Current Graduate Students
Clark Vu
Education:
- Pursuing Ph.D. in Macromolecular Science and Engineering
- M.S. in Chemical Engineering, the University of Florida
- B.S. in Chemistry Engineering, the University of Texas at Austin
Current Research Objectives: Synthesis of bottlebrush polymers for novel applications
Anna Steele (aqsteele@vt.edu)
Education:
- Pursuing Ph.D. in Chemistry
- B.S. in Chemistry Engineering, UMass Amherst
Current Research Objectives: Synthesis of sustainable, degradable polymers
Ishani Sarkar (ishani@vt.edu)
Education:
- Pursuing Ph.D. in Chemistry
- M.S. in Medicinal Chemistry, Pune University, India
- B.S. in Chemistry, University of Calcutta, India
Current Research Objectives: H2S-releasing small molecules
Daniela Samaniego (samaniegod@vt.edu)
Education:
- Pursuing Ph.D. in Chemistry
- B.S. in Chemistry, Wofford College
Current Research Objectives: Bottlebrush block-copolymer self-assembly
Udita Choudhury (uditac@vt.edu)
Education:
- Pursuing Ph.D. in Chemistry
- M.S. in Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Thiruvananthapuram, India
- B.S. in Chemistry, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India
Current Research Objectives: Delivery of reactive sulfur species
Isaac Addo (isaaca@vt.edu)
Education:
- Pursuing Ph.D. in Chemistry
- M.S. in Chemistry, East Tennessee State University
- BS in Chemistry, KNUST, Ghana
Current Research Objectives: Synthesis of sustainable, degradable polymers
Bushra Tousian (tousian@vt.edu)
Education:
- Pursuing Ph.D. in Macromolecular Science and Engineering
- M.S. in Mycology, University of Tehran, Iran
- BS in Biotechnology, University of Kurdistan, Iran
Current Research Objectives: Cell-responsive biomaterials
Aritra Konar (aritrakonar@vt.edu)
Education:
- Pursuing Ph.D. in Chemistry
- B.S. & M.S. in Chemical Sciences from Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata, India
Current Research Objectives: Polymers with complex architectures using ROMP and RDRP
Current Matson Group Undergraduate Students
Alex Ward
Spencer Kearns
Former Matson Group PhD Students and Postdocs
Dr. Sarah Swilley
Ph.D. in Chemistry, Virginia Tech, 2024 & Cotutelle Ph.D., Maastricht University, Netherlands, 2025
Sarah is an R&D chemist at Covestro.
Dr. Abby Chinn
Ph.D. in Chemistry, 2024
Dr. Zhao Li
Ph.D. in Chemistry, 2023
Zhao is a scientist II/project manager at InnoPep.
Dr. Rajnish Kumar
Postdoctoral scholar, 2021-2023
Rajnish is now a postdoctoral scholar at UNC Chapel Hill.
Dr. Santu Sarkar
Postdoctoral scholar, 2021-2023
Santu is now a postdoctoral scholar at Wake Forest.
Dr. Samantha Scannelli
Ph.D. in Chemistry, 2023
Sam is an R&D Lab Associate at VB Cosmetics.
Dr. Yumeng “Jackie” Zhu
Ph.D. in Chemistry, 2023
Jackie is a scientist III at Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals.
Dr. Sarah Blosch
Ph.D. in Macromolecular Science and Engineering, 2022
Sarah is a technical support engineer at AGC Chemicals Americas Inc.
Dr. Mohammed Alaboalirat
Ph.D. in Macromolecular Science and Engineering, 2022
Mohammed is working at Saudi Aramco focusing on polymers for use in crude oil emulsions.
Dr. Anastasia Volokhova
Ph.D. in Chemistry, 2022
Anastasia is a packaging R&D engineer working on photoresistant lamination at Intel.
Dr. Kearsley Dillon
Ph.D. in Chemistry, 2021
Kearsley is a senior R&D chemist at Afton Chemical.
Dr. Ryan Carrazzone
Ph.D. in Macromolecular Science and Engineering, 2021
Ryan is currently working at Intel as a packaging R&D engineer.
Dr. Yin Wang
Postdoctoral scholar, 2017-2020
Yin is now an associate professor at the School of Pharmacy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, focusing on developing supramolecular smart materials for drug delivery. Yin’s website here.
Dr. Kuljeet Kaur
Ph.D. in Chemsitry, 2019
Kuljeet is now an Assistant Professor at Indian Institute of Technology(IIT), Roorkee. Her work focuses on polymeric and peptide based materials.
Dr. Mingjun Zhou
Ph.D. in Chemistry, 2019
Mingjun is currently a assistant professor at Yantai University in China.
Dr. Yun Qian
Ph.D. in Macromolecular Science and Engineering, 2019
Yun is a process development scientist at Levena Biopharma focusing on antibody drug conjugation.
Dr. Chadwick Powell
Ph.D. in Chemistry, 2019
Chad is a research scientist at Solvay Specialty Polymers working on high performance materials.
Dr. Kyle Arrington
Ph.D. in Chemistry, 2018
Kyle works at Intel focused on thermal material challenges in semiconductor assembly.
Dr. Jeff Foster
Ph.D. in Chemistry, 2017
After completing his Ph.D., Jeff spent three years as a postdoctoral fellow and group leader with Prof. Rachel O’Reilly at the University of Birmingham in the UK. He now works at Sandia National Labs in organic materials science.
Dr. Scott Radzinski
Ph.D. in Chemistry, 2017
Scott is a Senior Polymer Chemist at Secant Group focusing on improving the synthesis and properties of novel biomaterials for implantable medical devices as well as working on enhancing cell care products using material science.
Former Matson Lab Undergraduate and MS students
MS Students:
Kat Usavage
M.S. in Chemistry, 2025
Tamalika Paul
M.S. in Chemistry, 2022
Jeffrey Weaver
M.S. in Chemistry, 2020
Jennifer Carter
M.S. in Macromolecular Science and Engineering, 2015
Undergraduate Students:
- Thomas Ator (Aug 2023-May 2025)
- Deckland McMullen (Aug 2024-May 2025)
- Lexi Evans (May 2024- Aug 2024)
- Dani Fellner (May 2024- Aug 2024)
- Saipranavi Kathireddy (May 2023- Aug 2023)
- Lucas Aparicio (Jan 2023-Dec 2023)
- Henry Kirby (Aug 2022-May 2023)
- Rosemary Thompson (Aug 2022- Dec 2022)
- Evan Zajkowski (Aug 2021-May 2023)
- Noah Williams (Aug 2021-May 2023)
- Katlyn Morales (Aug 2020-May 2021)
- Cabell Eades (Jan 2019-Dec 2020)
- Anshul Paripati (Aug 2018-Dec 2020)
- Jared Grimm (Aug 2019-May 2019)
- Ami Patel (May 2018-Aug 2018)
- Ethan Winckler (May 2018-Dec 2019)
- Jordan Watts (Jan 2018-May 2018)
- Blake Askenas (Jan 2017-May 2018)
- Jake Viar (Aug 2016-May 2018)
- Karen Tran (Aug 2016-Dec 2016)
- Samantha Seymour (Aug 2016-May 2018)
- Nate Spear(May 2016-Aug 2016)
- John Waugh (Jan 2016-May 2017)
- Samantha Scannelli (Jan 2016-Jul 2017)
- Kearsley Dillon (Sept 2015- Dec 2015)
- Eric French(Aug 2015-May 2017)
- Michelle Corley (May 2015-Aug 2015)
- Talha Iqbal (Jan 2015-May 2016)
- Matt Slutzker (Jan 2015-Dec 2015)
- Emily Smith (Aug 2014-May 2016)
- Hannah Tecson(Aug 2014-May 2015)
- Kyle Moran (Aug 2014-May 2015)
- Vince Einck (May 2014-Aug 2014)
- Sally Lewis(Jan 2014-May 2016)
- Ian Phillips (Aug 2013-Dec 2013)
- Chad Powell (May 2013-Aug 2013)
- Pratyush Agarwal(Jan 2013-Dec 2013)
- Ryan Sweet (Aug 2012-May 2013)
Visiting Project students:
Sebastian Binder (Feb 2023-April 2023)
Lisanne Lenz (April 2025-Nov 2025)
Matson Research Group 