People

Graduate Students

Ramchandra Bangari

Graduate Research Assistant

Ramachandra Bangari is interested in Condensed Matter Physics and Material Science. He is currently working with Dr. Thomas Folland on computational simulation and experimental characterization of optical constants in thin films, 2-D materials, and semiconductors. He has also has interest in Dr. Ravitej Uppu's work on nanophotonics. He obtained Bachelor's and Master's in Physics from the Indian Institute of Science.

Maryam Vaghefi

Graduate Research Assistant

Maryam Vaghefi obtained her BSc and MSc degree in physics (Optic & laser) from Iran. She received her second MSc degree in physics (condensed matter) from Western Michigan University. She is currently PhD student in physics (condensed matter) at University of Iowa. She has experience working in Tandem Van de Graaff accelerator lab . She also worked with SEM and TEM . She also has experience in numerical modeling using programming software like Matlab and Comsol Multiphysics.

Undergraduate Researchers

Mehdi Assem

Undergraduate Researcher

Mehdi is working on integrating infrared LEDs within an FTIR spectrometer and microscope for enhanced spectroscopy

Aditya Desai

Undergraduate Researcher

Aditya is an undergraduate in Physics and Astronomy. He is using infrared spectroscopy to evaluate the optical properties of materials, using a combination of experiments and numerical modelling. Aditya joined the group in Fall 2021

Siddharth Nandanwar

Undergraduate Researcher

Siddharth is an international sophomore student from India, majoring in Physics and a minor in Maths. He has aspirations bto get a PhD and do research after his undergradaute degree.

Tyler Nelson

Tyler is working on characterizing the pproperties of wide band gap semiconductor samples

Former Lab Members

John Horne

Undergraduate Researcher

John Horne is an Undergraduate majoring in Physics and Astronomy with a math minor. He is currently developing an infrared spectroscopy path in order to determine light-related properties about different materials in conjunction with computer spectroscopy applications. John was a group member throughout 2021, and has gone on to persue research interests in cosmology.

Tristan McMillan

Undergraduate Researcher

Tristan McMillan is an undergraduate at the University of Iowa pursuing a Physics Bachelor of Science in the Physics and Astronomy department. Tristan is a member of Professor Folland's research group, working on developing an infrared spectroscopy setup in order to conduct research on materials for use in nanophotonics. This setup will be able to be used in a variety of manners distinct from those commercially available. Tristan plans to continue to work in laboratory and research settings throughout his undergraduate career and beyond

Nathan Torvik

Nathan Torvik worked in the lab in the summer of 2022, working on the spectroscopy of topological 2D materials