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Jeff Reimer is a Distinguished Professor of the Graduate School at the University of California, Berkeley, where he previously served as the C. Judson King Endowed Professor and as the Warren and Katharine Schlinger Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. He received his bachelor’s degree with honors from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his doctorate from the California Institute of Technology while collaborating with researchers at Xerox PARC. Following postdoctoral research at IBM Research in New York, he joined the Berkeley faculty, where he spent his academic career before relinquishing active-duty roles in July 2022.

Professor Reimer has been widely recognized for excellence in teaching, research, and service. He received the UC Berkeley Distinguished Teaching Award—the university’s highest honor for teaching faculty—and the Warren K. Lewis Award of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers for contributions to chemical engineering education. In 2023, he was awarded the Berkeley Citation, honoring service and achievement that exceed the university’s highest standards.

His research advances environmental protection and sustainability while providing fundamental insights into condensed matter through materials chemistry, physics, and engineering. These contributions have been recognized by his election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society, and the International Society for Magnetic Resonance. In 2015, he received a Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

In addition to his ~ 300 research publications, Professor Reimer is co-author of Chemical Engineering Design and Analysis (with T. M. Duncan, Cambridge University Press, 2nd ed., 2019) and Carbon Capture and Sequestration (with Berend Smit, Curt Oldenburg, and Ian Bourg, World Scientific, 2013).). Jeff’s teaching philosophy can be found here, and his cv here.

Dr. Sophia Fricke is a Fellow with the Pines Magnetic Resonance Center and is developing magnetic resonance techniques to gain molecular insight into materials and processes in environmental chemistry. Sophia completed her Ph.D. in physical chemistry at UC Davis with Prof. Matthew Augustine, where she optimized the matrix pencil method for signal analysis in low field, portable NMR. After completing her Ph.D., Sophia went on to postdoc at Dr. Eiichi Fukushima’s company, ABQMR, under Drs. Hilary Fabich and Mark Conradi, before returning to California. Outside of the lab, Sophia enjoys running, hiking, and wilderness photography.

Dr. Ah-Young Song is a Fellow with the Pines Magnetic Resonance Center and seeks fundamental insights regarding materials for carbon capture in various solid systems, especially utilizing solid-state NMR. She is leading the USorb-DAC team in the Reimer group ( https://usorbdac.hw.ac.uk ) with a keen focus on direct air capture. She is also interested in teaching and mentoring undergraduate students to help them to utilize what they learn in the classroom. Dr. Song received her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology and studied ion dynamics of solid electrolytes with Prof. Gleb Yushin. 

Dr. Haiyan Mao is a a postdoctoral scholar joint with Prof  Yi Cui at Stanford University. She designs, synthesizes, and analyzes nanostructured materials for energy and climate applications. She has recently developed state-of-the-art experimental tools and to uncover new insights and understandings for guest-frameworks interactions in nanoporous materials;  for example, she adapts multidimensional NMR spectroscopy (e.g. HETCOR) to a given chemical system to quantify interatomic interactions between e.g., CO2 and nanomaterials. Her hobbies include yoga, traveling, hiking, and playing badminton. “Choose a life of action, not one of ostentation.”

Vincent Allen is a second-year graduate student in the Reimer and Long groups. Before coming to Berkeley, Vincent received his bachelor’s in chemistry at Indiana University. With an interest in sustainability, he is working on developing new porous materials and studying them with solid-state NMR. Outside of lab, he loves exploring nature, watching live music, and getting Beyond Burgers in bulk at Costco.

Anika Harkins graduated from Trinity College, Hartford in 2021 with a B.S. in Chemistry. Her Ph.D. studies concern the use of NMR to study hyperpolarized MOFs jointly with Prof. Ashok Ajoy. Outside of lab, she enjoys playing the piano and traveling.

Noella D'Souza is a fourth-year graduate student joint with Prof. Ajoy. Her research interests are the growth and dynamic nuclear polarization of organic molecular crystals for quantum sensing applications. She graduated from Boston College in 2020 with a B.S. in Chemistry, after which she taught high school chemistry in South Dakota before coming to Berkeley. Outside of lab, you can probably find her social dancing, cooking, and reading a good book :). 

Alireza Pourghaderi obtained his bachelor's degree and  MBA from Sharif University of Technology, with a focus on the environmental applications of nanomaterials. Alireza is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. His research interests continue to revolve around nanomaterials, with a current focus on exploring the characterization and applications of MOFs. In addition to his academic pursuits, he loves sports and enjoys staying active.

Chongwei Zhang is a second year graduate student joint with Prof. Ashok Ajoy. He graduated from University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 2023, with a focus on quantum sensing with NV centers. His Ph.D. research aims to use pulse EPR and NMR to study the hyperpolarization of MOFs. Outside the lab, he enjoys hiking and playing classical guitar.

Dr. Hasan Celik is the director of the NMR Facility in the College of Chemistry and is a frequent collaborator with the Reimer group. Hasan is responsible for managing the operational and technical workings of the facility. He specializes in solution-state, diffusion, and imaging methods.

When not busy with putting out fires in the lab, Hasan enjoys trail running and spending time with his family.

Dr. Raynald Giovine is the solid-state NMR specialist of the NMR Facility in the College of Chemistry and a frequent collaborator with the Reimer group. Raynald is responsible for the solid-state NMR instruments in the facility. His expertise focuses on characterizing an ever-growing variety of materials using a wide range of more or less advanced solid-state NMR methods.

Apart from spending his free time wandering with his wife, his hobbies include tinkering and cooking.

Jessica Wu is a third-year chemical engineering undergraduate student passionate about sustainability. She is working on the characterization of carbon capture materials with Dr. Song and Alireza. Jessica has interned at Bloom Energy and is project manager of UC Berkeley ChemE Car’s hydrogen fuel cell team. In her free time, she loves anything outdoors and creating art.