.

Dinindu joined the group January 2021.  He is working on a solution and solid-state photochemistry as well as on photodynamic crystals. Dinindu received the Dover Publishing award from the department for great communication in organic studies. He is currently a PhD candidate and our laser operator. Dinindu was the CGSA president for Fall 2023-Spring 2024.

Niroodha recieved her MSc from University of Iowa in 2021 and joined Anna's group in Fall of 2021 studying corannulene using Laser Flash photolysis and DFT calculations. She is working on flow photochemistry. Niroodha was the group manager for 2023-2024.

Fiona received her BSc in chemistry (ACS certified) with a minor in mathematics from Western Kentucky University in May 2021. She has a background in organic drug delivery polymers and syngas catalysis from her undergraduate research lab and industry internship experiences. Fiona joined the group in Winter of 2022 and is excited to work on gas releasing photodynamic crystals. She works on azides and endoperoxides for photodynamic studies and photomechanism. She was the GA for the chemistry library liaison where she taught workshops for the university on SciFinder-n, Reaxys, and literature searching, while establishing a women of UC chem trailblazing museum exhibit at the Oesper Museum. She did a visiting student internship at University of Queensland with Dr. Jack Clegg. She is currently a PhD candidate and the group manager for 2024-2025.

She is currently the President of CCDC (previously the Women's chair) and an REU coordinator and mentor.

Janaka received his MSc from Eastern Illinois in 2021 and began researching azides in the solid-state in January 2022. You can read more about his story above. Janaka became our group safety officer in Summer 2022 but is now focusing on mentorship in the lab. He is working on photodynamic vinyl and aryl azides and grows some of the most beautiful photodynamic crystals. Janaka was the service chair for 2023-2024.

Dharma joined the group as a first year in spring of 2023. Dharma recieved his masters in Chemistry at Tribhuvan University at trichandra college in 2019. He is currently researching photochemistry of organic aromatic peroxides. Dharma is currently on the board of CCDC for the Consortium of Cultural Diversity in Chemistry as the co-chair of professional development. Dharma is the Vice President of CGSA this year.

Sulaiman received his B.S. degree in the department of pure and industrial chemistry from Bayero University Kano, Nigeria in 2016. And my M.Sc. in the Department of Chemistry, School of Science, Tianjin University, China in the Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin) in 2022. My research focused on design, fabrication, and characterization of metal organic frameworks (MOFs) and nanomaterials for electrochemical applications. Now I am Ph.D. student in the Department of Chemistry, University of Cincinnati. My research focuses on photomechanistic studies of azides and hope to add my training in electrochemical studies to photochemistry. Sulaiman is the sports chair for CGSA this year.

Wandana joined the group as a first year in spring 2023. She is currently studying aryl azides and crystalizing salt carboxylic acid crystals. She is learning confocal microscopy to mark the surface with photoconversion to the products. She is the treasurer of CGSA currently.

Ben joined the group Summer 2023. He is currently studying ground state rearrangement in the solid-state of an azide photoproduct to an autooxidation cyclization. Ben is currently on the board of CCDC for the Consortium of Cultural Diversity in Chemistry for Ostem.

Anindya joined the group Spring 2024. He graduated with a masters from VIT-Chennai, India in 2022 and has a strong background in computational chemistry. Anindya is the service chair of CGSA currently.

​In Spring 2024, Bashini joined our group as a first-year student. She earned her B.Sc. honors in Chemistry from the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, in July 2023. During her undergrad research, she focused on Bioanalytical and Photochemistry. Before coming to UC, she worked as a Chemistry teaching assistant at the University of Kelaniya. Currently, she's diving into Photochemistry as a graduate student while also teaching as a Graduate teaching assistant. 

Subhiksha completed her master's in chemistry from Vellore Institute of Technology, India in the year 2022. During her period of education, she had interned in both National and Central labs. Joined the group in the month of January, 2023. Currently studying the photodynamic behavior of Peroxides.

Below are our graduate students currently in the lab

Ben is a senior chemistry major working in Anna's lab for the past 2 years. He has worked on mechanical and photo bending for azide crystals using video microscopy. He has a passion for synthesis and purification of photosensitive azides. He is graduating December 2024.

Libbie is a senior chemistry major working in Anna's lab for the past 2 years. She has helped Fiona with product studies on dimerizing aryl azides. She is active in marching band for UC. She is graduating December 2024.

Gabe is a senior cosmetic science student here at UC. He is working with Janaka on synthesis, purification, and characterization of rotating aryl azides. He hopes to go to graduate school to continue researching beauty products.

Connor is a sophomore chemical engineering student here at UC. He is working with Anindya and Dinindu on transient spectroscopy and calculation data analysis for photosensitive compounds.