The group in July 2021. Our first party together since the start of the pandemic!
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.
Graduate Students
Gustavo Alcantara
Education: Ph.D. student, UCSB, 2020-present
B.A., UT El Paso, 2020
Hometown: El Paso, TX
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 Menard group.
Hila Benhaim
Education: Ph.D. student, UCSB, 2019-present
B.A., Hunter College, 2019
Hometown: Queens, NY
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.
Arunavo Chakraborty
Education: Ph.D. student, UCSB, 2018-present
B.Sc., Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, 2018
Hometown: Bangalore, India
Bio: Arunavo received his B.Sc from IISc, Bangalore, under the supervision of Prof. Naga Phani B Aetukuri. In his spare time, Arunavo likes eating hot and spicy food, catching up on anime and memes, playing World of Warships and going on road trips.
Shannon Heinrich
Education: Ph.D. student, UCSB, 2018-present
B.S., California Polytechnic State University, 2018
Hometown: San Diego, CA
Bio: Shannon received her B.Sc. from Cal Poly SLO in 2018 where she worked under Dr. David Zigler. In her spare time, Shannon enjoys hiking, skiing, backpacking and eating Mexican food.
Chae Yeong Kim
Education: Ph.D. student, UCSB, 2020-present
M.S., Postech, South Korea, 2019
B.S., Dongguk University, South Korea, 2017
Hometown: Seoul, South Korea
Bio: Chae left her hometown to Pohang, South Korea, and earned her M.S under supervision of Dr. Rhee. In her spare time, she likes to go surfing, cook and watch thriller and scary movies.
Maxwell Mattejat
Education: Ph.D. student, UCSB, 2018-present
B.S., UNC Wilmington, 2018
Hometown: Fulton, MD
Bio: Maxx received his B.Sc. from UNCW in 2018 working under the supervision of Dr. Jeremy Morgan. In his spare time, he enjoys surfing, hiking, cooking, photography and disc golf.
Zongheng Wang
Education: Ph.D. student, UCSB, 2017-present
B.Sc., Iowa State University, 2017
Hometown: Nanjing, China
Bio: Raised in Nanjing, China, Zongheng received his B.Sc. from Iowa State and worked under Profs. Levi Stanley and William Jenks. In his spare time, Zongheng likes food, the gym, and traveling with friends to experience American culture.
Undergraduate Students
Matthew Avalos
Education: B.A., UCSB, 2018-present
Hometown: Anaheim, CA
Bio: Originally studying Biology, Matthew ended up switching to chemistry after finding a passion for organic chemistry. When not studying chemistry, Matthew enjoys producing Lofi and working out.
Daniel Pan
Education: B.S., UCSB, 2018-present
Hometown: Arcadia, CA
Bio: Born and raised in California, Daniel decided to study Chemistry at UCSB. In his spare time, Daniel enjoys hanging out with friends, watching movies and anime, and exploring foods from around the world.
Alumni
Post-doctoral fellow:
Dr. Jiaxiang Chu, 2016-2018. Current position: Assistant
Professor, UCAS (China).
Graduate students:
Dr. Timothy Carroll, Ph.D., 2020. Current position:
Research Chemist, Clariant Specialty Chemicals.
Dr. Camden Hunt, Ph.D., 2019. Current position: Postdoc in
Berlinguette Group, UBC (Canada).
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
Mazzanti Group, EPFL (Switzerland).
Chris Kirby, M.S., 2018. Current position: High-school
teacher in NJ (USA).
Dr. Madeline Peterson, Ph.D., 2021. Current position:
Postdoc in Berlinguette Group, UBC (Canada).
Dr. Anthony Wong, Ph.D., 2021. Current position: Postdoc in
Polly Arnold Group, UC Berkeley (USA).
Undergraduate students:
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