Group Photo
Taken April 2024 at SFU near the Academic Quadrangle at SFU
From left to right: Simranjeet Kaur, Alistair Bevan, Netsanet Woldesemayat, Jasleen Kaur, Sepideh Saghafifar, Harsimrat Kaur, Loren Kaake, Ziyi Zhang
Current Students
Alistair Bevan
Is pursuing a B.Sc. in Chemical Physics (Hons) at SFU. He is currently researching the fundamentals of mixed ion electron transport in organic conductors and semiconductors.
Sepideh Saghafifar
Obtained a B.Sc. in Materials Engineering from Sharif University of Technology. Her thesis was on nanocomposites for capacitive deionization. Her current research is on organic mixed ion-electron conducting devices.
Ziyi Zhang
Obtained a B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of British Columbia, Okanagan. His current research is on high resolution patterning of organic semiconducting films deposited from supercritical fluids.
Harsimrat Kaur
Obtained a combined B.Sc. and M.Sc. (Honors) in Chemistry from Panjab University where she worked on polymeric sensors for aluminum detection. She is currently working on zwitterionic dielectric materials for organic field effect transistors and organic electrochromic devices.
Jasleen Kaur
Obtained a combined B.Sc. and M.Sc. (Honors) in Chemistry from Panjab University where she worked on nanostructured cellulose. She is currently working on the formulation of electrolyte dielectric materials for printed electronics applications including zwitterionic dielectric materials.
Simranjeet Kaur
Obtained a combined B.Sc. and M.Sc. (Honors) in Chemistry from Panjab University where she worked on nanostructured cellulose. She is currently working on the synthesis and characterization of zwitterion based electrolyte systems.
Previous Group Photos
Taken July 2022 on a beautiful summer day in the Burrard Inlet. SFU is on the mountain in the centre top of the photo. From left to right: Simran,, Marc Courte, Xiangyu Lu, Harsimrat Kaur, Simranjeet Kaur, Jasleen Kaur
Taken April 2021 following the Ph.D. defence of Nastaran Yousefi in the academic quadrangle From left to right: Simranjeet Kaur, Marc Courte, Jasleen Kaur, Nastaran Yousefi, Melissa Vermette, Carol-Lynn Gee, Simran, Xiangyu Liu
Taken April 2020 online
From left to right: First row Xiangyu Liu, Nastaran Yousefi, Jasleen Kaur.
Second row: Simran, Simranjeet Kaur, Dr. Kaake
Group selfie! Taken October 2019 at SFU in the Chemistry atrium
From left to right: Dr. Kaake, Simran, Simranjeet Kaur, Jasleen Kaur, Nastaran Yousefi, Xiangyu Lu,
Taken May 2019 at SFU in front of the library.
From left to right: Dr. Kaake, Jasleen Kaur, Behrad Saeedi, Nastaran Yousefi, Simranjeet Kaur, Daniel King
Taken March 2019 in the SFU Chemsitry foyer
From left to right: Jasleen Kaur, Parisa Shiri, Nastaran Yousefi, Earl Jon Dacanay, Dr. Kaake
Taken February 2017 at SFU under the 5th floor of the Academic Quadrangle.
From left to right: Nastaran Yousefi, Parisa Shiri, Leah Harrision, Dr. Loren Kaake
Taken June 2016 at SFU overlooking Mount Seymour Provincial Park
From left to right: Dr. Loren Kaake, Akarsh Kolekar, Janneus Japeth-Maala, Jacob Storback, Brennan Hagen, Leah Harrison
Taken in November of 2015 at SFU by the reflecting pool in the centre of the Academic Quadrangle.
From left to right: Dr. Loren Kaake, Eric Powzedny, Sairvan Fernandez, Fatemeh Rezapoor, Mikayla Louie and Eric Fell.
Former Students
Netsanet Woldesmayat
Is finishing her B.Sc. at SFU and plans to become a Pharmacist. She completed an undergraduate research project on multidimensional electrochemical impedance spectroscopy of ionic liquid solutions.
Marc Courte
Obtained a B.Sc. in Physics and an M.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Pierre & Marie Curie in Paris, France. He obtained a Ph.D. from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He developed some of the most sensitive amine sensors in existence using a charge transfer reaction from a perylene diimide derivative to a high performance n-type semiconductor.
Xiangyu Lu
Obtained a combined B.Sc. in Chemistry from St. Francis Xavier University where he worked on electrocatalyic molecules for carbon dioxide reduction. He earned his M.Sc. from SFU in 2022 developing advanced electrochemical characterization techniques for organic mixed ion-electron conductors.
Simran
Obtained an integrated M.Sc. in Chemistry from Birla Institute of Technology (BIT) in Mesra, Ranchi. There she worked on the synthesis, characterization and application of functionalized polysaccharides in wastewater treatment. She earned her M.Sc. in 2022 developing novel solution compositions for semiconducting polymer deposition using supercritical fluids.
Carol-Lynn Gee
Obtained her B.Sc. from Simon Fraser University in 2021 before entering the M.Sc. program. She received a USRA scholarship in the spring of 2021. Her research was on in-situ UV-Vis spectroscopy of crosslinked PEDOT:PSS films, especially on the development of new experimental capabilities.
Melissa Vermette
Obtained her B.Sc. from Simon Fraser University in 2021. She received a USRA scholarship in the spring of 2021. Her research was on in-situ UV-Vis spectroscopy of crosslinked PEDOT:PSS films, especially on the fabrication and characterization of thin films.
Nastaran Yousefi
Obtained her B.Sc. in Applied Chemistry from Azad University in Tehran, Iran before earning an M.Sc. in Analytical/Physical Chemistry from the University of Western Ontario under the direction of J.C. Wren. Her Master's thesis was titled "Gamma-Radiolysis Kinetics of Liquid, Vapour and Supercritical Water." She successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis in April 2021 entitled "Polymer Self-Assembly and Thin Film Deposition in Supercritical Fluids."
Daniel King
Obtained his B.Sc. in Chemistry from Simon Fraser University in May 2019. He was awarded an NSERC USRA scholarship for the summer of 2019 to develop a new laser measurement technique called photoacoustic resonance spectroscopy.
Behrad Saeedi Saghez
Obtained B.Sc. in Chemistry from Simon Fraser University. He was awarded an Ivor Flemming scholarship for the summer of 2019 to work on depositing aliphatic polymers from supercritical fluids.
Parisa Shiri
Obtained her B.Sc. in Polymer Engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran, Iran. She defended her M.Sc. thesis titled "In_situ Infrared Spectrosocpy of Organic Electrochemical Devices" in April 2019.
Earl Jon Dacanay
Obtained his B.Sc. in Chemistry from Simon Fraser University in spring of 2018. He worked in the lab during the summer of 2017 on organic electrochemical transistors. In the spring of 2018 received an NSERC USRA to support his continued research.
Leah Harrison
Was SFU undergraduate student who has completed several semesters of research on ultrafast nonlinear optics. She received an NSERC USRA scholarship in the spring of 2016, an SFU travel award in the summer of 2016, and the Melanie O'Neill Scholarship in the spring of 2017. She received her B.Sc. from SFU in the spring of 2017, another NSERC USRA in the summer of 2017 and began her graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley in the fall of 2017, where she completed her M.Sc.
Primary Investigator
Loren Kaake (pronounced cake) grew up near Duluth, MN. He did his PhD at the University of Minnesota, where he developed in-situ infrared spectroscopic techniques for studying organic transistors. He spent two years in Austin, TX working with Xiaoyang Zhu to develop ultrafast non-linear optical techniques for studying charge transfer reactions. He finished his postdoc experience in the lab of Alan Heeger at UCSB where he used transient absorption to study organic solar cells. He began as an Assistant Professor in the Chemistry Department at Simon Fraser University in September 2014. He was promoted to Associate Professor in August 2020.