People

Current Group Members

Alexander N. Tarnovsky

Principal Investigator

Education:

• Ph.D. Physics and Mathematics – Department of Photophysics, Research Center “S. I. Vavilov State Optical Institute”, St. Petersburg, Russia. (1993)
• M.S. Quantum Electronics, Theoretical and Applied Spectroscopy – Department of Quantum Electronics, Institute of Fine Mechanics and Optics /PIFMO/, St. Petersburg, Russia. (1986)

Awards:

• NSF Career Award
• 2010-2011 Distinguished Dissertation Award (Patrick Z. El-Khoury) Adviser

Laura M. Obloy

Postdoc

Education:

• Ph.D. Photochemistry – Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH. (2018- December 2023)
• B.S. Chemistry – Baldwin Wallace University, Berea, OH. (2014-2018)

Research Interests:

• Ultrafast excited-state dynamics of biologically relevant molecular probes and DNA nucleobases.

Awards:

• 2020 Outstanding Teaching Assistant (Bowling Green State University)
• 2018 Outstanding Teaching Assistant (Baldwin Wallace University)

Dipti Garg

Ph.D. Student

Education:

• Ph.D. Photochemistry – Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH. (2020-August 2025(expected))
• M.Sc. Chemistry -Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India. (2017-2019)

Research Interests:

• Ultrafast Two Photon spectroscopy for designing next generation optical lenses.
• Mechanistic understanding of the isomerization processes and organic photocatalysis using ultrafast pump probe spectroscopy.

Awards:

• 2021 Outstanding Teaching Assistant (Bowling Green State University)

Meseret Simachew Bezabih

Ph.D. Student

Education:

• Ph.D. Photochemistry, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH (2021-present)
• Ethiopia

Research Interests:

• Computational photochemistry and photophysics.

Bondarchuk Mykhailo Vadymovich

Ph.D. Student

Education:

• Ph.D. Photochemistry – Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH. (2023-January 2028(expected))
• M.Sc. Chemical technology and organic chemistry Igor Sikorskiy Kyiv Polytechnic institute, Kyiv, Ukraine. (2018-2020)
• B.Sc. Chemical technology – Igor Sikorskiy Kyiv Polytechnic institute, Kyiv, Ukraine. (2014-2018)

Research Interests:

• Ultrafast Transient Absorbtion.
• Organic photochemistry.
• Fundamentals of light-matter interaction.
• Fundamentals of wave-particle duality.

Monica G. Utashiro

Ph.D. Student

Education:

• Ph.D. Photochemistry – Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH. (2028(Expected))
• B.S. Chemistry – California Polytechnic State University. San Luis Obispo, CA. (2022)
• A.S. Mathematics – Cuesta College. San Luis Obispo, CA. (2019)

Research Interests:

• Experimental and computational studies of ultrafast photochemical dynamics of inorganic complexes.

Awards:

• 2022 Lab Rat Award (Cal Poly)
• 2021 Research Award in Inorganic Chemistry (Cal Poly)

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Previous Group Members

Graduate Students:

• Vasily Vorobyev – Ph.D. 2023
• Firew Gameda – Ph.D. 2022
• Darya Budkina – Ph.D. 2019, Research Scientist at PacBio
• Anya A. Eyzips
• Alexendra Oranskaya
• Sergey M. Mateev
• Veniamin A. Borin
• Connor Verbraska
• Evgeniia V. Butaeva – Ph.D. 2015, Research Scientist at KLA-Tencor
• Maxim S. Panov – Ph.D. 2011, Research Associate at Saint Petersburg State University
• Ivan Moreno – M.S. 2014, Agilent Technologies, Venezuela
• Andrey S. Mereshchenko – Ph.D. 2013, Associate professor at Saint Petersburg State University
• Saju Joseph – Research Associate at Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala, India
• Igor L. Zheldakov – Ph.D. 2010, Eastman Chemical Company, VA
• Patrick Z. El-Khoury – Ph.D. 2010, Staff Scientist, PNNL
• Michael R. Phelan
• Suman K. Pal – Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi

Undergraduate Students:

• Christopher M. Hicks
• Nathan W. Crozier
• Michael R. Phelan
• Connor W. Verbraska
• Alexei Ostras