The Reimer Group Members
Jeff Reimer received his bachelor’s degree (with honors) from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and his doctorate from the California Institute of Technology. After his postdoc at IBM Research in New York he joined the Berkeley faculty, ultimately becoming the C. Judson King Endowed Professor and the Warren and Katharine Schlinger Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department. In July of 2022 he relinquished his active duty roles and is presently a Distinguished Professor of the Graduate School. Professor Reimer has won the UC Berkeley Distinguished Teaching Award, the highest award bestowed on faculty for their teaching; he was also awarded the Warren K. Lewis Award of the AIChE for his contributions to chemical engineering education. He received the Berkeley Citation in 2023, awarded to those whose contributions to UC Berkeley go beyond the call of duty and whose achievements exceed the standards of excellence in their fields. His research generates new knowledge for environmental protection, sustainability, and provides fundamental insights to condensed matter via materials chemistry, physics, and engineering. He is recognized for these works by election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and a Fellow of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance. In 2015 he received a Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. In addition to his research publications, Professor Reimer is co-author (with T.M. Duncan) of the introductory text Chemical Engineering Design and Analysis (Cambridge University Press, 2nd edition, 2019), and the text Carbon Capture and Sequestration (with Berend Smit, Curt Oldenburg, Ian Bourg, World Scientific Press, 2013). Jeff’s teaching philosophy can be found here, and his cv here.
Madison Mennie is the administrative director of the Reimer group. A graduate from UC Berkeley, Madison is responsible for drafting proposals, filling out hire request documents for Postdoctoral Employees and students, managing federal and non-federal funding, processing travel and entertainment reimbursements, event planning, and more. She communicate, listens, and advises Professor Reimer and his group to ensure their research is successful. Madison works in several different programs: CalAnswers, ServiceNow, Microsoft Excel, Travel & Entertainment, BearBuy, UCPath, and LBNL portals. Additionally, she collaborates with Human Resources Representatives, Pre- and Post Award Research Admin, other Faculty Support Admin, and Sponsored Projects Officers to name a few.
Postdoctoral Fellows
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.”
Predoctoral Students
Karim Karouta is a fifth-year graduate student from Texas (hookem) in the Reimer and McCloskey groups working to understand transport phenomena in polymer electrolytes with PFG and ENMR. He enjoys team sports and small concerts. He has interned at P&G and Genentech and has worked briefly as a ski instructor.
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 :).
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.
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.
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.
Research Staff
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.
Prebachelor Students (still under construction)
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.