MEMBERS

Principal Investigator

Haw Yang

Haw Yang

Professor of Chemistry

Phone: +1 (609) 258-3578

Email: hawyang (at) princeton.edu

Haw began his scientific journey in gas-phase high-resolution molecular beam spectroscopy, then switched to liquid-phase ultrafast dynamics for his doctoral degree. His Ph.D. work at UC Berkeley, under the late Professor Charles B. Harris, was among the first ultrafast pump-probe studies to unravel photocatalytic reaction mechanisms. He switched fields again, to single-molecule biophysics, as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. In his independent career, begun at UC Berkeley and continued at Princeton University, he has investigated chemical dynamics in increasingly complex environments. His contributions to date appear to combine solving scientific problems, innovating new methods, and developing practical theories.

Graduate Students

Sarah Gernhart

Sarah Gernhart (Chem)

B.S. Chemistry 2022, Oregon State University

Email: sg4932 (at) princeton.edu

Hometown: Gresham, OR

Sarah received her B.S. in Chemistry from Oregon State University in June 2022. She is developing an analytical model of plasmon-enhanced fluorescence from fluorophores near the surfaces of metallic nanoparticles. Outside the lab, Sarah enjoys playing softball, taking long walks, and watching terrible movies (shout-out to the Twilight series!).

Alumni

  • M. Junaid Amin
    Postdoc 2017–2021, Applications Engineer at Thorlabs Inc., Sterling, VA.
  • L. Meadow Anderson
    Ph.D. 2003–2009, Founder and CEO, Meadow Design Ceramics. See her talk on climate change and creativity.
  • Salman Banani
    Undergraduate 2004–2005, Assistant Professor of Pathology, University of Chicago.
  • Nicolas A. Bax
    Undergraduate 2011–2012.
  • Joseph S. Beckwith
    Postdoc 2020–2022, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, University of Warwick, UK.
  • Sucharita Bhattacharyya
    Undergraduate 2003–2005.
  • Paolo Camorani
    Postdoc 2004–2005.
  • Hu Cang
    Postdoc 2005–2009, Assistant Researcher, Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, University of California, Irvine.
  • Fernando del Castillo
    Undergraduate 2020–2023, Ph.D. program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University.
  • Hauyee Chang
    Postdoc 2002–2005, Xradia, Inc. (now ZEISS).
  • Charlie Chen
    Postdoc 2008–2009, working in Taiwan.
  • Tao Chen
    Postdoc 2017–2018.
  • Yi-Tsao Chen
    Visiting graduate student 2018, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan.
  • Margaret Chi
    Undergraduate 2004–2005.
  • Andrew S. Choi
    Undergraduate 2010–2012.
  • William Chour
    Undergraduate 2012–2014; Ph.D., Caltech; M.D., USC Keck School of Medicine; Associate at Scion Life Sciences.
  • Irena Dragojevic
    Undergraduate 2003–2005, Clinical Professor of Radiation Medicine & Applied Sciences (Medical Physics), UC San Diego.
  • Karl E. Duderstadt
    Ph.D. 2011 (joint with Professor James Berger), Professor of Structure and Dynamics of Molecular Machines, Technische Universität München.
  • Yasmine K. Eichbaum
    Undergraduate 2018–2019.
  • Nyssa T. Emerson
    Ph.D. 2019; Postdoc 2019–2023, Head of Analytical Research and Development at Zahav Bioscience.
  • Daniel Gao
    Undergraduate 2011–2012.
  • Luis F. Guerra
    Ph.D. 2019 (joint with Professor Tom Muir).
  • Jeffrey A. Hanson
    Ph.D. 2003–2009, Scientist at Sutro Biopharma, South San Francisco, California.
  • Chih-Hao Hsia
    Postdoc 2010–2013, Assistant Manager, Electronic Materials R&D, BASF Taiwan.
  • Jenny Jang
    Undergraduate 2004.
  • Utsab Khadka
    Postdoc 2013–2018, Manager at Thorlabs Inc., Boston, MA.
  • Hugh I. Kim
    Undergraduate 2003, Professor of Chemistry, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea.
  • Ju-Young Kim
    Postdoc 2020–2021 (joint with Professor Ryota Iino), Korea University.
  • So Yeon Kim
    Undergraduate 2010–2011.
  • Won Kim
    Undergraduate 2006.
  • Abigail R. Kostolansky
    Undergraduate 2019–2020.
  • Jiwon Lee
    Undergraduate 2004.
  • Sarah Lee
    Undergraduate 2003–2004.
  • Marc Lessler
    Undergraduate 2025–2026, Physics senior thesis.
  • Hao Li
    Ph.D. 2013–2020, Research Associate at Rockefeller University, New York, New York.
  • Wei-You Li
    Visiting graduate student 2015, Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan.
  • Lily Liang
    Undergraduate 2003.
  • Tao Liu
    Graduate student 2017–2021.
  • Tomoyuki Mano
    Graduate student 2015–2017, Staff Scientist, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Japan.
  • Max Manzanarez
    Undergraduate 2011.
  • Florian Mayerthaler
    Visiting graduate student 2014, University of Münster, Germany; now at Sanofi, Frankfurt.
  • Simon McManus
    Postdoc 2013–2015.
  • Daniel Montiel
    Ph.D. 2005–2012, New York City public service.
  • Thomas Morrell
    Graduate student 2010–2016, Head of Data and Digital Services, Caltech Library.
  • Chayan K. Nandi
    Postdoc 2009–2010, Professor of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology at Mandi, Kamand, India.
  • Anand Narayan
    Undergraduate 2004–2005.
  • Bian Qian
    Postdoc 2010–2011, Data Scientist at Rendr.
  • Ilona Rafalska-Metcalf
    Lab Manager 2012–2015.
  • Marissa M. Sampias
    Undergraduate 2010–2011, Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, NYU Grossman School of Medicine.
  • Markus Selmke
    Postdoc 2015, German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA).
  • Nancy Song
    Undergraduate 2015–2017, MD/MBA Stanford University, Cardiology Fellow at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
  • Alevtina Studenikina
    Undergraduate 2021–2023, graduate student at MIT.
  • Yun Hua (Sophia) Su
    Undergraduate 2004–2005.
  • Li Sun
    Postdoc 2009–2011.
  • Xun Sun
    Ph.D. 2009–2016, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
  • Yan-Wen Tan
    Postdoc 2007–2010, Professor of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
  • Xiaoyan Wang
    Visiting graduate student 2015, Tsinghua University, China.
  • Olivia M. Waring
    Undergraduate 2011.
  • Lucas P. Watkins
    M.S. 2006.
  • Kevin Welsher
    Postdoc 2010–2015, Robert R. & Katherine B. Penn Associate Professor of Chemistry, Duke University.
  • Fanxin Wu
    Postdoc 2004–2005.
  • Anna Wuttig
    Undergraduate 2010–2011, Neubauer Family Assistant Professor of Chemistry, University of Chicago.
  • C. Shan Xu
    Postdoc 2005–2009, Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Yale School of Medicine.
  • Rachel W. Yan
    Undergraduate 2022–2023.
  • Emma V. Yates
    Undergraduate 2010–2011, Co-Founder and CSO, Proteotype Diagnostics Ltd.
  • Shuhui Yin
    Ph.D. 2014–2020, Visiting Scholar, Ultrafast Spectroscopy Laboratory, Nanjing University.
  • Kai Zhang
    Ph.D. 2002–2008, Professor of Biochemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
  • Luyuan Zhang
    Postdoc 2010–2011.
  • Wenkai Zhang
    Postdoc 2007–2008, Professor of Physics, Beijing Normal University.
  • Tian Zhao
    Postdoc and Associate Research Scholar 2019–2026.

Updated: 2026.11.12.