Current Group Members
McKayla Knoebel
graduate student
mckaylaknoebel@ufl.edu

B.S., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2023
Joined Fall 2023

My research focuses on the depolymerization of polyesters, such as PLA and PET, and using the products to synthesize poly(ester amide)s.
Christopher Koelbl
graduate student
cb.koelbl@ufl.edu

B.S., Virginia Tech, 2025
Joined Fall 2025

My research is focused on adapting underutilized functional groups to polymerization chemistry, with an emphasis on simplifying synthetic methods and incorporating advantaged material properties—all while focusing on the core principles of green and sustainable chemistry.
Cody Layne
graduate student
cody.layne@chem.ufl.edu

B.S., Mississippi State University, 2019
Joined Spring 2021

I am researching the synthesis of bio-based polyesters from heterocyclic monomers derived from sugar.
Aracelee M. Reverón Pérez
graduate student
aracelee.reveron@ufl.edu

B.A., University of Puerto Rico at Cayey, December 2019
Joined Fall 2020

My research focuses in two areas involving organo-silicon polymers: synthesis of polyalkylorthosilicates and chemical recycling of polydimethylsiloxanes (PDMSs). Properties such as glass transition temperature and thermal stability of the polymers are investigated.
Justin Smith
graduate student
justinsmith@ufl.edu

B.S., Fisk University, 2017
Joined Fall 2017

My research is based on creating high glass transition temperature polyesters from biorenewable feedstocks.
Former Graduate Students

Brittany T. Beckstead
Joined Summer 2002
M.S. Chemical Education 2004

Khalid Al-Bahily
Joined Spring 2002
M.S. 2004

Levi J. Irwin
Joined Fall 2001
Ph.D. 2005

B. Jesse E. Reich
Joined Fall 2001
Ph.D. 2005

Joseph M. Grill
Joined Fall 2001
Ph.D. 2006

Benjamin R. Duffus
Joined Fall 2005

Andrea D. Ilg
Joined Fall 2003
M.S. 2007

Paul D. Zeits
Joined Summer 2005

Craig J. Price
Joined Summer 2002
Ph.D. 2007

Nathan P. Rife
Joined Fall 2004
M.S. 2007

Eric D. Schwerdtfeger
Joined Fall 2003
Ph.D. 2007

Robert B. Mitchell
Joined Fall 2007
began Medical School 2008

James W. Ogle
Joined Summer 2006
Ph.D. 2008

Laurent Mialon
Joined Fall 2007
M.S. 2010

Christian Gorsche
Joined Spring 2009
M.S. 2010

Rob Vanderhenst
Joined Spring 2009
M.S. 2011

Gholam-Reza Nejabat
Joined Winter 2012
visiting graduate student

Tanner Lee
Joined Summer 2012
visiting graduate student

Sabina Kinder
Joined Fall 2012
visiting graduate student

Elizabeth "Betsy" Suda
Joined Spring 2011
M.S. 2013

Hsiao-Li Chen
Joined Winter 2013
visiting graduate student

Ryan T. Martin
Joined Spring 2008
Ph.D. 2014

Alexander G. Pemba
Joined Fall 2008
Ph.D. 2014

Ersen Gokturk
Joined Fall 2009
Ph.D. 2014

Matthew Burnstein
Joined Fall 2007
M.S. 2014

Emma Bradic
Joined Fall 2011
M.S. 2014

Christelle Imbert
Joined Summer 2014
visiting graduate student

Patricia Scheurle
Joined Fall 2015
visiting graduate student

John Garcia
Joined Fall 2009
M.S. 2012, Ph.D. 2015

Hsiu-Wei Ou
Joined Spring 2016
visiting graduate student

Khalid Alqahtani
Joined Fall 2014
M.S. 2016

Nicole Gibbons
Joined Fall 2011
Ph.D. 2016

Pengxu Qi
Joined Fall 2011
Ph.D. 2016

Ha Nguyen
Joined Fall 2011
Ph.D. 2016

Hipassia Moura
Joined Summer 2015
visiting graduate student

Amr Feteha
Joined Spring 2010
Ph.D. 2017

Mayra Rotagno
Joined Fall 2012
Ph.D. 2017

Hisaaki Takeshima
Joined Winter 2018
visiting graduate student

Olivier Nsengiyumva
Joined Spring 2014
Ph.D. 2018

Gabriel Short
Joined Fall 2013
Ph.D. 2019

Steven Shen
Joined Fall 2014
Ph.D. 2019

Shih-Hsien Hsu
Joined Spring 2019
visiting graduate student

Matthew Parsons
Joined Fall 2019

Jonas Simon
Joined Spring 2020 & Sp. 2022
visiting graduate student

Florian Diot-Néant
Joined Spring 2016
Ph.D. 2020

Parker Boeck
Joined Fall 2020

Harper Cassady
Joined Fall 2019
M.S. Summer 2021

Stephen Sangster
Joined Fall 2019
M.S. Spring 2022

Yu-Kai Su
Joined Fall 2018
Ph.D. 2023

Jordan Torgunrud
Joined Fall 2018
Ph.D. 2023

Yohei Yoshinaka
Joined Fall 2018
Ph.D. 2025

Former Postdocs

David A. Aubry
Spring 2004 - Summer 2005

Jubo Zhang
Fall 2005 - Summer 2007

Hsuan-Ying Chen
Summer 2008 - Summer 2009
Kaohsiung Medical University

Jianfang Chai
Fall 2008 - Spring 2010

Gholam H. Zohuri
Spring 2010 - Summer 2010
Visiting Professor from Ferdowsi University, Mashad, Iran

Tao Jiang
December 2010 - May 2011
Visiting Professor from Tianjin University of Science & Technology, Tianjin, China

Gulsah Kurt
April 2011 - July 2011
Visiting Professor from Aksaray University, Turkey

Abdulhamid A. Alsaygh
July 2011 - September 2011
Visiting Professor from King Abdulaziz City for Science & Technology

Yessi Permana
Fall 2012 - Winter 2013
Visiting Professor from Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia

Ertugrul Sahmetlioglu
August 2012 - July 2013
Visiting Professor from Nigde University, Turkey

Feng Liu
June 2014 - June 2015
Visiting Professor from Nanchang University

Haixia Qi
June 2014 - June 2015
Visiting Professor from Nanchang University

Alexander Pemba
May 2014 - January 2016

Zhengzai Cheng
December 2015 - January 2017

Ersen Gokturk
TUBITAK Fellow
August 2024 - July 2025

Former Undergraduates

Aaron K. Justice
joined Spring 2002
NSF-REU

Emily A. Squibb
Summer 2002

Russell J. Parks
joined Fall 2002

Daniel W. Marek
joined Fall 2002

Joshua S. Sanders
joined Spring 2003

Caron Remi
Summer 2003
NSF-REU

Charles W. Branham
joined Spring 2003

Marti L. Kubena
joined Fall 2003

Brad J. Brennan
joined Summer 2004
NSF-REU

Maria P. Cortez
joined Summer 2004

Charles R. Crews
joined Summer 2004

Jennifer M. Goss
joined Summer 2004

Lacey C. Martin
joined Summer 2004

Hannah R. Malcolm
joined Fall 2004

Juliette J. Commodore
joined Summer 2005
NSF-REU

Jared D. Peacock
joined Summer 2005

Laura M. Launer
joined Spring 2006

Catherine V. Mooney
joined Summer 2006

Robert B. Mitchell
joined Summer 2006

Ellese N. Lee
joined Spring 2008

Frankie J. Costanza
joined Summer 2008
NSF-REU

Laurie A. Tweed
joined Spring 2008

Brittany S. Carl
joined Spring 2009

Ryan Meral
joined Fall 2009

Ludmila Pons Camargo
joined Summer 2010
NSF-REU

Jeniree Flores
joined Summer 2009

Allan Maple
joined Winter 2010
NSF-REU

Allan Luna Cornejo
joined Spring 2011
NSF-REU

Cristina Chee Kim Ling Perez
joined Summer 2013
NSF-REU

Jessica Hvozdovich
joined Spring 2014

Erik Price
joined Spring 2014

Dominique Catena
joined Fall 2014

Marcus Reis
joined Fall 2014

Alexander Valdes
joined Summer 2015

William Vickery
joined Fall 2015

Tatiana Anthony
joined Summer 2016
NSF-REU

James Austin
joined Winter 2017

Enita Rastoder
joined Spring 2017
NSF-REU

Haley Donow
joined Spring 2017

Julie Chevillard
joined Spring 2018
NSF-REU

Fabio Ferrari
joined Spring 2018
NSF-REU

Jessica Thomas
joined Fall 2016

Amandine Heckmann
Joined Spring 2019
NSF-REU

Alejandro Faria
Joined Fall 2018

Caroline Coxwell
Joined Fall 2019

Noémie Dias Rodrigues
Joined Summer 2021
NSF-REU

Emily Spitzberg
Joined Summer 2021

Morgan Gunter
Joined Summer 2022