Dr. Jing Zhang joined the group as a postdoctoral research fellow in 2018. She obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree from the Beijing University of Chemical Technology in 2006 and 2009, respectively. Then, she studied at the École Centrale Paris and obtained her PhD in Materials Science in 2012. She was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute of Materials Science of Mulhouse, CNRS (France) in 2014. Then, she moved to Australia and worked as a Research Assistant at the University of New South Wales in 2015. Her research interests include photopolymerisation of biomaterials, polymer nanocomposites and the development of novel photoinitiators under visible light.

Jing’s collaborative work with CSIRO on microplastics captured some headlines on CNN, the Conversation, the Guardian, and the New York Times. It was also featured by the Australian Science Media Centre as one of the top ten stories for 2020.

Joseph is a professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). He graduated from Georgia Tech with a BSE in Aerospace Engineering in 2002 before pursuing an MSE and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Michigan. His Ph.D. work focused on mechanical and genetic influences on bone structure and function.

During his first year in the group, Joseph’s research focused on quantitatively assessing the internalization and trafficking of polycationic polymer-DNA polyplexes in cells. In September of 2008, he began working under an independent NIH/NRSA F32 Award. This grant is focused on understanding changes that occur in the collagen ultrastructure of bone (as well as dentin and tendon) in mice with the disease Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI). Using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), high resolution imaging of Type I collagen is yielding a wealth of knowledge on how morphological aspects of the tissue ultrastructure contribute to the gross phenotype of mice with OI. Future studies are aimed at developing methods to mechanically probe collagen fibrils as well as extending these methods to larger animal models.

Lisa graduated from Transylvania University in Lexington, KY in 2001 with B.A. degrees in Chemistry and Mathematics. After a year with Eli Lilly, she returned to academia to pursue her Ph.D in Chemistry at the University of Cincinnati under the guidance of Professor Theresa M. Reineke studying the mechanisms of interaction between polymers and nucleic acids. Earning her doctorate in 2008, Lisa was a Michigan Chemistry Fellow working with the Banaszak Holl group in collaboration with many distinguished researchers in MNIMBS and Professors Ramamoorthy and Al-Hashimi on determining the structure and dynamics of polymer-DNA complexes and their interactions with cell membranes using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Lisa is now an assistant professor in Chemistry at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN.

Dr. Amy Gottfried was the first CSIE post-doctoral student at the University of Michigan where she worked with advisors Mark Banaszak Holl and Brian Coppola.  With Professor Banaszak Holl’s research group she pursued mechanistic and synthetic inorganic main group chemistry as well as supervising undergraduate research students. With Professor Brian Coppola, she  contributed to a significant redesign of the Honors Organic laboratory program and to the scholarship of teaching.  Amy was the team leader of the Studio Chemistry project, where she worked on the problems of materials development, personnel training and coordination, and assessment.  She participated in the National Peer Review of Teaching project.   Dr. Gottfried is now a Lecturer in University of Michigan Chemistry Department.

Haifeng earned his PhD in chemistry from Peking University. He then spent time as a post-doctoral associate at University of Leeds. He worked with us, in collaboration with Prof. Brian Clarkson of Dentistry, studying the crystallization of enamel crystals. After that, he continued his research in the School of Dentistry as a research investigator until 2006. He went back to China in 2006 and he is now an associate professor of Biomedical Engineering in Peking University.

Konstantin Balashev worked as a post doc in the lab in the area of liquid AFM imaging.

Neil graduated from Notre Dame with his PhD in physical chemistry in the fall of 1995. His dissertation (w/ Dennis Jacobs) focused on studies of energy and electron transfer in ion/surface scattering experiments. He obtained his BS in chemistry from Santa Clara College in 1989.

Neil was in charging of designing and building a new set of chambers for surface IR and LEED. He is shown below in front of the completed system. It is directly attached via a gate valve to our reactors and X-ray photoemission spectrometer.

Neil completed a beautiful series of IR experiments of H₈Si₈O₁₂ clusters on Si before moving on to Boise, Idaho.  He now works for Micron.

Dr. Zhengyu Deng obtained his Ph. D at Vanderbilt University (1996) in the group of Prof. P. L. Polavarapu. He specialized in the development and application of FT-IR Spectroscopy-Polarization Division Interferometry. He also holds an M. S. in Chemical Physics from the University of Science and Technology (USTC) and a B. S. in physical chemistry from Sichuan University.

Robert obtained a permanent position working with Imation, a new 3M startup company in California.

Kangzhan received his PhD in 1992 from Fudan University specializing in the use of molecular beams and laser technology to study the dynamics of semiconductor surface reactions. After spending one year as a post-doc with Prof. Ned Green of Brown University studying the energy transfer between gas molecules and solid surfaces, he joined the group to become our soft X-ray photoemission expert.  He ran the U8 beamline at the National Synchroton Light Source from 1995 to 2000.  He initially worked for a start-up company called Torrex, Inc in Silicon Valley and then for Applied Materials.  His papers while in the group focused on studies of the silicon/silicon oxide interface.

Kangzhan died on March 26, 2007.  He was a talented, committed scientist and we will miss our valued colleague.

Kyung-Hoon received his B.S. with honors, M.S. and Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, University of Nebraska at Lincoln and University of Kansas at Lawrence, respectively. While in the Banaszak Holl lab he carried out molecular dynamics simulations on collagen model peptides to understand the severity of osteogenesis imperfecta.  His 2011 publication on the collagen structure of Osteogenesis Imperfecta was featured as the cover article in Biopolymers. Kyung-hoon is currently a staff scientist at Mayaterials.

Kazem obtained his B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Isfahan University of Technology in 2005, his M.Sc. in the same field from the University of Isfahan in 2009, and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering with a specialization in polymers from the University of Toledo in 2016. As a postdoc in the Banaszak Holl lab, he worked on the enhancement of polymeric materials properties via application of new chemistries and microwave. Kazem is currently an R&D Engineer at DAK Americas, which is one of the largest integrated producers of PET resins in the world.

Selected Publications

Crystallization and melting behavior in polymer blends K. Majdzadeh-Ardakani, E. A. Lofgren, S. A. Jabarin Encyclopedia of Polymer Blends Wiley-VCH 2016 135

Novel preparation method for improving the dispersion of ionic liquid-modified montmorillonite in poly(ethylene terephthalate) K. Majdzadeh-Ardakani, E. A. Lofgren, S. A. Jabarin Polymer Composites 2016 37 1259-1266

The effect of particle size distribution on the dispersion of nanoclays in PET/clay nanocomposites K. Majdzadeh-Ardakani, E. A. Lofgren, S. A. Jabarin Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 2013 33 358

Optimization of mechanical properties of starch/clay nanocomposites K. Majdzadeh-Ardakani, A. H. Navarchian Carbohydrate Polymers 2009 79 547-554.

Processing of transmission electron microscope images for quantification of the layer dispersion degree in polymer-clay nanocomposites A. H. Navarchian, K. Majdzadeh-Ardakani Journal of Applied Polymer Science 2009 114, 531-542

Jinhee was born in Seoul, South Korea and raised in Santa Clara, CA. She received her B.A. in chemistry from Earlham College, Richmond, IN in 2016 and was involved in various analytical research projects from computing the free energy barrier of a B-DNA to Z-DNA, observing the phase behavior of triblock copolymers and quantifying caffeine concentrations in consumer beverages. For her graduate work, she was interested in doing materials chemistry research and joined the Banaszak Holl lab in the summer of 2017. She studied the structure and composition of anterior cruciate ligaments(ACL) with an end goal to contribute her findings to strengthen the ACL failure prevention programs.

Upon graduating in 2021, Jinhee accepted a post-doctoral position in the lab focussed on formulation of bacteriophage for antimicrobial applications in health care and industrial applications on a joint project with the Chan lab at the University of Sydney Pharmacy School.

Jinhee also loves the ocean, any water related sports and warm weather.