Lab Alumni

TongLab Alumni

Graduate Students

  1. Brian S. Zelakiewicz, Ph. D with distinction, January 2005; NRC post-doc at Navy Research Lab, Washington DC; currently at US State Department.

  2. Mariana Constantinescu, MSc., May 2005; currently in Vancouver, Canada.

  3. Georgeta C. Lica, Ph. D September 2006; currently a principal scientist at Roche Diagnostics, Indiapolis, IN.

  4. Stein Adam Leon, two semesters (Fall 2006 and Spring 2007) research during his master course with the GU medical center on magnetic nanoparticles diffusion through skins. Currently a FDA fellow.

  5. Bingchen Du, Ph. D August 2009; currently a post-doc at FDA.

  6. Ceren Susut, Ph. D August 2009; NRC post-doc at NIST; currently a staff program manager at DOE: Office of Science, Advanced Scientific Computing Research.

  7. Ying Li, Ph. D April 2011; currently works as a biostatistician at Glotech, Inc. Rockville, MD.

  8. Oksana Zaluzhna/Love, Ph. D April 2012; NRC post-doc; currently is an assistant professor in the department of chemistry, UNC Asheville.

  9. Dejun Chen, Ph.D. July 2012; exchange PhD student from Xiamen University from 10/2009 to 05/2012.

  10. Augusta M. Hofstead-Duffy/Levendorf, Ph. D. December 2013; moved to Hillsboro, Oregon. Currently work as an assistant at Creekside Show Stable fulfilling her love for horse riding.

  11. Dianne O. Atienza, Ph. D. December 2013; post-doc at Nissan Corp. in Farmington Hills, MI.

  12. Yuan Gao, MS May 2014; enrolled in computer science MS program at University of Chicago.

  13. Melissa Vinson, MS May 2014; currently works at AAlpharma in Wilmington NC.

  14. Honghui Wang, Ph. D., October 2014; exchange PhD student from Xiamen University, China from 04/2012 to 05/2013.

  15. Long Huang, exchange PhD student from Xiamen University, China from 07/2014 to 01/2015.

  16. Yuanjie (Jayden) Xie, MS, August 2015. Returned to China to pursue a different career.

  17. Juan Marrugo, graduate student in spring and summer 2014. Left for Canada due to family reason.

  18. Yangwei Liu, Ph.D., December 2016. Currently at Proportional Technologies Inc (PTI) in Texas.

  19. Mei Zhan, 8/1/16 – 1/31/17. Exchange MS student from Xiamen University, China.

  20. Ryan Penhallurick, graduate student from Fall 2016 through Fall 2017

  21. Yanyan Wang, Ph.D., January 2018. Currently a patent examiner.

  22. Safia Jilani, PhD with distinction, July 2021.

  23. Rachel Aterrado (December 2020 - August 2021; in lasting memory of, August 4, 2021)

Post-Docs

  1. Fatang Tan, post-doc 10/07–12/08; currently at School of Materials Science & Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, P. R. China.

  2. Dr. In-Su Park, post-doc 08/2009-08/2011. Currently a staff scientist of the Seawater-dissolved resources recovery team at a Korean Institute.

  3. Dr. Bolian Xu, post-doc 12/2010-02/2012. Currently an associate professor at Department of Chemistry, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.

  4. Dr. Eric G. Sorte, post-doc 03/2014-01/2016. Currently at Sandia National Lab. More on his personal site.

  5. Dr. Hamed Etaee-Esfahani, post-doc 09/2016-08/2018. Currently a production specialist with Rigaku.

  6. Dr. Lijun Bian, post-doc 11/2018-12/2019. Currently at Northeastern University, Shengyang, China.

Undergraduate Students

  1. Lauren B. Smeeding: GUROP undergraduate researcher, Spring 2004. Currently a manager at Kurt Salmon in Atlanta, Georgia.

  2. Morgan L. Deacon; GU Col' 2006. GUROP, Spring 2004; GUROP Summer Fellow, 2004; John Taylor Adams Summer Research Fellow, 2005; Honor Thesis, Spring 2005 – Spring 2006; Research Award, CSW, DC 2006; Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award 2006. Enrolled at Georgetown Medical School.

  3. Nicole Honesty; REU summer 2006 student from Texas A&M. Went enrolled in the Ph.D program Chemistry, UIUC. Currently a process engineer at Intel in Phenix, Arizona.

  4. Aaron L. Danberry; REU summer 2007 student from Minnesota State University. Went to the Ph. D Program in Chemistry at Georgia Tech. Currently a chemistry at CDC/ORISE.

  5. Julia (Shuting) Cai; GU Col' 2011. Undergraduate researcher, Fall 2007.

  6. Kevin P. Browne; GU Col' 2008. GUROP, Fall 2005, Spring 2006; GUROP Summer Fellow, 2007; Honor Thesis, Spring 2007 – Spring 2008; American Institute of Chemists Research Award, 2008; Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award 2008. Enrolled in the PhD Program in Chemistry at Northwestern University. Currently a post-doc fellow at Los Alamos National Lab.

  7. Thuy D. Nguyen; GU Col' 2008. Currently pursuing a M. D. at Georgetown University Medical School. GUROP, Spring 2006; GUROP Summer Fellow, 2006 & 2007; Honor Thesis, Spring 2007 – Spring 2008. Enrolled at Georgetown Medical School. Currently a practicing doctor specializing on cardiovascular disease at Dartmouth-Hichkock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH.

  8. Latoya C. Silverton; GU Col' 2008. Went for a Post-Baccalaureate Fellow at NIH. GUROP, Spring 2006. Honor Thesis, Spring 2007 – Spring 2008.

  9. Michael W. McGillen, Math Major, GU Col'2010; Undergraduate GUROP researcher, Fall 2007& Spring 2008. Currently at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

  10. Amy Zhou, REU summer 2009 student from Department of Chemistry, University at Baffalo. Went to Pharm.D. Program at SUNY Buffalo.

  11. Thomas Hsu-Yao, GU Col'2010, currently at Goodman Sachs; John Carroll Fellow, undergraduate researcher, Fall 2007 – Spring 2010; GUROP researcher, Fall 2007, Spring 2008, Beckman Scholar 2008, 2009. Baker Scholar 2008, Raines Summer Fellow, 2008, GU nominee for the Goodwater scholarship 2008. Work for Goodman Sachs.

  12. Monica Pate, Summer 2010 undergraduate researcher from MIT, Boston, MA.

  13. Lindsey Brightful, REU summer 2010 student from Hampton University. Currently teaching secondary math in Baltimore County and attending Johns Hopkins University in the evening to pursue a Masters of Science degree in Secondary STEM education.

  14. Yuan Gao, currently graduate student at Georgetown University. Summer 2010 exhange undergraduate researcher from Fudan University. Went to PhD Program in Chemistry at Georgetown University.

  15. Ningmu Zou, Summer 2010 undergraduate student from Nanjing University, China. Went to the PhD Program in Chemistry at Cornell University.

  16. Pam Farago, Fall 2009 - Spring 2010. Switched to Neurobiology Major at Georgetown.

  17. Katherine Hackett, Fall 2009. Switched to Psychology with a minor in Math. Is currently doing Healthcare Consulting in D. C.

  18. Ashely Zacca; Spring 2008 to Spring 2011; GUROP and John Taylor Adams Summer Research Fellowships 2010, The American Institute of Chemists Award 2011. Went to the PhD Program in Chemistry at John Hopkins University.

  19. Steven M. Ryckbosch; Fall 2008-Spring 2011; GUROP researcher Spring 2009, GUROP Summer Fellow 2009, John Taylor Adams Summer Research Fellow 2009, Beckman Scholar 2010, GU nominee for the Goodwater scholarship 2009, the Washington Institute of Chemists Award 2011. Went to PhD Program in Chemistry at Stanford University.

  20. Brian K McGuire, Spring 2010 to Spring 2011. 2011 The Chemistry Achievement Award of the Chemical Society of Washington DC.

  21. Jessica Lucas, from Simmons College, MA. REU summer student, 2011.

  22. Bao Nguyen, from Fall 2010 to Spring 2012, GU College.

  23. Wenjie Li, from Fudan University, Shanghai, China; Summer 2013. Went to the Chemistry PhD Program at Wisconsin University at Madison.

  24. Eric Willis, from University of Scranton, PA; Summer 2013 REU. Went to the Chemistry PhD Program at University of Virginia.

  25. Chris Rom, from Fall 2012 through Summer 2013, Georgetown College; GUROP summer fellowship 2013.

  26. Tao Wang, exchange undergraduate from Xiamen University from June 2013 to February 2014.

  27. Yuqi Zhang, study-abroad student from Nanjing University, China, Spring 2014.

  28. Jake Modest, BS May 2014, undergraduate researcher from summer 2010 – Spring 2011 and Fall 2012 to Fall 2013.

  29. Mathew Hoffmann, BS May 2014, undergraduate research from Fall 2011 to Spring 2014.

  30. John Ziebiec, REU student from Indiana University Northwestern, summer 2014. Enrolled in the Chemistry PhD program at University of Oregon.

  31. Carol Wu, Fudan exchange undergraduate student, summer 2014.

  32. Kwan Lee, summer 2014, 2015. Chemical Engineering, Cornell University.

  33. Margaret Hansen, Fall 2013 -Fall 2014; Clare Booth Luce Scholarship 14/15; switched to math major with chemistry minor in Fall 2014.

  34. Wataru Doshin, Spring 2015; undergraduate from Hokkaido University, Japan.

  35. Xueting Tang, Summer 2015; undergraduate from Fudan University, China. Enrolled in the chemistry PhD program at Texas A&M.

  36. Marysol Almestica, Summer 2015: REU student from Seton Hill University, PA.

  37. Laura M. Woolls, BS May 2016, undergraduate research from Fall 2013 through Spring 2016.

  38. Stephen W. Brandon, BS May 2016, undergraduate researcher from Spring 2015 through Fall 2016.

  39. Stephanie Pecaro, rising junior, department of chemistry Washington University St. Louis; summer 2016.

  40. Zachary Scharf, BS May 2017, undergraduate researcher from Fall 2014 to Spring 2016.

  41. Daniyal Kiani, BS May 2017, undergraduate researcher from Spring 2015 through Spring 2017 with a break in Fall 2015. Enrolled in the chemica engineering PhD program at Lehigh University.

  42. Daniel Zager, will graduate in May 2018, undergraduate researcher in Spring 2016.

  43. Darren Xue, Summer 2017, rising junior majoring in chemical engineering at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

  44. Esther Iyanobor, BS May 2019, undergraduate researcher from Fall 2016 to Fall 2017.

  45. Florencia Son, BS May 2018, undergraduate researcher from Spring 2015 to Spring 2018. Enrolled in the chemistry PhD program at Northwestern University. Recipient of the DoD National Science Defense and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship and elected the president of the Northwestern's Graduate Student Association.

  46. Gianna Bevacqua, BS May 2020, undergraduate researcher from Fall 2018 to Spring 2020. Plan to enroll in medical school after a gap year.

  47. Carter Cohen, BS in Biochemistry May 2021, undergraduate research from Spring 2018 to May 2021. Works for Jacobs after Georgetown.

  48. Nickolas Young, BS in Chemistry May 2021, undergraduate research from Spring 2018 to May 2021. Goes to Drexel Medical School in Philadelphia, PA.

High School Students

  1. Sarvesh Ramprakash; from Winston Churchill High School, Potomac, MD, Fall 2005, Spring 2006, Summer 2006. Enrolled at University of Michigan.

  2. Angela Zhu; from Freehold High School, Freehold, NJ; Summer 2006. Enrolled at Smith College.

  3. Elizabeth Vasily; from Greenwich Academy, Greenwich, CT, Summer 2008. Enrolled at Brown University

  4. Jihun Kim, from Thomas Jefferson HS, VA. Summer 2011. Enrolled at Cornell University.

  5. Kwan Lee, from Thomas Jefferson HS, VA. Summer 2011. Enrolled at Cornell University

  6. Sophie Liu, from East Brunswick HS, NJ. Summer 2011. Enrolled at Cornell University.

  7. Jesse Dawkins, Jr., from Queen Anne School, Upper Marlboro, MD. Spring & Summer 2011. Enrolled at University of Virginia.

  8. Raynor Kuang, from Thomas Jefferson HS, VA. Summer 2012. Enrolled at Harvard University

  9. Nathan Kodama, from Thomas Jefferson HS, VA. Summer 2012. Enrolled at Case Western Reserved University.

  10. Chris Rom, from Thomas Jefferson HS, VA. Summer 2012. Enrolled at Georgetown University,

  11. Janice Ong, from Thomas Jefferson HS, summer 2013. US Chemistry Olympia finalist, 2014 and 2015. Enrolled at MIT

  12. Richard Castro, ACS SEED student from High Point HS, Beltsville, MD, summers 2013 and 2014. Enrolled at Montgomery College.

  13. Christian Tae, from Thomas Jefferson HS, Arlington, VA; summer 2014. 2nd place award within the school division of the Intel Science and Engineering Fair. Enrolled at Stanford University.

  14. Bennet McGlade, from Blair HS Magnet Program, Silver Spring, MD; summer 2014. Intel Science Talent Search semi-finalist. Enrolled at University of Michigan.

  15. Sarah Kim, from Thomas Jefferson HS, Arlington, VA; summer 2015. Enrolled in University of Southern California.

  16. Mark Chen, from Syosset High School, Syosset, NY; summer 2015. Enrolled in New York City University.

  17. Spencer Perkins, from the Potomac School, McLean, VA; summer 2015. 1st place at the regional Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, March 2016 and 3rd place at the 54th National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, April 2016. Enrolled in Duke University.

  18. Anulichi Okorie, ACS SEED student from Wheaton HS, Silver Spring, MD; summer 2016.

  19. Matthew Chen, rising junior from Thomas Jefferson HS, VA. Summer 2017; enrolled at University of Chicago Class 2023.

  20. Michele Yue, rising junior from Thomas Jefferson HS, VA. Summer 2017 & 2018; Chem E, Carnegie Mellon University 2023.

  21. Alex Peng, rising senior from Thomas Jefferson HS, VA. Summer 2017.

  22. Johaness Osorio, SEED student, rising senior from Springbrook HS, summer 2017.