariant Specialty Chemicals.
Dr. Arunavo Chakraborty, Ph.D., 2024. Current position:
Postdoc in Boettcher Group, UC Berkeley.
Dr. Shannon Heinrich, Ph.D., 2023. Current position:
Senior Electrolyte Scientist, Cuberg.
Dr. Camden Hunt, Ph.D., 2019. Current position: Program
Manager of CEDI, MIT.
Dr. Samuel Jacob, Ph.D., 2021. Current position: Postdoc in
Crudden Group, Nagoya U (Japan).
Dr. Megan Keener, Ph.D., 2020. Current position: Postdoc in
Polly Arnold Group, UC Berkeley.
Chae Yeong Kim, M.S., 2022. Current position: PhD student
at UCSB.
Chris Kirby, M.S., 2018. Current position: High-school
teacher in NJ.
Dr. Maxwell Mattejat, Ph.D., 2023. Current position:
US Environmental Protection Agency.
Dr. Madeline Peterson, Ph.D., 2021. Current position:
Senior Scientist, Donaldson.
Dr. Zongheng Wang, Ph.D., 2022. Current position:
Postdoc in Concepcion Group, Brookhaven.
Dr. Anthony Wong, Ph.D., 2021. Current position: Postdoc in
Polly Arnold Group, UC Berkeley.
Undergraduate students:
Claire Cannon, 2024
Helen Leslie, 2024
Nhu Tran, 2024
Alexandra Hankins, 2023
Nathan Leonard, 2023
Matthew Avalos, 2021-2023
Lucas Pattantyus, 2023
Daniel Pan, 2020-2022
Afton Gustafson, 2019-2021
Rachel Garwick, 2017-2020
Gillian Kutrosky, 2018-2020
Delenn Ganyo, 2019-2020
Paige Dixon, 2020
Chenyue Yang, 2020
Jonas Kaare-Rasmussen, 2019
Rachel Huang, 2019
Solène Perot, 2019
Kevin Guevara, 2018
Clarissa Magallanes, 2018
Cassidy Anderson, 2017-2018
Ruoshui (Louis) Li, 2017-2018
Amaani Desai, 2017
Ali Mahdi, 2017
Yasmine Soliman, 2017
Natalie Kashanchi, 2016-2017
Clayton Silva, 2016-2017
Nicole Delgado, 2015-2016
Spencer Baker, 2015