Join the team

We are actively seeking motivated individuals to join our team and contribute to our research endeavors. If you share our passion for exploring new frontiers of knowledge and are driven by an insatiable curiosity, we encourage you to email to us at yuy@unr.edu.

To be considered, please submit the following:

  1. An up-to-date curriculum vitae (CV) or resume, highlighting your academic achievements, research experience, and relevant skills.

  2. A cover letter outlining your research background, areas of interest, and how your expertise aligns with our group's focus.

Yang Gang

  • Alyssa Radakovich

    PhD student

    Alyssa is from Oswego, Illinois and graduated from Grinnell College with a degree in chemistry. Her research focuses on organic pollutant exposure and transport near formerly used defense sites on Unalaska Island as well as developing chemical tags to better understand the structure of pyrogenic organic carbon compounds. When she's not in the lab, she likes to play soccer, run, read, and spend as much time as possible outside.

  • Sudarshan Basyal

    PhD student

    Sudarshan is from Nepal and started his doctoral journey in the spring of 2024. His research delves into the intricacies of organic carbon in the natural system. He is interested in the use of Click Chemistry to better understand the carbon cycle. In his spare time, Sudarshan loves to watch movies and go for walks.

  • Ishtiaq Ahmed Jawad

    PhD Student

    Ishtiaq is a Bangladeshi engineer with a degree in Leather Engineering. Currently, Ishtiaq is working on metabolomics tools aimed at understanding soil organic carbon as well as methane oxidation. Outside of his academic pursuits, Ishtiaq enjoys playing games and traveling, always eager to explore new places and experiences.

  • Issac Cooley

    Undergraduate Student

    Isaac is from Palmer, Alaska and is an undergraduate Environmental Engineering student working with Alyssa on researching organic pollutant exposure. He has worked in the field doing construction administration as well as designing and constructing rural home water systems. In his free time, Isaac loves to hike, read, listen to music, go to concerts, and spend as much time outdoors as possible.

Past lab members

Travis Numan

Travis defended his thesis in November, 2024. Travis worked on different wildfire impacted soil, to better understand the carbon cycle and mobilization of Carbon and Nitrogen in Tahoe region. Travis is Paiute (Numa) and Shoshone (Newe) man grew up in Reno, Nevada on the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation.

Anil Timilsina

Anil Timilsina completed his Ph.D. in October of 2024, his research focused on identifying and quantifying reactive organic carbon compounds using advanced analytical techniques. He utilized novel methods to explore and quantify unknown compounds and contaminants in diverse environmental samples. He is currently woking as Post-doctoral scholar at University of Minnesota, College of Science and Engineering.

Abrar Shahriar

Abrar began his Ph.D. program in the fall of 2019 at UNR after relocating to the USA from Bangladesh. His research centered on studying the fate and transport of organic pollutants in the soil-water continuum, along with characterizing soil organic carbon using high-resolution mass spectrometry. He is currently working at Lawrence Livermore National Lab.

  • Sarrah M Dunham-Cheatham (Currently at University of Nevada, Reno)

  • Yaqi You (Currently at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry)

  • Shengnan Xu (Currently at Communauto)

  • Srinidhi Lokesh (Currently at University of Nevada Reno)

  • Qian Zhao (Currently at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

  • Kamol Das (Currently at Getinge)

  • Dinesh Adhikari (Currently at California Department of Public Health)

  • Dawit N Wordofa (Currently at ExxonMobil)

  • Yuwei Zhou

  • Junwei Tan

Previous Visiting Scholar or Student

  • Xugang Wang, Visiting Scholar (Currently at Henan University of Science and Technology)

  • Hua Zhang, Visiting Scholar

  • Lin Wang, Visiting Student

Previous Undergraduate Researcher

  • Stella Abejar

  • Kenia Zwlaya Callejas

  • Leo Spence

  • Justin Clark (Currently at Corona)

  • Diego Castellano (Currently at the University of Nevada, Reno)

  • Joshua Le Grande

  • Brian Souza

  • Valeria Nava (Currently at Carnegie Mellon University)

  • Julia Fudge (Currently at ALS Environmental)

  • Riley Murnane (Currently at Hazen and Sawyer)

  • Kanaha Shoji (Currently at EPFL)

Previous High-school Student Researcher

  • Tayla Travella

  • Breanna Kjoll

  • Lindsey Zeising

  • Aman Patel (Currently at Technologies for Pandemic Defense)