First-year grad students: Reach out to learn more about our research and group culture! Our group meetings are typically Wednesdays from 4pm-6pm in CLSL-A446 and all are welcome!
Group members of the Mirica Lab are diverse researchers coming from different nations, cultural backgrounds, and also research interests! Here, you can find the names, educational background, and contact information for both our current group members and alumni. We also welcome you to take a look at our Group Photos and reach out via our Contact Us page.
Illinois Chemistry makes an effort to support climate and diversity through the Graduate Diversity and Program Office.
Liviu M. Mirica
- mirica@illinois.edu
- Ph.D., Chemistry, Stanford University (2005)
- B.S., Chemistry, California Institute of Technology (1999)
- Full Profile
- CV

Postdoctoral Researchers
Dae Young Bae
- dybae@illinois.edu
- Ph.D., Chemistry, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) (2020)
- B.S, Chemistry, POSTECH (2014)
- Division Area: Inorganic Chemistry

Monika Rana
- monika21@illinois.edu
- Ph.D., Chemistry, Central University of Rajasthan (2021)
- M.Sc. Chemistry, Central University of Rajasthan (2015)
- B.Sc. (Hons.) Chemistry, Miranda House, Delhi University (2013)
- Division Area: Chemical Biology

Saumitra Bhowmik
- saumitra@illinois.edu
- Ph.D., Chemistry, IISER Kolkata (2023)
- M.Sc. Chemistry, University of Calcutta (2015)
- B.Sc. (Hons.) Chemistry, R. K. M. V. C. College, West Bengal State University (2013)
- Division Area: Inorganic Chemistry

Graduate Students
Chi-Herng (Daniel) Hu
- chhu2@illinois.edu
- B.S., Chemistry, National Taiwan University (2017)
- Division Area: Inorganic Chemistry

Rachel Wallick
- wallick3@illinois.edu
- B.S., Chemistry & B.A., Spanish literature, University of Maryland (2016)
- Division Area: Physical Chemistry

Bailey Bouley
- bbouley2@illinois.edu
- B.S., Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin (2018)
- Division Area: Inorganic Chemistry

Karna Terpstra
- karnat2@illinois.edu
- B.S., Chemistry, Whitworth University (2019)
- Division Area: Chemical Biology

Sagnik Chakrabarti
- sagnikc2@illinois.edu
- M.Sc., Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (2019)
- B.Sc., Chemistry, Presidency University, Kolkata (2017)
- Division Area: Inorganic Chemistry

Annika Holm
- arholm2@illinois.edu
- B.A., Chemistry, Sonoma State University (2019)
- Division Area: Inorganic Chemistry
- NSF GRFP Fellow (2021)

Jubyeong Chae
- chae17@illinois.edu
- M.S., Chemistry, Seoul National University of Science and Technology (2020)
- B.S., Chemistry, Seoul National University of Science and Technology (2017)
- Division Area: Inorganic Chemistry

Amy Wahlmeier
- amyjw4@illinois.edu
- B.S., Chemistry, Nebraska Wesleyan University (2019)
- Division Area: Inorganic Chemistry
- NSF GRFP Fellow (2022)

Luke Westawker
- lukepw2@illinois.edu
- B.A., Chemistry & German, Carleton College (2020)
- Division Area: Inorganic Chemistry
- NSF GRFP Fellow (2023)

Glenn Blade
- glennb2@illinois.edu
- B.S., Biochemistry, St. Edward’s University (2021)
- Division Area: Inorganic Chemistry

Yusuff Moshood
- moshood2@illinois.edu
- M.S., Chemistry, Universite Grenoble Alpes (2021)
- B.S., Chemistry, University of Ibadan (2018)
- Division Area: Inorganic Chemistry

Alyssa Mohr
- almohr2@illinois.edu
- B.S., Chemistry & Mathematics, Northern Illinois University (2021)
- Division Area: Inorganic Chemistry

Tarek El Sayed
- tareke2@illinois.edu
- B.S., Chemistry, University of British Columbia (UBC) (2021)
- Division Area: Inorganic Chemistry

Citlali Gutierrez
- citlali3@illinois.edu
- B.S. Chemistry/Biochemistry, University of West Florida (2021)
- Division Area: Chemical Biology
- NIH CBI-TP Fellow (2021)
- NSF GRFP Fellow (2023)

Shounak Nath
- shounak2@illinois.edu
- M.S., Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science (2021)
- B.S., Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science (2020)
- Division Area: Inorganic Chemistry

Kerui “Kerry” Xu
- keruixu2@illinois.edu
- B.S. Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2020)
- Division Area: Analytical Chemistry

Siddhartha Banerjee
- sb86@illinois.edu
- M.Sc., Chemistry, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT), Nagpur, India (2023)
- B.Sc., Chemistry, Scottish Church College, University of Calcutta, India (2021)
- Division Area: Inorganic Chemistry

Joshua Leung
- jjleung3@illinois.edu
- B.S., Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley (2022)
- Division Area: Inorganic Chemistry

Visiting Scholars
Adrià Juvanteny i Palomeras
- adriaj@illinois.edu
- B.S. in Chemistry, University of Girona (2019)
- M.Sc. in Advanced Catalysis and Molecular Modeling, University of Girona (2020)
- Visiting from the University of Girona (Spain)

Undergraduate Students
Jazmin Garcia
- jazming2@illinois.edu
- Area of study: Chemistry Major, Spanish Minor, Forensic Science Certificate (Expected graduation May 2025)
- Area of research: Chemical Biology (mentor: Citlali Gutierrez)

Akhil Patel
- apate513@illinois.edu
- Area of study: Molecular Cellular Biology Major, Chemistry Minor (Expected graduation May 2025)
- Area of research: Chemical Biology (mentor: Tarek El Sayed)

Hammed Adeoye
- hadeo2@illinois.edu
- Area of study: Biochemistry Major, Chemistry Minor (Expected graduation May 2026)
- Area of research: Chemical Biology (mentor: Karna Terpstra)

Alumni
Postdocs | |
Dr. Hanah Na | hanahna@illinois.edu |
Dr. Hong-Jun Cho | hjcho@illinois.edu |
Dr. Soumalya Sinha | soumalya@illinois.edu |
Dr. Emi Evangelio | eevangelio@wustl.edu |
Dr. Julia Khusnutdinova | juliak@weizmann.ac.il |
Dr. Wei-Chih Lee | weichihlee@gmail.com |
Dr. Bo Zheng | zhengbozy@gmail.com |
Dr. Anuj Sharma | aks.iitk@gmail.com |
Dr. Wen Zhou | wenzhou@brandeis.edu |
Dr. Hui Duan | huiduan@wustl.edu |
Dr. Bennett Eleazor | beleazer@illinois.edu |
Dr. Liang Sun | liangsun@illinois.edu |
Graduate Students | |
Stephanie Tucker | spavlova2@gmail.com |
Daniel Weisz | daweisz@wustl.edu |
Jia Luo | jluo@artsci.wustl.edu |
Fengzhi Tang | ftang@artsci.wustl.edu |
Fengrui Qu | fengruiqu@gmail.com |
Barrie Cascella | bgcascella@gmail.com |
Ying Zhang | yzhangg@artsci.wustl.edu |
Shuai Zheng | shuai.zheng@wustl.edu |
Jason Schultz | jschultz821@gmail.com |
Michael Watson | mbwatson@wustl.edu |
Andrew Wessel | wessel.andrew@wustl.edu |
Nick Ruhs | nruhs@wustl.edu |
Kei Fuchigami | fuchigami@wustl.edu |
Emily Reeves | emilyreeves@wust.edu |
Sofia Smith | smsmith @wust.edu |
Yiran Huang | yiranh3@illinois.edu |
Yung-Ching Wang | ycwang3@illinois.edu |
Yujue Wang | yujuew2@illinois.edu |
Gina Tran | giangt2@illinois.edu |
Leonel Griego | lgriego2@illinois.edu |
Undergraduates | |
Nick Hawco Megan Kelly Walter Fu Philip Azanov Hyo Jin Jang Darren Finkelstein Sungho Park Aaron Rhee Maya Sorini Jacob Shaw Kathleen Hagan Lauren Raskauskas | Ryan Sun Justin Chu Alice Hsu Emily Morgan Michael Schultz Madeleine Coutre Tim Prior Nate Blecher Aidan Levine Veronica Li Shrey Patel Ian Garvey Nicholas Cedron |