Dave obtained his BSc (Honors) degree from the University of Victoria (Prof. Dave Berg, supervisor) in 2005 and his PhD degree from the University of Ottawa (Prof. Keith Fagnou, supervisor) in 2010. He was an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow with Prof. Eric Jacobsen at Harvard University from 2010-2012. Dave started his independent career at Portland State University in 2012. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2018 and Full Professor in 2024. Contact Dave at dstuart@pdx.edu.
Nicole is originally from New York, where she completed her BA in biology at SUNY Oneonta. Prior to that, she worked in alternative education, first running programs for refugee youth in Cairo, Egypt for several years before returning to New York to do farm-based environmental education. She joined PSU in 2019 and her current studies are focused on computational organic chemistry, with an emphasis on hypervalent and "onium" compounds based on iodine and sulfur. In addition to her current studies, she's an advocate for diversity with a particular focus on disability and labor rights.
Joe Hatton (he/him) grew up mostly in New Jersey before getting his BS in Biochemistry at SDSU which he finished in 2022. The same year Joe began his PhD studies at Portland State University where he focuses on new reactions and method development involving diaryliodonium salts. In the future he hopes to work in process chemistry in the pharmaceutical industry. In his free time Joe listens to a lot of music and spends time with his cat Sosa.
Haripirya completed a MS degree in Organic Chemistry from Ismail Yusuf College, Mumbai, in June 2021 and BS degree in Indian Classical Music as a vocalist in June 2024. Haripriya was also a research intern at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, where I worked on synthetic chemistry in Prof. Namboothiri’s lab. Her research at PSU is focused on generating new scaffolds via aryne intermediates. Outside the lab, Haripriya enjoys hiking and singing.
Nikhil completed his BS degree at Nagarjuna Government College (2018-2021) and Masters degree from the Central University of Karnataka (2021-2023) in India. Nikhil started his PhD at PSU in the fall of 2024 and his research is focused on the intersection of ligand coupling and aryne formation with diaryliodonium salts. Nikhil's career goal is to become a process chemist.
Shichong received his BS degree in Applied Chemistry from Dalian University of Technology in 2018. He later conducted research on the synthesis of sulfur-containing organic polymers in Japan and received his MEng degree in Organic Chemistry from Tokyo City University in 2024. He joined the PSU PhD program in the fall of 2025, focusing on reactions that generate new compounds from aryne intermediates. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his cats, Rin and Yuki, or going to the gym for strength training.
Coming soon!
Former PhD Mentees (year of graduation; current employer)
Dr. Riley Roberts (2025; PTC Therapeutics)
Dr. Soocheta Jha (2025; on the job hunt)
Dr. Bryan Metze (2024; Intel Corporation)
Dr. Shubhendu Karandikar (2023; AbbVie)
Dr. Rory Gallagher (2022; Analog Devices)
Dr. Souradeep Basu (2022; Intel Corporation)
Dr. Aleksandra Nilova (2020; NIH)
Dr. Thomas Seidl (2018; Pacific Diabetes Technologies)
Dr. Sunil Sundalam (2017; Oregon Health & Science University)
Former Undergraduate Mentees (year of graduation)
Cheryl Farris (BS 2025)
Paige Herkemij (BS 2025)
Cyrus Rose (BS 2024)
Hunter Simpson (BS 2023)
Michael Gherman
Maddison Bob
Florian Gouliot
Brennan McCullough
Daniel Ennox
Drew Gingerich
Justin Tran
Mark Wilkinson
Cassandra Ballou (BS 2013)