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 March 2026 – James returns to Germany to continue his extended research visit to the Institute for Nuclear Waste Disposal (Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, INE) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). At KIT, James is being hosted by our collaborator Prof. Tonya Vitova and her research group, and supported by a KIT International Excellence Fellowship. Funding for the fellowship comes from the Exzellenzstrategie des Bundes und der Länder, with backing from the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) and the German Science and Humanities Council (Wissenschaftsrat). This grant is supporting our joint work on generation and spectroscopic studies of reactive U(V) compounds and their derivatives. Graduate students Natalie Lind, Alex Ervin, and Grant Arehart are all contributing expertise to this project as well from the Kansas side. Onward to more science!
28 February 2026 - This week, James attended International Conference on Organic Synthesis and Advanced Materials (IC-OSAM) in Warangal, Telangana, India. At the meeting, he presented our group's work on immobilization of high-valent uranium complexes on carbon electrodes. Thanks to core committee members Profs. Raghu Chitta and K. Kashinath, organizers Prof. Rajesh Manda, V. Rajeshkumar, and S. Nagarajan, and Chair Prof. Santhosh Penta of the National Institute of Technology Warangal (NITW) Department of Chemistry for the invitation to present our work at the meeting! Looking forward to visiting Warangal again one day to talk science and cultivate international collaborations!
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!
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!