Current Graduate Students
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Chemistry student (2022-present) Sangram received his BS-MS dual degree, majoring in Chemical Sciences with a minor in Biological Sciences from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata (IISERK), India. Currently, he is a joint graduate student with Prof. Cui and Prof. Straub’s group. His research in the QC group involves comparative studies of polarizable and non-polarizable force fields in describing protein dynamics. Additionally, Sangram plans to develop a string-based methodology to investigate membrane pore formation during protein aggregation. In Straub’s group, he investigates protein partitioning into lipid phases using non-equilibrium approaches like generalized Langevin equations. In his free time, Sangram enjoys playing music and cooking. |
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Kevin Tang Chemistry student (2023-present) Kevin received his B.S. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Chemistry and Computer Science. He did his undergraduate research in the Yethiraj Group on using machine learning methods to predict the phase separation of Lennard-Jones fluid. His current research focuses on understanding the hydrophobicity of nano-silica materials with different headgroups and the interaction between polymers and lipid membranes. |
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Anand Sahu Chemistry student (2023-present) Anand received his B.S. degree from Hindu College, University of Delhi, India, and his M.S. degree from Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. He conducted his master’s research on the synthesis of ultra-electron-deficient systems and the application of deep learning in predicting the electronic and physicochemical properties of such systems under the guidance of Dr. Pritam Mukhopadhyay. Additionally, he contributed to scientific software development in Dr. Varadharajan Srinivasan’s lab. His current research involves the development of semi-empirical quantum mechanical methods to study non-covalent and metal-ligand interactions for chemical and biochemical applications. |
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Jonathan Allen Chemistry student (2023-present) Jonathan received his BS in Chemistry from the University of Texas at San Antonio. His undergraduate research in Dr. Doug Frantz’s lab focused on organometallic catalysis. His current research spans quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM), biomolecular simulation, and the development of next-generation quantum chemical methods integrating machine learning with massively parallel computing techniques. |
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Pridhi Balhara Chemistry student (2024-present) Pridhi completed her BSc degree at St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, and a master’s degree in Theoretical Chemistry through the Erasmus Mundus European Union program. For her master’s thesis, she conducted research in computational glycobiology under the supervision of Dr. Carme Rovira. She is currently a joint PhD student in the Straub Lab and the Cui Group. Her research interests focus on studying protein-lipid interactions using atomistic and coarse-grained methods. |