Prof. Geoff Hutchison

Geoff grew up in upstate New York and attended Williams College for undergrad.  His Ph.D. is from Northwestern University, where he worked on rational design of transparent and conducting polymers.  His postdoctoral research at Cornell University focused on single-molecule wires and novel cathodes for lithium-ion batteries.

 

 

Graduate Students

Xialing Chen comes to the University of Pittsburgh from the prestigious University of Science and Technology of China.  She is currently working on electrostatic self-assembly of semiconducting films and transistor characterization for the designer defect project.

 

 

Xinfeng Quan comes to the University of Pittsburgh from Fudan University in Shanghai.  He is currently working on synthesis and computational modeling of single-molecule piezoelectrics.

 

 

 

Andrey Sharapov works on developing computational models for multiple projects in the group. Specifically, he is investigating the orientation and proximity of molecules and complexes commonly used in organic electronics experiments.

 

 

 

Adam Gagorik is a lifelong Pittsburgh resident.  He works in the group on theoretical simulation of charge transfer in organic semiconductors as part of the designer defects project.

 

 

 

Paula Hoffmann came to Pittsburgh after completing her B.S. in chemistry at DePaul University in Chicago, IL. She works on atomic force microscopy characterization techniques and will be investigating charge transport dynamics and kinetics within the organic-solar cells and designer defects projects.

 

 

 

Steven Owens graduated from Penn State in December 2009 with his B.S. in chemistry.  He is currently focusing on synthesis of oligo- and polythiophene materials within the organic solar cells project.

 

 

 

Christopher Marvin is from Charleston, SC, but has decided to brave the cold in Pittsburgh.  He works on synthesis and characterization techniques for the single-molecule piezoelectrics project.

 

 

 

Ilana Kanal was born in Tokyo, Japan, but has lived in Pittsburgh since she was a child.  She is investigating the “sequence effect” of conjugated polymers within the organic solar cells project.

 

 

 

Michael Hartmann is originally from Vermont and did undergrad at the University of Maryland. He is a joint student in the Hutchison and Millstone groups working on electronic structure of surfaces, specifically nanoparticles.

 

 

Undergraduate Students 

Matt McCoy (’13) is a Senior chemistry major at Pitt originally from the Pittsburgh area.  He works on organic synthesis within the organic solar cells project.

 

 

 

Jon Bechtel (’13) is also a Senior at Pitt studying chemistry and applied mathematics. He works with Grad student Ilana Kanal on the screening of monomers for application in organic solar cells and investigating the effect of polymer sequencing on their performance.

 

 

Shannon Davies (’13) works with graduate student Xinfeng Quan on monolayer characterization inside of the molecular piezoelectrics project.