Professor Corey Stephenson
Principal Investigator
Corey was born in Collingwood, Ontario, Canada and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Waterloo in 1998. He completed graduate studies under the direction of Professor Peter Wipf at the University of Pittsburgh before joining the lab of Professor Erick M. Carreira at ETH Zürich. In September 2007, he joined the Department of Chemistry at Boston University as an Assistant Professor and was granted tenure and promoted to Associate Professor in February, 2013. In July 2013, he joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of Michigan as Associate Professor of Chemistry. In September 2015, Corey was promoted to full Professor.
Email: crjsteph "at" umich.edu
Postdoctoral Researchers
Dr. Alex Davies
Alex grew up in the valleys of south Wales, UK, as an avid soccer fan. He obtained his masters degree (MChem) in Chemistry with Forensic Science from the University of Leicester in 2016, where he worked with Dr. Alison Stuart on developing methodology for electrophilic halogenation. He then joined the graduate program at the University of Kansas and obtained his Ph.D in Spring 2021. His work at KU focused on developing synthetic transformations that utilized cobaloxime/photoredox co-operative catalysis under the mentorship of Prof. Jon Tunge. Alex then joined the Stephenson/Szymczak labs as a post-doctoral research fellow in June 2021 and is now working on developing methodologies for biomass upgrading.
Email: amdavies "at" umich.edu
Dr. Ameya Burde
Ameya (he/him/his) was born in Mumbai, India and grew up in the nearby city of Pune. He got his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from the University of Pune, during which time he worked under the supervision of Dr. Arun Natu on the isolation of natural product of medicinal importance. Following his Masters’ he travelled across the Pacific to pursue his Ph.D. at the University at Buffalo, where he worked in the lab of Prof. Sherry Chemler. During his time at the Chemler lab, his research mainly focused on the enantioselective construction of oxygen heterocycles using copper catalysis. After graduating from UB in June 2022, Ameya joined the Stepehenson lab in August 2022 where his research currently focused on strain driven homolysis using photoredox catalysis. Outside of lab, Ameya enjoys trekking, playing badminton, watching cricket and solving complicated sudoku puzzles. He is also into Indian classical music and has been learning to play the Tabla (Indian classical drum) for the past few years.
Email: aburde "at" umich.edu
Dr. Elene Tatunashvili
Elene was born in Tbilisi, Georgia. She obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Tbilisi State University in physical chemistry. After her Master’s, she decided to pursue her career in organic chemistry; in 2018, she moved to Australia to undertake her Ph.D. at the University of Sydney. During this time, she worked in the McErlean group on reaction development in radical chemistry and applications in the synthesis of heterocycles and unnatural peptides. In 2022 she joined the Stephenson lab as a postdoc to work on synthesis of amino norbornanes via new catalytic methods. Outside the chemistry lab Elene enjoys cooking, hiking, dancing, and boxing.
Dr. Sergio González-Granda
Sergio's bio is coming soon!
Dr. Subrata Ghosh
Subrata was born and grew up in West Bengal, India. After finishing his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Chemistry in India he travelled to United States to pursue his Ph.D. at the Texas A&M University at College Station, where he worked in the lab of Prof. John A. Gladysz. His work at the Gladysz lab mainly focused on the development of new Classes of enantioselective hydrogen bond donor catalysts for
organic synthesis based on Werner complexes. Beside that, he worked on fluorous chemistry also. After graduating from Texas A&M University, he joined the group of Dr. Robert Comito as a postdoctoral researcher at University of Houston where his work focused on the development of methodologies for the synthesis of amines from simple unactivated precursors. After that, Subrata joined the Stephenson/Szymczak labs as a postdoctoral research fellow in January 2023 and is now working on
development of methodologies for biomass upgrading.
Graduate Students
Anthony Allen
5th year
NSF GRFP Fellow
Anthony was born downriver in Wyandotte, Michigan, grew up right outside of Detroit in Redford, Michigan, and then headed south to Oberlin College near Cleveland, Ohio for his undergraduate studies. He received a B.A. in Chemistry and Philosophy working with Professor Albert Matlin on a trapped Nazarov cyclization/cycloaddition methodology. After his Ohio sojourn, Anthony moved to Ann Arbor and joined the Stephenson group in January 2019 working on photoredox catalysis method development. When not shining lights on 2-dram vials, Anthony enjoys playing guitar, going to art museums, and talking about Detroit/Southeast Michigan/the Midwest and its undeniable superiority to the rest of the world.
Email: armallen "at" umich.edu
Cheng Yang
5th year
Rackham Predoctoral Fellow
Cheng was born and grew up in Tianjin, China. As an undergraduate at Nankai University, he worked in the area of green chemistry. Upon completion of his internship at the University of Michigan, he obtained a B.S. in Chemistry. Cheng joined the Stephenson group for his graduate studies in 2018, working on electrochemistry and lignin depolymerization. Outside of lab, Cheng likes reading and playing the guitar.
Email: yacheng "at" umich.edu
Efrey Noten
5th year
Efrey grew up in San Jose, California. He fled the sun to obtain a B.S. with comprehensive honors in chemistry at UW-Madison, where he worked under Prof. John Berry on the synthesis and catalytic activity of molybdenum carboxylate complexes. Efrey joined the Stephenson group in January 2019 and currently works on new photoredox catalysis method development. Outside of lab, Efrey enjoys cooking, cheering for the Badgers, and playing video games. His least favorite food is eggplant.
Email: enoten "at" umich.edu
Alex Harmata
4th year
NSF GRFP Fellow
Alex was born and raised in Columbia, Missouri. He stuck around in Columbia for college, earning a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Missouri in May 2019 with minors in mathematics and computer science. As an undergraduate at Mizzou, Alex worked on a hodge podge of projects with Prof. Michael Harmata, including hydrogen bond donor catalysis and electrocyclizations. In the summer of 2018, Alex was a Snyder Scholar at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he worked with Prof. David Sarlah on diterpenoid chemistry. Alex joined the Stephenson group in January 2020 as a “brotator” and currently works in the aniline bioisosterism area as a member of “Team Aminonorbornane”. Outside of lab, Alex enjoys power-walking, being a troll, and competing as a member of the University of Michigan quiz bowl team.
Email: harmataa "at" umich.edu
Bec Roldan
4th year
Bec Roldan is from the metropolis of Saint Francisville, Louisiana. They obtained a B.S. in Chemistry from Rhodes College, the quaint liberal arts school nestled in the heart of Memphis, Tennessee, where they worked under Dr. Larryn Peterson on the synthesis of potential inhibitors of LpxC with applications in antibacterials. They made the big move up to the Midwest to attend the University of Michigan where they joined the Stephenson group in Spring 2020. They're currently working on the synthesis of resveratrol natural products. In their free time they enjoy vegan baking, being the worst dancer in their salsa dance class, and co-hosting a podcast about chemistry and queerness.
Email: roldanr "at" umich.edu
Alan Wortman
4th year
NSF GRFP Fellow
Alan was born and raised in College Station, Texas. After graduating high school, he attended his local university, Texas A&M, where he studied oxidase catalysis via hypervalent iodine intermediates under Prof. David C. Powers. During his time at Texas A&M, he also traveled to Germany where he briefly worked in the lab of Prof. Tobias Ritter. After completing a B.S. in chemistry in the spring of 2019, he left Texas to continue pursuing his education in Michigan. In the spring of 2020, he joined the Stephenson lab where he is currently investigating the use of electron donor-acceptor complexes for generating reactive intermediates. Outside of the lab Alan enjoys fly fishing, skiing, and is an avid fan of college football.
Email: wortman "at" umich.edu
Annika Tharp
3rd year
Annika is an Ann Arbor native and after earning her B.S. in Chemistry at Indiana University-Bloomington, she decided to move back to Ann Arbor to start working on her PhD in Chemistry at the University of Michigan. Annika worked under Prof. Kevin Brown at IU on the alkenylboration of alkenes via synergistic Cu/Pd catalysis. She had the best summer ever during her sophomore year in the Stephenson group while working on team aminonorbornane and she is so excited to be back in the Stephenson lab. Summer 2019, she had an internship at Merck in the biocatalysis group within Process Chemistry. She had another internship at Merck in summer 2020, in the Catalysis group. Outside of making potions, Annika is a competitive figure skater and also enjoys running, skiing, sailing, rock climbing, and selling stickers on her Etsy shop. She also has two adorable cats.
Email: tannika "at" umich.edu
Travis Hammerstad
2nd year
Travis (he/him/his) grew up in Appleton, Wisconsin before attending the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Being naturally indecisive, Travis collected majors in chemistry and chemical engineering along with minors in biology and leadership. His undergraduate research in the Aldrich lab included antibiotic synthesis and silane mediated amide reductions. Working to complete his tour of the Midwest, Travis was eager to pursue his graduate studies at the University of Michigan. Outside of lab Travis enjoys cooking, chess, and essentially any other form of competition.
Email: thammers "at" umich.edu
Undergraduates
Kara Greene
Major: Chemistry '23
Hometown: Mendham, NJ
Yulia Rakova
Major: Biochemistry '23
Hometown: New York, NY
Anna Rapp
Major: Chemistry and Biochemistry '23
Hometown: Houston, TX
Audrey Warner
Major: Biology '24
Hometown: Kalaheo, HI