Group Photo.
People

Principle Investigator

Brian Collins

Email: brian.collins@wsu.edu
Office: 523
Phone: (509) 335-4671

Education
  • 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

Acacia Patterson

Senior grad student and lab directorInvestigating the charge generation processes of ternary organic photovoltaics (OPVs) with device physics techniques to design OPVs for industrial-scale renewable energy.

Email: acacia.patterson@wsu.edu


Office: 529

Education
  • M.S. in Physics – Washington State University
  • B.S. in Physics – Oregon State University
Awards
  • 2025 Leon J. & Barbara W. Radziemksi Graduate Fellowship in the Sciences
  • 2023 William J. Shelton Scholarship
  • 2021 Leona M. Metzger Scholarship

Harlan Heilman

LBNL Research Fellow – Combining analytic and numerical methods with resonant soft X-ray scattering at the Advanced Light Source to advance metrology and resolve molecular orientation gradients in organic thin films.

Email: harlan.heilman@wsu.edu, hdheilman@lbl.gov
Office: Webster 525, ALS 6-2244

Education
  • M.S. in Physics – Washington State University
  • B.S. in Physics – Northern Arizona 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

Trevor Cox

Utilize X-Ray scattering techniques to probe the morphology of organic photovoltaic devices.

Email: trevor.cox@wsu.edu
Office: 525

Education
  • B.S. in Physics – East Tennessee State University
  • Bachelor of Business Administration – East Tennessee State University

Sushil Adhikari

Developing scalable coating processes for organic electronic devices and investigating structure–property relationships to enable high-performance device technologies

Email: sushil.adhikari@wsu.edu
Office: 521

Education
  • M.S. in Physics – National Tsing Hua Univerity,
  • B.S. in Physics – Tribhuvan University, Nepal

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

  • Devin Grabner Ph.D. (2025)
    Thesis: “Development of Liquid Phase Resonant Soft X-ray Scattering Techniques for Spatiochemical Characterization of Self-Assembled Polymeric Nanostructures”
    NOW: Analyst at Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division (NSWCCD)
  • Tanner Melody M.S. (2025)
    Thesis: “Thermodynamics of Mixing in Organic Photovoltaic Systems: Experimental Determination of Phase Separation Behavior for Organic Photovoltaic (OPV) Materials Using Contact Angle and X-ray Spectroscopy”
    NOW: Ph.D. Candidate at Washington State University Physics & Astronomy under Dr. Qingze Guan
  • 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