The Blakemore Laboratory
Inspired by sustainability and stewardship, our group synthesizes new compounds and studies reactivity involving actinides, lanthanides, and light gases. We draw on perspectives from inorganic/organometallic chemistry, molecular electrochemistry, and surface science.
RECENT BLAKEMORE GROUP NEWS
23 February 2026 – Congratulations to our graduate student Alex Ervin, who is beginning a year of collaborative research in transuranium chemistry with Dr. Richard Wilson in the Heavy Element Chemistry and Separation Science Group at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)! Alex is being supported at ANL by the DOE Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program, as part of the 2025 Solicitation 1 round of awards. To begin, we will be doing some Np and Pu electrochemistry to probe proton-coupled electron transfer processes and their influence on solution speciation. Congratulations, Alex, and good luck with the research!
11 February 2026 – Graduate student Natalie Lind is spending the next two weeks in Karlsruhe, Germany to carry out collaborative research in advanced X-ray spectroscopy and spectroelectrochemical studies of uranium complexes with Dr. Tonya Vitova and her research group at the Institute for Nuclear Waste Management (Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, INE) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Good luck with the research, Natalie!
18 December 2025 - Congratulations to graduate student Jared Schaeffer (G3), who has been named a trainee with KU's NIH-funded Training Grant in Chemical Biology! In this program, Jared will explore the interdisciplinary research area of Chemical Biology, while being supported for full-time research in our lab. Jared's project centers on development of new chelators for radiopharmaceuticals, and study of related f-element speciation with advanced spectroscopy. Way to go, Jared!
18 November 2025 – Our paper with the title “Synthesis, Isolation, and Study of Heterobimetallic Uranyl Crown Ether Complexes” has been selected for an inaugural College Research Product Award. These new awards, which are granted by the KU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and are made possible by KU alumnus Dr. Tony Arnold, recognize research products that make significant contributions in their respective fields. In our case, synthesis of new uranyl complexes supported by crown ether ligands, as reported in JACS in 2024, represents a particularly attractive finding that has opened new vistas for exploration! Special congratulations to Dr. Riddhi Golwankar and Alex Ervin, the lead authors of our paper, on the occasion of this recognition!