Principle Investigator
Sean T. Roberts
Associate Professor of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin

Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Southern California, 2010-2013
(with Prof. Stephen E. Bradforth & Alexander V. Benderskii)

PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010
(with Prof. Andrei Tokmakoff)

BS, University of California Los Angeles, 2003
(with Prof. Benjamin J. Schwartz)

Sean's CV
Contact Information

Office: Welch Hall 3.120B (map)
Phone: (512) 475-9450 
Email: roberts@cm.utexas.edu

Mailing Address:
105 E. 24th St. Stop A5300
Austin, TX 78712-1224
Postdoctoral Scholars
Max Verkamp
Email: mverkamp@utexas.edu | Max's CV

PhD, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2019 (with Josh Vura-Weis)
BS, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, 2013

Max grew up in Southern Indiana and received BS degrees in Physics and Chemistry from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.  He then continued his education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, getting his PhD in Chemical Physics under Prof. Josh Vura-Weis. While in the Vura-Weis lab, he helped build a transient extreme ultraviolet spectrometer and used it to probe hot carrier behavior in hybrid organic-inorganic lead halide perovskites for photovoltaic applications. Max joined the Roberts Group in September 2019 to examine singlet fission in perylenediimide (PDI) and its derivatives to augment silicon solar cells. Outside of work, Max enjoys music (writing, playing, and listening to) and tabletop gaming.
Graduate Students
Jon A. Bender
Email: jonbender@utexas.edu | Website: jonabender.xyz

BS, Loyola University Chicago, 2014

Jon received his BS in Chemistry and Mathematics from Loyola University Chicago. He worked with Al Herlinger and Dan Killelea, studying the synthesis of polyamino carboxylic acid ligands for Lanthanide/Actinide separations and atomic subsurface species on transition metal surfaces with UHV-STM, respectively. In the Roberts Group, Jon is studies singlet fission in perylenediimide thin films and hybrid organic-inorganic triplet exciton transfer with material characterization, ultrafast spectroscopic techniques, and theoretical approaches. In his free time, Jon performs improvisational comedy and can't settle on a single hobby otherwise.
Michelle Blemker
Email: mblemker@utexas.edu

BS, Loyola Marymount University, 2014

Michelle was born and raised in Camarillo, California, and completed her undergraduate education at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, receiving a B.S. in Chemistry. Her research there focused on organic synthesis and characterization of guanine quadruplexes. After graduation, she worked at the biopharmaceutical company Amgen Inc. for one year as an Associate Scientist, where her projects focused on long-term antibody stability studies. Currently, she works under Sean Roberts at the University of Texas at Austin. Outside of lab, Michelle enjoys being active and outdoors, including yoga and hiking, as well as reading and socializing with friends.
Daniel Cotton
Email: decotton@utexas.edu

BS, Washington University, St. Louis, 2016

Daniel (Danny) Cotton was raised up and down the California coast. While studying at Washington University, St. Louis, he worked under Dr. Julio D’Arcy developing processing methods for conductive organics for use in electrochemical capacitors. Danny joined the Roberts group in 2016, and is working understanding the electronic structure of thin film organic chromophores via sum frequency generation and related spectroscopies. When not in lab, Danny enjoys camping, reading, music, and trying new things with friends.
Emily Raulerson
Email: eraulerson@utexas.edu

BS, Florida State University, 2016

Emily was born and raised in Okeechobee, Florida. She received BS degrees in Chemistry and in Applied Mathematics from Florida State University. Emily joined the Roberts lab in the fall of 2016 at the University of Texas at Austin. Her extracurricular pursuits include reading, biking, and camping.
Brittany Pollok (Joint with Rose Group)
Email: brpollok@utexas.edu

BS, Texas Lutheran University, 2018

Brittany is from Seguin, Texas. She received a BS degree in chemistry from Texas Lutheran University. Brittany joined the Roberts group in the fall of 2018. Outside of lab she enjoys hiking and swimming.
Honghao Wang
Email: hhwang@utexas.edu

BS, University of Arizona, 2018

Honghao was born and raised in Shenyang, China. He received a BS in chemistry from the University of Arizona, where he studied Fourier-transform microwave spectroscopy with Dr. Stephen Kukolich. He joined the Roberts lab in fall 2018. In his spare time, he enjoys road trips, watching Sci-Fi movies and eSports games.
Danielle Cadena
Email: dcadena@utexas.edu

BS, University of California Los Angeles, 2019

Danielle was born and raised on California's Central Coast. She received her BS in Chemistry and Materials Science with an organic concentration from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her undergraduate research sought to understand photodegradation processes in molecular aggregates of cyanine dyes. She joined the Roberts group in the fall of 2019. Outside of lab, she enjoys cooking, reading, and hiking.
Boxi (Cam) Li
Email: bli0611@utexas.edu

BA, Franklin & Marshal College, 2019

Cam was born and raised in Beijing, China. She received her bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and German from Franklin and Marshall College, where she worked with Dr. Kate Plass on tuning cation exchange rates using various chemical dopants. Cam joined the Roberts group in fall 2019. She likes playing African drum, reading and eating cookies in her free time.
Undergraduate Students
Inki Lee

Inki was raised in Denton, TX and is currently in the process of getting a BS in chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin. In the Roberts group, Inki is currently working on optimizing quantum dots to be used for nanocrystal to organic exciton transfer. Outside of school and lab, Inki enjoys listening to many different types of music, playing games, and exploring the city.
                                                                        

Filippos Kallivokas

Filippos was born in Pittsburgh, PA, but his family moved to Texas when he was two months old and he grew up in Austin, TX. He is a chemical engineering student at the University of Texas at Austin, and he joined the Roberts group in the spring of 2019. In his free time, he enjoys playing and watching sports, as well as traveling within the U.S. and abroad.
Group Alumni - Postdoctoral Scholars
Ravindra Pandey, PhD (Fall 2014 - Spring 2017)
Email: rpandey.fcy@iitr.ac.in
Currently an Assistant Professor at IIT Roorkee
Group Alumni - Graduate Students
Michael Azzaro, PhD (Spring 2014 - Spring 2019)
Email: azzaro.m@utexas.edu
Currently an Engineer at Intel

Aaron Moon, PhD (Spring 2014 - Spring 2019)
Email: apmoon@utexas.edu
Currently an Engineer at TowerJazz

Aaron Le, PhD (Spring 2014 - Summer 2019)
Email: aaron.k.le@utexas.edu
Currently an Engineer at TowerJazz

Atlantis Frost (Fall 2016 - Fall 2017)
Group Alumni - Undergraduates
Mark Babin (Spring 2014 - Summer 2016)
Email: markcbabin@berkeley.edu
Currently Pursuing a PhD in Chemistry at UC Berkeley

Mirna Gonzalez (Fall 2015 - Fall 2016)
High School Science Teacher, Pasadena, CA

John Gao (Spring 2016 - Fall 2016)

Jacob Anderson (Fall 2016)
MD Candidate, Harvard Medical School

Zachary Tobin (Fall 2016)
Currently Pursuing a PhD in Chemistry at Texas A&M

Diana Zhang (Fall 2016 - Spring 2017)
Currently Pursuing a PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Minnesota

Brooks Clingman (Fall 2016 - Spring 2017)
Currently working at Boeing

Benny Renard (Fall 2015 - Fall 2017)

Jim Hall (April 2018 - August 2018)

Cole Hoffman (September 2018 - May 2019)

Annie Zhang (January 2018 - May 2019)
Media & Communications Intern at Cell Press

Mitchell Haecker (GREAT: Summer 2017)
Currently Attending Texas A&M

Adam Peasley (GREAT: Summer 2018)

Kira Daniel (GREAT: Summer 2019)

Jessica Tanner (GREAT: Summer 2019)
Group Alumni - Welch Summer Scholars
Kelby Erickson (Summer 2015)
Currently pursing a BS degree at UT Austin

Lauren Dossett (Summer 2016)
Currently pursuing a BS degree at MIT

Abhilash Potluri (Summer 2017)
Currently pursing a BS degree at UT Austin

Benjamin Li (Summer 2018)
Currently pursuing a BS degree at UT Austin