The Group

Graduate Student

Joel Schmitz (they/them)

Joel is a fifth year graduate student, employing low- and high- laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) and dispersed laser-induced fluorescence (DLIF) experimental techniques to characterize actinide-, lanthanide- and alkali earth metal-containing diatomics. They received both their B.S. (2014) and M.S. (2017) in Chemistry at Wright State University in Dayton, OH. During their M.S. work, they worked with the US Air Force on computationally and experimentally characterizing rare-gas and lanthanide-halide systems for rare-gas and DPAL laser applications. For their M.S. research at Wright State University, they used relaxation kinetics to investigate the formation of nitrosyl bromide (BrNO). In their spare time, they like to bike around ATL and hit up the local breweries with their dogs or play board games with friends. If they’re not in Atlanta, you can catch them hiking in a national park across the country.

Graduate Student

Thomas Persinger (he/him)

Thomas was raised in Missouri, where he received a B.S. in chemistry at Missouri University of Science and Technology. His undergraduate research was in microwave spectroscopy, where he used Fourier transform microwave techniques to observe rotational spectrum of molecules with atmospheric importance. He is currently a fifth year graduate student at Emory University and studies the rovibronic structure of f-block and alkali earth metal containing molecules using laser induced fluorescence and multi-photon ion spectroscopy. Thomas likes to spend his free time hitting up the local breweries, playing the piano, having board game nights with his friends and virtual game nights with his siblings. A fun fact about Thomas is that he keeps up with a dozen podcasts and always has a good recommendation for someone looking for something new to listen to!

Graduate Student

Noah Jaffe (he/him)

Noah is a third year in the Heaven Lab. While his background is actually in physics and math, he has come to enjoy the interdisciplinary nature of physical chemistry and spectroscopy. His current research project focuses on studying small beryllium-containing anions via slow electron velocity map imaging photoelectron spectroscopy, which is capable of giving new information about the structure and gas phase characteristics of these molecules.  When he is not in lab, he enjoys climbing and playing with electronics.

Graduate Student

Arianna Rodriguez (she/her)

Arianna Rodriguez is a second year graduate student, coming from New College of Florida. While at New College of Florida she pursued research in microwave spectroscopy and web accessibility. In her free time she enjoys drawing, roller skating, and crocheting.

Graduate Student

Chris Neilson (he/him)

Chris is a first year graduate student from the University of Utah. During his undergraduate, Chris studied the bond dissociation energies of diatomic species containing transition metals using spectroscopic techniques. Outside of school he enjoys playing board games, reading, exploring the restaurants around ATL, and is always in search of a good coffee shop.

Undergraduate Student

Archie Stewart (he/him)

Archie is a fourth year undergraduate student majoring and Chemistry and Applied Mathematics. He is currently working with Noah Jaffe to characterize beryllium-based molecules with slow electron velocity map imaging methods. In his free time, he enjoys playing tennis, cooking, and reading.

Undergraduate Student

Gary Yan (he/him)

Gary is an undergraduate, majoring in Chemistry and minoring in Math. His past research experience includes working for a pharmaceutical company, conducting organic synthesis of Nimodipine. In his spare time, Gary enjoys playing the violin, playing video games, and reading European history books.

Undergraduate Student

Isabela Galoustian (she/they)

Isabela is a sophomore pursuing a materials science engineering BS with an applied math minor at Emory. She spent a year studying gene expression in Neurospora crassa under UCR graduate student supervision in high school before their interests pivoted from chemistry and biology to chemistry and physics. In their free time they enjoy running outside, watching adventure time, messing with procreate, and attempting to read.

Undergraduate Student

Richard Wang

Post-doc

Jiande Han (he/him)

Staff Scientist

Anh T. Lee (she/her)

Anh comes to us from working with Tim Steimle at Arizona State University. She also currently teaches General Chemistry at Georgia Tech.

Bowie

Bowie loves when his parent Joel takes him on walks, is known to sleep all day, and loves nothing more than eating his brother’s face.

Phantom

Phantom also loves when his parent Joel takes him on walks, loves staring at people from across the couch, and hates it when his brother Bowie tries to eat his face.

Dr. Sean Bresler (he/him)

Dr. Sean Bresler currently lives in Washington D.C. where he works at the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST).

Dr. Mallory Theis (she/her)

Mallory graduated in Spring 2020 and is currently a Postdoctoral researcher at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Berlin, Germany.

Dr. Robert VanGundy (he/him)

Robert VanGundy graduated in Fall 2018 and is currently a Post Doctorate RA B at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington.

Amanda Dermer (M.S.) (she/her)

Amanda graduate in Summer 2017 and is currently the Coordinator for Residential, Fraternity and Sorority Life at Knox College, IL.

Dr. Michael Sullivan (he/him)

Michael graduated in Spring 2017 and is currently a Senior Scientist at Nikira Labs in Mountain View, CA.

Dr. Kyle Mascaritolo (he/him)

Kyle graduated in Fall 2016 and is currently a Mechanical Engineer Specialist at Micromeritics Instrument Corporation in Norcorss, GA.

Dr. Josh Bartlett (he/him)

Josh Bartlett graduated in Spring 2016 and is currently at Staff Scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Artie

Artie is currently living her best life in Berlin, Germany with her mother Mallory.