Postdocs
Hyuk Joon Jung
hyukjoon@g.ucla.edu
Joon was born in Daegu, South Korea, and obtained his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from Sogang University (Seoul, South Korea). During his master’s degree, he worked on the development of nanomaterials including visible-light-active photocatalysts and anode materials for Li-ion batteries. He moved to Vancouver, Canada, to continue his graduate studies and completed his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of British Columbia. His Ph.D. studies focused on the development of neutral and cationic indium complexes for the synthesis of functionalized polymers. Now, he starts his postdoc at UCLA working on switchable catalysis. Outside of chemistry, he enjoys watching movies and traveling.
Graduate Students
Yi Shen
shenyi1995@gmail.com
Yi was born in Baoding, a small city in China, and moved to the United States in 2012. She finished her BS and MS at UCLA and decided to continue her grad studies here as well. She loves traveling around when she has time and spending time with her lovely cat. You can find pictures of the cat in Yi’s IG and Wechat.
Shijie (Jenny) Deng
dengsj0910@gmail.com
Jenny is from Shenzhen, a city located in the southeast of China. To experience a different culture and customs, she moved to Tianjin and complete her undergraduate degree at Nankai university and moved to LA to start her graduate degree. In her spare time, she likes to play jigsaw puzzles and watch sitcoms.
Hootan Roshandel
roshandel@g.ucla.edu
Hootan was born in Iran and moved to Vancouver, Canada in 2010. He finished his undergraduate studies in University of British Columbia doing various synthetic and computational chemistry projects. Inspired and eagered to learn more, he moved to UCLA for his graduate studies as a joint student with Prof. Alexandrova. Outside of chemistry, Hootan is interested in crafts, language learning, and D&D.
Yin Pok (George) Wong
georgewong98@g.ucla.edu
George is from Hong Kong and graduated with a BS from the University of Hong Kong. During his undergraduate, he worked on synthetic projects related to luminescent metal complexes and OLED materials. He enjoys playing badminton, dancing, and hiking during his spare time.
Shiyun Lin
lin98s@g.ucla.edu
Shiyun was born in Zhejiang, China, and moved to the United States in 2013. She finished her undergraduate in Mount Holyoke College majoring in Physics and Chemistry and started her journey at UCLA for graduate studies. Outside chemistry, she enjoys writing, reading, and traveling.
Ramzi Massad
ramzimassad@g.ucla.edu
Ramzi was born in Palestine and completed his undergraduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley in 2020. There, he studied natural and artificial photosynthesis at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He enjoys baking and reading random Wikipedia articles.
Master Students
Paul Hirose
pyhirose@g.ucla.edu
Paul is from Torrance, CA and completed his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at UCLA and is now pursuing his masters in Applied Chemical Science there as well. Outside of STEM, Paul does Kendo as a part of the UCLA club team and loves eating sushi.
Visiting Researchers
Moumi Mandal
mandal.moumi@gmail.com
Moumi was born in West Bengal, India, and obtained her B.Sc. from Calcutta University and M.Sc. from Central University of Jharkhand (India). After M.Sc., she worked as a project assistant on theoretical chemistry in CSIR-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research institute, Bhavnagar, Gujarat for two years. Then she completed her Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) Shibpur, India. Her primary research interest was on the development of the new of fluoro-ionophore based chemosensors and chemodosimeters. Now, she joined at UCLA as a visiting research fellow. In her spare time, she likes to watch movies, cooking, and travelling.
Undergraduate Students
Hafez Etemad
Hafez moved from Tehran to La Jolla in 2014. He switched his major from biology to chemistry because of his love for inorganic chemistry. Outside of school, he enjoys boxing and visiting restaurants. He joined the group at the start of 2022.
Varit (Happy) Chantranuwathana
Happy is from Bangkok, Thailand and joined the group in Winter 2019, working with Yi. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, playing video games, and listening to all the Taylor Swift songs.
Kimberly Vasquez
Kimberly is a chemistry major that joined the group in Winter 2022. She enjoys going to the movies, listening to music and playing volleyball.
Leo Morag
Leo is a student majoring in chemistry from Corvallis, Oregon. He joined the group in Spring of 2022 working with Ashton. In his free time, he enjoys spending time outdoors skiing, mountain biking, and rock climbing.
Maya Vasisht
Maya is a chemistry major from Pasadena and joined the group in Fall 2022. Outside of school she enjoys traveling, reading and exploring new places with friends.
Elizabeth Macoco
Elizabeth is a chemistry student from the Bay Area who joined the group in Spring 2022. She enjoys dancing, reading, and going to the beach with her friends.
DIACONESCU GROUP 