{"id":49,"date":"2016-03-10T20:45:56","date_gmt":"2016-03-10T20:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fs.wp.odu.edu\/phatcher\/?page_id=49"},"modified":"2023-09-01T15:12:58","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T15:12:58","slug":"current-students","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/fs.wp.odu.edu\/phatcher\/current-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Current Group Members"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Patrick_Hatcher\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Dr. Patrick Hatcher
<\/strong>Email: phatcher@odu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

Patrick Hatcher received his B.S. in Chemistry in 1970 from N.C. State University, his M.S. in Marine Chemistry in 1974 from the University of Miami (FL), and his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1980 from the University of Maryland.<\/p>\n

In 1989 he joined Penn State University as Associate Professor. Promoted to Professor in 1995, he was appointed Director of the Center for Environmental Chemistry and Geochemistry in 1996, and to Adjunct Professor of Chemistry in 1996.<\/p>\n

In 1998, he joined the Department of Chemistry at Ohio State where he directed the NSF-funded Environmental Molecular Science Institute and held a faculty position in the Department of Geological Sciences.<\/p>\n

Dr. Hatcher came to ODU in 2006 where he serves as the Batten Endowed Chair in Physical Sciences, professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty Director of the College of Sciences Major Instrumentation Center, and the Executive Director of the Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium.<\/p>\n

Dr. Hatcher’s Google Scholar\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

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Laboratory Manager<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"r_sleighter\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Dr. Rachel Sleighter
<\/strong>Email: rsleight@odu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

Rachel Sleighter joined the Hatcher Group during the summer of 2005 as a first-year graduate student in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.\u00a0<\/span>She attended the University of Delaware where she graduated with distinction with her B.S. in Chemistry.\u00a0<\/span>During her last two years at UD, she performed undergraduate research in a mass spectrometry laboratory interested in air quality and the organic contaminants present in urban air.<\/p>\n

As a Ph.D. student, she studied the transformation of dissolved organic matter (DOM) along a river to bay to ocean transect.\u00a0<\/span>Tracking these changes in DOM composition from a terrestrial to marine environment is accomplished using Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS), gas and liquid chromatography (GC and LC), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), combined with multivariate statistical analysis.\u00a0She graduated with her Ph.D. in Chemistry in December 2009.\u00a0Since then, she has been a part-time laboratory manager for the Hatcher group and a full-time analytical chemist for FBSciences, Inc.<\/p>\n

Dr. Sleighter’s Google Scholar<\/a><\/p>\n

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Postdoctoral Researcher<\/strong><\/h4>\n

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Dr. Aleksandar “Alex” I. Goranov
<\/strong>Email: agoranov@odu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

Alex Goranov, originally from Bulgaria, came to the United States in 2013 to pursue his B.S. at Ramapo College of New Jersey. His undergraduate research focused on the fluorescence characteristics of novel solvent-sensitive fluorophores. He also studied the chemistry of microplastics at Macquarie University (Sydney, Australia), the chemical ecology of seagrasses at the Center for Marine Resource Studies vin the Turks and Caicos Islands, and developed methodologies for quantification and \u03b413C-characterization of condensed aromatic carbon at Skidaway Institute of Oceanography (Savannah, GA). In 2017, he graduated with his B.S. in Chemistry with Honors and Distinction. He joined Old Dominion University in 2017 to pursue his PhD under the mentorship of Dr. Pat Hatcher. Alex employed a multifaceted approach (FT-ICR-MS, 2D NMR, UV-VIS, fluorescence EEMs, etc.) to characterize natural and pyrogenic organic matter and their photochemical\/microbial fate in the environment.<\/p>\n

After graduating in 2020, Alex pursued a postdoctoral position at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (under the mentorship of Dr. Sasha Wagner) to study condensed aromatic carbon in various systems using \u03b413C analysis. In 2022, Alex returned to ODU to further advance his knowledge about soil chemistry, the sorption of anthropogenic molecules (such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS) onto soil and charcoal matrices, and the photochemistry of microplastics. Alex Goranov is ultimately aiming to pursue a faculty position teaching analytical chemistry and researching pyrogenic and natural substances.<\/p>\n

Dr. Goranov’s Google Scholar<\/a><\/p>\n

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Current Graduate Students<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Hannah Hamontree <\/strong>– joined summer 2020<\/p>\n

From 2014 to 2018,\u00a0Hannah<\/span>\u00a0Hamontree attended Eckerd College in sunny St. Pete, Florida where she received a dual bachelor of science in chemistry and Spanish. Following graduation, she worked at the University of South Florida College of Marine Science under Dr. Isabel C. Romero as a GC\/MS\/MS analyst and organic\u00a0 laboratory technician. In this role\u00a0Hannah<\/span> preformed GC\/MS\/MS analyses of biological and sediment samples from the Gulf of Mexico targeting toxicants and persistent organic compounds. Her work contributed to two Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative projects to improve understanding of oil-spill environmental impacts: \u201cResuspension, Redistribution and Deposition of DWH Recalcitrant Hydrocarbons to offshore Depocenters (REDIRECT)\u201d and \u201cDeep-Pelagic Nekton studies of the Gulf of Mexico (DEEPEND)\u201d. Following this position,\u00a0Hannah<\/span> joined the Hatcher group in the summer of 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hannah’s current research focuses on the influence of environmental oxidation on terrestrial organic matter (terrOM) during chemical transformation pathways pertaining to its oceanic export. The research is centered around two forms of terrOM: 1) pyrogenic organic matter (i.e., biochar) generated from the pyrolysis of natural organic matter in natural (e.g., wildfires) and laboratory (e.g., custom pyrolizer) settings and 2) terrOM sequestered by mangroves (e.g., leaves and peat). Her broad research interests revolve around understanding the global biogeochemical cycles, particularly, in studying natural oxidation pathways that chemically alter terrOM.<\/p>\n

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Samantha Sullivan <\/strong>– joined summer 2020<\/p>\n

Samantha \u201cSam\u201d Sullivan attended Western Carolina University from 2015-2020 and obtained dual degrees in Forensic Chemistry and Chemistry. During her tenure at Western Carolina, she enrolled into a 4+1 program and graduated with a MS in chemistry in 2020. Her master\u2019s research focused on developing a chemical fingerprinting technique to better define geochemical soil profiling through trace metal analysis using x-ray fluorescence (XRF). \u00a0Her work tracked the downstream transportation of metals within the Big Harris Watershed, NC.<\/p>\n

Following her MS, Sam joined the Hatcher group in the summer of 2020 to pursue a PhD in environmental geochemistry. While at ODU, her work has comprised of studying the seasonal variation and transformation of terrestrial organic matter in Rio Tempisquite, Costa Rica.<\/p>\n

During the spring of 2022, Sam was awarded a Department of Defense (DOD) SMART Scholarship and will be working for the Engineering Research and Development Center facility in Vicksburg, MS upon completion of her degree.<\/p>\n

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Louis Bondurant<\/strong> – joined fall 2020<\/p>\n

Louis Bondurant graduated with a B.S. in biophysical chemistry from James Madison University in 2019. His undergraduate research involved chemical and physical characterization of fertilized and unfertilized lakes in the Chesapeake Bay watershed to determine the effectiveness of fertilization on lake biomass and whether fertilization was a significant contributor to the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load. Following his graduation, he worked at the University of Virginia for a year as a laboratory technician aiding in the research of type one and type two diabetes under Drs. Rita and Ananda Basu. In his role he determined the enrichment of 13C and 2H glucose isotopes in human blood plasma using GC-MS. Louis joined the Hatcher group in the fall of 2020 and is excited about continuing working in research in environmental chemistry.<\/p>\n

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Jo\u00e3o Vitor dos Santos<\/strong> – joined fall 2022<\/p>\n

Jo\u00e3o, originally from Brazil, has a MS in Analytical Chemistry from the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (USP, Brazil) and a BS in Environmental Chemistry from the S\u00e3o Paulo State University (UNESP, Brazil).<\/p>\n

During his undergraduate studies Jo\u00e3o\u2019s research focused on the production and characterization of carbon-rich materials (e.g., hydrochars) by evaluating their chemical properties and application in agricultural and energy settings. His work also comprised of the extraction, characterization, and interaction of humic substances from Amazonian anthropogenic soils (e.g., Amazonian Dark Earth) with metals and PAHs. While working on his degree, Jo\u00e3o interned at the Universit\u00e9 de Toulon (UTNL, France). \u00a0<\/p>\n

After graduating with a BS in 2019, Jo\u00e3o started his Master’s degree at USP in partnership with The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA). His research focused on soil enzymatic activity and soil dissolved organic matter (DOM) by evaluating the chemical, physical, and biological soil quality of intensive grazing and integrated crop-livestock-forest systems. In the fall of 2021, Jo\u00e3o conducted a 6-month internship in the laboratory of Dr. Patrick Hatcher towards the fulfillment of his master’s research. During his tenure, he characterized soil DOM using chromatographic techniques, NMR, and ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry (e.g., ESI-FT-ICR-MS).<\/p>\n

Jo\u00e3o returned to the Hatcher group in the fall of 2022 to pursue his PhD in environmental chemistry at ODU.<\/p>\n

Jo\u00e3o’s Google Scholar<\/a><\/p>\n

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Current Undergraduate Students<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Joseph Sosa<\/strong>– joined spring 2023<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Patrick HatcherEmail: phatcher@odu.edu Patrick Hatcher received his B.S. in Chemistry in 1970 from N.C. State University, his M.S. in Marine Chemistry in 1974 from the University of Miami (FL), and his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1980 from the University of Maryland. In 1989 he joined Penn State University as Associate Professor. Promoted to Professor… <\/p>\n

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