Our group is always interested in hearing from enthusiastic students and scholars who want to establish new frontiers for inorganic chemistry, magnetism, and the quantum world. Please reach out to Prof. Joe Zadrozny at zadrozny.13@osu.edu with a copy of your CV and a brief statement of your interests in the group to learn more and explore potential employment opportunities.
Professor Joe Zadrozny
Joe was born and raised in Virginia. Joe studied at Virginia Tech for his bachelor’s degree where he got his start in molecular magnetism working with Prof. Gordon Yee. Joe then went to UC Berkeley to study low-coordinate metal complexes and single-molecule magnetism with Prof. Jeff Long. After obtaining his PhD, Joe performed a postdoctoral stint with Prof. Danna Freedman (then at Northwestern) investigating molecular qubits and spin coherence. His curiosity in magnetism was sufficiently piqued at this point, and Joe then built a lab at Colorado State University in 2017 finding new curiosities at the intersection of magnetism and molecular inorganic chemistry. In 2024 Joe moved his lab to The Ohio State University to elevate his research program in new directions.
In-lab Interests: Rocking out, good quartz work, the coffee machine, proper schlenk technique.
Out-of-Lab Interests: Cooking, cocktails, craft breweries, reading, cycling.
Postdoctoral Researchers
Dr. Ökten Üngör
Ökten earned her Ph.D. from Florida State University under the guidance of Prof. Michael Shatruk, where she focused on developing hybrid materials that combine spin crossover with organic radical anions. In the Zadrozny group, she is working on developing new design strategies for 59Co NMR thermometry, focusing on molecular symmetry and chemical control of molecular vibrations, which involves the use of synthetic chemistry, 59Co NMR, and Raman spectroscopy. Recently, she transitioned to EPR and is working on understanding the nature of forbidden singlet to triplet EPR transitions in copper(II) dimers.
In-Lab interests: Spins under magnetic field, crystallography, spectroscopy, breaking records.
Out-of-Lab interests: Traveling, contemporary cinema, reading, and learning different languages.
Dr. Srikanth Dasari
Srikanth grew up in India, He completed his Ph.D. in 2020 from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India under the guidance of Prof. Ashis K. Patra developing luminescent lanthanide bioprobes for light-responsive theranostic applications. After Ph. D, Srikanth worked as a postdoctoral associate with Prof. Valerie Pierre on developing luminescent metal-based receptors for catch and release of phosphate anions for environmental and biomedical applications. Then with Prof. Lawrence Que Jr, (at the University of Minnesota), designing and generating high-valent iron(IV)-oxo species and studying their reactivity towards oxidation catalysis. In the Zadrozny group, he is interested in designing and investigating high-spin metal complex-based EPR imaging probes.
In-Lab Interests: Designing new metal complexes, growing crystals, spectroscopy and discussions.
Out-of-Lab Interests: Playing badminton, cooking, trekking, spending time with friends and family.
Dr. Firoz Khan
Firoz finished his PhD in 2019 from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, under the guidance of Prof. Sankar P. Rath, and his research dealt with designing metalloporphyrin dimers as a synthetic mimic for diheme cytochrome enzymes. Subsequently, he joined Prof. Shabnam Hematian’s research group at UNC-Greensboro as a postdoctoral fellow where he explored the potential of oxo-bridged heme copper species as photocatalysts for C-H activation. In the Zadrozny group, he is investigating the environmental dependance of magnetic noises in paramagnetic metal complexes through EPR spectroscopy.
In-Lab Interests: Synthesizing colorful complexes, crystallography, inert air chemistry.
Out-of-Lab Interests: Running, cooking, listening to music, reading fiction.
Graduate Student Researchers
Roxanna Martinez (5th year+1)
Roxanna Martinez comes from Skidmore College, where she worked under Dr. Kimberley Frederick developing paper-based assays for detection of Malaria. In the Zadrozny group, she focuses on investigating the role of environmental factors on the electron spin relaxation time in metal complexes through synthetic tuning and spectroscopy techniques, such as EPR.
In-Lab Interests: Working in the glovebox, growing crystals, and synthesizing new complexes.
Out-of-Lab Interests: Boxing, baking, and outreach/mentoring.
Nick Schaffner (2nd year)
Nick grew up in Iowa where he obtained a bachelor’s degree from St. Ambrose University. He became interested in research by participating in an NSF funded research experience for undergraduates (REU) program at Colorado State University under Dr. Melissa Reynolds investigating toxin removal using iron metal organic frameworks (MOFs). In truth, he fell in love with the autumn like colors of inorganic chemistry! In the Zadrozny Group, Nick investigates the temperature dependency of cobalt-59 NMR signals by synthesizing and measuring coordination complexes.
In-Lab Interests: Spectroscopy, magnetic resonances, and the awe-inspiring beauty of inorganic compounds.
Out-of-Lab Interests: Cooking, hiking, and playing piano.
Morgan Griffith (2nd year)
Morgan grew up in Virginia and studied chemistry and biochemistry at Virginia Tech. Her experiences at Materials Modification Inc. and Prof. Feng Lin's lab cultivated her curiosity in chemistry and materials science. She began her graduate studies at Colorado State University and transitioned to The Ohio State University with the Zadrozny Lab. Morgan is excited to explore electronic structures and magnetic properties of transition metal complexes using magnetic resonance, crystallography, and computational techniques.
In-Lab Interests: Practicing air-free techniques, improving science communication skills, learning something new every day.
Out-of-Lab Interests: Listening to and making music, baking treats, chillin' with Max Cat and Willow Kitty.
Brandon Landis (2nd year)
Brandon graduates from the State University of New York at Fredonia working under Dr. Allan Cardenas on the capture of nitric oxide using transition metal complexes. He is currently studying metal complexes with organic radical ligands to probe their potential for new imaging probes in electron paramagnetic resonance imaging (EPR imaging, or EPRI)
In-Lab Interests: Synthesis, inert-atmosphere chemistry, and transition-metal chemistry.
Out-of-Lab Interests: Metal and J-pop music, Anime, and Gunpla.
Jude Stapf (2nd year)
Jude graduated from Missouri Western State University working under Dr. Michael Ducey investigating the spectral properties of ionic liquid modified gold nanoparticles. Jude is currently working in the group on maximizing the NMR temperature sensitivity of the 59Co nucleus through ligand design and spin conversion experiments. In doing so, Jude hopes to find a greater understanding of the trends in tuning temperature sensitivity and further develop the use of the 59Co nucleus for use in NMR Thermometry.
In-Lab Interests: Optimizing synthetic pathways, learning new skills, and working with all the pretty colors that come with working with metals.
Out-of-Lab Interests: Brass band music, video games, and listening to philosophy podcasts.
David Harmon (1st year)
David graduated from Ohio State University working under Dr. Casey Wade on the formation of novel Metal-Organic Frameworks with the aim of optimizing specific gas adsorption and heterogenous catalysis. He is currently studying binuclear metal complexes with the aim of understanding the properties of forbidden spin transitions within two-spin containing complexes.
In-Lab Interests: The feeling you get when a synthesis doesn't work for two months and then you try something offhandedly and get a 99% yield.
Out-of-Lab Interests: Fathering his progeny (currently 3), Carpentry, Woodworking, and the Culinary Arts.
Yiwei Zhou (1st year)
Yiwei obtained her bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado Boulder, where she worked under Dr. Michael Marshak on redox flow batteries and Li-ion batteries. Then she moved to Copenhagen, Denmark to obtain her master’s degree at the University of Copenhagen. She worked under Prof. Stergios Piligkos to study the electronic and magnetic properties of different lanthanide complexes. She is currently working on temperature-dependent 59Co NMR with different ligands.
In-Lab Interests: Synthesis, spectroscopy, learning something new, shiny crystals.
Out-of-Lab Interests: Traveling, cooking, exploring nice bars and restaurants, and occasionally drawing.
Alli Jessup (1st year)
Alli graduated from Xavier University working under Dr. Davis using computational methods to investigate the relationships between alcohol pKa and respective ester formation constants as well as the trans-effect in metal complexes. In the Zadrozny group, she focuses on synthesizing complexes based on [V(C6H4O2)3]2- that vary the location, type, and number of methyl groups. She will then use these to investigate spin dynamics with EPR.
In-Lab Interests: Working in the glove box, spectroscopy techniques, and computational methods.
Out-of-Lab Interests: Reading, listening to music, and writing.
Undergraduate Student Researchers
Coming soon!
Alumni
Former Graduate Students
Ian Moseley (PhD, 2023), last known whereabouts: Tolmar
Anthony Campanella (PhD, 2023), last known whereabouts: Corden Pharma
Cassidy Jackson (PhD, 2022), last known whereabouts: IDA
Tyler Ozvat (PhD, 2022), last known whereabouts: Q Magnetics
Former Postdoctoral Researchers
Dr. Muhammad “AB” Abdullah (2021-2022): Now at Global Foundries
Dr. Siyoung Sung (2020-2021): Now at Intel
Dr. Chun-Yi Lin (2017-2019): Now Prof. at NCKU
Former Undergraduate Researchers
Manning Huang (2024)
Mingtian Yang (2024)
Amanda Gin (2021-2024): NSFGRFP awardee at MIT
Stephanie Sanchez (2021-2022)
Fred Anderson (2020-2022)
Spencer Johnson (2018-2021)
Monique Broussard (2018-202)
Jeremiah Choate (2019-2020): NSFGRFP awardee at USC