Group Members
Professor Kate M. Waldie
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Kate hails from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, where she obtained her B.Sc. degree in chemistry from the University of Victoria. Her undergraduate research on redox active ligands with Prof. Robin Hicks sparked her initial interest in electrochemistry. Kate then ventured south to California to earn her Ph.D. degree at Stanford with Prof. Robert Waymouth, where she studied metal hydride complexes for transfer hydrogenation and electrocatalysis. Kate next moved further south to the University of California San Diego as a postdoc with Prof. Clifford Kubiak, where she studied electrochemical CO2 reduction using organic mediators and organometallic catalysts. In Fall 2018, Kate began her independent career at Rutgers University.
Graduate Students
Alex Corral
Joined December 2021
Research Focus: New pincer ligands and first-row transition metal complexes for electrocatalytic alcohol oxidation
Amy Ekka
Joined December 2023
Research Focus: Co-catalytic systems for the electrocatalytic hydrogenation of C=O and C=N substrates
Alyssa Gauna
Joined December 2024
Research Focus: Cobalt complexes with redox-active ligands for promoting multi-electron transformations
Sewwandi Kuruppu
Joined February 2023
Research Focus: Cobalt complexes with redox-active ligands for promoting multi-electron transformations
Chathumini Nadeesha
Joined December 2023
Research Focus: First-row transition metal complexes for alcohol oxidation and the interconversion of CO2 & formate
Mercer White
Joined December 2020
Research Focus: Co-catalytic systems for the electrocatalytic hydrogenation of C=O and C=N substrates
Undergraduate Students
Melisa Dogan
Joined Fall 2023
Benjamin Friedman
Joined Fall 2024
Demetra Giannakopoulos
Joined Spring 2024
Ezra Goldfarb
Joined Spring 2024
Heiner Hidalgo
Joined Spring 2025
Group Pets
Woody
Columbus, Snowflake, and Fergus
Group Alumni
Postdoctoral Researchers
Dr. Andrew Cook, 2018-2021 - now at College of Mount Saint Vincent
Graduate Students
Sriram Katipamula, PhD 2024
Minzhu Zou, PhD 2024
Krishani Teeluck, PhD 2023
Hellan Moncy, MS 2023
Jennifer Guzman-Pichardo, MS 2022
Siddhant Warrier, MS 2022
Undergraduate Students
Kaitlin Cheung - Rutgers - New Brunswick 2023 - now Ph.D. student, UCLA
Andrew Fedors - Rutgers - New Brunswick 2023 - now Ph.D. student, Yale
Isabella Niedzwiecki - Rutgers - New Brunswick 2023 - now Ph.D. student, Johns Hopkins
Priya Patel, Rutgers - New Brunswick 2022 - now Ph.D. student, UC Berkeley
Jingjing Jin, Rutgers - New Brunswick 2018 - now Ph.D. student, Columbia
Summer Research Assistants
Brayden Messinger, RISE 2024
Oliver Baumeyer, RISE 2023
Paul Masaka, Aresty Summer Program 2023
Alexander Hidalgo, RISE 2022
Victoria Diaz, RISE 2021
Andrew Fedors, Aresty Summer Program 2021
Alex Corral, Research Assistant 2021
Jennifer Guzman-Pichardo, Research Assistant 2021
Ronaldo Franjul, RISE 2020
Isabella Niedzwiecki, Aresty Summer Program 2020
Mercer White, Research Assistant 2020
Zachary Clifford, RISE Program 2019
Priya Patel, Aresty Summer Program 2019
Mark Dresel, Research Assistant 2019
Interested in joining the Waldie Group?
Current Rutgers graduate students enrolled in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology should contact Kate to discuss their research interests and available opportunities in the group.
Prospective graduate students should apply to the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology Graduate Program at Rutgers. For information on how to apply, click here. Please contact Kate directly with any questions about research opportunities in the group before applying to the program.
Highly motivated undergraduate students pursuing a Chemistry degree at Rutgers who are interested in gaining research experience in the Waldie Group are encouraged to contact Kate via email or in person.