Dr. Tatiana O. Zaikova joined the Hutchison Lab in December 2008 as Research Associate. Dr.  Zaikova received her B.S., M.S. in Chemistry and Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry at Novosibirsk State University, Russia.

After graduation, she worked at Institute of Solid State Chemistry and Processing of Mineral Raw Materials, Novosibirsk, Russia and participated in the development of metallization technology for obtaining metal-coated surfaces of dielectric and studied mechanochemical transformations of organic solids (Professor Oleg. I. Lomovsky, Academician Vladimir V. Boldyrev).

In January 1996, Dr. Zaikova joined Professor John F.W. Keana Laboratory at University of Oregon.  During 14 years as synthetic organic chemist she synthesized number of new organic compounds including anticancer prodrugs, nano-molecules for modification of AFM tips, new fluorogenic substrates for both mammalian and bacterial PI-PLC (in collaboration with Professor O. Hayes Griffith) and NMDA/glycine neuroprotective antagonists as neuroprotective drugs.

Susan is originally from San Diego, CA. She graduated from California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo in June 2008 with a B.S in Chemistry. After her undergraduate studies she worked at Bio Architecture Lab Inc. for two and a half years developing, adapting and validating analytical methods to test fuel and chemicals made from macroalgae. Her current research is focused on understanding the parameters that affect condensation reactions in the slow injection metal oxide synthesis previously developed in the Hutchison lab. She is particularly interested in the parameters that affect nucleation of nanoparticles. In her spare time she enjoys walking, crafting, hiking and photography.

Brandon hails from Tri-Cities, WA, home of the Hanford Nuclear Site, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, world-class wine country, and the tallest tree-less mountain in the United States. He received his B.S. in Chemistry (ACS certified) with minor in Materials Science from Western Washington University (WWU, Bellingham, WA). While at WWU, he was a teaching assistant for general, analytical, and organic chemistry laboratories. He also did research under Dr. John Gilbertson studying homogeneous catalyst design and secondary coordination sphere hydrogen-bonding for the reduction of dinitrogen.

Upon graduating WWU in 2012, he went to the University of Oregon to study Semiconductors and Photovoltaics as part of the Industrial Master’s Internship Program. He then took an internship at SolarWorld USA in Hillsboro, OR as part of the R&D team. At SolarWorld USA he ran the materials characterization and ICP-MS labs. Upon completing his internship he received his M.S. in Chemistry in 2013 and decided to return to the University of Oregon in pursuit of doctoral studies.In 2014 he joined both the Jim Hutchison and Darren Johnson labs as part of a joint lab collaboration. His current research is focused on the bottom up processing of inorganic oxide materials to be used in electronic applications.  His current focus is on metal-oxide nanoparticles and their use as functional inorganic materials as well as precursors for in situ thin film growth. By utilizing previously known metal-catalyzed esterification processes, it may be possible to synthesize fully functional thin films from a solution-phase. Possible applications for this research include synthesizing Sn-doped In2O3 films for use as photoanodes in optoelectronics. In his spare time Brandon enjoys home brewing, hiking, backpacking, snowshoeing, fishing, and savoring a cold brew on a hot summer day.

---

Brantly Fulton (2014 – Present)

Brantly was born and raised in Pontiac, MI. He later went on to Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA to earn a B.S. degree in chemistry and a minor in mathematics in 2013. While At Morehouse College he performed undergraduate research at neighboring institution, Georgia Tech, in the NanoEngineered Systems and Transport (NEST) Lab working on thermogalvanic cells with ionic liquids under the direction of Professor Baratunde A. Cola. In the summer of 2011 Brantly would participate in the Summer Program for Undergraduate Research (SPUR) at the University of Oregon working in the lab of Professor Darren W. Johnson on copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) solar cells. The following summer of 2012 he would participate in the Chemistry Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program under the leadership of Professor Reginald M. Penner working on a gold lithographically patterned nanowire electrodeposition (LPNE) process for improving the performance of battery electrodes. Brantly would return to the University of Oregon in the fall of 2013 as a co-joint graduate student, belonging to the labs of Professors James E. Hutchison and Darren W. Johnson. His current research pertains to synthesizing new inorganic aluminum-based clusters. By better understanding their fundamental chemistry it will give insight into their formation, which could prove critical in geochemistry as these clusters have recently been suggested to exist naturally in the environment. Inorganic aluminum-based clusters have also been reported to be a promising candidate for the next generation of solution processed thin films.

---

Aurora Ginzburg (2015 – Present)

Aurora Ginzburg joined the Hutchison lab in June of 2015. She is currently working on the synthesis of multifunctional gold nanoparticles for biomedical applications. Through the incorporation of targeting, stabilizing and tagging ligands she creates novel nanomaterials. She is passionate about taking advantage of the unique properties of nanoparticles to overcome the spatial limitations of current medical detection and treatment methodologies. Her work also focuses on the toxicology of these new materials, with an emphasis on implementing complementary characterization techniques to better understand the relationships between nanoparticle structure and toxicity.

Aurora received a B.S. in Chemistry, along with program honors, from California State University Channel Islands in 2014. Her undergraduate research was with Dr. Philip Hampton where she developed a green organic chemistry teaching experiment and synthesized curcumin analogues. In her leisure time she likes to get out and explore the PNW, as well as relax with independent films or crafting.

 

---

Adam Jansons (2013 – Present)

Adam Jansons hails from Denver, CO and received his B.S. in Chemistry from Western Washington University (WWU, Bellingham, WA) in 2011.  While at WWU, he worked with Dr. Steven Emory on the design, construction, and implementation of a system for rapid detection of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) active nanoparticles in flowing solutions (e.g. buffers, biological fluids, etc).

Adam joined the Hutchison lab in June 2013.  His current research focuses on the precision synthesis and characterization of binary, mixed, and core/shell metal oxide nanomaterials.  These materials are (and will continue to be) critical for optical, energy production and storage, chemical sensing, and electronic applications.  Through the development of synthetic techniques that offer fine structural control can one be able to understand the structure/property relationships of these materials.  Only with this understanding will we be able to precisely engineer nanostructures for advanced applications.

In his free time, Adam enjoys the Oregon outdoors by skiing, backpacking, hiking, and climbing.

Jaclyn Kellon grew up in the wonderful city of Cleveland Ohio and received her B.A. in Chemistry from Goucher College in Baltimore Maryland in 2013.  While at Goucher College, she worked with Dr. Kevin Schultz designing and synthesizing a thermally stable photochromic molecular switch for drug delivery.  After graduation, Jaclyn took a year off and worked as the chemical stockroom manager for Goucher College and then backpacked through Europe for 3 months.

Once beginning at the University of Oregon in 2014, she discovered her interest in electrocatalysis.  In 2015 she joined the Hutchison lab where her research focuses on small gold nanoparticle electrocatalysis (< 2 nm).  Through design of a well-defined electrode-nanoparticle interface, the influence of nanoparticle core size and ligand shell on specific redox transformations can be directly investigated.  Possibly applications include the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to useful fuel sources.

Outside of lab Jaclyn enjoys practicing yoga and exploring the PNW.

Kenyon grew up in Lake Charles, Louisiana. He attended Hendrix College in Conway, AR where he majored in chemistry and received his B.A. in 2012. While at Hendrix, Kenyon developed greener organic chemistry labs for undergraduate-level students under the guidance of Dr. Tom Goodwin. He went on to an internship at Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee under Dr. Yong Yan researching the effect of zirconium hydride precipitation on the brittleness of nuclear fuel rods.

Kenyon made a big move to the Northwest to attend University of Oregon receiving his Masters in March 2014. He worked for Sony on the UO campus under Dr. Ryuichiro Maruyama in collaboration with Dr. Jim Hutchison researching zinc selenide quantum dot synthesis and ligand exchange. In September 2014, Kenyon joined the Hutchison group. His interest is in the properties of metal oxide nanoparticles. Specifically, he is focused on iron oxide nanoparticles for the purpose of imaging living organisms. Outside of the lab, Kenyon enjoys running, hiking, and drawing.

Originally from Albuquerque, NM, Meredith Sharps received her B.S. in Chemistry at Emory University in Atlanta, GA in 2014. She was first interested in organic chemistry and worked with Dr. Simon Blakey on intermolecular synthesis and stereocenter-specific design of alkaloid based natural compounds. She gained an interest in materials chemistry while working for Dr. Alan Sellinger at the Colorado School of Mines as a REMRSEC REU student in 2013, studying palladium catalyzed reactions to make silyl ether passivated silicon quantum dots.

In June 2015, Meredith joined both the Hutchison lab and the Darren Johnson lab as a joint student, with a focus on patterning chemistry of materials for electron beam lithography. She is interested in the links between the formation chemistry of both discrete clusters and nanoparticles, and how the chemistry of one subset can provide insight into the reactivity of the other, as well as how this chemistry can be manipulated in order to design materials for new patterning purposes.

When not in lab, Meredith enjoys hiking, biking, and exploring the PNW outdoors, and also has a passion for singing and baking.

---

Samantha Young (2013 – Present)

Samantha Young joined the Hutchison lab in June 2013.  Her current research is focused on metal nanoparticle electrocatalysis, specifically studying ways to control the interface between preformed metal nanoparticles and electrode surfaces.  With a well-defined nanoparticle-modified electrode in hand, the influence of the nanoparticle core size and ligand shell on redox transformations of interest can be precisely studied.  One possible application of this research is in the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide which could allow carbon dioxide to be used as a feedstock in fuel cell technology.  Samantha is also interested in examining how a variety of nanoparticle characterization techniques such as small angle x-ray scattering, x-ray diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy can be used to complement one another, and she frequently collaborates with Voxtel, Inc. to characterize their nanomaterials with these techniques.

Before joining the Hutchison lab, Samantha earned a B.S. in Chemistry (ACS) from Truman State University in 2012.  She was a recipient of the 2012 ACS Undergraduate Award in Analytical Chemistry.  During her time at Truman, she performed research under Dr. David McCurdy working to incorporate inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) into undergraduate teaching lab experiments.  She also participated in two summer research internships during her undergraduate career.  In 2010, she performed research in Dr. George Chumanov’s lab at Clemson University as part of the Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) characterizing silver nanoparticles using atomic force microscopy.  In 2011, she worked in Dr. Mark Lonergan’s lab at the University of Oregon fabricating and characterizing organic photovoltaic devices as part of the Materials Science Institute Research Experience for Undergraduates.

In her free time, Samantha plays violin in the Eugene Community Orchestra.  She also enjoys hiking and participating in other outdoor activities whenever possible.

---

 

Kris made his way from Canby, Oregon, where he graduated from Canby High School in 2012. After taking his first year of General Chemistry, he knew that Chemistry was the field for him. Kris joined the Hutch Lab in February 2015 with his main focus in Plasmonic and Bandgap Engineering of binary and mixed core/shell metal oxide structures. Kris’s main research focus is designing various metal oxide syntheses, especially an ITO (Tin-Doped Indium Oxide) synthesis with finely tunable Near-IR plasmons. These new tunable materials will have many new applications in optical and energy production and storage processes with many other chemical sensing and electronic applications. Ever since joining the Hutch Lab, Kris has built and developed an even stronger attractive force with his love for inorganic chemistry.

With Kris’s free time away from his first love, chemistry, he enjoys being outside in the beautiful Pacific Northwest while enjoying the many great activities Oregon and its surrounding areas have to offer.