Principle Investigator
Brian A. Collins
Email: brian.collins@wsu.edu
Office: 523
Phone: (509) 335-4671
- Ph.D. and M.S. in Physics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- B.A. in Physics from Gustavus Adolphus College
Awards
- 2023 WSU College of Arts and Sciences Mid-Career Achievement Award
- 2017 Department of Energy, Office of Sciences, Early Career Research Award
- 2013-2014 National Research Council RAP Fellowship at NIST, Gaithersburg, MD
Principle Investigator

- Ph.D. and M.S. in Physics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- B.A. in Physics from Gustavus Adolphus College
Awards
- 2023 WSU College of Arts and Sciences Mid-Career Achievement Award
- 2017 Department of Energy, Office of Science, Early Career Research Award
- 2013-2014 National Research Council RAP Fellowship at NIST, Gaithersburg, MD
Graduate Researchers

- B.S. in Physics & Chemistry – Walla Walla University
- M.S. in Physics – Washington State University
Awards
- 2024 – 2025 Naval Sea Systems Command SSEP Internship
- 2022 – 2025 Elected to Advanced Light Source Users Executive Committee
- 2023 – 2024 Advanced Light Source, Doctoral Fellow In Residence
- 2023 U.S. DOE Center for High Precision Patterning Science (CHiPPS) Internship
Development of a robust in situ/in operando nanoprobe sensitive to molecular identity, allowing for the characterization of both the structure and the dynamical interactions of polymeric micelles and other nanostructures in liquid environments.

- B.S. in Physics – Oregon State University
- M.S. in Physics – Washington State University
Awards
- 2025 Leon J. & Barbara W. Radziemksi Graduate Fellowship in the Sciences
- 2023 William J. Shelton Scholarship
- 2021 Leona M. Metzger Scholarship
Investigating the charge generation processes of ternary organic photovoltaics (OPVs) with device physics techniques to design OPVs for industrial-scale renewable energy.
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- B.S. in Physics – Northern Arizona University
- M.S. in Physics – Washington State University
Awards
- 2024 – 2026 Advanced Light Source, Doctoral Fellow In Residence
- 2025 George Duvall Scholarship
- 2024 Ned and Nancy Wogman Student Support Fund in Chemistry and Physics
Combining DFT based numerical calculations with resonant soft X-ray scattering techniques to construct robust optical models for organic molecules useful in device applications.

- B.S. Physics from San José State University
X-ray characterization of nanostructures and morphology of ternary organic photovoltaic devices.

- B.S. in physics, Moscow State University
Awards
- Golding Family Graduate Fellowship.
Applying computational chemistry methods to model, analyze, and predict molecular structures and their geometric properties.

- B.Sc. Physics from Tribhuvan University, Nepal
- M.S. Physics from National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan
Developing scalable coating processes for organic electronic devices and investigating structure–property relationships to enable high-performance device technologies
Undergraduate Students
Jasper Swift
Rashard Hawkins
Alivia Thomas
Eric Jackson
Post-Doctoral Alumni
- Terry McAfee Ph.D. (b. 1987 – d. 2024)
Post-Doc Work: Instrumentation Development for liquid in-situ/in-operando structural measurements of organic materials using Resonant Soft X-ray Scattering
Former: Senior Scientific Engineering Associate, APXPS and Chemical Sciences, Photon Science Operations at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) - Prabodh Dhakal Ph.D.
Post-Doc Work: Developing structure-property relationships in organic solar cell active layers by combining advanced resonant X-ray nanoprobes with optoelectronic characterization on the exact same devices
Graduate Alumni
- Harlan Heilman M.S. (2024)
Thesis: “Combining DFT based optical models with resonant X-ray reflectivity to measure orientation at buried interfaces​”
NOW: Ph.D. Candidate at Washington State University Physics & Astronomy - Acacia Patterson M.S. (2023)
Thesis: “Morphology-driven comprehensive charge loss analysis of organic photovoltaics processed with non-halogenated solvents​”
NOW: Ph.D. Candidate at Washington State University Material Science and Engineering - Obaid Alqahtani Ph.D. (2023)
Thesis: “Structure-Property Correlations in Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells Across Material Systems via Synchrotron X-ray Techniques”
NOW: Professor of Physics at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University - Victor Murcia Ph.D. (2022)
Thesis: “Development of tensor-based building block models with density functional theory calculations and clustering algorithms for a quantitative description of molecular orientation using near edge x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy of small molecule and polymeric thin films”
NOW: Lead AI Engineer at Datacor Inc. - Fred Woodall M.S. (2022)
Thesis: “Characterization and Optimization of Zinc Phthalocyanine Thin Films in Organic Solar Cells”
NOW: Process Development Engineer at Corning Inc. - Awwad Alotaibi Ph.D. (2022)
Thesis: “Accurate Measurement of Charge Generation at Interfaces of Organic Solar Cell Devices Printed from Non-Halogenated Solvents” - Tamanna Khan Ph.D. (2022)
Thesis: “Controlling Ion Transport Pathways in Polymer Mixed Ion/Electron Conducting Devices”
NOW: Quality and Reliability Engineer at Intel - Devin Grabner M.S. (2022)
Thesis: “Label-Free Characterization of aPS50 Nanostructure, Chemistry, and Dynamics via In-Situ Resonant Soft X-Ray Scattering (RsoXS)”
NOW: Signature Decomposition Analyst at Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division - Grant Thurman M.S. (2021)
Thesis: “Building DFT Model for Y11.”
NOW: Algorithm developer at Trace Soccer - Thomas Ferron Ph.D. (2019)
Thesis: “Spectral model of resonant soft X-ray scattering to resolve molecule-specific organization in 3D organic nanostructures.”
NOW: Beamline Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory – Advanced LIght Source – BL 11.0.1.2 - David Buckley M.S. (2017)
Thesis: “Computational Modeling to Determine Molecular Orientation at Buried Interfaces in Polymer Thin Films”
NOW: Physics Professor – Lab Specialist at Gonzaga University - Michael Pope M.S. (2017)
Thesis: “Using resonant X-ray scattering to determine how structure controls the charge generation process in PCPDTBT:PC70BM solar cells.”
NOW: Lead Model Validation Specialist at Discover Financial Services - Obaid Alqahtani, M.S. (2016)
Thesis: “Probing nanostructure of organic films and photovoltaics via synchrotron X-ray techniques.”
NOW: Ph.D. Candidate at Washington State University Materials Science and Engineering - Qun Lu, M.S. (2016)
Thesis: “Calibration and automation of AAA solar simulator and external quantum efficiency measurement of organic photovoltaic devices.”
Undergraduate Alumni
- Elijah Allen B.S. (2024)
- Chandler Ketelsen B.S. (2024)
- Chris Lum B.S. (2023)
- Emma Speight B.S. (2023)
NOW: Applied Physics MS Program at the University of Oregon - Derrick Adams B.S. (2023)
NOW: Nuclear Engineer at the Naval Nuclear Laboratory - Hunter Gedicke B.S. (2022)
- Catherine Martin B.S. (2022)
NOW: Chemical Process Engineer with British Petroleum - Sierra Ray B.S. (2021)
- Cameron Bennett B.S. (2020)
- Jacob Hastings B.S. (2020)
NOW: Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Connecticut Physics - Kyle Norbert, B.S. (2020)
NOW: Military Officer for the United States Space Force - Zachary Croft, B.S. (2018)
NOW: DOE SULI Researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory - Michael Anderson, B.S. (2018)
NOW: Ph.D. Candidate at University of Arizona Materials Science and Engineering - Keith Hillaire, B.S. (2017)
NOW: Ph.D. Candidate at North Carolina State University Physics Department - Matthew Waldrip, B.S. (2017)
NOW: Ph.D. Candidate: Wake Forest University Physics Department - Eric Beier, B.S. (2015)
NOW: US Navy