RNMSL Philosopy
Striving to develop a diverse group of future scientists and engineers.
First RNMSL Group Photo - Oct. 2012 (L-R) Dr. Rocha, Mikhail Solomonik, Alyssa Dibble, Ryan Capasse, Leonard Breindel, Rakan Ashour.
Members
Dr. Rocha ( current CV)
Rocha joined the School of Chemistry and Materials Science at Rochester Institute of
Technology in 2012 as an Assistant Professor. He received his BS and MS degrees in Chemistry from the University of North Texas in 1995 and 2002, followed by his PhD in 2008 from Rice University.
Prior to arriving at RIT, he was a Research Scientist at SouthWest NanoTechnologies in Norman, OK where, among other responsibilities, he led a $1.1M joint collaboration between SWeNT and a major electronics corporation to develop semiconducting SWCNT inks for thin film transistor applications. His doctoral work at Rice and postdoctoral research at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) focused on optical spectroscopic characterization of carbon-based nanomaterials including carbon nanotubes and metal organic frameworks. Rocha's 25+ years in chemical research also includes experimental and computational work in gas-phase chemical kinetics of atmospheric and combustion chemistry as well as studies of organometallics.
He is a member of the ACS Physical and Analytical divisions and also participates regularly in activities with the MRS, AAAS, and the Society for the Advancement of Chicano and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS).
Separations
None at present.
Instrumentation
None at present.
Computational
None at present.
Alumni
Masters
Rakan Ashour - MS Mat. Sci. Engineering, 2014;
University of Rochester, Materials Science & Engineering, PhD Candidate
Leonard Breindel - MS Chem., 2014;
University of Albany, Chemistry, PhD Candidate
Dustin Woods - MS Chem., ABT; Illinois
Institute of Technology, Chemistry, PhD Student
RIT Undergrads
Jerianne Beiter - Chem BS 2019; University of Chicago, Chemistry PhD Student
Emma Snyder - Biochem BS 2019; Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, MD Student
Ben Catalano - Chem BS 2018; University of Pennsylvania, Chemistry PhD Student
John Cofield - Chem BS 2018; Rochester, NY
Greg Curtin - Chem BS 2018; North Carolina State, Chemistry PhD Student
Sabrina Hogan - Chem BS 2018; Rochester, NY
James Lane - Chem BS 2017; Rochester, NY
Luis Madera
Jason Reff
Saunders Riley
Darina Vassileva - Chem BS 2016; Philadelphia, PA
Ryan Capasse - Chem BS 2015
Anthony Cannella - Chem BS 2015; University of Buffalo, Chemistry PhD Student
Bilal Zeghum - Chem BS 2015; Houston, TX
Alyssa Dibble - Chem BS 2015; Johnson & Johnson
Mikhail Solomonik - Chem BS 2014; Kodak
OPV REUs
Matthew Seitz - Summer 2017; Physics, University of Washington
Riccardo Torsi - Summer 2016; Physics, Boise State University
Mecca I-Asia Wright - Summer 2015; Biochemistry, SUNY-Potsdam
ACS Project SEED
Austin Hammond - Summer 2015
Caleb Whittier - Summer 2013; Chemistry, University of Rochester