The CoReACTER logo: A cartoon of a reactor, with swirls of blue and green against a light blue background. Under the cartoon is text saying 'CoReACTER'.

Humans of the CoReACTER

ReACTERs

A grayscale image of a white man wearing a t-shirt and glasses. His eyes are creased as he gives a tight-lipped smile. His hair is short on the sides and a bit longer on top; he is sporting a short beard.

Sam Hoffheinz (he/him)
Current Position: Bachelor's Student in Environmental Chemistry, UCD
E-mail: samuel.hoffheinz@ucdconnect.ie

A South Asian man with thick black and gray hair standing up looks dead at the camera with tight lips. He is wearing a patially buttoned striped cream shirt, and his hand is on his hip (hip not visible). In the background are mostly green plants, with some white and red flowers.

Mohammad Nahidul Islam (he/him)
Current Position: Incoming Master's Student in Chemical Engineering, University of Calgary
E-mail: nahidulislam.che@gmail.com

A brown woman wearing a blue-green football (soccer, for Americans) jersey straight ahead at the camera and smiles. Her hair is long, black, and lightly wavy. She has two sets of hoops on her ears, one small, the other very large; a ring in her right nostril; and a curved bar piercing in her right eyebrow. Her eyes are brown. She stands in front of a plant, possibly a thick patch of ivy or a shrub.

Anna Sofía Giraldo Neira (she/her)
Current Position: (Incoming) PhD student in Chemistry, UCD
E-mail: anna.giraldo@udea.edu.co

A white person with steel-blue eyes looks straight at the camera with a neutral expression. His hair is straight and parted in the middle, with wisps going in different directions on both sides of his head. He has a septum piercing with a circular barbell ring and is wearing a black t-shirt. The background is uniform white.

Zhenya Barannik (he/him)
Current Position: PhD student in Chemistry, UCD
E-mail: radchemsu@gmail.com

A white person with shoulder-length, slightly wavy brown hair is standing and smiling against a bright, mostly white background. They are wearing glasses and a white dress shirt with small dots. Half of their face is lit.

Evan Walter Clark Spotte-Smith (EWCSS) (they/them)
Current Position: Ad Astra Fellow and Assistant Professor of Digital Chemistry, UCD; Adjunct Professor of Chemical Engineering, CMU
E-mail: evan.spotte-smith@ucd.ie

A South Asian woman with brown eyes and brown hair (highlighted a more auburn hue) looks at the camera with a tilted head and a small, confident smile. She is wearing a white button-up shirt with the top button unbuttoned and a black blazer. In the background are high-rise buildings and, below them, trees.

Shonali Dixit (she/her)
Current Position: Research Assistant, MS student in Statistical Data Science, UCD
E-mail: shonali.dixit@ucdconnect.ie

A woman of white and East Asian descent smiles wide into the camera. She has curly brown hair, brown eyes, and freckles. She is wearing earrings, a white knitted sweater with a red Canadian maple leaf, and two cross-body bags. The background is a hazy ocean scene, with small, choppy waves and hills in the far distance.

Fiona Kelly (she/her)
Current Position: MS student in Chemistry, UCD
E-mail: fiona.kelly6@ucdconnect.ie

Collaborators

A white woman is giving a wide smile. She stands against a plain, gray background. She is wearing glasses and a black and yellow top.

Rachel C. Kurchin (she/her)
Current Position: Assistant Research Professor, CMU
E-mail: rkurchin@cmu.edu

A white man with a beard and short, curly hair. He is wearing a white shirt, suit vest, green tie, and glasses, and he is slightly smiling at the camera. The background faintly shows some hills and trees.

Samuel M. Blau (he/him)
Current Position: Career Research Scientist, LBNL
E-mail: smblau@lbl.gov

Visiting Researchers

Alumni and Former Affiliates

A Southeast Asian woman with brown eyes and long brown hair streaked with blonde gives a slight smile to the camera. Standing in front of a white background, she is wearing several gold earrings and a black sleeveless top.

Punna Amornvivat (she/her)
Current Position: Bachelor's Student in Chemical Engineering, CMU
E-mail: pamornvi@andrew.cmu.edu

A South Asian woman with curly, wavy black hair gives a slight smile to the camera. She is wearing a striped white dress shirt against a light gray background.

Shreya Pagaria (she/her)
Current Position: Master's Student in Artificial Intelligence Engineering-Chemical Engineering
E-mail: spagaria@andrew.cmu.edu

A South Asian woman with wavy shoulder-length hair. She is wearing a white t-shirt and glasses. She faces right and looks at the camera with a cocked head.

Vanshika Raj Singh (she/her)
Current Position: Supply Chain Manager, Flipkart
E-mail: vanshikarajsinghv@gmail.com

A Black woman with a round face is smiling at the camera in front of a blue-gray background. She wears her hair in braids, some of which are silver. She is wearing a white shirt under a sea green and silver layer.

Katherine (Kitty) Pierre-Louis (she/her)
Current Position: Engineer, Newport News Shipbuilding
E-mail: kpierrel@andrew.cmu.edu

Interested in Joining?

Before you reach out or apply to work with us, it's a good idea for you to check out The CoReACTER Manual. If you like what you see and you feel aligned with our goals and philosophies, great! If you find yourself disagreeing with a lot of our core principles, this might not be a place where you want to devote your energy.

Graduate Students

We do not currently have any open positions for graduate students.

If you have external funding and would like to complete your graduate degree with the CoReACTER, please reach out with the basic information listed below ("Instructions"), as well as details about the funding that you have.

Postdocs

We do not currently have any open positions for postdoctoral fellows.

If you have external funding and would like to work with the CoReACTER, please reach out with the basic information listed below ("Instructions"), as well as details about the funding that you have.

Undergraduates

The CoReACTER always welcomes undergraduate researchers! No prior research experience is required to work in the CoReACTER, but a background in chemistry, chemical engineering, materials science, or computer science may be helpful.

UCD: There are some formal systems in place for UCD students to get research experience. You can receive summer research placements, though opportunities are limited. You can also work in the CoReACTER as part of your fourth-year research project. Of course, you can work with us even without this formal support, but we may not be able to compensate you (and we really don't support uncompensated labor)!

CMU: CMU students can also perform research for credit. It may also be possible to obtain funding for undergraduate research (e.g., through HURAY, SURF, or ChESS). Note that, since EWCSS is an Adjunct Professor who is not physically located in Pittsburgh, collaboration with the CoReACTER may be more logistically challenging than working in other research groups.

Instructions

Interested candidates should submit a brief (1 page or less) cover letter, CV, academic transcripts, and certificates of your academic qualifications to evan.spotte-smith@ucd.ie or to CoReACTER@proton.me. In your cover letter, please be sure to address the following:

  1. Why are you interested in working on this project?

  2. Why, specifically, are you interested in working with (and within) the CoReACTER?

  3. What is your dream vacation destination?

All source code and software associated with this website is released under the MIT license. The text, including blog posts, are released under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license. Please attribute this work overall to Evan Walter Clark Spotte-Smith, The CoReACTER. Individual posts should be attributed to their authors. Last modified: May 03, 2026. This website was built with the Julia programming language and the Franklin.jl static web framework, building off of the "basic" template.