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‘Janet Macdonald’

VINSE Best Collaborative Paper Awardees Attend A Celebratory Dinner

Mar. 14, 2024—Recently, Andrey Shults, Guanyu Lu, Josh Caldwell and Janet Macdonald celebrated their winning 2023 VINSE Best Collaborative Paper award. The paper has contributions from two VINSE groups from different departments – the Macdonald group in Chemistry and the Caldwell group in Mechanical Engineering. The authors report on colloidal chemistry synthesis and characterization that provides key...

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Dissertation Defense: Jeremy Espano, Interdisciplinary Materials Science

Feb. 20, 2024—DISSERTATION DEFENSE Jeremy Espano, Interdisciplinary Materials Science *under the direction of Janet Macdonald “Understanding the Crystalline Landscape of Metal Chalcogenide Materials” 03.01.24  |  2:30PM CST  |  214 Light Hall | The identity and arrangement of atoms determine the properties of all crystalline solids, and when the identity of the atoms is the same, multiple arrangements and different crystalline...

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Dissertation Defense: Alexandra Koziel, Chemistry

Feb. 13, 2024—DISSERTATION DEFENSE Alexandra C. Koziel, Chemistry *under the direction of Janet Macdonald “Think Smaller: Understanding Selenium Pathways in Metal Chalcogenide Nanocrystal Synthesis” 03.07.24  |  2:00PM CST  |  512 Light Hall As nanochemistry grows as a field and the applications of nanomaterials emerge, the importance of understanding what happens in the reaction flask during synthesis—thinking smaller than the...

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Researcher Highlight: Andrey Shults

Jan. 24, 2024—Andrey Shults, 4th year Chemistry PhD Candidate in the Macdonald Lab. Summary of Research: My research focuses on the synthesis of various metal chalcogenide nanoparticles and the mechanistic understanding of their formation. Just as with graphite and diamond, the polymorphs of carbon, the two different elements of a metal chalcogenide can combine in different ratios...

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Andrey Shults recipient of VINSE Best Collaborative Paper Award

Nov. 15, 2023—VINSE is excited to announce Andrey Shults is the recipient of the VINSE Best Collaborative Paper award. Andrey’s paper has contributions from two VINSE groups from different departments – the Macdonald group in Chemistry and the Caldwell group in Mechanical Engineering. The authors report on colloidal chemistry synthesis and characterization that provides key insights for the...

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Episode 5 | Meet our Faculty | Janet Macdonald

Aug. 15, 2023—Learn more about Dr. Janet Macdonald and her group. The Macdonald group uses synthetic chemistry techniques to hunt for uncharted paths to make nanocrystals in crystal phases never before seen in nature. Watch on YouTube | Hear more from Janet Macdonald Macdonald Lab  

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Researcher Highlight: Alex Stoneman

Jan. 5, 2023—Alex Stoneman, senior Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering & Chemistry undergraduate student in the Lang lab T-cells are key parts of the mammalian immune response, and T-cell receptors (TCRs) help them recognize their foreign targets. Previous lab work has shown that TCRs act as mechanosenors; piconewton-scale forces facilitate their extremely specific interactions with antigens. The lab...

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Dissertation Defense, Madeleine Fort, Interdisciplinary Materials Science

Dec. 5, 2022—DISSERTATION DEFENSE Madeleine Fort, Interdisciplinary Materials Science *under the direction of Dr. Janet Macdonald “Improving Charge Separation and Transfer in Semiconducting Nanocrystalline Materials” 12.07.22 | 11:30am CST | 5502 Stevenson Center This thesis examines charge transfer from semiconductor nanocrystals. A discussion of charge transfer mechanisms and their importance to renewable technologies is given. The relationship between...

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Dissertation Defense: Nathan Spear, Interdisciplinary Materials Science

Nov. 28, 2022—DISSERTATION DEFENSE Nathan Spear, Interdisciplinary Materials Science *under the direction of Dr. Janet Macdonald & Dr. Richard Haglund “Enhanced Plasmonic Upconversion in Coupled Metal-Semiconductor Nanoparticle Films” 12.06.22 | 11:00am CST | 132 Olin Hall A large class of nonlinear materials show enhanced harmonic generation by exciting the localized surface plasmonic resonance (LSPR) of metallic or semiconducting nanoparticles....

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Dissertation Defense: Christopher Sharp, Chemistry

Nov. 28, 2022—DISSERTATION DEFENSE Christopher Sharp, Chemistry *under the direction of Dr. Janet Macdonald “Cation Exchange in Nanocrystals Towards Novel Ternary Copper Chalcogens” 12.02.22 | 1:00pm CST | 202 Light Hall (RLH) | Zoom This thesis concerns the synthesis of copper chalcogen nanocrystals through cation exchange with focus on ternary intermediate and final products. Firstly, synthetic targeting of metastable and thermodynamic CuFeS2...

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