• Lead analyst of newly established Solids Department in charge of transforming a defunct auto-repair shop into a functioning laboratory requiring installation of facilities, stocking of supplies and supporting equipment, and setting up instrumentation including a XRD, XRF, optical microscopes, TOC-NS, and ATR-FTIR. Sourced a non-working XRD and rebuilt/calibrated in-house reducing capital expenses by nearly a fourth of projected. • Developed robust procedures and detailed SOPs based on standard test methods for all departmental procedures including the identification and quantification of crystallographic phases, degree of crystallinity, and crystallite size. • Developed and implemented QA/QC system, training material, and method validation procedures, and wrote detailed guidance for implementing proficiency testing to comply with ISO 17025 requirements.

Advisor: Prof. Pradip Mascharak• Synthesized photoactive nitric oxide (NO) donating molecules through a 3-5 stepsynthesis to afford a metal chelating ligand and the coordination of 2-3 ligands to a Ru or Mn metal center• Utilized DFT and molecular theories to modify the ligand field and energy transfer process from the metal center to the bound NO in order to enhance the stability of the NO donor under physiological conditions, enhance the quantum efficiency of NO photorelease and sensitize the charge transfer to low energy visible and near-IR light.• Incorporated NO donors into various polymeric and porous biomaterials to generate topical NO delivery platforms for biomedical applications.• Tested the therapeutic efficacy of photo-active NO donors and platforms for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, cancers and microbial infections through protein, DNA and cellular based assays.

Analyzed ultratrace metal content of ocean water samples using competitive ligand exchange cathodic stripping voltammetry and chemiluminescence

Performed real-time chemical analysis of particulate matter sampled from the atmosphere using a in-house designed and constructed atmospheric time-of-flight mass spectrometer