George Baumgartel, M.S.
George worked on the synthesis of perylene diimide dyes for the dye sensitized photoelectrochemical (DS-PEC) water splitting devices and advancement of a bilayer construction en route to water oxidation catalysis during his time in the Finke Group.Â
Outstanding GTA Award (2020) – CSU Chemistry
Outstanding GTA Award (2018) – CSU Chemistry
Outside Interests: Adventuring in the great outdoors or composing music for and playing guitar.
George is now teaching Chemistry in Arizona!
Patrick Kent, M.S.
Patrick graduated from the Finke group after publishing two excellent papers, where he investigated heterogeneous nanoparticle formation. He discovered a new 4-step mechanism during his time, which you can read about in his 2014Â JACS paper!
Outside Interests: Biking, hiking, and cooking
Publications (at CSU):
(1) Kent, P. D.; Mondloch, J. E.; Finke, R. G. ACS Catal. 2016, 6, 5449-5461.
(2) Kent, P. D.; Mondloch, J. E.; Finke, R. G. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 1930-1941.
Dr. Scott Folkman (Ph.D.)
Scott graduated from the Finke group with his PhD in 2018. Scott conducted fantastic research on heterogenous catalysis, polyoxometalates, and CoOx. He published 5 impactful papers during his time at CSU.
Outside Interests: Mountain biking, yoga, backpacking, disc golfing, guitar/bass/keys/didgeridoo, brewing beer, dogs, Arduino projects, building instruments and this
Scott now works as a Postdoctoral Fulbright Scholar at the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia in Tarragona, Spain working for Prof. J. R. Galán-Mascarós. Way to go Scott!
Dr. Joel Kirner (Ph.D.)
Joel graduated from the Finke group in 2017 with his PhD for his work on dye-sensitized solar cell redox mediators and organic dye sensitizers coupled with cheap inorganic catalysts for photoelectrochemical water oxidation. Joel was a highly successful graduate student, who published 6 times. Joel is now working as a postdoctoral scholar at Argonne National Laboratory.
Outside Interests: Skiing, Backpacking, Climbing, Camping, Kayaking, Trail restoration, Annoying my cats, Homebrewing
Joel is now a Research Scientist at Storagenergy Technologies, Inc.!
Will Laxson 
Will joined the Finke group in the the fall of 2010 and left in the spring of 2014. While working for the Finke group Will studied the nucleation and growth of Ir nanoparticles, as well as improving the synthesis of the polyoxometalate [(n C4H9)4N]9P2W15Nb3O62.Â
Outside Interests: Hiking, backpacking, and biking.
Adam Crooks, M.S.
Adam was a member of the Finke lab from August 2010 until December 2013. Project while at CSU: Unintuitive Inverse Dependence of the Apparent Turnover Frequency on Precatalyst Concentration: A Quantitative Explanation in the Case of Ziegler-Type Nanoparticle Catalysts Made from [(1,5-COD)Ir(μ-O2C8H15)]2 and AlEt3.
Outside interests: Skiing, Biking, Free Software.
Dr. Joe Mondloch (Ph.D.)
Joe was in the Finke research group from September 2006 until June 2011. He currently works at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens point as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry. While in the Finke group Joe published 9 papers.
Project:Â Kinetic and Mechanistic Studies of Supported Nanoparticle Heterogeneous Catalyst Formation in Contact with Solution
Outside Interests: Hiking, Biking, Playing Softball and Playing with the Dog.
Dr. Jordan Stracke (Ph.D.)
Jordan was in the Finke research group from September 2009 until November 2013. While in the Finke group he published five peer-reviewed journal articles including one co-authorship and one review.
Project while at CSU: Distinguishing Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Water Oxidation Catalysis When Beginning with Cobalt Polyoxometalates. Jordan now works at Dow Chemicals in Michigan.
Outside Interests: Spending Time with his Wife, Katie, and his Two Labradoodles, Ali and Gunnar; Hiking; Beer Brewing.
Dr. Isil Hamdemir (Ph.D.)
Isil was a member of the Finke lab from September 2003 until November 2012. While in the Finke lab she published 6 papers. Her project while at CSU was: Synthesis, Characterization and Catalytic Evaluation of a Ziegler-Type Model Iridium Hydrogenation Catalyst Plus a Novel Tetrairidium Tetrahydride Complex. Isil holds a teaching job.
Dr. Ercan Bayram (Ph.D.)
Ercan worked in the Finke lab from September 2006 until June 2012. Ercan published 10 papers during his time in the Finke lab. Ercan currently looks at nano-semi. Ercan’s research project while at CSU was:Â Investigations of the Identity of the True Catalyst in Three Systems, Including the Development of Catalyst Poisoning Methodology
Outside Interests: Playing Volleyball and Soccer, Cars, Technology and Computers.
Past Group Photos:
Finke Group photo taken February 2017. Back left to right: Rob Tuttle, George Baumgartel, Dr. Joel Kirner, Dr. Scott Folkman, Chris Whitehead. Front left to right: Prof. Saim Ozkar, Prof. Rick Finke, Patrick Kent, Carly Jewell.
Finke Group photo taken Fall 2013. Back left to right: Scott Folkman, Joel Kirner, Rick Finke, Will Laxxson. Front left to right, Jordan Stracke, Kevin Klunder, Patrick Kent.
2011 From left to Right: Joe Mondloch, Isil Hamdemir, Ercan Bayram, Richard Finke, Will Laxson, Jordan Stracke, Mikaela Cherry
2007 Left to Right-Joe Mondloch, Dr. Murielle Watzky, Christopher Graham, Professor Saim Özkar, Eric Finney, Professor Richard Finke, Morgan Alley, Ercan Bayram, Aimee Morris
2002 Lisa Starkey-Ott , Kenneth Doll, Rick Finke, Dr. Brooks Hornstein, Prof. Saim Özkar, and Cindy-Xing Yin