Graduate Students
Christopher Jones
Ph.D., Caltech, 2023 M.S., San Jose State University, 2017 B.S., CSU East Bay, 2013 Chris was born and raised in Rochester, NY. After a stint in the U.S. Navy, he moved to the Bay Area to pursue a B.S. in computer engineering at CSU East Bay. He then pursued his M.S. in Chemical Engineering at San Jose State University while concurrently working at Sandia National Laboratories in the energy nanomaterials department. Chris is now pursuing his PhD in Chemistry. His hobbies include working out and mixing gratuitous amounts of whey protein into any drink. |
Woojin Lee
Ph.D., UCLA, 2023 B.S., UC Berkeley, 2016 Postdoc at Katritch Lab at USC Woojin was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea. After he finished his mandatory military service, he started studying abroad in the United States. He attended a community college in Kansas and transferred to UC Berkeley, where he obtained a B.S degree in chemistry and also worked on the deoxydehydration/hydrogenation of sugar acids under the guidance of Professor F. Dean Toste. Outside of lab, he likes to learn stock trading, watch Youtube videos, and ride a bike on Santa Monica beach. |
Sepand Nistanaki
Ph.D., Caltech, 2023 B.S., UC Berkeley, 2016 Postdoc at Jacobsen Group at Harvard University Sepand was born in Neuchatel, Switzerland and raised in Irvine, California. He earned his B.S. in Chemistry at UC Berkeley, where he conducted research under Professor Christopher Chang. In 2017 he moved back down to Southern California to attend UCLA and begin working in the Nelson lab. Some of Sepand's hobbies include coffee brewing and tasting, advocating for Peaky Blinders as the best show ever, recommending yogurt soda to his lab mates, and calling his mother. |
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Lee Joon Kim
Ph.D., UCLA 2022 B.S., Harvey Mudd College, 2017 Postdoc fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Lee Joon was born in South Korea and grew up in Irvine, California. She conducted research in total synthesis of natural products under Professor David Vosburg and completed her B.S. in Joint Major in Chemistry and Biology at Harvey Mudd College. Some of her hobbies include consuming 20 oz. cans of sugar-free Red Bull, showcasing her collection of long jackets and turtlenecks, and feeding in video games. |
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Stanislav Popov
Ph.D., UCLA, 2021 B.S., Brandeis University, 2016 Senior Scientist at Merck Stasik was born in Kazakhstan and grew up in Wayland, MA. After receiving his B.S. in Mathematics and Chemistry from Brandeis University, he moved to UCLA and joined professor Nelson's lab in the summer of 2016. In his free time he enjoys playing video games and working out. |
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Postdocs
Dr. Noah Sims
Ph.D., Baylor University B.S., University of Rochester Noah was born and raised in Syracuse, NY. Upon graduating from high school, he went on to get a B.S. from University of Rochester under the training of the late Prof. Robert K. Boeckman, Jr. where he was first introduced to total synthesis. After graduating, he departed for Baylor University in Waco, TX where he did his graduate work under the tutelage of Prof. John L. Wood. Outside of the lab, Noah spends him time trail running, cooking, and playing the occasional video game. |
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Dr. Matthew Asay
PhD, UC Riverside / Universite Paul Sabatier, Toulouse III Postdoc, Humboldt Fellow TU Berlin, JSPS Fellow University of Tsukuba Senior Research Scientist at Universal Display Corporation Matt was born in SLC, Utah but generally claims the ambiguous ‘SoCal’ because he hasn’t lived in Utah in a long time. He received his PhD from UC, Riverside in the Lab of Prof. Guy Bertrand making carbene related ligands. During his PhD he spent a year in Toulouse, France also making carbene related ligands in the LHFA. Upon completion of his doctoral degree he began a world tour with postdoctoral research stays in Germany and Japan where he learned many of the intricacies of fundamental silicon chemistry. After a return to UCR to work with Prof. Vince Lavallo on carborane cluster chemistry Matt began an independent research career at UNAM in Mexico City. He now finds himself again on American soil using carborane anions. He enjoys American Football, French Rugby, German Football, Japanese Karaoke, and Mexican cochinita pibil. |
Visiting Scholars
Melody Tang
Melody was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. In the Nelson lab, she spent 2 summers working with David learning how to leverage microED for natural product discovery. She’s currently a second year majoring in Chemistry and Biological Chemistry at the University of Chicago where she studies Ni catalysis in Prof. Guangbin Dong’s lab during the school year. Outside of chemistry, Melody enjoys advocating that SoCal is better than NorCal, pushing Gen Z slang, and playing with her dog. |
Nils Rendel
M.S., Westfälische Wilhelms Universität Münster B.S., Westfälische Wilhelms Universität Münster, 2021 Nils was born and raised in Grevenbroich, a city near Cologne in Germany. He moved to Münster and earned his B.S. in Chemistry, where he conducted research on photocatalysis in Professor Frank Glorius group. Outside of lab, Nils enjoys hiking, sports, and photography. |