Faculty Mentors for Beckman Scholars – Office of Research and Sponsored Programs

There are 14 Faculty Mentors for the Beckman Scholar Program. Please review the area(s) of research that you are most interested in and, for more detailed information, click on the Faculty Mentors’ name(s) for additional details of their research.
	Travis Baker, Associate Professor Center for Molecular & Behavioral Neuroscience Multimodal neuroimaging techniques. Neural mechanisms underlying learning, decision-making, cognitive control, and spatial navigation.
	Elena Galoppini, Distinguished Professor Chemistry Design and synthesis of molecules for functionalization of semiconductor or metal surfaces with photo-active and redox-active ligands.
	Nan Gao, Professor Biological Sciences Cellular machinery responsible for the host-microbiome communications. Microbiome factors that affect host susceptibility to inflammation and cancer.
	Huixin He, Professor Chemistry Carbon nanomaterials and their metal nanoparticle composites for catalysis and energy storage.
	Frieder Jaekle, Distinguished Professor Chemistry Boron-doped conjugated polymers for organic electronics and luminescent sensory materials. Stimuli-responsive polymers and polymer networks.
	Haesun Kim, Professor Biological Sciences Genetic and intracellular signaling mechanisms that modulate Schwann cell myelination and myelin maintenance. Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease.
	Jenny Lockard, Associate Professor Chemistry Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), photoactive coordination complexes and hybrid materials. Vibrational and synchrotron X-ray absorption spectroscopy.
	Juan Mena-Segovia, Associate Professor Center for Molecular & Behavioral Neuroscience Operation of neuromodulatory systems in health and disease, their effects on cortical and subcortical targets at the cellular, circuit and behavioral levels.
	Michele Pavanello, Professor Chemistry & Physics Ground state and time-dependent orbital-free DFT. Non-adiabatic dynamics with subsystem DFT applied to plasmonic and photovoltaic materials.
	Demyan Prokopchuk, Assistant Professor Chemistry Sustainable chemistry. Catalysis and electrocatalysis with Earth-abundant metals. C-H bond and CO2 activation.
	Ashaki Rouff, Professor Earth & Environmental Sciences Post-industrial inorganic & organic contaminants in subsoil water. Kinetics of contaminant interactions with mineral phases, mobility and bioaccessibility.
	Michal Szostak, Professor Chemistry New methods for the synthesis of biologically active molecules. Amide bond activation. Organometallic catalysis.
	Tracy Tran, Associate Professor Biological Sciences Cellular mechanisms controlling axonal guidance versus synapse formation. Molecular control of neuronal morphogenesis.
	Fei Zhang, Assistant Professor Chemistry Biomolecular design. Structural DNA and RNA nanotechnology applied to biosensing, drug delivery and bioimaging.