Principal Investigator
Sharon R. Neufeldt grew up in Tucson, AZ and graduated from University High School in 2003. She earned a B.S. in Chemistry at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff in 2006, and then began her Ph.D. studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 2007. At Michigan, she worked with Professor Melanie Sanford on the development of Pd-catalyzed C—H functionalization reactions. In 2013, she became the Cram Teacher-Scholar at UCLA. There, she undertook postdoctoral research with Professor K. N. Houk using DFT to study the mechanism and selectivity of transition metal-catalyzed C—H activation, while also teaching sophomore organic chemistry. In summer 2016 she moved to Bozeman, MT to begin her independent career. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 2023. She is the recipient of an NSF CAREER award (2019), a Thieme Chemistry Journals Award (2020), a Cottrell Scholars Award (2020), a Fox Faculty Award (MSU, 2025), and a PECASE Award (Biden administration, 2025). Outside of chemistry, Sharon enjoys spending time with her husband, Roland, and 5-year old son, Teddy.
Graduate Students
Oliver Jackson (6th Year Graduate Student)
Oliver grew up in Manchester, United Kingdom and graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University with a master’s degree in Chemistry under the supervision of Dr. Oliver Sutcliffe. During his undergraduate program, he completed an industrial placement year at Azotic Technologies (Nottingham, UK) and completed a summer research position under the guidance of Dr Mark McLaughlin before moving to Montana State University as a PhD candidate. In his spare time, he enjoys outdoor sports including hiking, diving and football. In the Neufeldt lab, he is studying Pd-catalyzed site-selective cross couplings of dihaloheteroarenes.
Grace Ibsen (6th Year Graduate Student)
Grace was raised in Helena, MT and graduated from Capital High School. She then attended The University of Providence in Great Falls, MT where she earned her B.A. in chemistry and psychology. In the Neufeldt lab, her research is primarily focused on chemoselective Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling. During her free time, Grace enjoys hiking, floating, and snowboarding.
Albert Reyes (5th Year Graduate Student)
Albert grew up in Chicago, IL and earned his B.S. in Chemistry at Marquette University in the fall of 2020. As an undergraduate, his research focused on the copper catalyzed Hydrofunctionalization of Alkynes and Alkenes under Dr. Joseph R. Clark. In the Neufeldt lab, Albert’s research is focused on site-selective Pd-catalyzed cross-couplings. In his free time, Albert enjoys reading and hanging with his friends.
Collin Stein (5th Year Graduate Student)
Collin grew up in Appleton, WI and earned a B.S. in Chemistry from St. Norbert College in the spring of 2021. As an undergraduate, Collin’s research focused on synthesis of novel indole based compounds with possible medicinal benefit with Dr. Jon Russel. At MSU, he is studying nickel and palladium catalysis. In his spare time, he enjoys camping, snowboarding and hanging out with friends.
Matt Sandin (2nd Year Graduate Student)
Matt Sandin, originally from the Bay Area of California, has spent the last 20 years in Colorado pursing various academic and outdoor endeavors. Matt worked as a dental hygienist in Aspen before returning to academia to pursue a B.S. in Chemistry and a B.S. in Biology from Western Colorado University. Beyond the lab, Matt loves to snowboard, race bikes, play board games, and enjoy time with his loved ones. In the Neufeldt lab, he will be studying palladium and nickel catalysis.
Bobby Lerch (2nd Year Graduate Student)
Bobby Lerch completed his undergraduate degree at Beloit College in Beloit, WI, where he double majored in biochemistry and French and minored in physics. As such, one of his hobbies is making his life as hard as possible, in addition to playing video games (Nintendo in particular), cooking, filling his brain with chemistry and physics info, being a comedic genius, and general dawdling.
Undergrads
Daniel Lanske (senior)
Daniel Lanske grew up in Billings, MT and graduated from West High School. He is currently pursuing a B.S in Cell Biology & Neuroscience with a minor in Global Health here at MSU. Outside of school, Daniel enjoys climbing, hiking, and hanging out with his friends and family. Daniel is working on site-selective cross-coupling with Oliver.
Hunter Morgan (junior)
Hunter Morgan is from Rochester, WA, and is currently pursuing a degree in Chemistry & Biochemistry with a pre-dental focus. Hunter is working on site-selective cross-coupling with Collin.
Zach Zatz (senior)
Zach grew up in Denver, CO and is currently studying Exercise Science at Montana State. In his free time he enjoys fly fishing and skiing at Bridger Bowl! Zach is working on site-selective cross-coupling with Albert.
Connor Uter (senior)
Connor grew up in Pacifica, California and is pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry at MSU. He is working on site selective Pd-catalyzed cross-couplings with Oliver. In his free time he enjoys golf, surfing, and snowboarding.
Max Grosser (junior)
Alumni (Graduate Students)
Matt Kania (PhD Spring 2025)
Nate Larson (PhD Spring 2025)
Jacob Norman (PhD Fall 2023)
John Russell (PhD Summer 2022)
Steven Rehbein (PhD Spring 2022)
Emily Elias (née Reeves) (PhD Spring 2021)
Michael Giroux (MS Summer 2019)
Postdogs
Meeple (9 years old)
Meeple is an Australian Labradoodle who was born near Seattle, WA but grew up in Bozeman. She has successfully trained her little human brother to drop food on the floor for her to eat. Her technique for stealing food from the table was recently discovered. She is proud of her perfect record for scaring away UPS drivers. However, her greatest accomplishment to date is that she trained the USPS mail carrier to leave a cookie on top of every Amazon package delivered to her doorstep.
