Gordon LabUCSB · Chemical Engineering
People

Our Group

Our group brings together a diverse community of researchers with expertise spanning chemical engineering, chemistry, physics, materials science, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. This multidisciplinary foundation enables us to approach complex scientific challenges from multiple perspectives, blending synthesis, advanced experimentation, modeling, and instrumentation to create new insights and innovations across our research areas.
Gordon Lab group photo
May 2025
Top Row:   Visoth, Graham, Mike, Eloise, Matteo, Sasha, Sara, Ryan.
Bottom Row:   Neetika, Ankit, Yin-Chen, Zach, Atlas, Victoria.

Principal Investigator

Profile Photo of Michael J. Gordon

Michael J. Gordon

Professor and Chair, Chemical Engineering
Warren G. and Katharine S. Schlinger Professor of Chemical Engineering
Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies (ICB); Solid State Lighting and Energy Electronics Center (SSLEEC)
Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, M.S. Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology
M.S. & B.S. Chemical & Petroleum Refining Engineering, Colorado School of Mines

Email: gordon@ucsb.edu      Office: Engineering 2, #3353A       Labs: Engineering 2, #3163 and #3165

Research interests include nitride light-emitting devices and materials; plasmas for chemical conversion; plasma-based material synthesis; bio-inspired photonics; scanning probe microscopy; and photocatalysis with in situ optical and spectroscopic methods.

Research Scientists & Postdoctoral Scholars

Research Scientist

Dr. Oleksandr (Sasha) Polonskyi

Research Scientist
Ph.D. Physics, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
3324 Engineeering 2
polonskyi@ucsb.edu

Plasma processing and UHV surface science
Postdoctoral Scholar 2

Dr. Ankit Chauhan

Postdoctoral Scholar
Ph.D. Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ben Gurion University, Israel
3324 Engineering 2
ankitc92@ucsb.edu

Near-field optics, scanning probe microscopy, spectroscopy
Postdoctoral Scholar 3

Dr. Neetika Singh

Postdoctoral Scholar
Ph.D. Physics, IIT Roorkee, India
3338 Engineering 2
neetis90@ucsb.edu

Nanofabrication and electrochemistry

Graduate Students

Graduate Student 1

Ryan Berry

Ph.D. Student
B.S. in Chemical Engineering, Lafayette College

Photocatalysis and spectroscopy
Graduate Student 2

Luis Blanco (ME)

Ph.D. Student
B.S. in Chemical Engineering, Florida State University

Optical sensing, microfabrication, and microfluidics
(co-advised with Pennathur)
Victoria Diaz

Victoria Diaz

Ph.D. Student
B.S. in Chemical Engineeing, Cal. State Long Beach

Protein-enabled photonics and electrochemistry
Matteo Garcia-Ortiz

Matteo Garcia-Ortiz

Ph.D. Student
B.S. in Chemical Engineering, Oregon State University

UHV surface science
Kai Uyeda

Kai Uyeda

Ph.D. Student
B.A. Chemistry, Occidental College

Nitride semiconductors and metasurfaces
(co-advised with DenBaars)
Zachary Yam

Zachary Yam

Ph.D. Student
B.S. Chemical Engineering, UC San Diego

Photocatalysis and spectroscopy

Current Undergraduate Researchers

  • Maggie Craig, ChE:    Magnetron sputtering
  • Frederic Grant III, ChE:    UHV surface science
  • Sydney Parkinson, ChE:    Supersonic jet plasma deposition of battery materials
  • Cynthia Selkey, ChE:    Microplasma deposition
  • Satvik Subbaraman, ME:    Fiber-optic sensing for soft robotics

Group Alumni

  • Dr. Graham Reitz, PhD 2026, LAM Research
  • Dr. Yin-Chen Lin, PhD 2026, Applied Materials
  • Dr. Norleakvisoth Lim, PhD 2026, LAM Research
  • Dr. Eloise Masquelier, PhD 2025, Post-doc at California Institute of Technology
  • Dr. Sara Sandlass, PhD 2025, 3M Company
  • Dr. Pavel Shapturenka, PhD 2021, Post-doc at U. Penn.
  • Dr. Michael Haggmark, Post-doc 2020-21, Inficon
  • Dr. Sheng-Ping Liang, PhD 2021, Aptitude Medical Systems
  • Dr. Ryan Ley, PhD 2021, Applied Materials
  • Dr. Lesley Chan, PhD 2020, Neuralink
  • Dr. Katherine Mackie, PhD 2019, Raytheon
  • Dr. Richard Hermann, PhD 2018, Intel
  • Dr. Elizabeth Decolvenaere, PhD 2017, Achira AI
  • Dr. Andrew Pebley, PhD 2017, Intel
  • Dr. Alex Heilman, PhD 2017, Amazon
  • Dr. Federico Lora Gonzalez, PhD 2015, Bristol-Myers Squibb
  • Dr. Louis Jones, PhD 2014, Millennium Space Systems (Boeing)
  • Dr. Christopher Carach, PhD 2014, Intel
  • Dr. Isaac Riisness, PhD 2013, Intel
  • Dr. Travis Koh, PhD 2013, Applied Materials
  • Dr. Raphael Ramos, Post-doc 2010-12, CEA-LITEN, Grenoble, France

  • Shayan Mukherjee, BS CCS Chemistry 2026 → MS in ChE at Columbia
  • Anuj Acharya, BS ChE 2026
  • Allison Li, BS ME 2026 → MS in ME at UCSD
  • Victor Liang, BS/MS ChE/Materials 2026
  • Arek Terjimanian, BS ChE 2025
  • Atlas Yang, BS ChE 2025 → PhD at MIT
  • Allan Tan, BS ChE 2025 → PhD at Purdue
  • Phineas Lehan, BS ChE 2024 → PhD in Material Science at Caltech
  • Daniel Fragoso, BS ChE 2024 → Clorox
  • Abhiram Devata, BS ChE 2023 → PhD in ChE at Northwestern
  • Jacob Sweet, BS ChE / MS Materials → PhD in Machine Learning at GIT
  • Alan Lim, BS ChE
  • Kevin Mauge, BS ChE / MS Materials → BS ChE / MS Materials at UCSB
  • Viraj Ghosh, BS ChE → PhD at Rice
  • Isaac Zakaria, BS ChE / MS Materials → PhD at UC Berkeley
  • Mat Wanees, BS ChE → Lockheed Martin Corp.
  • Aaron Chan, BS Physics → PhD at Michigan
  • Wen Zhao, BS ChE → PhD at Texas A&M
  • Tyler Pennebaker, BS Physics CCS → PhD at UCSB, Materials
  • Oscar Wu, BS ChE → PhD at MIT
  • Jae Cho, BS ChE → PhD at MIT
  • Ryan Ng, BS ChE → PhD at Caltech
  • Zachary Buras, BS ChE → PhD at MIT
  • Cade Markegard, BS ChE → PhD at UC Irvine
  • Dr. Charles Hages, BS ChE → ASM, Inc.
  • Igor Chiasso Marques, BS ChE → Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Brazil
  • Alex Berry, BS ChE CCS → ANSYS, Inc.
  • Alec Anderson, BS ChE → Intel
  • Greg Bontemps, BS ChE → Biofuels, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
  • Calvin Jepson, BS ChE → First Solar
  • Nate Lannoy, BS ChE → Technip
  • Evan O'Hara, BS ChE → Solution Deposition Systems

Visitors

  • Prof. Keisuke Kameda, Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan
  • Prof. Francois Reniers, Professor of Chemistry, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
  • Prof. Maria Diaz-Garcia, Professor of Physics, University of Alicante, Spain

  • Takayuki Kosaka, PhD student from Insitute Science Tokyo
  • Lorenzo Volta, MS student from Chalmers University, Gothenburg, Sweden
  • Marie Brabant, PhD student in Chemistry, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
  • Annaelle Demaude, PhD student in Chemistry, IMEC Belgium
  • Steven Addison, Science Specialist, Brywood Elementary School, MRL Research Experience for Teachers
  • Lindsey Agnew, Science Teacher, Carpenteria Middle School, MRL Research Experience for Teachers
  • Helen Stute, MS Thesis, TU - Munich
  • Torge Hartig, MS Thesis, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, PhD at Kiel
  • Nikki Le, High School Chemistry Teacher, Sanger Unified School District, Fresno
  • Alexandra Cantarano, PhD Student, Universite de Grenoble - Alpes, France
  • Therese Karmstrand, UG Internship, Chalmers University, PhD at Chalmers
  • Joffrey Baneton, PhD Student, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
  • Fabian Berkholz, MS Thesis, TU - Munich
  • Michaela Dumberger, MS Thesis, TU - Munich
  • Pauline Gaillard, UG Internship, Universite de Grenoble, France
  • Daniel Hirche, MS Thesis, TU - Munich, PhD at TUM
  • Scott Blankenbaker, UG Internship, Rose Hullman Institute of Technology
  • Preston Fuks, UG Internship, UCSD
  • Korina Hartmann, MS Thesis, TU - Munich
  • Jonas Kaszoni, MS Thesis, TU - Munich
  • Moritz Fullner, MS Thesis, TU - Munich
  • Thomas Hancock, MS Thesis, TU - Munich
  • Julia Brockmeier, MS Thesis, TU - Munich
  • Gunnar Simonarson, UG Internship, Chalmers University, PhD at Chalmers
  • Robert Kick, MS Thesis, TU - Munich
  • Thomas Kandler, MS Thesis, TU - Munich