{"id":1337,"date":"2016-01-14T17:53:31","date_gmt":"2016-01-15T01:53:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.chapman.edu\/catlab\/?page_id=5"},"modified":"2026-09-14T11:25:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T18:25:24","slug":"meettheteam","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.chapman.edu\/catlab\/meettheteam\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Principal Investigator<\/h1>\n

Dr. Jerry LaRue<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

B.A. in Chemistry at Willamette University
\nPh.D. in Physical Chemistry at the University of California at Santa Barbara
\nPostdoctoral Studies at Stanford University \/ SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
\nCurriculum Vitae<\/a>
\nChapman Faculty Profile<\/a>
\nGoogle Scholar Profile<\/a>
\nLinkedIn<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

Undergraduate Students<\/h1>\n
\n
\n

D’Angelo Alvarez<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

Major: <\/strong>Chemistry
\nMinor: <\/strong>Business Management
\nAbout: <\/strong>I do research on the photochemistry side of the project, synthesizing bimetallic core-shell nanoparticles and analyzing them using SEM, EDX, and TEM. I have been on the project since my freshman year and I am very interested in all types of chemistry! After graduation I plan to attend medical school and pursue anesthesiology.<\/div>\n

\n

Tanesha Bravo<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

Major: <\/strong>Biological Science & Applied Human Physiology
\nMinor: <\/strong>Chemistry
\nAbout: <\/strong>Tanesha is an aspiring oncologist who joined the CatLab in the spring of her first year. She is part of the photochemistry project, focusing on understanding the nanoparticle-based photocatalyst through synthesis and analysis with SEM.<\/div>\n

\n

Al Hassan Gamal El-Din<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

Major: <\/strong>Applied Human Physiology
\nThemed Inquiry:<\/strong> Business & Economics
\nAbout: <\/strong>Al Hassan is a current Senior aspiring to get his M.D who has been in the CatLab since the Fall 2025 semester. In the CaM\/HIV group, he uses fluorescence spectroscopy to study the protein-protein interactions between HIV MA protein and Calmodulin (CaM) to promote developments in the treatment of HIV.<\/div>\n

\n

Juliana Jordan<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

Major: <\/strong>Physics & Philosophy
\nMinor: <\/strong>Electrical Engineering
\nAbout: <\/strong>As a physics student and researcher, I am interested in exploring the intersection of physics and chemistry, particularly through physical chemistry, specifically quantum chemistry. My research experiences in quantum optics, astrochemistry, and physical chemistry have fostered a strong interest in interactions between light and matter. I hope to pursue a PhD and a research career focused on optics, working within this intersection.<\/div>\n

\n

Min Gi Kang<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

Major: <\/strong>Health Science
\nMinor: <\/strong>Chemistry
\nAbout: <\/strong>Min is a current Senior, planning to go into Biomedical Engineering or Dentistry, who has been in the CatLab for three years. He is interested in Organic and Physical Chemistry. In research, he investigates the methanol decomposition mechanism on platinum surface catalyst using a UHV chamber.<\/div>\n

\n

Ginny Lee<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

Major: <\/strong>Biochemistry
\nAbout: <\/strong>Ginny is a current Biochemistry student interested in working with X-ray Spectroscopy who has been in the CatLab since Fall 2025. In research, her work focuses on data collection, including sample preparation and Temperature-Programmed Desorption (TPD) measurements to study the decomposition of methanol on platinum (111).<\/div>\n

\n

Kaitlyn Miyasato<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

Major: <\/strong>Applied Human Physiology
\nMinor:<\/strong> Business Administration
\nAbout: <\/strong>I am a senior on the pre-dental track, and the project I’m working on focuses on characterizing metallic gold core nanoparticles using SEM, TEM, and UV-Vis.<\/div>\n

\n

Kat Nguyen<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

Major: <\/strong>Biochemistry
\nThemed Inquiry:<\/strong> The Modern Experience
\nAbout: <\/strong>Kat is a current Senior interested in Biotechnology, and has been in the CatLab for the past year. Her research involves synthesizing and characterizing gold bimetallic nanoparticles using SEM, TEM, and UV-Vis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Risha Shaikh<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

Major: <\/strong>Health Science
\nMinor: <\/strong>Chemistry & Philosophy
\nAbout: <\/strong>I am a junior pre-dental student. In this lab we work together to study an important bonding mechanism between calmodulin and the HIV-1 Matrix protein.<\/div>\n

\n

Ashton Smith<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

Major: <\/strong>Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
\nMinor: <\/strong>Psychology
\nAbout: <\/strong>My ultimate goal is to be a child & adolescent psychiatrist, so I never thought I’d get involved in chemistry research, but it has been absolutely worth it. I work on our photodynamics testing and nanoparticle characterization primarily, as well as the synthesis process.<\/div>\n

\n

Mbuseni Tshivhase<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

Major: <\/strong>Chemistry
\nMinor: <\/strong>Dance Studies
\nAbout: <\/strong>Chemistry scholar whose ultimate goal is to obtain her Ph.D. She is interested in organic chemistry and physical chemistry. (insert which ever task you assign me for the last sentence).<\/div>\n

\n

Rylie Widmer<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

Major: <\/strong>Chemistry
\nMinor: <\/strong>Honors
\nAbout: <\/strong>Rylie is a Chemistry student planning to get a career in the future working in a Chemistry lab who has been in the CatLab since Fall 2025. Working this year in the DUSC group, she uses techniques like Temperature-Programed Desorption (TPD) and Two-Pulse Correlation (2PC) to analyze the decomposition of nitric oxide.<\/div>\n

\n

James Zoumas<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

Major: <\/strong>Biochemistry
\nMinor: <\/strong>Music
\nAbout: <\/strong>James is a current Senior and future Medical student interested in Medicinal Chemistry who has been in the CatLab for eight months. In the Calmodulin (CaM) & HIV group, he uses fluorescence spectroscopy to determine the binding interaction between the HIV matrix protein and Calmodulin.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Principal Investigator Dr. Jerry LaRue B.A. in Chemistry at Willamette University Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry at the University of California at Santa Barbara Postdoctoral Studies at Stanford University \/ SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Curriculum Vitae Chapman Faculty Profile Google Scholar Profile LinkedIn   Undergraduate Students D’Angelo Alvarez Major: Chemistry Minor: Business Management About: I do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1337","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.chapman.edu\/catlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.chapman.edu\/catlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.chapman.edu\/catlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.chapman.edu\/catlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.chapman.edu\/catlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1337"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.chapman.edu\/catlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1484,"href":"https:\/\/sites.chapman.edu\/catlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1337\/revisions\/1484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.chapman.edu\/catlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}