Principal Investigator
Dr. Kathryn A. Perrine
Associate Professor, Chemistry
Affiliated Faculty, Materials Science and Engineering
Department of Chemistry
Michigan Technological University
1400 Townsend Drive
Houghton, MI 49931
906.487.3214
Dr. Perrine earned her B.S in Chemistry from the University of South Carolina (2004) and Ph.D. from the University of Delaware (2011). She was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, Irvine (2011-2015) and visiting scientist at the California Institute of Technology as part of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (2014-2015).
Dr. Perrine has 17+ years of experience in the field of surface science, at the gas/solid interface and liquid/vapor interface and in modern surface analysis instruments, including FTIR, AES, XPS, TPD, AFM, and SEM for surface analysis. Her graduate research was focused on semiconductor film growth and using bottom-up surface functionalization. In her postdoc, she worked with different teams to measure the interaction of aqueous solutions of organics, solutes, and ionic solutions at the liquid/vapor interface, using Liquid-Jet XPS. Dr. Perrine research program is currently focused on interfacial reactions on iron and other earth-abundant materials for understanding environmental and energy processes using a surface catalysis approach.
Student Group Members (2022-present)
Group photo summer 2022: (left to right) Drew, Subash, Danica, Dr. Perrine, Richard
Graduate Students:
Toba Agbelusi
M.S. Materials Science and Engineering (Spring 2024)
Subash Pandey
PhD. Chemistry
M. Sc. Chemistry
B.S. Chemistry
-reactions at the gas/solid interface and liquid/solid interface
Richard Ikwugbado
PhD. Chemistry
M. Sc. Chemistry
B.S. Chemistry
-reactions at the liquid/solid interface
Undergraduate Students
Timothy Ham
B.S. Biology student
Nick Kelliher
B.S. Chemistry student
-AFM of surface corrosion
Ryan MackieB.S. Chemistry student (Fall 2023)
-surface corrosion and reactions on iron interfaces
-reactions at the gas/solid and liquid/solid interface
Danica Lemmons
B.S. Chemistry student (Spring 2024)
-surface corrosion and reactions on iron interfaces
*recipient of the 2022 Rebecca Sandretto and Susan Stackhouse Undergraduate Summer Fellowship
Drew Kolodge
B.S. Materials Science & Engineering student (Spring 2023)
-reactions at the gas/solid interface, ATR-FTIR spectroscopy
Group Members (2016-2022)
Dr. Chathura de Alwis
PhD. Chemistry (Summer 2022)
B.S. Chemistry
-PM-IRRAS at the air/liquid/solid interface
-reactions at the gas/solid interface
-surface corrosion
*recipient of the 2021 Robert and Kathleen Lane outstanding graduate student research award
Dr. Mikhail TroughtPhD. Chemistry (Spring 2021)
B.S. Chemistry
-ALD of metal oxides on functionalized graphite
-Imaging of air/solid and liquid/solid interfaces
-reactions at the gas/solid interface
*recipient of the 1st place 2020 NOBCChE Physical Chemistry Poster award
*recipient of the Michigan Tech University Teaching Award
Wathsala Kapuralageprospective PhD. student in Chemistry
B.S. Chemistry
-surface corrosion
William GreenB.S. Chemistry (Fall 2023)
-Density Functional Theory calculations
Kayleigh Wahr
B.S. Chemistry (Spring 2022)
-Measuring AFM of surface corrosion, dechlorination reactions on iron
*recipient of the 2021 SURF undergraduate research fellowship
Alex Marcyan
B.S. Materials Science (Spring 2022)
-Measuring AFM of surface corrosion
Zach Angst
B.S. Chemistry (Fall 2020)
-Measuring AFM of surface corrosion
Alex Denofre
B.S. Computer Science (Fall 2021)
-Measuring STM and AFM of nanoparticles on graphite interfaces
Julia Lundeen
B.S. Materials Science and Engineering
Department of Chemistry and MSE
-Measuring AFM of 2D materials and liquid interfaces
Zongguang Liu
B.S. Electrical Engineering (Spring 2019)
-Temperature Programmed Desorption development
Isobel WentworthB.S. Chemical Engineering (Spring 2019)
Minor: Mineral Processing
Department of Chemical Engineering
-Measuring reactions on graphite surfaces using FTIR analysis
Sarah PudasB.S. Chemical Engineering (Spring 2018)
Department of Chemical Engineering
-metal deposition on graphite surfaces
-Designed UHV instrument
Shelby McGuireB.S. Chemistry (Spring 2018)
Department of Chemistry
-Preparation of self-assembled monolayers on gold surfaces
Nathan Schlorke
B. S. Applied Physics, (Spring 2019)
Department of Physics
recipient of the Presidential Achievement Scholarship
-Designed equipment for the UHV instrument
Nathan BaldwinB.S. Chemical Engineering (Spring 2018)
Department of Chemical Engineering
-Optics table design and vibration analysis