The Vura-Weis Research Group
Principal Investigator

Dr. Josh Vura-Weis
Associate Professor and Associate Head of Major Projects, Department of Chemistry,
2010-2013 NSF ACC-F Post-doctoral fellow, University of California, Berkeley (S.R. Leone)
2009 Ph.D. Northwestern University (M.A. Ratner and M.R. Wasielewski)
1999 B.S. Stanford University
Chemistry & Life Sciences Laboratory A124
600 South Matthews Ave
Urbana, IL, 61801
(217) 244-44126
vuraweis@illinois.edu
Postdocs

Meghan Orr
2024 Ph.D. University of Michigan
Graduate Students

Max Andren
2024 B.S. Webster University
Kailyn Schueller
2023 B.S. Taylor University

Maren Johnsen
2023 B.S. University of Oslo
Erin Nicholas
2022 B.S. Arkansas State University
Peisen Qian
2022 B.S. University of Science and Technology of China

Brandon Rasmussen
2021 B.S. University of Oregon

Laura Smith
2021 B.S. Truman State University

Justin Malme
2020 B.S. Rowan University

Grant Barton
2019 B.S. University of California, Berkeley

Jacky Burke
2019 B.S. University of Vermont

Lauren Boedicker
2019 B.S. Ohio Wesleyan University
Undergraduate Students

Mandela Philips
Astrophysics, UIUC class of 2025
Former Members

Chandler Solomon, 2024 St. Elmo Brady Scholar
Ph.D. student in Chemical and Biological Enginneering at Clemson University

Rachel Wallick, Ph.D. 2024
Postdoc, Argonne National Lab (Young group)

Conner Dykstra, Ph.D. 2023
Postdoc, Ohio State University (Baker group)

Clare Leahy, Ph.D. 2022
Dow Chemical

Aastha Sharma, Ph.D. 2022
Intel Corp

Yusef Shari'ati, Ph.D. 2022
Lam Research

Taylor Curry, 2021 St. Elmo Brady Scholar
Chemist 1, CryoLife

Kori Sye, Ph.D 2021
Radiometer (part of Danaher Corp)

Sudharsan "Suds" Dwaraknath, Ph.D. 2021
Co-Founder and CEO, Quorum Bio

Kris Benke, Ph.D 2021
Science Communications Officer, Cell Press

Ryan Ash, Ph.D 2020
Teledyne Corp

Kaili Zhang, Ph.D. 2019
Data Scientist, Intel

Michaela Carlson, Ph.D. 2018
Associate Professor, Kansas Wesleyan University

Elizabeth Ryland, Ph.D. 2019
Postdoc at LCLS with Amy Cordones-Hahn and Kelly Gaffney

Max Verkamp, Ph.D. 2019
Assistant Professor, Hanover College