Bill Motsch Fifth Year Born in Erie, PA, Bill received his BSc from McGill University in Montreal, Canada where he worked on various organocatalysis projects in Dr. Jim Gleason's lab. He then moved to Florida to do a masters program with Dr. Juan Del Valle where he worked on natural product total synthesis. After working at CoreRx in Clearwater, FL as a pharmaceutical preformulations researcher, he decided to move back up north to join the lab in 2019.
Bill's thesis has been focused on developing new C-H amination methodologies using hypervalent iodine and electrochemistry.
In his free time Bill enjoys working out, reading books, and watching way too much reality tv.
Matt Sherwood Fourth Year Originally from Long Branch, New Jersey, Matt earned his BA in chemistry at Rutgers University-Newark where he worked on several medicinal chemistry projects in Dr. Joel Freundlich’s group at Rutgers-NJMS. These projects primarily focused on the synthesis of novel small molecule antibiotics.
Matt is currently working on the total synthesis of heliannuol natural products utilizing N-HVI mediated oxidative ring expansion.
Cassie Sedler Fourth Year Originally from Bethlehem, PA, Cassie Received a B.S in Chemistry from East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania. In the summer of 2019, she participated in the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she worked in the lab of Professor Patrick Dussault Synthesizing functionalized fatty acid analogs.
Cassie is currently working on using N-HVI reagents in the new C-H amination and further developing the N-HVI mediated oxidative ring expansion.
Dr. Xiao Xiao, Postdoc Member: 2017-2020 Current: Assistant Professor, Shanghai Normal University
Dr. Anthony Tierno, Postdoc Member: 2016-2018 Current: Assistant Professor, Towson University
Dr. Brandon Kelly, Postdoc Member: 2014-2016 Current: Healthcare Industry Management Consultant, Vynamic
Dr. Dimitris Noustias, Postdoc Member: 2015-2016 Current: Postdoc, Pihko Lab
Graduate Students
Alexi Martin, M.S.
Masters Degree, 2022.
Current: TCG GreenChem Inc.
B.S. Chemical Biology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)
Bilal Hoblos, Ph.D.
Ph.D., 2021. Thesis Title: Exploration in Medium-ring Ether Synthesis via Umpolung Heteroatom Activation: Total Synthesis, Method Development, and Reagent Synthesis.
Current: Bristol Myers Squibb
B.S. Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University Behrend Campus 2016
Myriam Mikhael, Ph.D.
Ph.D., 2021. Thesis Title: Novel Umpolung Strategies for C-O bond Formation with Hypervalent Iodine Reagents.
Current: Post Doc. Merck & Co.
M.S. Chemistry, Lebanese University
Andrew Mellinger, M.S.
Masters Degree, 2020.
Current: Abzena
B.S. Chemistry, Juniata University 2015
Felipe Cesar Sousa e Silva, Ph.D.
Ph.D., 2020. Thesis Title: Hypervalent Iodine Methods for Carbon-Nitrogen and Carbon-Carbon Bond Formation