Chemistry

Dr. Hurlock is a chemist and material scientist in the Materials and System Design team, a part of the Nuclear Materials group at PNNL. Dr. Hurlock’s work focuses on the development and demonstration of scalable separations using processed sorbent materials. His work seeks to elucidate structural–property relationships of sorbents under process conditions to gain material design insights for new and emerging separations.

Oscar Hernandez, from Dr. Cliff Berkman’s research group, will present a literature review on the application of targeted breast cancer therapy on colon cancer cells. The data presented will support the efficacy of the antibody drug conjugate RC48 through in vitro and mechanistic studies using colon cancer cells that express HER2 proteins. Overall, summary of objectives, findings and conclusions will be presented.

Ashlyn Belton, from Dr. Jack Zhang’s research group, will present a literature review on Application of Semiconductor Spin Defects for Quantum Computing.

Eric Jacobo, from Dr. Jim Brozik’s research group, will present on “The Sequences Specific Binding and Thermodynamic Driving Forces of the Extended Region of Aquaporin-4 Binding to α-Syntrophin.”

Ivan A. Popov, Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Washington State University, will present his seminar, “Pushing Actinides to the Limit: Bonding and Reactivity at Extreme Oxidation States.”

Phong Huynh, from Jack Zhang’s research group, will present on “Conventional and Modern Approaches in Iodine Adsorption: Mechanisms and Host–Guest Interactions.”

John was born in Wisconsin and obtained an A.B. from Ripon College (WI) as a double major in Chemistry and History. John was fortunate to have the opportunity to spend a summer in the lab of Hairong Guan at the Univ. Cincinnati for a 10 week crash course in synthesis. John continued studying the coordination chemistry of polydentate sulfur ligands with transition metals under the guidance of Mas Iimura until he departed for Lafayette, IN and graduate school at Purdue University. At Purdue, John worked almost exclusively with the actinide elements and obtained his Ph.D. under Suzanne Bart. Their work focused on utilizing redox-active ligands to perform multi-electron bond cleavage reactions. After Purdue, John relocated to Ypsilanti for a post doctoral appointment at the Univ. Michigan under Nate Szymczak where he investigated intramolecular boron Lewis acids to promote bond activation reactions. In 2021, John accepted a position at Drury University (PUI) as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry. His lab studies the fundamentals of hydrogen bonds tuning through adjacent redox events.

Iaroslav Gureev, from Dr. Ivan Popov’s research group, will present on “Orbital Localization–Driven Disruption of Peripheral Bonding in Valence-Isoelectronic B12– Clusters.”

Featuring Dr. Gurtej Sandhu, Principal Fellow and Corporate Vice President at Micron Technology, this 2026 Innovative Leaders Lecture Series event will highlight Dr. Sandhu’s insights on the future of memory chip technology and the pivotal role continuous innovation plays in shaping the next era of computing.

Ananya Biswas, a member of Dr. Sharma Anjali’s research group, will present “Dendrimer-Mediated Corneal Drug Delivery: Bridging Anatomical Barriers to Translational Therapeutics.”

Byron Fisher, a member of Dr. Xiaofeng Guo’s research group, will present “Computational Thermodynamics of Molten Salts.”

Mark E. Eberhart is Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at the Colorado School of Mines and founder of First Principles Materials Design and Software. His research develops first-principles methods for understanding bonding and reactivity directly from the electron charge density. Building on QTAIM, he has introduced morphological and geometric analyses that quantify bond directionality, charge redistribution, and electrostatic structure in molecules, enzymes, and materials. His group has also developed electron-density analysis software used in both academic and applied research. Dr. Eberhart holds degrees from the University of Colorado (B.S., M.S.) and MIT (Ph.D.).