People

Elijah G. Schnitzler Assistant Professor

Principal investigator

NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Toronto PhD, University of Alberta BSc, Concordia University College of Alberta

Elijah obtained his PhD in physical chemistry from the University of Alberta in 2016, investigating intermolecular interactions in atmospheric aggregates ranging from bimolecular complexes of oxygenated organic compounds and water to nano- particles of internally mixed black carbon and secondary organic aerosol, under the supervision of Prof. Wolfgang Jäger. From 2017 to 2019, he was an NSERC post- doctoral fellow in the group of Prof. Jonathan Abbatt at the University of Toronto, where he studied the optical evolution of primary and secondary light-absorbing organic aerosol upon heterogeneous oxidation by ozone and hydroxyl radical and its dependence on relative humidity, temperature, and volatility. In 2019, Elijah joined the Department of Chemistry at Oklahoma State University. His group investigates the chemical, physical, and optical properties of atmospheric aerosol particles, including those emitted from regional biomass burning, which impact climate and human health.

Students

Habeeb Al-Mashala Fourth-Year Graduate Student

Habeeb obtained his BSc in Chemistry from Southeast Missouri State University in May 2019. There he studied crystallography under Prof. Marcus Bond, investigating the structure of trimethyl pyridine counter ions. He joined the Schnitzler group as a graduate student in January 2020. His current research interests revolve around measuring the composition of carbonaceous aerosol and its evolution due to hetero- geneous oxidation with ozone, using high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry coupled to ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography.

Katrina Betz Fourth-Year Graduate Student

Katrina received her BSc in Chemistry from Northwestern Oklahoma State University in spring of 2019. Her undergraduate research with Prof. Jason Wickham focused on fluctuations of iodine in brine water from northern Oklahoma, partnering with oil companies to obtain samples. She joined the Schnitzler group in January 2020, where she will focus on water uptake to carbonaceous aerosol particles, including laboratory- generated surrogates and field-collected samples, using hygroscopic tandem mobility analysis.

Colton Calvert Fourth-Year Graduate Student

Colton received his BSc in Biology and Chemistry from Southern Nazarene University in May 2019. He first gained interest in research while studying populations of resplendent quetzal in the Talamanca Mountains of Costa Rica. He later joined the Tahsini group at Oklahoma State University through an REU and worked to synthesize pincer pyridine-based N-heterocyclic carbene ligands with fluorinated substituents before gaining an internship at Johns Hopkins University, where he worked to develop a method for quantifying bulk mechanical defects in proteins of cardiomyocytes with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy. He joined the Schnitzler group in January 2020, where his current research interests include utilizing computational methods and spectroscopy to determine the optical properties of organic aerosols.

Alumni

Alison Boone | Undergraduate Research Assistant, Biochemistry, Spring 2021

Addie Coody | Undergraduate Research Assistant, Biochemistry, Fall 2021

Elevia Bruce | CHEM 4990 Undergraduate Research Assistant, Biochemistry, Fall 2021

Troye Jirka | Freshman Research Scholar, Fall 2021

Nathan Huskins | Undergraduate Research Assistant, Chemical Engineering, Fall 2021

Christian Escritt | McNair Undergraduate Research Scholar, Summer 2022

Sithumi Liyanage Second-Year Graduate Student

Sithumi received her BSc in Environmental Science from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, in spring of 2020. Her undergraduate research was focused on the chemical composition of regional rainwater in Sri Lanka and its effects on air pollution under the supervision of Prof. H. M. D. N. Priyantha. She joined the Schnitzler group in January 2022, where she will focus on multi-phase chemistry, including oxidation.

Schnitzler Research Group