Neil Tomson

Associate Professor of Chemistry

Experience

Corey Richards

Ph.D. in Chemistry, Saint Louis University (2022)

Corey grew up near Dahlgren, Illinois and completed his undergraduate education at Saint Louis University, where he performed research with Prof. Alexa Serfis. After a brief break in his studies, in which he prepared and analyzed toxicology samples for the screening of pain management drugs, he returned to graduate school at Saint Louis University. There, he joined the lab of Prof. Jamie Neely, synthesizing and examining the reactivity of isolable iron imide and azametallacyclobutene complexes, and received his Ph.D. in the summer of 2022. In July of 2022, he joined the Tomson lab as a postdoctoral researcher. In his free time, Corey enjoys hanging out with his dog Λύκος, cooking, and exploring new restaurants/cuisines.

Jolaine Galindo Betancourth

M.Sc. in Chemistry, Universidad del Valle (2023)

Jolaine grew up in Cali, Colombia (la sucursal del Cielo) and completed her B.Sc. in Chemistry at Universidad del Valle in 2020, where she performed research with Prof. Manuel Chaur. In the summer of 2019, she worked in the Echegoyen Lab at the University of Texas at El Paso as an intern. Then, she started her M.Sc. in Chemistry at the Universidad del Valle in August 2020, where she studied a new approach for the synthesis of heterobimetallic grid-like complexes using bis(hydrazone)-based ligands. During the summer of 2022 she was part of the i-Scholar program of the Chemistry Department at the University of Rochester. In October of 2023, she joined the Tomson lab as a visiting scholar. In her free time, Jolaine enjoys walking, chatting with her family and seeing new places.

Ryan Murphy

6th Year

B.A. in Chemistry, with high honors, Colgate University (2018)

Ryan grew up in Holliston, Massachusetts, and completed his undergraduate education at Colgate University. There, he conducted research with Dr. Matthew Buck on the development of nanocrystal-metal complex hybrid assemblies for photoredox catalysis. Outside of lab, Ryan enjoys travelling and playing hockey.

Jiashu Wang

4th Year

B.S. in Chemistry, William & Mary (2020)

Jiashu was born in Hangzhou, China. He completed his undergraduate education at the College of William and Mary in 2020. As an undergraduate, he spent three years doing research with Prof. William R. McNamara. On his free time, He loves doing and watching sports.

Shannon Ford

3rd Year

B.S. in Chemistry, Purdue (2021)

Shannon grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana and completed her undergraduate education at Purdue University in 2021. As an undergraduate, she worked with Dr. Suzanne Bart on low-valent uranium imido chemistry. During her free time, she enjoys trying new baking recipes, exploring Philadelphia, and hiking.

Jared Gonder

1st Year

B.S. in Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2023)

Jared grew up in Midland, Michigan, and he completed his undergraduate education at the University of Michigan in April of 2023. There, he conducted research with Prof. Nathaniel Szymczak studying biomimetic first-row transition metal complexes to evaluate how positioned secondary coordination sphere hydrogen bonding groups affect the activation of small molecules. In his free time, Jared enjoys playing video games with his two brothers, reading sci-fi novels, and cheering on the Wolverines and the Detroit Lions.

Sofia Kaparis

Sophomore

Biology, University of Pennsylvania (2026)

Sofia grew up in Chester, New Jersey and as a Penn undergraduate on the pre-medical track, she is majoring in Biology and minoring in Chemistry and Spanish. Sofia joined the Tomson lab in 2023 as an undergraduate researcher. Some of her other on-campus involvements include being an Emergency Medical Technician with the Penn Medical Emergency Response Team and a Perelman School of Medicine Johnson Scholar. In Sofia’s free time you can find her reading, exploring new coffee shops, and practicing yoga.