Jing Li Lab - Current Group Members
Gia Carignan
Ph.D. Student (2022 - Present)
Gia graduated from Stony Brook University with a B.S. in chemistry with departmental honors in 2021. Her undergraduate research focused on lithium deposition in rechargeable batteries and energy storage. She then entered the Ph.D. program at Rutgers University and joined Dr. Jing Li’s group where she will be focusing on the synthesis and characterization of inorganic-organic hybrid materials.
Yucong Xia
Ph.D. Student (2021 - Present)
Yucong Xia graduated from Wuhan University in China with a B.Sc. in Chemistry in 2020 and then joined Prof. Jing Li's group at Rutgers University-New Brunswick as a graduate student. He is now in his second year in the Ph.D. program with his research focusing on the structure design, characterization, and modification of multivariate metal-organic frameworks (MTV-MOFs) for separation and catalysis.
Yuzhou Xia
Ph.D. Student (2023 - Present)
Yuzhou graduated from Stony Brook University with his B.S. in chemistry with departmental honors in 2023 where he worked on covalent organic frameworks (COFs). He then joined Prof. Jing Li's group in the fall of 2023 where he will mainly be focusing on metal organic frameworks and their applications in separations.
Feng Xie
Ph.D. Student (2021 - Present)
Feng Xie obtained his bachelor's degree in chemistry and finance (dual degree) from Jilin University in China. Then he moved into King Abdullah University of Science & Technology and obtained his master's degree in chemistry in 2019 under the guidance of Prof. Yu Han. He is currently a doctoral student in chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Jing Li with his research interest focused on materials design of functionalized metal-organic frameworks for energy-related applications in adsorption and separation.
Jin Chen
Postdoc Associate (2024 - Present)
Jin Chen successively gained his B.Eng. in Material Science and Engineering, M.Eng. in Polymer Science and Engineering, D.Sc. in Inorganic Chemistry from Tianjin University, Zhejiang Univerisity and the University of Manchester, respectively. His previous work involved nanomaterials such as gold nanoparticles and magnetic nanoparticles for biomedicine application, metal-organic framework materials with high proton conducting property. He is currently a postdoc in Prof. Jing Li's group. His current research interest is the design and synthesis of organic-inorganic hybrid materials including framework materials for photonic and electronic applications
Zeping Wang
Postdoc Associate (2023 - Present)
Zeping Wang received his Ph.D. degree in Instrument Science and Technology from Chongqing University, China in December 2020. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences during 2021 – 2023. Then He joined Prof. Jing Li's group as a postdoc. His research focuses on the synthesis and application of luminescent inorganic-organic hybrid materials.
Juan Carlos Acosta Lopez
Undergraduate Student (2024 - Present)
Juan C. Acosta is an undergraduate student at Rutgers. He transferred from Union County College to Rutgers in Fall 2022. He is currently a fifth-year student majoring in chemical physics and joined the Li group this Fall 2024. He will be working with Feng Xie doing research on design and synthesis of Metal-Organic Frameworks.
Le Hong Trang Nguyen
Undergraduate Student (2023 - Present)
Le Hong began studying at Rutgers University in 2021 and is now in her junior year. She has joined Dr. Li’s group since Fall 2023 and works with Gia Carignan. She and her mentor will do research on synthesis and characterization of inorganic-organic hybrid materials.
Nicole Cassandra Tagle
Undergraduate Student (2024 - Present)
Nicole graduated from Brookdale Community College with an A.S. in Chemistry and transferred to Rutgers in Fall 2023 to pursue her B.A. in Chemistry. Now a senior, she joined Dr. Jing Li's research team in Fall 2024, where she works alongside Gia Carignan and contributes to the synthesis and characterization of inorganic-organic hybrid materials
Weston Swallow
Undergraduate Student (2024 - Present)
Weston joined Rutgers and began working in Professor Li's group in the fall of 2024. He is majoring in chemistry and working with Dr. Jin Chen on metal-organic framework related projects.
