Our Team

Shabnam Hematian, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor and Bernard-Glickman Dean’s Professor

Phone: 336.334.5867
Fax: 336.334.5402
Room: 405 Sullivan Science Bldg.
Email: s_hemati@uncg.edu

Shabnam was born and grew up in Tehran, Iran and found her love for chemistry as a high school student. She received her B.S. degree in chemistry from the National University of Iran and M.S. degree in inorganic chemistry from Sharif University of Technology. In 2010, she joined the research group of Professor Ken Karlin at Johns Hopkins University and studied the biologically inspired coordination chemistry of heme/Cu synthetic systems with nitrogen oxides such as nitric oxide, nitrite, and hyponitrite.

After finishing her Ph.D. dissertation, in the Fall of 2015, she began a postdoctoral position in the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where she worked with Professor Jonas Peters on the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) to carbon-based fuels. Shabnam then joined the research group of Professor Harry Gray as a postdoctoral fellow in the Spring of 2017. There, her research has focused on a mechanistic study of O2 reactivity of blue Thermus thermophilus laccase.

In the Fall of 2018, Shabnam started her independent academic career at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). Her research group is interested in biological and energy sciences from an inorganic chemistry perspective. Their research is targeted toward manipulation of a broad range of unique redox processes that take place within homogeneous photocatalysts, protein scaffolds, and electrochemical systems. In 2022, Shabnam received the Bernard Glickman Bernard-Glickman Dean’s Professorship at UNCG and was awarded the Arthur E. Martell Early Career Researcher Prize from the Journal of Coordination Chemistry. In her independent career, Shabnam has been recognized with an NSF Launching Early-Career Academic Pathways in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (LEAPS-MPS) Award, an NIH Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA), and a 2023 DOE Early Career Award.

Shabnam enjoys spending time with her husband and their 18-month-old son, Parsa. She also enjoys face-timing with family back home in Iran, sampling coffee and tea, and traveling. Shabnam loves cooking and eating Persian food. Food is a big part of the Iranian culture, and it serves as a catalyst that brings people together, while also giving her a little taste of home.

Current Members

Firoz Khan

Postdoctoral Scholar

Ph.D. (Chemistry)           
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur 

M.S. (Chemistry) 
Banaras Hindu University

B.S. (Chemistry) 
Banaras Hindu University

 

Shyam Pahari

Postdoctoral Scholar

Ph.D. (Inorganic Chemistry)           
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

M.S. (Chemistry) 
Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu

B.S. (Chemistry) 
Tribhuvan University, Pokhara

Rafiul Noyon

Graduate Student 

M.Sc. (Inorganic Chemistry) 
University of Chittagong

B.S. (Chemistry)      
University of Chittagong

 

Dahlia Porter

Graduate Student

B.S. (Chemistry)      
University of North Carolina at Greensboro 

Calvin Semczuk

Graduate Student

B.S. (Chemistry)      
Adelphi University

Marcos Tapia

Undergraduate Student

U-RISE Fellow

B.S. (Chemistry) Class of 2025
University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Learn more about Marcos’ research experience!

Han Kang

Post-baccalaureate Student

B.S. (Biology)     
North Carolina State University

Kymberlee Harbin

Undergraduate Student 

B.S. (Chemistry) Class of 2026       
University of North Carolina at Greensboro 

Jordan Lech

Undergraduate Student 

B.S. (Chemistry) Class of 2024       
University of North Carolina at Greensboro 

Former Members

  • Zeinab AlSubeh - Graduate Student joint with the Oberlies Lab - Ph.D. in Medicinal Biochemistry (2019-2021) – Pharm.D. from Jordan University of Science and Technology

    Currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy at Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST)

  • Maria Carrasco - Graduate Student - M.S. in Chemistry (2019-2021) & Undergraduate Student - B.S. in Biochemistry (2018-2019) – B.S. in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro

    Currently a Medical Student at the ECU Brody School of Medicine

  • Amy Waldbusser - Graduate Student - M.S. in Chemistry (2019-2021) – B.S. in Chemistry with a concentration in Forensic Chemistry from Appalachian State University

    Currently a Senior Chemist at Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories

  • Hadi Pourhadi - Graduate Student - M.S. in Chemistry and Biochemistry  (2019-2021) – B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Mazandaran & M.S. in Chemistry from Sharif University of Technology

    Ph.D. in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (2023)

  • Kiara Gonzales - Undergraduate Student – B.S. (Biochemistry) Class of 2026 
  • Runzi Li - Undergraduate Student – B.S. (Chemistry) Class of 2022

    Currently a master's student in the Croatt Research Group

  • Mingli Yang - Undergraduate Student – B.S. (Biochemistry) Class of 2021
  • Michael Mungaray - Undergraduate Student – B.S. (Computer Science) Class of 2023
  • Katie Dezarn - Undergraduate Student – B.S. (Chemistry) Class of 2021
  • Kevin Doheny - Undergraduate Student – B.S. (Chemistry) Class of 2020

    Currently a Purification Scientist at Eurofins Scientific

  • Alia Wang - Community College Student (Forsyth Technical Community College) – 2023 NSF LEAPS Researcher

    Currently an undergraduate student at Pitzer College – B.S. (Chemistry) – Class of 2025

  • Della Spencer - Community College Student (Guilford Technical Community College) – 2022 NSF LEAPS Researcher

    Currently an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro – B.A. (English) – Class of 2024 

  • Markia Miller - Community College Student (Guilford Technical Community College) – 2021

    Currently an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro - B.S. (Biology) Class of 2024 

  • Faheem Alam - High School Student (The Early College at Guilford) – 2023 Draelos Scholar
  • Jonathan Gregory - High School Student (The Early College at Guilford) – 2023 Draelos Scholar
  • Azhaan Buttar - High School Student (Northern Guilford High School) – 2022-2023

    Currently an undergraduate student at North Carolina State University

  • Eugenia Shirley - High School Student (Page High School) - 2022-2023 NSF LEAPS Researcher
  • Nicholas Alejandro - High School Student (The North Carolina Leadership Academy) – 2022 Draelos Scholar

    Read about our 2022 Draelos Scholars here!  

  • Fully Porter - High School Student (Grimsley High School) – 2022 Draelos Scholar 

    Read about our 2022 Draelos Scholars here!  

  • Brenna Johnson - High School Student (Ledford High School) – 2021 Draelos Scholar

    Currently an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  • Alex Seo - High School Student (Western Guilford High School) - 2020-2021

    Currently an undergraduate student at Columbia University

  • Joshua Park - High School Student (The Early College at Guilford) – 2020 Draelos Scholar

    Currently an undergraduate student at Vanderbilt University

  • Sarah Ali - High School Student (The Early College at Guilford) – 2020 Draelos Scholar

    Currently a Park Scholar at North Carolina State University

  • Alex Miroshnichenko - High School Student (The Early College at Guilford) – 2020 Draelos Scholar – 2020-2021

    Currently an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  • Erik Peterson - High School Student (Cornerstone Charter Academy) – 2020 Draelos Scholar

    Currently an undergraduate student at High Point University

  • Logan Weist - High School Student (Wesleyan Christian Academy) – 2019 Draelos Scholar

    Currently an undergraduate student at North Carolina State University

  • Aidan Hunt - High School Student (The Early College at Guilford) – 2019 Draelos Scholar

    B.A. in Computer Science & Linguistics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2023)

  • Boluwaji (Beejay) Odufuwa - High School Student (Western Guilford High School) – 2019-2020

    Currently an undergraduate student at Harvard University

  • Advika Kumar - High School Student (The Early College at Guilford) – 2018-2019

    Currently an undergraduate student at Duke University

  • Sameer Nasir - Visiting Researcher (2022) - B.S. in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte