{"id":288,"date":"2024-03-12T11:05:36","date_gmt":"2024-03-12T18:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/stephen-bradforth\/?page_id=288"},"modified":"2025-07-30T14:19:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T21:19:23","slug":"people","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/stephen-bradforth\/people\/","title":{"rendered":"People"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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PhD.’s in the Making<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\n\n \n \"ORCID https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9345-0542 <\/a><\/span>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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\n Aziz C. L. Mohammed, PhD. Student (2023 – )\n <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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Aziz was born and raised in Washington, DC where he was spoiled by free museums, great bookstores, and easy access to Rock Creek Park. He earned a BA with Honors in Chemistry from Oberlin College. During his time at Oberlin, Aziz collaborated with Dr. Matthew Elrod to research the kinetics of organosulfate formation from sulfuric acid and atmospherically relevant alcohols such as glycerol, erythritol, and 2-methyltetrol. He spent his senior year working with Dr. Shuming Chen, using a combination of computational and synthetic methods to investigate instances of multiple products arising from a single transition state, known as post-transition state bifurcations.<\/p>\n

After four years of enduring Ohio winters, Aziz moved to sunny Southern California in 2023 and joined the Bradforth Lab, where he will use TRPES to study the ultrafast photochemistry of precursors to atmospheric brown carbon (BrC). In his free time, Aziz likes to read, play card and board games, and bankrupt himself by searching for good coffee and bagels.<\/p>\n

Email: azizmoha@usc.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n\n

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\n\n \n \"ORCID https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-3431-0118 <\/a><\/span>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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\n Brandon M. Young, PhD. Candidate (2021 – )\n <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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While born in Los Angeles, Brandon moved at a young age to Atlanta, GA followed soon after to Chicago, IL. There he studied for a Master\u2019s in Inorganic Chemistry under Kyle Grice at DePaul University. Brandon analyzed potential Group 6 and 7 dimer complexes as carbon dioxide reduction catalysts using IR-Spectroelectrochemistry and DFT (Density Functional Theory).<\/p>\n

Afterward, Brandon decided to return to the City of Angels to work towards a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry under the tutelage of Dr. Steve Bradforth. Brandon is currently focused on preparing and studying anionic carbon species via TRPES.<\/p>\n

Outside the halls of USC, Brandon enjoys playing bass guitar, exploring the various neighborhoods of LA, and reading current neuroscience research in the fields of hearing and learning.<\/p>\n

Project: Photoelectron Spectroscopy of Liquid-Phase Carbanions
\nContact: bmyoung@usc.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n\n

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\n\n \n \"ORCID https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7077-3437 <\/a><\/span>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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\n Thabassum Ahammad Nattikalungal, PhD. Candidate (2021 – )\n <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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Thabassum grew up in the southern part of India, Kerala. He did his BS-MS from the Indian Institute\u00a0of Science Education and Research Mohali (IISER). At IISER, he was mentored by Dr Jino George. As a\u00a0part of his MS thesis, he studied the modifications of chemical reaction landscapes initiated when\u00a0the vibrational modes of molecules are coupled to vacuum field modes generated inside optical
\ncavities.<\/p>\n

In 2021, he moved to LA and joined Steve\u2019s lab for graduate studies. At USC, he will be probing the\u00a0ultrafast dynamics of photocatalytic systems. More precisely, his studies aim to generate highly tunable, earth\u00a0abundant photosensitizers to drive photocatalysts more efficiently.\u00a0Apart from his graduate studies, he enjoys travelling and listening to music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n\n

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\n\n \n \"ORCID https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-0789-4414 <\/a><\/span>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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\n Shivalee Dey, PhD. Candidate (2018 – )\n <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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Shivalee joined USC in fall 2018 and joined Steve\u2019s lab shortly thereafter. She completed both Master\u2019s and Bachelor\u2019s degrees in Chemistry from Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan (West Bengal) in India. Her master\u2019s thesis was entitled\u00a0Turn-on luminescence sensing of toxic metal ions by a new manganese complex<\/em>. After her bachelor\u2019s degree, she undertook a summer internship at IISER, Mohali working under Dr. Arijit Kumar De, publishing work on understanding picosecond solvation dynamics using fluorescent probes with small Stokes shifts. A year before joining USC, she worked as a lecturer in Shyamsundar College, University of Burdwan.<\/p>\n

In her spare time, she loves acrylic painting, travelling places (mostly mountains), enjoys biking trips; she also admits to being fond of doing nothing at all!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n\n

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Undergraduate Researchers<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\n Wenting (Wendy) Fei \n <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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WenTing (Wendy) grew up and live in Los Angeles, California where she is currently studying as an undergraduate student at the University of Southern California for a B.S. in Chemical Engineering at the Viterbi School of Engineering. She joined the Bradforth group spring of 2022. She is currently working with Brandon on photoelectron spectroscopy of liquid-phase carbanions and solved electron solutions. She is interested in work relating to pharmaceutical and drug development or synthetic processes for organic material in the future. Apart from her academic studies, she enjoys swimming, going out, cooking, and spending quality playtime with her new kitten, Potato.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Christine Cheon\n <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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Christine grew up in Los Angeles, California and moved soon after to Orange County where she finished her high school degree at Brea Olinda High School. She is currently continuing her academic journey as an undergraduate student at the University of Southern California for a B.S. in Chemistry under the Dornsife School of Letter, Sciences, and Arts.<\/p>\n

She began to attend USC in the fall of 2022 and joined the Bradforth group in the following spring of 2023. She is currently working with Jos\u00e9, studying the ultrafast formation of cyclobutane thymine dimers and how it relates to DNA using the absorption of UV light and NMR. Apart from her academics, her interests include golfing, crocheting, cafe-hopping, and eating out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Zhan (Tommy) Shu\n <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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Tommy grew up in the eastern side of China, then after moving to and living in Canada for a few years, went to high school in Boston. He graduated from Brooks School there, and now studies in biological sciences and data science as an undergraduate student at USC.<\/p>\n

He joined Steve Bradforth\u2019s group during his second semester at USC in the spring of 2023. He is currently working on processing the large amounts of data generated by the high repetition rate lasers for the DNA photophysics project. He enjoys reading books and trying new types of food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n\n

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\n Postdoctoral Alumni\n <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n \n
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