Assistant Professor of Chemistry
ksee [at] caltech.edu
Kim was born and raised in Colorado and received her B.S. in Chemistry from Colorado School of Mines in 2009. After a year at CU Boulder and a year in industry working at NuSil Technology, Kim attended the University of California, Santa Barbara for her graduate work with Profs. Ram Seshadri and Galen Stucky. She received her Ph.D. in Chemistry in 2014. For her postdoctoral work, Kim received the St. Elmo Brady Future Faculty Fellowship and worked with Prof. Andrew Gewirth at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she studied the local solvation structure of next-generation battery electrolytes. Find out more about Kim here.
Group photo December 2019
back: Josh Zak (G3)
middle: Andy Martinolich (postdoc), Kim See (PI), Michelle Qian (G1), Zac Iton (G2), Steve Kim (G2)
front: Forrest Laskowski (postdoc), Skyler Ware (G2), Steven Stradley (G1), Kim Pham (G1), Brian Lee (G1), Eshaan Patheria (G1)
For past group photos, see the archive.
Postdocs
postdocs
Andy was born in upstate New York, but having been raised in Kentucky from a young age, fancies himself a bona fide southerner. After developing a discerning taste for fried chicken, he relocated to the bay area in California for his undergraduate studies, where there was no fried chicken that lived up to his standards. At Santa Clara University, Andy undertook studies to understand the interaction between silver nanoparticles and metalloproteins under the mentorship of Prof. Korin Wheeler. After a brief respite from academia at a bay-area biotechnology company, Andy assumed his graduate studies at Colorado State University. Under the advisement of Prof. James Neilson, Andy sought to design new reaction pathways in the solid state. While the beer, mountains, and weather were of extremely high caliber on the Colorado front range, there still remained a high demand for a quality piece of fried fowl. In his free time, Andy works up an appetite for good southern cooking by running uphill. Find out more about Andy here.
Forrest Laskowski
Forrest was born in Maine but grew up in Montana and Alaska where he was always very cold. He remained in Montana to attend Carroll College and received degrees in Computer Science and Chemistry. Forrest will tell you that he was routinely chilly during his undergraduate years and developed a healthy fear of the Winter Storm Advisory™ sound. After graduating he worked at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for two years before attending the University of Oregon for graduate school. Forrest’s PhD work, mentored under Prof. Shannon Boettcher, focused on improving photoelectrochemical water splitting efficiencies by developing techniques to better understand fundamental charge transfer processes. Forrest enjoyed his PhD science but now views “wet” as a synonym for “stupidly cold” and holds a grudge against Oregon’s deceivingly beautiful summertime weather. In his free time Forrest enjoys visiting Disney parks, rock climbing, reading epic fantasy, and playing games (boards/video/RPGs/mafia). He loves trying new foods and wine.
graduate students
Joshua Zak
G3, Chemistry
Josh was born in the D.C. area but decided as a toddler that the traffic was just too much to handle and moved to Pittsburgh, a city family on both sides has called home for generations. After a brief stint in Australia for middle school, he remembered that Pittsburgh has pierogis and ran home, eventually deciding to stick around for his undergraduate years. Josh studied chemistry and materials science at Carnegie Mellon University, where he worked with Prof. Stefan Bernhard to develop iridium complexes with long-lived excited states for use in photoredox catalysis. Then, feeling nostalgic about D.C. traffic, Josh decided to make the move out west to Caltech for his graduate studies. In his free time, he likes to save money for concert tickets and spend it on food instead.
Skyler Ware
G2, Chemistry
Skyler was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, where it’s not uncommon to experience all four seasons in a single day. Unable to part from Cincinnati chili for too long, she stayed in Ohio for undergrad and attended THE Ohio State University, where she worked with Prof. Robert Baker to study mixed metal oxide catalysts for CO2 conversion to multi-carbon products. Skyler then decided to trade the cornfields of Ohio for the mountains of California and moved to Caltech for her graduate studies. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, rock climbing, and reading sci-fi novels.
Steve Kim
G2, Chemical Engineering
Steve was born and raised in Incheon, South Korea, then his family moved to the bay area in 2007, and he went to high school there. Steve did his undergraduate studies (chemical engineering) at Georgia Tech, and he worked with Professor Sally Ng and studied secondary organic aerosol formation from toluene in urban settings (characterized by high NOx concentration). In his free time, he likes to play volleyball, play the guitar and sing, or sleep in with no alarms on the weekends.
Zac Iton
G2, Materials Science
Zac was born in the Caribbean Island Trinidad & Tobago but moved to Barbados at the age of 5 where he lived until he moved to Philly to pursue his undergraduate studies at UPenn. There he completed the VIPER dual-degree program and worked for Prof. Chris Murray. He investigated a variety of nanoparticles for possible energy/sustainability applications, including vanadium oxide films for smart windows and metal nanoparticles on ceria nanoplates for catalytic converters. After realizing he could not survive in the cold, Zac moved to California to pursue his graduate studies in material science at Caltech. In his free time, he enjoys playing soccer, exploring the city and spending time with friends.
Brian Lee
G1, Chemistry
Brian was born and raised in Suwon, South Korea, then moved to Singapore in middle school. He moved again to Minnesota in high school, then attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he received a bachelor of science degree in chemistry. He worked with Prof. Ken Suslick on the development of polymer gas chromatography microcolumns, then with Prof. Alison Fout on carbene based pincer first row transition metal catalysts. In his free time he enjoys getting his heart broken by the Minnesotan sports teams.
Eshaan Patheria
G1, Chemistry
Eshaan grew up in Dublin, Ireland and later moved to Mumbai, India when he was 10 years old where he spent the rest of his school days. He then moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts to attend Harvard University where he received his Bachelor's degree in Chemistry and Physics. While there, Eshaan worked under Professor Philip Kim studying charge transport and interlayer excitons in van der Waals heterostructures of transition metal dichalcogenides. Before starting at Caltech, he spent one year working with an NGO called Gram Vikas to build a solar micro-grid in a village called Maligaon in Odisha, India. In his free time, Eshaan enjoys playing basketball, running and trying new foods.
Kim Pham
G1, Chemistry
Kim was born and raised in Boston Massachusetts, home of proud sports fans and unpredictable seasons. At Brown University, Kim studied materials chemistry and worked with Professor Robinson on selective copper-catalyzed oxygen reduction reactions. As much as she loved the charm of the east coast and the convenience of public transportation, Kim decided to escape to sunny California for her graduate studies. In her free time, she loves to dance west coast swing and ballroom, work on crafting projects, and cook Vietnamese food.
Michelle Qian
G1, Chemistry
Michelle was born in Pasadena before her parents moved to Minnesota to experience the frozen tundra. Not realizing that there were other seasons besides winter and construction, she completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Minnesota. She wrote her undergraduate thesis on luminescent lanthanide probes for aqueous anions under the direction of Valerie Pierre. Deciding that -50 F was a touch too cold, Michelle returned to Pasadena for her graduate studies. Her hobbies include collecting minerals, hiking, and coaxing people into going to bar trivia with her.
Steven Stradley
G1, Chemical Engineering
Steven spent his first 22 years below sea level in New Orleans, Louisiana. There, he earned a degree in chemical engineering at Tulane University. He wrote his undergraduate thesis on the binding affinity of the human adenosine receptor to a fluorescent ligand under Professor Anne Robinson. Steven thought that his string of loosely related work experience, including his time as an Airbnb host, an internship at a nuclear power plant, and his position as manager of his alma mater’s outdoor recreation program, gave him the perfect background for work in batteries. As a result, he eventually left the swamps for the cooler climate of Southern California to pursue his graduate studies at Caltech. When he’s not in the lab, Steven spends most of his free time watching Bon Appetit videos, climbing, and cooking.