Group Alumni and Past Visitors


Former Postdocs


Dr. Nijamudheen Abdulrahiman

Nijamudheen Abdulrahiman
Mailing address:
Department of Chemistry
Natural Sciences Complex 726
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
Buffalo, NY 14260-3000, USA

Tel.: 716-445-4436
Email: anijamud at buffalo dot edu
Profiles: LinkedIn | ResearcherID | ResearchGate | GoogleScholar

Nijamudheen is from Kerala, one of the southern states in India. He obtained his BSc degree (2008) in Chemistry from the Calicut University and MSc degree (2010) in Applied Chemistry from the Cochin University of Science And Technology (CUSAT). His thesis work for the master’s degree was guided by Professor Ayan Datta in the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Thirvananthapuram. Then, he remained in the same group and started his doctoral studies. In 2012, he moved with the Datta group to the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) in Kolkata and received his PhD degree in 2015. His PhD thesis was on the “Computational Study of Structures and Electronic Properties of Metal Clusters”. He is a postdoctoral research associate in the group of Professor Alexey Akimov since January 2016. Nijam's present projects involve modeling electron and hole relaxation and recombination in 2D materials and in perovskites.


Dr. Ekadashi Pradhan

Ekadashi Pradhan
Mailing address:
Department of Chemistry
Natural Sciences Complex 727
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
Buffalo, NY 14260-3000, USA

Tel.:
Email: ekadashi at buffalo dot edu
Profiles: LinkedIn | ResearcherID | ResearchGate | GoogleScholar

Ekadashi Pradhan was born and grew up in Midnapur, West Bengal, India. He received his B.Sc. in 2008 in Chemistry (Honours) from The Department of Chemistry, Ramakrishna Mission Residential College, Narendrapur, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India. He obtained his M.Sc. in Chemistry from The Department of Chemistry, IIT-Bombay, Mumbai, India in the year 2010. His M.Sc. thesis “System Size Dependence of Solvation Structures of NaCl in Water-DMSO Mixtures” was supervised by Prof. B. L. Tembe. Then he moved to Edmonton, Canada where he received his Ph.D. in December, 2015 from The Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta under the guidance of Prof. Alex Brown. His Ph.D. thesis is titled as “Potential Energy Surfaces for Quantum Dynamics Simulations: From ab initio Computations to Vibrational State Determinations”. From January 2016, he is pursuing postdoctoral research on “Non-adiabatic Quantum Dynamics for Large Systems” in Prof. Alexey Akimov’s group at SUNY-Buffalo. His is presently developing the Libra-QE interface and the delta-SCF methodology for simulating photoinduced isomerization in organic molecules.


Former Graduate Students


Mr. Brendan A. Smith

Brendan Smith
Mailing address:
Department of Chemistry
Natural Sciences Complex 727
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
Buffalo, NY 14260-3000, USA

Tel.:
Email: bsmith24 at buffalo.edu
Profiles: LinkedIn | ResearcherID | ResearchGate | GoogleScholar

Brendan Smith was born in Buffalo, New York, and grew up in Rochester, New York. He graduated with a BA in chemistry from the State University of New York at Geneseo. During his time at Geneseo, Brendan had the privilege to work on two research projects under the guidance of Dr. Jeffery Peterson. The projects were to investigate green aqueous solubilization schemes for CdSe core quantum dots, their ability to image Escherichia coli., and the determination of the extinction coefficients of in house synthesized CdSe/CdS core/shell quantum dots. As of Fall 2016, Brendan attends The State University of New York at Buffalo, SUNY and is pursuing his PhD under the guidance of Prof. Alexey Akimov. He currently in his 4th year of his Ph.D and has worked on several research projects to date. His research ranges from developing methods for treating quantum nuclear effects in molecular dynamics simulations, to developing non-adiabatic molecular dynamics methods. For the latter, his focus is on non-adiabatic molecular dynamics within the neglect-of-back-reaction approximation. His orcid is http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3460-9984


Ms. Mahsa Jabbar

Mahsa Jabbar
Mailing address:
Department of Chemistry
Natural Sciences Complex 726
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
Buffalo, NY 14260-3000, USA

Tel.:
Email: mahsajab at buffalo dot edu
Profiles: LinkedIn | ResearcherID | ResearchGate | GoogleScholar

Mahsa Jabbar was born and grew up in Tehran, Iran. She obtained her B.Sc. degree (2006-2010) in Chemistry and her M.Sc. (2011-2014) from Azad University Central Tehran Branch. Her M.Sc. thesis "Use of GC-MS combined with chemometrics to characterize and to compare the essential oil components of different types of Cardamom" was supervised by Prof. Elaheh Konoz. Then, She moved to University of Louisville, Louisville, KY to continue her education (2015-2017) and joined Prof. Richard Wittebort research group, the project was NMR studies of structure and dynamics of intrinsically disordered proteins. In fall 2017 started her PhD and joined Prof. Alexey Akimov group at SUNY-Buffalo. She is currently involved in projects about superconductors.


Ms. Story Temen

Story Temen
Mailing address:
Department of Chemistry
Natural Sciences Complex 726
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
Buffalo, NY 14260-3000, USA

Tel.:
Email: storytem at buffalo dot edu
Profiles: LinkedIn

Story Temen received her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Biochemistry from Kutztown Univeristy in Kutztown, Pennsylvania in 2019. While enrolled at Kutztown University, she conducted research related to organic synthesis, pesticide detection, and luminescence lifetime. She started her Ph.D studies and joined the Akimov group at UB in fall of 2019.


Master Students


No at the present time

Ms. Anarzhan Abilgazy

Anarzhan Abilgazy
Mailing address:
Department of Chemistry
Natural Sciences Complex 726
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
Buffalo, NY 14260-3000, USA

Tel.: 7163480769
Email: anarzhan at buffalo dot edu
Profiles: LinkedIn | ResearcherID | ResearchGate | GoogleScholar

Anarzhan Abilgazy was born in Karaganda region, Kazakhstan, and grew up in Astana, Kazakhstan. She obtained her B.Sc. in Physics and a minor in Mathematics, and a minor in World languages, Literature and Culture from Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan (2017). During her undergraduate studies, she joined the research group of Prof. Sergiy Bubin and worked on her B.Sc. thesis "Evaluation of mass-velocity relativistic correction in variational calculations with explicitly correlated Gaussian basis functions with L=1 total orbital angular momentum". She is one of the founders of Poetry club at Nazarbayev University. In 2017, she started her PhD at SUNY-Buffalo, where she is a member of Prof. Alexey Akimov’s research group.


Former Master Students


Ms. Niyaz Pordel

Niyaz Pordel
Mailing address:
Department of Chemistry
Natural Sciences Complex 726
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
Buffalo, NY 14260-3000, USA

Tel.: 716-444-1283
Email: niyazpor at buffalo dot edu
Profiles: LinkedIn | ResearcherID | ResearchGate | GoogleScholar

Niyaz Pordel was born and grew up in Shiraz,Iran. She received her B.A in Chemistry (Honors) from The Department of Chemistry, University at Buffalo, Buffalo,NY (Aug 2012-May 2015). During her undergrad she was a founder of Persian Student Association UB Club (PerSA), University at Buffalo, and president of (PerSA), University at Buffalo Aug 2013 – Aug 2014. She got research award from “Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities at UB” (CURCA) for her research about “Povidone-Iodine and Nano-Calcium Sulfate: Potential as a Bone Scaffold with Antimicrobial Properties” under supervising Dr.Dziak (Feb 2013-Dec 2014). In January 2016 started her Master in chemistry and research under the guidance of Prof. Alexey Akimov group at SUNY-Buffalo. She is currently involved in modeling electron-phonon coupling in C60 on Au vs CaF2 surfaces, for understanding the pecularities of the sum-frequency generation spectra obtained by our experimentalist collaborators.


Former Undergraduate Students


Mr. Samay Patel

Samay Patel
Mailing address:
Department of Chemistry
Natural Sciences Complex 726
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
Buffalo, NY 14260-3000, USA

Tel.:
Email: samaypat at buffalo dot edu
Profiles: LinkedIn | ResearcherID | ResearchGate | GoogleScholar

TBD


Mr. Kathan Dholakia

Kathan Dholakia
Mailing address:
Department of Chemistry
Natural Sciences Complex 726
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
Buffalo, NY 14260-3000, USA

Tel.:
Email: kathandh at buffalo dot edu
Profiles: LinkedIn | ResearcherID | ResearchGate | GoogleScholar

TBD


Mr. Md Fuad (Zarif)

Md Fuad (Zarif)
Mailing address:
Department of Chemistry
Natural Sciences Complex 726
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
Buffalo, NY 14260-3000, USA

Tel.:
Email: mdfuad at buffalo dot edu
Profiles: LinkedIn | ResearcherID | ResearchGate | GoogleScholar

TBD


Mr. Achira Boonrath

Achira Boonrath
Mailing address:
Tel.: 716-730-9234
Email: achirabo at buffalo dot edu
Profiles: LinkedIn

Achira Boonrath was born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand. Achira attended KPIS International School for secondary school where he represented the school in multiple academic competitions. Achira took part in World Scholar’s Cup, an international team-based essay writing, debating, and knowledge test competition where he won multiple honors awards. He also competed in the International History Bee and Bowl (IHBB) Asia Division where he was invited to compete in the 2017 IHBB Asian Championship in Singapore. Achira graduated secondary school as KPIS Class of 2018 Salutatorian. In Fall 2018, he became an Aerospace Engineering student at the University at Buffalo. As of Spring 2019, Achira is performing research assistantship with Brendan Smith in the Akimov Research Group. The research involves methodology development for incorporating the quantum effects of nuclei in molecular dynamics simulation in real time. The research utilizes Python 2.7 and Libra, a Python library developed for computational chemistry.


Mr. Austin Cadore

Austin Sydney Cadore
Mailing address:
Department of Chemistry
Natural Sciences Complex 727
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
Buffalo, NY 14260-3000, USA

Tel.:
Email: ascadore at buffalo dot edu
Profiles: LinkedIn | ResearcherID | ResearchGate | GoogleScholar | Web Site

Austin Cadore was born in Lincoln, Nebraska in May of 1995. He currently attends the University of New York at Buffalo for a double degree in Chemistry and Biomedical Engineering, and is on track to graduate in May of 2019. He is currently an active researcher in the Chemistry Industrial Engineering departments. In January 2019, he joined Dr. Alexey Akimov's group at SUNY-Buffalo as an undergraduate researcher. His current project focuses on the identification of potential mechanisms for the electron transfer reaction that constitutes the reduction of ferritin-bound iron (III). He uses MD simulations combined with the DFTB+ and Python scription to push this project forward.


Mr. Sovinder Singh

Sovinder Singh
Mailing address: N/A
Tel.:
Email: sovinder at buffalo.edu
Profiles: LinkedIn | ResearcherID | ResearchGate | GoogleScholar

Sovinder Singh was born in Berkeley, California, and grew up in Buffalo, NY. He is currently in his third year of study and in the process of obtaning a degree in Chemistry with a minor in Computer Science at SUNY-Buffalo. Sovinder joined Prof. Alexey Akimov's research group in Spring 2018. He is currently working on interfacing QChem electronic structure package with the Libra nonadiabatic dynamics library within the Libra-X project. Sovinder will apply the developed interface to study photoinduced nuclear dynamics of DNA base pairs and related compounds.


Ms. Anxhela Nezha

Anxhela Nezha
Mailing address: N/A
Tel.:
Email: anxhelan at buffalo.edu
Profiles: LinkedIn | ResearcherID | ResearchGate | GoogleScholar

Anxhela Nezha was born in Lushnje, Albania and has lived in Buffalo, NY ever since she was 7 years old. She is currently working towards obtaining her B.S. Biomedical Science and B.S. Medicinal Chemistry degree. She aims to matriculate to medical school following her undergraduate career. Anxhela joined Prof. Alexey Akimov's research group in Spring 2018. She is currently working on investigation of photoinduced phase segregation in mixed halide perovskites. In particular, she investigates the excited-state reorganization energies and potential energy surfaces of MAPbI3-xBrx perovskites.


Ms. Quy Tu

Quy Tu
Mailing address: N/A
Tel.:
Email: quytu at buffalo.edu
Profiles: LinkedIn | ResearcherID | ResearchGate | GoogleScholar

Quy was born in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. Had graduated Seattle Central College with an A.S degree in Pre-Pharmacy and a high school diploma, she then transferred to University at Buffalo to pursue her B.S Chemistry degree. During her undergraduate studies, she joined the research group of Prof. Alexey Akimov in Spring 2018. Her current research focuses on investigation of how number of layers and relative position modulate the interlayer electron transfer in stacked 2D materials by operating dynamical calculation from given coordinates and geometries for the unit cells. This research also shows the mechanisms and kinetic of energy relaxation/charge transfer in Biancardi’s graphene/Zn phtalocianine system.


Ms. Samantha Talarico

Samantha Talarico
Mailing address: N/A
Tel.:
Email: smtalari at buffalo.edu
Profiles: LinkedIn | ResearcherID | ResearchGate | GoogleScholar

Samantha Talarico was born and raised in Rochester, NY. She is currently working on her B.S. in Chemistry, and joined Prof. Alexey Akimov’s research group in Spring 2018. She currently investigates surface effects in determining CdSe quantum dots' optoelectronic properties.


Ms. Yuhan Lin

Yuhan Lin
Mailing address: N/A
Tel.:
Email: yuhanlin at buffalo dot edu
Profiles: LinkedIn | ResearcherID | ResearchGate | GoogleScholar

Yuhan Lin was born in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China. She is a transfer student from Nanjing Forestry University, China, where she was a sophomore in 2014. In 2015, she joined Alexey V. Akimov's research group as a senior student. Her research focuses on understanding the dependence of the quality of nonadiabatic molecular dynamics on the choice of electronic structure calculation methods.


Ms. Elizabeth Zdyb

Elizabeth Zdyb
Mailing address: N/A
Tel.:
Email: emzdyb at buffalo.edu
Profiles: LinkedIn | ResearcherID | ResearchGate | GoogleScholar

Elizabeth Zdyb was born in Webster, NY, and grew up in Pittsford, NY. She is currently working towards obtaining her B.S. Biomedical Engineering degree. In 2017, she started her undergraduate degree at SUNY-Buffalo, where she joined the research group of Prof. Alexey Akimov. Her current research focuses on investigation of k-point dependent non-radiative relaxation rates in solid-state materials for solar energy.


Former Visitors


Ms. Yating Yang

Yating Yang
Mailing address:
Department of Chemistry
Natural Sciences Complex 726
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
Buffalo, NY 14260-3000, USA

Tel.:
Email: yangyt at mail dot bnu dot edu dot cn
Profiles: LinkedIn | ResearcherID | ResearchGate | GoogleScholar | Web Site

Yating Yang was born in Shanxi, China. She obtained her B.Sc. degree in Organic Chemistry from Beijing Normal University, 2012-2016. Her B.Sc. thesis “The study of photoredox reactions of cyclopropylamines under the irradiation of the visible light” was supervised by Prof. Zhi He. From 2016 till now, she is a PhD student in Beijing Normal University in Prof. Run Long group. Yating's research focuses on the photo-induced charge and energy transfer dynamics in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) by nonadiabatic molecular dynamics (NA-MD) simulations. In fall 2018, Yating joined Prof. Alexey Akimov group at SUNY-Buffalo as a joint training PhD student to further explore the capabilities of the NA-MD method as applied to various solar energy materials.


Ms. Seyedeh Mahsa Mofidi

Seyedeh Mahsa Mofidi
Mailing address:
Department of Chemistry
Natural Sciences Complex 726
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
Buffalo, NY 14260-3000, USA

Tel.:
Email: mhsa86 at gmail dot com
Profiles: LinkedIn | ResearcherID | ResearchGate | GoogleScholar | Web Site

Mahsa Mofidi was born in Tehran, Iran. She received her B.Sc. degree in Chemical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology under supervision of Dr. Ramin Bozorgmehry in 2009. She obtained her M.Sc. (2010-2012) from Amirkabir University of Technology Under supervision of Dr. Farzaneh Vahabzadeh. Then, in 2014 back again to Sharif university of Technology, started her PhD in Nanotechnology at the Institute Nano Science and Nanotechnology (INST). Her thesis under joint supervision of Dr. Hossein Nejat and Dr. Mohammad Reza Ejtehadi is related to all-atom Molecular Dynamics simulation of the motion of C60 based nanocars on carbon structures. In September 2018 she joined Dr. Alexey Akimov's group at SUNY-Buffalo as a visiting scholar to continue her research on MD simulations.


Mr. Kosuke Sato

Kosuke Sato
Mailing address:
Department of Chemistry
Natural Sciences Complex 727
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
Buffalo, NY 14260-3000, USA

Tel.:
Email: e1667 at mosk dot tytlabs dot co dot jp
Profiles: LinkedIn | ResearcherID | ResearchGate | GoogleScholar

Mr. Kosuke Sato is researcher at Toyota Central Research & Development Laboratories, Inc., Japan. He visited Prof. Akimov group during Nov. 1, 2015 - Jan. 31, 2016. Kosuke's research in the Akimov group focused on the implementation of a Libra-GAMESS interface for Non-Adiabatic Molecular Dynamics simulation in exteneded systems. He has made a great progress in implementing the initial version of the code. The code then transformed into the Libra-X code. Feel free to explore the repository here


Mr. Jeong Soo (Eric) Park

Eric Park
Mailing address:
Department of Chemistry
Natural Sciences Complex 726
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
Buffalo, NY 14260-3000, USA

Tel.:
Email: jpark54 at buffalo dot edu
Profiles: LinkedIn | ResearcherID | ResearchGate | GoogleScholar

Eric is an undergraduate student attending California State University, San Bernardino majoring in Bio-chemistry and obtainin minor in Biology. He will graduate in Fall 2016. Presently, Eric is participating in a REU program at the University at Buffalo, SUNY. His summer research focuses on modeling electron transfer dynamics driven by a spin-boson Hamiltonian (Marcus model). He uses surface hopping approach with various modes of system-bath coupling.