Group Members

Principal Investigator

Dr. Jakoah Brgoch, FRSC

Eby Nell McElrath Professor of Chemistry

Department of Chemistry
William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (joint appointment)
Principal Investigator, Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston (TcSUH)
Associate Editor, Chemistry of Materials

Education

2012–2014Postdoctoral researchUniversity of California, Santa Barbara
2012Ph.D., ChemistryIowa State University
2008M.S., ChemistryIllinois State University
2006B.S., ChemistryIllinois State University

Selected Honors

2026Senior Member, National Academy of Inventors
2025IAS Distinguished Visiting Fellowship, University of Birmingham
2024Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC)
2020Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow in Chemistry

Postdoctoral Researchers

Dr. Byungdo Lee
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Research focusMachine learning for luminescent materials
blee37@central.uh.eduOffice STL 431
- Ph.D.: Nano Technology and Advanced Materials Engineering, Sejong University, 2025
- B.S.: Nano Technology and Advanced Materials Engineering, Sejong University, 2020
Dr. Md Towhid Rahman
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Research focusIntermetallics, semiconducting and superconducting materials
mrahma59@cougarnet.uh.eduOffice STL 431
- Ph.D.: Mechanical Engineering, Michigan State University, 2025
- M.S.: Mechanical Engineering, Michigan State University, 2021
- B.S.: Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, 2017
Dr. Nakyung Lee
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Research focusMachine learning for inorganic phosphors
nlee10@uh.eduOffice STL 431
- Ph.D.: Chemistry, University of Houston, 2025
- B.S.: Chemistry, Hanyang University ERICA Campus, 2019

Visiting Scholars

Dr. Tae Hee Han
Visiting Scholar (sabbatical), Hanyang University

Graduate Students

Arslan Akbar
Graduate Research Assistant
Research focusDesigning persistent luminescent phosphors
aakbar4@uh.eduOffice STL 431
- M.S.: Chemistry, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), 2022
Chirath De Silva
Graduate Research Assistant
Research focusPermanent magnetic materials
ckdesilv@cougarnet.uh.eduOffice STL 431
- B.S.: Chemistry, College of Chemical Sciences, Institute of Chemistry Ceylon, 2023
AKM Manjur Hossain
Graduate Research Assistant
Research focusPermanent magnetic materials
Joint with the Bocarsly Group
ahossa23@cougarnet.uh.edu
- M.S.: Inorganic Chemistry, University of Wyoming, 2025
- M.S.: Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Dhaka, 2018
- B.S.: Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Dhaka, 2016
Amit Kumar
Graduate Research Assistant
Research focusData-driven development of NIR phosphors
akumar48@uh.eduOffice STL 431
- B.S.–M.S.: Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram, 2022
Annie La
Graduate Research Assistant
Research focusNIR inorganic phosphors
ala3@cougarnet.uh.eduOffice STL 431
- B.S.: Chemistry, University of Houston, 2024

Undergraduate Researchers

Hannah Lesmes
Undergraduate Researcher
MajorChemistry
Hoa My Nguyen
Undergraduate Researcher
MajorChemical Engineering
Kayla Maxson
Undergraduate Researcher
MajorChemistry

Prospective Members

Prospective graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and undergraduate researchers should contact Dr. Brgoch at jbrgoch@uh.edu. Graduate admissions are handled by the Department of Chemistry. How to join the group

Group Alumni

Dr. Nakyung Lee
Graduate student, 2021–2025
Ph.D. Dissertation: “Discovering Rare-Earth Substituted Inorganic Phosphors via Experimental and Data-Driven Methods”
NowPostdoctoral researcher, Brgoch Group
Dr. Jacob Hickey
Graduate student, 2019–2024
Ph.D. Dissertation: “A Hybrid Approach for Developing Hard Oxidation Resistant Materials”
NowUniversity of Münster, Germany
Dr. Roy Arrieta
Graduate student, 2019–2024
Ph.D. Dissertation: “Navigating the Intermetallic Landscape: From Quasicrystal Approximants to High-Pressure Crystal Chemistry”
NowNASA Johnson Space Center
Dr. Gosia Sójka
Postdoctoral fellow, 2021–2023
NowGeneral Electric – Global Research Center
Dr. Shruti Hariyani
Graduate student, 2018–2023
Ph.D. Dissertation: “Expanding the Crystal Chemistry of Rare-Earth Substituted Oxide and Mixed Anionic Inorganic Phosphors”
Dan E. Wells Outstanding Dissertation Award, 2023
NowDepartment of Chemistry, UT Dallas
Dr. Ziyan Zhang
Graduate student, 2018–2022
Ph.D. Dissertation: “Computation and Data-Driven Methods Toward Superhard Materials Design”
NowJPMorgan Chase
Dr. Gordon Peterson
Postdoctoral fellow, 2020–2022
NowDepartment of Chemistry, Haverford College
Dr. Adheesha Danthanarayana
Graduate student, 2016–2022
Ph.D. Dissertation: “Luminescent Materials as Diagnostic Reporters in Lateral Flow Assays”
NowAlamar Biosciences
Dr. Ya Zhuo
Graduate student, 2016–2021
Ph.D. Dissertation: “Developing Rare-Earth Substituted Inorganic Phosphors through Machine Learning”
Dan E. Wells Outstanding Dissertation Award, 2021
NowFujiFilm
Dr. Sogol Lotfi
Graduate student, 2015–2020
Ph.D. Dissertation: “Discovering Intermetallics through Synthesis, Computation, and Data-Driven Analysis”
NowNissan Motor Corporation
Dr. Jiyou Zhong
Visiting researcher, 2018–2019
NowGuangdong University of Science and Technology, China
Dr. Aria Mansouri Tehrani
Graduate student, 2014–2019
Ph.D. Dissertation: “Development of Sustainable Superhard Materials”
Dan E. Wells Outstanding Dissertation Award, 2019
NowPostdoctoral Associate, MIT
Dr. Erin Finley
Graduate student, 2014–2019
Ph.D. Dissertation: “Structure-Composition Relationships and Their Influence on Long Luminescent Lifetimes in Persistent Luminescent Phosphors”
NowThermo Fisher Scientific
Dr. Anna C. Duke
Graduate student, 2014–2018
Ph.D. Dissertation: “Identifying Crystal Structure Characteristics to Facilitate the Development of Rare-Earth Substituted Inorganic Phosphors”
NowMission Support and Test Services, LLC
Dr. Anton Oliynyk
Postdoctoral fellow, 2016–2017
NowDepartment of Chemistry, Hunter College
Dr. Martin Hermus
Postdoctoral fellow, 2014–2016
NowOSRAM, Munich