News – STROBE

Congratulations to Aleksandr Smirnov for Receiving a 2026 Kavli Energy NanoScience Institute Graduate Fellowship

Aleksandr Smirnov is a 3rd year Ph.D. candidate in Chemistry working in Naomi Ginsberg’s group. Before coming to UC Berkeley, Smirnov received a B.A. with high honors in Chemistry from Kenyon College, where he correlated changes in vibrational spectra of perylene and naphthalene diimide thin films to investigate their coupling and charge transfer interactions.

Aleksandr’s doctoral work focuses on understanding and controlling hierarchical material formation through the development of a novel benchtop microscope to facilitate efficient material design and discovery. Specifically, Smirnov has used interferometric scattering microscopy (iSCAT) to size evolving nanoparticles in solution below the diffraction limit with minimal perturbation to the reaction.

As a Kavli ENSI fellow, Aleksandr is applying iSCAT to gain insight into the self-assembly of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Though this class of porous materials holds great promise in gas capture, catalysis, and drug delivery, MOF formation remains poorly understood, limiting material design. Aleksandr aims to utilize iSCAT to extract time-dependent physical and hydrodynamic size, polydispersity, diffusion constant, and refractive index for varied reaction conditions, which will guide him towards optimizing them to improve crystallinity, monodispersity, and yield. The broader correlations between in situ measurements and reactant identities help classify reactions based on their evolution and complexity, providing insight into the principles of hierarchical material formation.

Congratulations to John Davis for Receiving a 2026 Kavli Energy NanoScience Institute Graduate Fellowship

John Patrick Davis (JD) is a third-year Ph.D. student in Chemistry at UC Berkeley, advised by Professor Naomi Ginsberg. He earned an M.S. in Chemistry from the College of William and Mary, where he studied atmospheric reaction complexes using gas-phase laser spectroscopy, and a B.S. in Chemistry from Washington and Lee University, focusing on computational modeling and hyperspectral imaging.

JD’s doctoral research focuses on controlling the self-assembly of colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals. A spectroscopist by training, he leverages coherent X-ray scattering to capture microscopic fluctuations as components configure and rearrange, ultimately aiming to establish predictive frameworks for next-generation material design.

As a Kavli ENSI fellow, JD will focus on building a microscopic understanding of how components move and organize within solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) and nanocrystal assemblies. While these materials hold immense promise for next-generation energy storage and optoelectronics, researchers remain fundamentally limited by an inability to directly track their dynamics across vastly different scales of time and space. Building on his previous work, where he used advanced X-ray scattering techniques to reveal how nanocrystals navigate chaotic, disordered phases to form ordered crystal structures, JD plans to bridge the gap between atomic-scale motion and macroscopic performance. By combining these multiscale X-ray tracking methods with advanced computer modeling, he aims to uncover the fundamental design principles governing these systems, providing the predictive insights essential for engineering next-generation energy storage, conversion, and separation technologies.

Congratulations to José L. Godínez Castellanos for Being a 2025-2026 Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Chemistry at UC Berkeley

José L. Godínez Castellanos is a 2025-2026 Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Chemistry working with Professor. Naomi S. Ginsberg. José’s current work revolves around understanding charge carrier and thermal transport, and their interconversion in solid state doped silver selenide thermoelectrics. He uses stroboscopic interferometric scattering to provide a spatially- and time-resolved perspective of energy transport in these materials. This approach offers a new framework where we probe a material’s intrinsic properties and the effect of mesoscale structure in thermal transport—helping chemists understand the effects of dopants and design high-efficiency thermoelectrics.

José’s PhD work explored different structural effects (e.g., sequence, conformers, chromatin region location) that modulate the ultrafast formation of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers in DNA after absorption of UV light. José received a PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Southern California, and a B.S. in Chemistry from the California State University, Stanislaus.

Congratulations to Naomi Ginsberg for Receiving the 2026 Brown Investigator Award

Congratulations for Naomi Ginsberg for receiving the 2026 Brown Investigator Award to study and optimize the assembly of complex functional materials by tracking and adaptively steering the formation processes in real time.

The Brown Institute for Basic Sciences at Caltech announced the 2026 class of Brown Investigators on May 18, 2026. The cohort, the third to be selected through the Brown Institute for Basic Sciences, comprises eight distinguished mid-career faculty working on fundamental challenges in the physical sciences, particularly those with potential long-term practical applications in chemistry and physics. Each investigator will receive up to $2 million over five years.

Brown established the Investigator Awards in 2020 through the Brown Science Foundation in support of the belief that scientific discovery is a driving force in the improvement of the human condition. The Brown Institute for Basic Sciences at Caltech seeks to advance fundamental science discoveries with the potential to seed breakthroughs that benefit society.

Congratulations to Ke Xu for Receiving the Miller Professorship in 2026

Congratulations to Ke Xu for receiving the 2026 Miller Professorship! The Miller Institute is an interdisciplinary hub at UC Berkeley, bringing together researchers from all areas of STEM, including postdoctoral fellows, UC Berkeley faculty, visiting faculty and senior faculty. The Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science at UC Berkeley offers four primary programs designed to support scientists at various stages of their careers. Through our weekly lunch series, professional development workshops, special events, and our annual symposium, the Miller Institute’s goal is to provide a space for our members to share research across different scientific disciplines.

Congratulations to Markus Raschke for Receiving the Distinguished Faculty Scholar Award from Institute for Materials Science, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Markus Raschke received the 2026 IMS Distinguished Faculty Scholar Award from Los Alamos National Laboratory. This program supports the visit of a faculty member to spend 8 to 12 weeks at Los Alamos National Laboratory together with some of their students. The goal of this program is to enhance Laboratory collaborations that will generate new initiatives within Materials Science at the Lab, will create additional pipelines for the Laboratory workforce, and will enhance the Lab’s reputation in the international Materials Science communities. Congratulations, Markus!

Congratulations to Sally Thompson for Being Named Scholar of the Year at Fort Lewis College

Congratulations to Sally Thompson, an undergraduate student at Fort Lewis College, for receiving Scholar of the Year Award for her research in the Physics Department.

Congratulations to Kwabena Bediako for Receiving the 2025 Buck-Whitney Award

ENY ACS recognized Dr. Kwabena Bediako with the 2025 Buck-Whitney Award. Dr. Bediako’s work in magnetic solids offers promising solutions to accelerating energy demand by electronic and computing systems.

This award was established by the Eastern New York ACS section executive committee in 1976. The name of the award, Buck-Whitney, was chosen to recognize two of the most eminent research directors in the section. The purpose of the award is to recognize excellent original contributions to pure and applied chemistry. The recipient is preferably someone who has not yet achieved national recognition as evidenced by a national award from the ACS. The recipient is expected to deliver an address before the meeting at which the award is made.

Congratulations to Margaret Murnane for Being Named Optica Honorary Member

WASHINGTON — Optica, Advancing Optics and Photonics Worldwide, has named Margaret M. Murnane an Optica Honorary Member, the most distinguished of all Optica Member categories. Murnane is recognized for pioneering advances in ultrafast laser technology and XUV science, as well as exceptional service to the optics community through sustained mentorship and leadership. She is currently a Distinguished Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, USA.

“Margaret is a global leader in ultrafast, high-intensity laser research, but her impact extends far beyond the lab through her mentorship, volunteerism and innovative work with KMLabs,” said Gisele Bennett, Optica’s 2026 President. “It is with great pleasure that I welcome her into the esteemed group of Optica Honorary Members.”

Congratulations to Benjamin Hammel for Receiving the Outstanding Graduate Award from the CU Boulder Materials Science and Engineering Program

Benjamin Hammel was recognized with the “Outstanding Graduate Award” and served as the Graduation Speaker for the Materials Science and Engineering Program’s Graduation Ceremony at the University of Colorado Boulder on Saturday, May 2, 2026. Benjamin was recognized for “outstanding research” and “all around contributions” to the Materials Science and Engineering community. Congratulations, Benjamin!