Mail:
Dept. of Chemistry & Biochemistry
The Ohio State University
151 W. Woodruff Ave.
Columbus, OH 43210

Office:
412 CBEC

Email:
herbert@
chemistry.ohio-state.edu

Herbert Group Members

JMH Research Group, April 2026

Left to right:
Andreas Koutsogiannis, Jonah Higley, Ar Fonlon, Sudip Chakraborty, Avik Ojha, Chance Brandt, Prof. John Herbert, Keegan Paice, Sierra Hilditch, Xinyi Zhang, Santana Rodriguez, Naray Puthillathu, Sigrún Childress, Benjamin Grimes, Maeve Cassidy

[Previous Group Photos]

Current Group Members (Summer 2026)

Prof. Dr. John Herbert fearless leader (since 2006)	Ar Fonlon (they/them) Ph.D. student (since 2021)
Andreas Koutsogiannis Ph.D. student (since 2021)	Avik Ojha Ph.D. student (since 2022)
Chance Brandt (he/him) Ph.D. student (since 2023)	Sigrún Childress (she/her) Ph.D. student (since 2023)
Sierra Hilditch Ph.D. student (since 2024)	Naray Puthillathu Ph.D. student (since 2025)
Jonah Higley Ph.D. student (since 2025)	Sudip Chakraborty Ph.D. student (since 2025)
Xinyi (Cynthia) Zhang Ph.D. student (since 2025)	Santana Rodriguez Ph.D. student (since 2025)
Maeve Cassidy undergrad (since 2025)	Benjamin Grimes undergrad (since 2026)

Check out our new space!

Former Group Members

(Previous Group Photos)

Former Postdocs

Subrata Jana (2021 – 2023)
Last sighting in the wild: Faculty of Physics, Nicolaus Copernicus University (Toruń, Poland)
Zhi-Qiang You (2013 – 2016)
Last sighting in the wild: Scientific staff at Ohio Supercomputer Center (Columbus, OH)
Jie Liu (2013 – 2016)
Last sighting in the wild: Researcher with Prof. Jinlong Yang (Hefei National Lab, China)
Mary Rohrdanz (2007 – 2009)
Last sighting in the wild: Research scientist at MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston, TX)
Chris Williams (2006 – 2009)
Last sighting in the wild: Analyst with the Royal Bank of Scotland in London

Former Graduate Students

Keegan Paice (M.S., 2026)
Last sighting in the wild: Graduate student with Prof. Paul Ayers (McMaster University)
M.S. Thesis: Atoms, Ions, and Fragments in Pharmaceutical Supramolecular Many-Body Quantum Chemistry
Montgomery Gray (Ph.D., 2025)
Last sighting in the wild: Staff scientist at the Battelle Memorial Institute (Columbus, OH)
Ph.D. Thesis: A Quantum-Mechanical Investigation of Noncovalent Interactions: Validation and Application of Density Functional Theory and Symmetry-Adapted Perturbation Theory
[DOI]
Aniket Mandal (Ph.D., 2025)
Last sighting in the wild: Postdoc with Prof. Michele Pavanello (Rutgers University)
Ph.D. Thesis: DFT-Based Single Excitation Theories Applied to Charge-Transfer and Core Excited States
[DOI]
I'kia McKay (M.S., 2025)
Last sighting in the wild: Ph.D. student with Prof. Nate DeYonker (University of Memphis)
M.S. Thesis: Mechanistic Insights into Olefin Hydrogenation by a Novel N-Heterocyclic Phosphine-Ligated Cobalt Complex.
[DOI]
Dustin Broderick (Ph.D., 2025)
Last sighting in the wild: Postdoc with Prof. Laura Gagliardi (University of Chicago)
Ph.D. Thesis: Scalable Fragmentation for Large Chemical Systems: Software and Algorithmic Advances Towards Large Electronic Structure Calculations
[DOI]
Paige Bowling (Ph.D., 2024)
Last sighting in the wild: Postdoc with Prof. Charles Brooks (University of Michigan)
Ph.D. Thesis: Quantum Mechanical Approaches for Large Protein Systems: Fragmentation, Confining Potentials, and Anisotropic Solvation
[DOI]
Suranjan Paul (Ph.D., 2022)
Last sighting in the wild: Postdoc with Prof. Ilja Siepmann (University of Minnesota)
Ph.D. Thesis: Applications and Development of Generalized Dielectric Boundary Conditions to Solvated Systems in Bulk Water and Air/Water Interface
[DOI]
Bhaskar Rana (Ph.D., 2021)
Last sighting in the wild: Postdoc with Prof. Michele Pavanello (Rutgers University)
Ph.D. Thesis: Spectroscopic and Dynamics Study of Condensed Phase Radicals Using Density Functional Theory
[DOI]
Bushra Alam (Ph.D., 2021)
Last sighting in the wild: Postdoc with Prof. Fang Liu (Emory)
Ph.D. Thesis: Quantum Chemical Studies of Charge-Separated States and X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy with Time Dependent Kohn-Sham Theory
[DOI]
Kevin Carter-Fenk (Ph.D., 2021)
Last sighting in the wild: Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA)
Ph.D. Thesis: Design and Implementation of Quantum Chemistry Methods for the Condensed Phase: Noncovalent Interactions at the Nanoscale and Excited States in Bulk Solution
[DOI]
Ying Zhu (Ph.D., 2020)
Last sighting in the wild: Software Development Engineer at Amazon
Ph.D. Thesis: Implementation of Real-Time Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory and Applications From the Weak Field to the Strong Field Regime
[DOI]
Saswata Dasgupta (Ph.D., 2020)
Last sighting in the wild: Assistant Professor at Kansas State University (Manhattan, KS)
Ph.D. Thesis: Ab-Initio Implementation of Ground and Excited State Resonance Raman Spectroscopy: Application to Condensed Phase and Progress Towards Biomolecules
[DOI]
Kuan-Yu Liu (Ph.D., 2019)
Last sighting in the wild: Scientist at Q-Chem (Pleasanton, CA)
Ph.D. Thesis: Generalized Many-Body Expansion: A Fragment-Based Method for Modeling Large Systems
[DOI]
Adrian Morrison (Ph.D., 2017)
Last sighting in the wild: Staff Engineer at Tenstorrent (San Francisco, CA)
Ph.D. Thesis: An Efficient Method for Computing Excited State Properties of Extended Molecular Aggregates Based on an ab-Initio Exciton Model
[DOI]
Marc Coons (Ph.D., 2017)
Last sighting in the wild: Associate Research Scientist at Dow Chemical (Midland, MI)
Ph.D. Thesis: Solvent Effects for Vertical Ionization Processes in Liquid Water and at the Liquid-Vapor Interface
[DOI]
Xing Zhang (Ph.D., 2016)
Last sighting in the wild: Staff scientist at CalTech (leading development of PySCF)
Ph.D. Thesis: Spin-Flip Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory and Its Applications to Photodynamics
[DOI]
Ka Un Lao (Ph.D., 2016)
Last sighting in the wild: Associate Professor (Dept. of Chemistry), Virginia Commonwealth University
Ph.D. Thesis: Accurate and Efficient Quantum Chemistry Calculations for Noncovalent Interactions in Many-Body Systems
[DOI]
Zach Holden (Ph.D., 2015)
Last sighting in the wild: Lecturer (Dept. of Chemistry), Tennessee Tech
Ph.D. Thesis: Long-Range Effects in QM/MM Calculations: Ewald Summation in Non-Minimal Basis Sets
[DOI]
Ryan Richard (Ph.D., 2013)
Last sighting in the wild: Scientist II, Ames Lab (Ames, IA)
Ph.D. Thesis: Increasing the Computational Efficiency of ab Initio Methods with Generalized Many-Body Expansions
[DOI]
Adrian Lange (Ph.D., 2012)
Last sighting in the wild: Director of Machine Learning Research at A-Alpha Bio (Seattle, WA)
Ph.D. Thesis: Multi-Layer Methods for Quantum Chemistry in the Condensed Phase: Combining Density Functional Theory, Molecular Mechanics, and Continuum Solvation Models
[DOI]
Leif Jacobson (Ph.D., 2011)
Last sighting in the wild: Senior Principal Scientist at Schrödinger, Inc. (Portland, OR)
Ph.D. Thesis: Approximating Many-Body Induction to Efficiently Describe Molecular Liquids and Clusters with Improved Accuracy
[DOI]
Shoumik Chatterjee (M.S., 2008)
M.S. Thesis: Charge Transfer Contamination is Bianthyrl and Cyclophanes Using Conventional TD-DFT and Subsequent Reduction in CT Contamination Using a Long-Range-Corrected Functional

Former Undergraduate Students

Griffin Ginosaur (2024)

Jonah Higley (2024)
Last sighting in the wild: Ph.D. student at Ohio State

Silas Stephens (2024)

Josh Shockey (2022–)
Last sighting in the wild: B.Sc. student at Northern Kentucky University

Helen Clifford (2022–2024)
Last sighting in the wild: Ph.D. student (chemistry), with Prof. Laura Gagliardi (University of Chicago)

Brandon Schramm (2022–2024)
Last sighting in the wild: Ph.D. student (chemistry), with Prof. Martin Head-Gordon and Prof. Brigitta Whaley (University of California–Berkeley)

Chunyu (Agnes) Hu (2022–2023)
Last sighting in the wild: Ph.D. student (biochemistry), with Prof. Yang Yang (Iowa State)

Sharique Ahmed (2021)
Last sighting in the wild: B.Sc. student (computer science) at Ohio Wesleyan University

Andrew Rossi (2019–2020)
Last sighting in the wild: Ph.D. student (chemistry) with Prof. David Masiello (University of Washington)

Daniel Beckett (2013–2014)
Last sighting in the wild: Postdoc with Prof. Greg Voth (University of Chicago)

Ben Albrecht (2012–2013)
Winner of a Denman Forum poster award
Last sighting in the wild: Working at Cray, Inc. (Seattle, WA)

Zach Lukaszek (2011)

Mark Hilkert (2008–2009)

Katie Martins (2008–2009)

Adrian Lange (2006–2007)
Last sighting in the wild: Director of Machine Learning Research at A-Alpha Bio (Seattle, WA)

Dan Poole (2006–2007)
Last sighting in the wild: Assistant Professor of Teaching (Dept. of Mathematics), Ohio State University

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