Francis (Frank) Zamborini was born and raised in Menomonee Falls, WI.  He received his BA in Chemistry from Carthage College (Kenosha, WI) in 1993 before attending graduate school at Texas A&M University (College Station, TX) under the mentorship of Professor Richard Crooks.  He received his PhD in Chemistry in 1998 and then conducted research under Professor Royce Murray as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, NC) from 1998-2001.  He began his independent academic career in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Louisville as an Assistant Professor in 2001.  He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2007 and Full Professor in 2011.  He has served as Personnel Committee Chair, Director of Graduate Studies, Vice Chair, and Interim Chair of the Department of Chemistry.  He has published close to 80 peer-reviewed journal articles, graduated 19 PhD students, and mentored close to 60 undergraduate students while at the University of Louisville.  He received research support from the National Science Foundation, Kentucky Science and Engineering Foundation, American Chemical Society, and Department of Energy during his academic career, studying fundamental electrochemical and optical properties of nanometals for sensing and energy applications. 

f.zamborini@louisville.edu

https://www.linkedin.com/in/francis-zamborini-66621a132/

Miracle has been a graduate student since Spring of 2021. Originally from Nigerian, she obtained her bachelors in Industrial Chemistry from Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu, Nigeria in 2018 before joining the Chemistry department at the University of Louisville and subsequently the Zamborini research group.

Research Description:

She is presently exploring methods for detecting Au NPs and HAuCl4- using nucleation and amplification electrodeposition strategies on an indium tin oxide surface employed as a working electrode. These investigative efforts extend to practical applications in environmental monitoring and the indirect detection of chemical and biological analytes. In these applications, gold nanoparticles serve as a marker for identifying and detecting these analytes.

moamec01@louisville.edu

www.linkedin.com/in/miracleamechi

Fahad bin halim finished his undergraduate degree (B.Sc. Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering) from University of Dhaka. He joined the PhD. Program in Chemistry in Fall 2021 at University of Louisville and started working under Dr. Francis P. Zamborini from Spring 2022. He is currently a 3rd year graduate student.

Research Description:

Fahad Bin Halim is a 5th year graduate student currently inspecting the electrochemical properties of metal nanoparticles in metal nanoparticle-molecular interfaces, single-molecule conductance, nanoelectrodes, redox active self-assembled monolayer. Such metal-molecule-metal nanoparticle (Me-M-MeNp) assemblies have applications in molecular electronics (transistor, diode, gate switches), nanoelectronic sensors, electrocatalysis and photovoltaics. The primary goal is to fabricate and analyze the electron transfer process by electrochemistry and image structural changes by electron microscopy in such Me-M-MeNp junctions. He is also looking into metal nanoparticle incorporated polymer thin film, applications of thin films and electrochemical counting of Au nanoparticles on microelectrodes.

f0hali01@louisville.edu

Binu is in her third year of graduate studies at University of Louisville. She joined Zamborini lab in Spring 2022. She earned her BS degree in 2012 from Tribhuvan University, and MS degree from the same University in 2016.

Research Description:

She is currently working on the synthesis of gold nanoclusters (Au NCs) by electrochemical deposition to create electrode surfaces coated with high coverages of small metal clusters, chemical synthesis of 0.9 nm Au NCs, and characterize it with anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV) to study fundamental size-dependent electrochemical properties, and utilize for applications in electrocatalysis for sensing, electro organic synthesis, and energy applications.

binu.thapa@louisville.edu

Bhagawat Poudel completed his Bachelor's of Science and then Master of Science (M.Sc.) from Tribhuvan University in Nepal, and then and worked as a teacher for a couple of years before joining University of Louisville in Fall 2022.He joined this lab in Spring 2023.

Research Description:

He is currently investigating the size-dependent anti-galvanic replacement (AGR) behavior of Au nanoclusters (4.1, 1.6, and 0.9 nm) with palladium salts. In addition, exploring the synthesis of multimetallic alloys via AGR of 1.6 nm Au nanoclusters with Ag, Pt, Pd, and Cu, followed by electrochemical characterization.

b0poud04@louisville.edu

Nura completed her undergraduate degree in 2016 and earned her Masters in 2018 from Jagannath University, Bangladesh.

Research Description:

Nura is a fifth-year graduate student in Zamborini’s group. She joined Dr. Zamborini’s lab in Spring 2023. Her research focuses on the synthesis of multimetallic nanoclusters via antigalvanic exchange and their characterization using anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV). In this project, she synthesizes gold nanoclusters (Au NCs) smaller than 2 nm and performes exchange reactions with Pd, Ag, and Cu salt precursors to produce bimetallic and multimetallic nanoclusters, including AuPd, AuAg, AuCu, AuAgPd, AuAgCu, and AuAgPdCu.

n0sult03@louisville.edu

Karen is a second-year graduate student in the Zamborini group. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Louisville in Fall 2024 and began her graduate studies in Spring 2025, joining the Zamborini group in Summer 2025.

Research Description: 

Her research focuses on the synthesis of gold nanoparticles and calcium alginate hydrogel beads, as well as their characterization using UV–vis spectroscopy. In this project, she synthesizes 4 and 15 nm gold nanoparticles and investigates their catalytic activity through the reduction of 4-nitrophenol, as well as chemisorption behavior using 4-nitrothiophenol.

k0juli02@louisville.edu

Mahmudur os originally from Bangladesh. He joined the chemistry department in Fall 2025 and joined our group in Spring 2026

Research Description: 

TBD

m0rahm24@louisville.edu