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 is the recipient of an NSF CAREER award (2019), a Thieme Chemistry Journals Award (2020), a Cottrell Scholars Award (2020), and an NIH NIGMS MIRA award (2020). Outside of chemistry, Sharon enjoys spending time with her husband, Roland, and 2-year old son, Teddy.
Postdocs
Vitor H. Menezes da Silva
Vitor grew up in São Paulo, Brazil. He received his PhD in Chemistry at the Universidade de São Paulo (USP) in 2017, with a sandwich period at University of North Texas (USA). His research involved the application of computational methods to understand homogeneous Pd- and Ni-catalysis. He spent a postdoctoral period at Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) working with computational studies on enantioselective Pd-catalyzed reactions. In 2022, he joined Neufeldt lab, and his research is focused on the elucidation of Pd-catalyzed site-selective reactions and in the animating organic chemistry reaction mechanisms. Vitor loves football and spending time with his family.
Graduate Students
Jacob Norman (5th Year Graduate Student)
Jacob grew up on the west coast of Florida and completed his B.S. in biomedical science at the University of South Florida. As an undergraduate, his research focus was pharmacognosy–specifically the medicinal relevance of Florida’s native vascular plants. His interests have since expanded to include organic synthesis and physical organic chemistry. He is presently studying site-selectivity in Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reactions. Jacob enjoys spending time in the wilderness, time with his friends and family, and time with his lovely wife and daughter.
Matt Kania (5th Year Graduate Student)
Matt earned his B.A. at Macalester College in Saint Paul, MN. His current research focuses on the development and use of novel cobalt catalysts. In his free time, Matt enjoys skiing.
Oliver Jackson (4th 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 nickel-catalyzed cross coupling.
Grace Ibsen (3rd 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.
Nate Larson (3rd Year Graduate Student)
Nate Larson grew up in Bemidji, MN and earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Bemidji State University in May of 2020. As an undergraduate, Nate’s research focused on the synthesis of a gadolinium-based complex for the capture and release of phosphates from freshwater systems with Dr. Katie L. Peterson. At MSU, Nate’s research is focused on Pd-catalyzed site-selective cross-couplings. Outside of lab, Nate enjoys fishing, hunting, and hanging out with friends and family.
Albert Reyes (2nd 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 (2nd 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 photoswitchable catalysis. In his spare time, he enjoys camping, snowboarding and hanging out with friends.
Undergrads
Marie Dominick (junior)
Marie grew up in Cody, WY, and she is attending MSU for her undergraduate in Biochemistry. Her research focuses on C—O vs. C—Cl chemoselectivity in Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions.
Alumni
John Russell (PhD Summer 2022)
Steven Rehbein (PhD Spring 2022)
Emily Elias (née Reeves) (PhD Spring 2021)
Michael Giroux (MS Summer 2019)
Postdogs
Meeple (5 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 advocate for “more treats Meepy Meepy”. 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.