Current
Members
Noah Sladek
Fall 2021 - present
Noah received his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Houston in 2021. As an undergraduate, he worked under the tutelage of Dr. Loi Do where he researched iridium catalyzed reductive amination. Noah arrived at Texas A&M and joined the Ozerov group in the Fall of 2021. Noah is currently researching PBP-supported Rh complexes for their catalytic utility in the ortho-selective hydroheteroarylation of olefins with azines and designing novel aryloxide-supported early transition-metal catalysts to hydrogenate arenes as a potential application for the synthesis of chiral phosphines.
Jovanny Contreras
Fall 2021 - present
Jovanny received his B.S. in chemistry from the University of North Georgia in 2021. His undergraduate research focused on PPV polymer synthesis under Dr. Brynna Quarles. He and his cat, Luna, arrived at Texas A&M in the fall of 2021 and joined the Ozerov group in October that same year. In his free time, Jovanny enjoys playing video games, running, and listening to music. Jovanny is currently researching the utility of a bis-stiborane pincer for small molecule activation, designing new PBP ligands and metal complexes, and synthesizing new metal complexes catalytic for arene hydrogenation.
Joshua Daum
Fall 2022 - present
Joshua received his B.S. in chemistry from Brigham Young University in August of 2022. While at BYU, he studied the host-guest properties of resorcinarenes that were capped with various amino acids under Dr. Roger Harrison. Joshua moved to College Station with his wife and dog in the Fall of 2022 and joined the Ozerov Group that October. Joshua is currently working on synthesizing a new bimetallic fused pincer complex and pincer cobalt catalyzed C-O activation.
Jack Raker
Fall 2023 - present
Jack received his B.S in chemical engineering and chemistry from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in 2023. At Rose-Hulman, he worked with Dr. Stephanie Poland to develop new Lewis acidic aluminum catalysts for use in undergraduate inorganic chemistry labs. During his undergraduate years, he also completed a summer of research through the Purdue Energetics Research Center synthesizing new energetic materials. Jack arrived at Texas A&M in the fall of 2023 and joined the Ozerov group in October of the same year. Jack is currently researching new carboranes for use as weakly coordinating anions in hydrodefluorination reactions.
David de los Santos
Summer 2024 - present
David earned his B.S. and M.S. in Chemistry from the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley in the spring of 2024, where he worked with Dr. Manar Shoshani synthesizing dinucleating nickel complexes with redox non-innocent ligand scaffolds to exploit metal-metal and metal-ligand cooperativity. He then explored these complexes as catalysts for hydroboration. In the summer of 2024, David arrived at Texas A&M and joined the Ozerov group where he is now researching PBP complexes. In his spare time, he enjoys playing tennis, golf, baseball, and other outdoor activities.
Yu-Hsin Chen
Fall 2024 - present
Yu-Hsin received his B.S. in Chemistry from National Taiwan University in June of 2022. At NTU, Yu-Hsin worked primarily on C-H borylation of alkynes and silylene chemistry under the supervision of Dr. Ching-Wen Chiu. Yu-Hsin arrived at Texas A&M in the fall of 2024 and join the Ozerov group in the October of the same year. Yu-Hsin is currently functionalizing carboranes to raise the solubility of cationic species.
Ruth Ann Gholson
Summer 2016 - present
Ruth Ann joined the Ozerov group as an administrative assistant in June 2016. She came from New Orleans, where she was an executive secretary for the U. S. Department of Agriculture. She graduated with a B.S. in Urban Planning and Studies from the University of New Orleans in Louisiana in 2011, after retiring from the U. S. Marine Corps. In her spare time she can be found with her children and grandchildren.
Recent
Graduates
Vinh Nguyen
Left for a postdoc position at
the Savannah River National
Laboratory in Aiken, SC
Fall 2018 - Fall 2023
Derek Leong
Left for a senior scientist
position with Entegris
in Danbury, CT.
Summer 2018 - Fall 2024
Sam Lee
Left for a postdoc position at
the Los Alamos National
Laboratory in Los Alamos, NM.