Current Members

Eshani Hettiarachchi 

She / Her

Staff Research Scientist and Lab Manager

Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry 

 Office: 3102 Urey Hall 

Email: ehettiarachchi@ucsd.edu 

Eshani joined the Grassian group as a Postdoctoral Scholar in June 2020. She earned her B.Sc. (Specials) in Chemistry from University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka, and moved to the United States to pursue a Ph.D. Eshani is interested in understanding the fate of biomolecules such as DNA and Proteins in environment.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eshani-h/  

Website

Kedong Gong 

He/ His

Postdoctoral Associate

Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry 

 Office: 3102 Urey Hall

Email:  kdgong@ucsd.edu  

Kedong Gong joined the Grassian group in September 2023 as a postdoc. He earned his Ph.D. at Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, specializing in in-situ detecting pH and chemistry within microdroplet aerosol. Currently, Kedong is interested in sulfate oxidation in aqueous aerosols.

Wen Zhang 

She/ Her

Postdoctoral Scholar

Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry 

 Office: 3102 Urey Hall

Email:  wez086@ucsd.edu  

Wen joined the Grassian group as a postdoc in September 2024. She earned her B.S. in Chemistry at University of Science and Technology of China and her Ph.D. in Chemistry at University of California, Riverside. She is currently focusing on the spontaneous oxidation in aqueous microdroplets.

Tarun Kumar Roy

He / Him

Postdoctoral Associate

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

University of California, San Diego

Office: 3104 Urey Hall

Email:  t2roy@ucsd.edu

Tarun Kumar Roy joined the Grassian group in October 2024 as a postdoctoral researcher. Before this, he did his first postdoc in the Lester group at University of Pennsylvania with DFG Walter Benjamin Fellowship. He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, with Prof. Martina Havenith. His current research revolves around understanding chemistry within water microdroplets as of interest to fundamental physical chemistry and applied atmospheric chemistry.

Lincoln Mehndiratta 

He / Him

Graduate Student

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

University of California, San Diego

Office: 3104 Urey Hall

Email:  lmehndir@ucsd.edu   

Lincoln is a fifth year graduate student co-advised by Vicki Grassian and Nate Slade. He completed his Masters in May 2020 from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Mohali. He is interested in working with aerosols and their impacts on the environment. Other interests include beaches, hiking, sports and food. 

Karla Rojas Garcia

She / Her

Graduate Student

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry 

University of California, San Diego

Email: krojasgarcia@ucsd.edu 

 Karla graduated from UC Irvine in 2021 with a B.S. in Chemistry and a minor in Earth & Atmospheric Sciences. She joined the Grassian group in the Winter of 2022 and is studying the secondary formation of HONO from wildfire smoke. Karla enjoys visiting National Parks, reading books, and tending to her 40 plants!

Jane Sedlak

She / Her

Graduate Student

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry 

University of California, San Diego

Email: jsedlak@ucsd.edu 

After receiving her BA in Chemistry from Oberlin College in 2019, Jane joined a team of chemists conducting art conservation research at the Louvre. At UCSD her primary research focus is the chemistry of wildfire smoke. In her free time, she and her dog enjoy hiking, backpacking and chasing after tennis balls. As the “Tasty Treat Maker” for a 60 person coop in college, Jane misses the excitement and potential disaster of large scale baking projects.

Hannah Castro

She / They

Graduate Student

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry 

University of California, San Diego

Email: hncasatro@ucsd.edu 

Hannah graduated from UC Berkeley in spring 2022 with a B.S. in Chemistry and joined the Grassian group in Spring 2023. She utilizes FTIR to help in understanding the heterogeneous chemical and photochemical reactions occurring on environmentally relevant surfaces, such as mineral dust.

Adriane Tam

She / Her

Graduate Student

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry 

University of California, San Diego

Email: a3tam@ucsd.edu 

Adriane graduated from USC in 2022 and joined the Grassian group in Winter 2023. She is interested in chemical reactions in aqueous microdroplets. 

Jenille Cruz 

She / Her

Graduate Student

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry 

University of California, San Diego

Email: jmc023@ucsd.edu 

Jenille joined the Grassian group in June 2023 as a PhD student. She got her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Physical Chemistry at California State University, Fullerton in collaboration with the Department of Defense Army Research Lab. She worked as a computational chemist studying diamond surfaces and is now working on surface sensitive techniques to understand the physical and chemical properties of aqueous aerosols at the air/water interface.

Jinxu Zhou

She/ Her

Graduate Student 

Materials Science and Engineering program 

Office: 3104 Urey Hall

Email: jiz042@ucsd.edu 

Jinxu earned her B.S in nanoengineering in June 2023 at University of California San Diego. She has been doing research in the Grassian Group since her undergraduate years and is now working on her M.S. degree with thesis. Her project focuses on understanding the interactions between proteins and geochemical surfaces.  

Vanessa Valdez

Graduate Student 

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry  

Office: 3104 Urey Hall

Email: v2valdez@ucsd.edu  

Vanessa graduated from California State University, Fullerton in 2022 with a B.S in Biochemistry and joined the Grassian group in Winter 2024. Her previous research experience involved the characterization of different aerosol mixtures in the atmosphere and how they impact cloud formation. Currently, she is interested in understanding the interactions between eDNA and mineral surfaces in the environment.  

Benjamin Dao

Graduate Student 

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry  

Office: 3104 Urey Hall

Email: bdao@ucsd.edu  

Benjamin graduated from CSU Long Beach in 2022 with a BS in Chemistry and minor in Applied Mathematics. His previous research focused on synthesizing and characterizing Metal-Organic Frameworks. At UC San Diego, he aims to study the impacts of proteins in aquatic systems.  

Iris Yourick

Graduate Student 

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry  

Office: 3104 Urey Hall

Email: iyourick@ucsd.edu   

Iris graduated from the University of Maryland in 2023 with a B.S. in chemistry and a minor in sustainability studies. At UMD, she researched cover crops and nutrient cycling in agriculture. After graduation, she went on to do an ORISE fellowship at the FDA studying PFAS in food packaging before coming to UC San Diego and joining the Grassian Group in 2025. She is interested in heterogenous chemistry, aqueous microdroplets, and trace gases in the atmosphere. In her free time, Iris enjoys traveling, reading science fiction, and relaxing at the beach.  

Patiemma Rubio 

Graduate Student 

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry  

Office: 3104 Urey Hall

Email: pbrubio@ucsd.edu 

Patiemma is a graduate student who is co-advised by Prof. Rommie Amaro and Prof. Vicki Grassian.

Justin Wang

He / Him

Undergraduate Student 

Office: 3104 Urey Hall

Email: jhw007@ucsd.edu 

Justin is an undergraduate at UC San Diego pursuing a BS in Chemistry. He joined the Grassian group in the summer of 2022 and is working on acid and base catalyzed ester hydrolysis in bulk and aerosolized solutions. Justin likes to tutor chemistry and math, cook, and play table tennis in his free time!

Dylan Schmidt

She / They 

Undergraduate Student 

Office: 3104 Urey Hall

Email:  dyschmidt@ucsd.edu  

Dylan is an undergraduate at UC San Diego pursuing a BS in Environmental Chemistry. She joined the Grassian group in Winter 2024 and is interested in the interactions between wildfire smoke particles and indoor surfaces. In their free time, Dylan likes to cook, tidepool, and paint.