Perculiar Adimabua joined the Shah lab in the Fall of 2019. Perculiar worked on detecting analytes for food safety applications. Perculiar Adimabua graduated in May 2020. Perculiar was a Chemistry and French double major from Asaba, Nigeria. On campus she was a resident assistant, tutor and TA for the chemistry department, students assistant for the Office of student affairs and an active member for the marginalized communities on campus. In her spare time, she loves to exercise, play basketball, and create hair beauty content videos. Perculiar is currently working at Prompt Praxis Laboratories PPL.

Patrick Nelson joined the Shah lab in the summer of 2019. Patrick worked on developing SERS methods for detecting food adulteration, pigments for art conservation applications, and detecting trace compounds for pharmaceutical applications. Patrick enjoys playing soccer.

Ilteris was a Richter Scholar that joined the Shah lab in the summer of 2019. Ilteris researched two different nanoparticle methods to detect three dyes for cultural heritage applications. Ilteris is double majoring in Mathematics and Physics. The aspect of science he really likes is the rewarding feeling he gets after understanding a concept or solving a problem. In his free time, Ilteris enjoys playing board games, reading fiction, and watching movies.

Cortney Oates joined the lab in the summer of 2018. Cortney developed techniques to detect four different dyes using SERS. Cortney studied the role of solvent, substrate material, and nanoparticle aggregation methods in detecting molecules using SERS. Cortney also examined how different nanoparticle capping agents affects dye absorption and SERS detection. Cortney earned her B.A. in Chemistry in 2018 and her Master’s in Education in 2020. Cortney will be high school chemistry teacher starting in the fall of 2020.

Jorell Ellazar joined the lab in summer of 2018. Jorell examined the effects of TLC plates, nanoparticle aggregation methods and solvents to determine the optimal conditions needed too detect 2 cultural heritage dyes using SERS. Jorell graduated Lake Forest College in May 2020. Jorell is currently a chiropractic assistant at North Shore Pro-Active Health

Amanda Forshey joined the Shah lab in the summer of 2018 as a Richter Scholar. Amanda examined the effects of solvents, pH, and nanoparticle aggregation methods n detecting cultural heritage dyes using TLC-SERS. Amanda is pursuing a BA in English. She is a member of Kappa Alpha Theta International Sorority, a tutor in the writing center, and served on the Student Academic Advisory Committee. Amanda volunteers at Bernie’s Book Bank, and is fundraiser for Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children, an Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.

Ian Murphy joined the lab in the spring of 2018. Ian developed an undergraduate laboratory to examine the figures of merit of Raman spectroscopy and SERS. Whilke at Lake Forest College, Ian was on the swim team and was a member of SAACS. Ian graduated Lake Forest college in May 2018. Ian is currently a high school chemistry teacher at Canutillo High School.

Allie Widmer joined the lab in the summer of 2017. Allie learned how to fabricate nanoparticles and analyzed and interpret SERS data. Allie examined the role of pH, solvents, and different types of fabric media in detecting molecules for cultural heritage applications. While at Lake Forest College Allie was on the soccer team and was the director of outreach and logistics for Relay for Life. Allie is currently a Community Development Manager at the American Cancer Society.

Rebecca Rabizadeh joined the lab as a 4-week Richter scholar in the summer of 2017. Rebecca developed two undergraduate laboratory experiments using IR and electrochemistry to detect plastics and ions in water. Rebecca graduated in May 2020. She is currently enrolled in a Master’s in Public Health Program at Northwestern University.

Samantha Miller joined the lab in the Fall of 2016 and graduate Lake Forest College in 2018. Samantha studied the effects of pH and wavelength adsorption of dyes to nanoparticle surfaces for detection using SERS for cultural heritage applications. Sam was raised in St. Louis, MO and was a Chemistry major and member of SAACS. Sam enjoys reading books, and adopting music to play on her violin. Sam is currently a PhD candidate in the Levinger lab at Colorado State University.

Dasha Polyarskaya joined the lab in the Summer of 2017 and graduate Lake Forest College in 2018. Dasha studied the correlation of LSPR and SERS for different nanoparticle techniques. Dasha also examined the stability of the SERS signal of dyes at different time intervals. Dasha was a biology majoor and chemistry minor. Dasha is currently pursuing a pharmacy degree.