LEADERSHIP

Dr. Gamble was appointed as MAF director in 2019. Prior to this, she served as the MAF's assistant director since its creation in 2014. Her research focuses on surface modification and characterization of model biomedical systems including fundamental research towards the preparation and characterization of DNA and protein microarrays. She is also involved in the development of new techniques that will enable improved analysis of the biomolecule-surface interface and improved chemical imaging of biologically relevant samples.

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STAFF SCIENTISTS

Expertise: Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Focused Ion Beam (FIB) Microscopy and Fabrication, Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS), EM sample preparation, and support on TECNAI TEM

Scott Braswell received his B.S. in biochemistry from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. His first career was in clinical lab medicine using bright field and fluorescence microscopy to characterize chromosome lesions. In 2007, he received a Master's degree in Teaching from the University of Washington. He subsequently joined the MAF's predecessor, the NanoTech User Facility as a research scientist and has since worked primarily with electron beam tools performing characterization and fabrication.

Expertise: Surface analysis, materials characterization, ToF-SIMS, XPS, multivariate analysis, AFM

Dan Graham received his B.S. in chemical engineering from Brigham Young University, and his Ph.D. in bioengineering from the University of Washington. Dan’s current research focuses on the development of analysis methods for characterization of biologically relevant surfaces. This includes creating software tools for MVA processing of ToF-SIMS data, surface characterization of cells and tissues, and 3D depth profiling.

Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), dual-beam Focused Ion Beam (FIB), and EM sample preparation

Ellen Lavoie received her B.S. in biology in 2003 and MS in plant biology with a concentration in cell biology in 2004 both from the University of New Hampshire. Her thesis work centered on quantitating the ultrastructure of Caulerpa, a tropical marine alga, followed later by various projects of the same genus utilizing TEM, SEM, FIB, and LM. Ellen spent roughly ten years working as an electron microscopist at Harvard University’s Center for Nanoscale Systems and then at Monash University in Australia’s Centre for Electron Microscopy before becoming a MAF staff scientist in 2014.

Expertise: Ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy and time-resolved photoluminescence

Timothy Pollock received his B.S. in chemistry from the University of California San Diego in 2013 and his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Washington. His dissertation work focused on using spectroelectrochemistry and ultrafast spectroscopy to characterize and model the effect of trap states on charge carrier dynamics in lead halide perovskite solar cells. He also has experience in a broad range of semiconductor thin film fabrication and characterization techniques. Tim assisted in the installation of the MAF's kinetic laser system in 2014, and has been in charge of maintaining and training users on the system since 2019. He joined the MAF as a staff scientist in 2020.

Expertise: XRD and XPS

Samantha Young received her B.S. in chemistry from Truman State University in Kirksville, MO in 2012 and her Ph.D. in materials chemistry from the University of Oregon in 2018. Her dissertation focused on controlling the interface between nanoparticles and electrode surfaces in order to create precise electrocatalyst materials. She has a broad range of experience in the synthesis and purification of inorganic nanoparticles and characterization techniques to analyze nanoparticle size, morphology, surface chemistry, and phase. During her time at the University of Oregon, she was also the manager of a small angle x-ray scattering instrument where she worked with academic and industrial users to analyze a variety of nanomaterials. She joined the Molecular Analysis Facility staff in 2019 where she primarily operates and trains users on XRD and XPS instruments.

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Administrative Staff