Chiang Research Group
Meet our group
Professor Naihao Chiang
Principal InvestigatorPostdoctoral Fellow, UCLA, 2017-2021
Ph.D., Northwestern University, 2017
Office: 139L - Fleming
Phone: 713.743.6621
nchiang@central.uh.edu
Members
Abu Montakim Tareq
Graduate Student
Joined November 2021
Tareq is from Bangladesh and received his Bachelor of Pharmacy (B. Pharm.) from the International Islamic University Chittagong in December 2020. Currently, he is pursuing his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry at UH and joined Dr. Chiang's group in 2021 to work on Non-Contact Plasmon-Induced Intracellular Delivery.
Ikwugbado Richard
Graduate Student
Joined September 2023 Ikwugbado Richard Ifeanyichukwu Samuel (IRIS) earned a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree in Industrial Chemistry and a Master's degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry. Since 2023, IRIS has been actively involved in Brain Cancer Research, utilizing Tip-Enhance Raman Spectroscopy. This cutting-edge work is conducted within the esteemed research group led by Dr. Chiang.
Oluwaferanmi Isinkaye
Graduate Student
Joined September 2023 Oluwaferanmi Isinkaye (Loveth) is a Ph.D. Student who received her bachelor's degree in industrial chemistry from Ekiti State University, Nigeria. She commenced her Master’s degree program at Sam Houston State University, Huntsville before she transferred to joined Chiang’s group at the University of Houston in 2023 to work on Tip Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy and Electrolysis.
Leonardo G Cardarelli
Graduate Student
Joined September 2024 Leonardo received his B.S. degree in Chemistry from Sonoma State University in California. In his undergraduate, he worked on Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy, observing the signal of molecules causing aggregation in gold nanoparticles under the supervision of Prof. Bogdan Negru. In Fall 2024, he joined the University of Houston and Dr. Chiang's group to pursue his Ph.D.
Grishma Kadel
Undergraduate Student
Joined February 2025 Grishma Kadel is a post-baccalaureate pre-medicine student at the University of Houston, who received her B.S. degree in Psychology and minor in Chemistry. In Spring 2025, she joined Dr. Chiang’s group at the University of Houston as an undergraduate researcher to pursue her interest in Brain Cancer Research. In the future, she plans to attend medical school to pursue Neurosurgery..png)
Lyle A Jares
Undergraduate Student
Joined August 2025
Lyle is a Senior Chemistry student at the University of Houston. He joined Dr. Chiang’s lab to gain research experience and to develop his skills with Scanning Electron Microscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy.
Sijil Chattopadhyay
Graduate Student
Joined October 2025
Sijil Chattopadhyay is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Houston. She joined the Chiang Research Group in October 2025, focusing on Non-Contact Plasmon-Induced Intracellular Delivery to develop light-driven, non-invasive biomolecular transport methods. Originally from India, she pursued her Masters of Science (M.Sc.) from National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar in 2024 and Bachelors of Science (B.Sc.) majoring in Chemistry from Durgapur Government College.
Alumni
Dr. Xing He
Postdoctoral ScholarJanuary 2022-February 2024
Eby Nell McElrath Fellow, 2013–2014
Lecturer, Harbin Institute of Technology, China, 2011–2013
Ph.D. Harbin Institute of Technology, China, 2011
Current Position: R&D Engineer, Applied Optoelectronics, Inc.
Wallee Naimi
Undergraduate Student
January 2022-May 2023
Wally received a B.S. in Chemistry with a minor in Physics. He joined Dr. Chiang's lab to practice surface topology mapping via atomic force microscopy and Raman spectral analysis.
Current position: Graduate Student, Department of Chemistry, University of Minnesota
Stanley Saldana
Undergraduate Student
January 2022-May 2023
Stanley is an assistant stationary engineer, operating and maintaining the high pressure boilers and steam lines located here on campus. He received a B.S. in Biology from University of Houston, and is currently pursuing an additional B.S. in Chemistry.
Current position: Chemical Safety Specialist, UH
Cynthia Li
Welch Student
June 2023 Cynthia Li is currently a rising senior in high school. She plans on pursuing a biochemistry degree in college but enjoys learning about all types of chemistry! She worked with the Chiang Group during the summer. In her free time, she likes playing badminton, reading neuroscience, and collecting Pokemon cards.Current position: Undergraduate Student, MIT
Aaditya R. Bhat
Welch Student
June 2024 Aaditya is a rising senior at the Liberal Arts & Science Academy, who is interested in Physics, Chemistry, and Computer engineering. In his free time, he likes to play chess, build miniature turbines, and watch YouTube. He spent part of his summer 2024 with the Chiang Group working on Cyclic Voltammetry in a liquid cell.Current position: Undergraduate Student, Caltech
Alice Ojeaga
Undergraduate Student
September 2022-May 2024 Alice is a post-bachelorette student who graduated with a B.S in Kinesiology Health Professions. She joined Dr. Chiang’s lab to pursue her passion for scientific discovery and gain hands on research experience. She plans to attend medical school in the near future.
A H M Emon Ali
Graduate Student
November 2021-July 2024
Emon is from Bangladesh. He received his B.S. and M.S. from
Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh. His research interest is
in probing molecular chirality and its characterization using
Raman and SFG spectroscopy. He has joined the University of
Houston and Dr. Chiang's group in 2021.
Current Position: Analytical/Environmental Chemist, Capzer Pharmaceuticals.
Wyatt Fenton
Welch Student
June 2025 Wyatt is a rising senior at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy, who is interested in Chemical Engineering and Biology. He loves swimming and biking in his spare time, and is an avid reader. He is a part of the Chiang Group during the summer of 2025.
Yen-Chen Chen
Graduate Student
August 2022-July 2025
Yen-Chen is from Taiwan. He received his B.S. degree in Science
Education from National Taipei University of Education and M.S.
degree in Chemistry from National Taiwan University. In 2022, he
moved to Houston to start his Ph.D. studies at the University of
Houston.
Current Position: Process Engineer, Applied Optoelectronics, Inc.
Brooke Daniels
Project Seed Intern
June 2025 Brooke Daniels graduated senior at the High School for Law and Justice. Brooke plans on perusing a Bachelor of Science Nursing. In her free time she likes to listen to music, swim, and bake. Brooke spent her summer working as an Intern for Project Seed in Chiang Group.Visting Scholar
Dr. Gail A. Vinnacombe-Willson
July-August 2022
Gail earned her B.S. in chemistry from the University of San Francisco in 2016, where she did research in computational organic chemistry. She received her M.S. (2018) and Ph.D. (2022) in chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles. During her graduate studies, she developed approaches based on bottom-up wet chemical synthesis to fabricate plasmonic substrates implementing gold nanostructures. Outside of lab, she enjoys climbing, hiking, camping, movies and playing board games.
Ylli Conti
April-July 2023
Ylli obtained her bachelor’s degree in Materials Science for the Nanotechnologies and a master’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering (2020) at the University of Calabria (Italy). She is currently a PhD student at the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC) in Spain, where she is working under the supervision of Dr. Leonardo Scarabelli. Her research is mainly focused on fabrication and characterization of colloidal-based plasmonic metasurfaces operating in the weak and strong coupling regime for application in photonics and photocatalysis. She likes outdoor activities, reading, watching movies, and spending time with friends.