McMahon Group Members
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Current McMahon Research Group Members
From left to right: Brent Amberger, Zoe Samer, Stephanie Knezz, Brian Esselman, Ben Haenni, Joshua Shutter, Robert McMahon, Laura Kopff, Claude Woods, and Terese Kreifels.
Not pictured: Andrew Wiederhold
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Robert J. McMahon was born in Mendota, Illinois in 1958. He received a B.S. degree in Chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1980. He performed undergraduate research with Professor Stanley G. Smith into the mechanism and stereoselectivity of lithium aluminum hydride reduction of ketones. McMahon received a Ph.D. degree in Organic Chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1985, working with Professor Orville L. Chapman on the mechanisms of carbene rearrangements. From 1985-1988, McMahon investigated excited-state electron transfer as a postdoctoral research associate with Professor Mark S. Wrighton at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. McMahon accepted a position on the faculty in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1988 and was promoted to full professor in 1997. He was named an Associate Editor of the Journal of Organic Chemistry in 2000 and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2003.
Contact Information
Robert J. McMahon
Department of Chemistry, Room 6209A
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1101 University Avenue
Madison, WI 53706
Email: mcmahon@chem.wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 262-0660
Curriculum Vitae for Robert J. McMahon
Brief biography for Robert J. McMahon
Brent Amberger received his B.A. in chemistry from Amherst College in 2008. At Amherst, Brent spent time working with Professor David Hansen synthesizing molecularly imprinted polymers. Later, he did his undergraduate thesis research with Professors Helen Leung and Mark Marshall, using microwave spectroscopy in the structural determination of small gas phase Van der Waals complexes. At Wisconsin, Brent is working for Professor McMahon in the collaborative rotational spectroscopy sub-group with Brian Esselman and Professor R. Claude Woods. He uses a glow-discharge, millimeter-wave spectrometer to observe rotational transitions for small organic ions. Once rotational spectra for these compounds are known, they can be searched for in space using radio telescopes. Brent owns many things, including a canoe, a cat, and a clownfish.
Contact Information
Brent Amberger
Department of Chemistry, Room 6207
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1101 University Avenue
Madison, WI 53706
Email: bamberger@chem.wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 262-0599
Brian first came to the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the fall of 1995 as a college freshman and received his B.S. in Chemistry and Chemistry-Secondary Education in December of 2000. He really enjoyed the next six years he spent teaching Chemistry at Whitewater High School. While at WHS, in May 2004, he received an M.S. in Educational Psychology from the University of Wisconsin.
In the fall of 2007, Brian left his teaching position at WHS and returned to the University of Wisconsin-Madison chemistry department. Under the direction of Bob McMahon, he began his graduate research on a compuational study of the Bergman Cyclization of di- and tetraethynylcyclobutadienes and their subsequent rearrangements. Recently, he is mentoring Andrew Wiederhold as he continues this computaional study. Together they are probing the mechanism of carbon condensation.
Additionally, he collaborated with Chris Shaffer in an experimental and compuational investigation of the potential generation of diazirinone. In a third area of interest, he has collaborated with Claude Woods, Mitch Daane, Brent Amberger, Jeff Slosarczyk, and Josh Shutter in the rotational spectroscopy of small aromatic molecules. He and Josh are currently working on programming a new computer to control the latest version of the millimeter-wave spectrometer.
Outside of the chemistry world, Brian's passions are for Ultimate Frisbee, teaching, running, Boggle, and cake. He has been a happy member of MUFA since 2001 and has been on several summer league teams, DiscGrace, Ill Riders, Barenaked Layouts, and Big Money, No Whammies.
Contact Information
Brian Esselman
Department of Chemistry, Room 6207
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1101 University Avenue
Madison, WI 53706
Email: esselman@wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 262-0599
Ben received a B.S in Chemistry and BCMB (Biochemical,Cell, and Molecular Biology) from Drake University in 2010. While there he worked with Dr. Gholam Mirafzal on the green applications of ionic liquids for organic synthesis. Currently with the group Ben is exploring the phenomena of hydrogen tunneling in aromatic carbenes through use of POLYRATE. Ben also enjoys tennis, video games, disc golf, and eating a small variety of food.
Contact Information
Ben Haenni
Department of Chemistry, Room 6207
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1101 University Avenue
Madison, WI 53706
Email: bhaenni@chem.wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 262-0599
Stephanie received a B.S. in chemistry from Butler University in 2011. During her time there, she worked on a variety of projects with Dr. John Esteb, including a chemical education project developing experiments for the organic teaching labs and synthesis of novel β-lactams in conjunction with a small group from Eli Lilly. In her spare time, Stephanie enjoys seeing live music, singing, and camping.
Contact Information
Stephanie Knezz
Department of Chemistry, Room 6233
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1101 University Avenue
Madison, WI 53706
Email: knezz@wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 262-0599
Laura Kopff received her B.S. in Chemistry from Truman State University in 2007. There, she worked under Dr. Barbara Kramer studying the use of soybeans in the phytoremediation of lead contaminated soil. She later studied the hydroperoxidolysis of the chemical nerve agent VX, as well as the effect of -nucleophiles on nucleophilic substitution reactions, both under Dr. Eric Patterson. Her current research involves the study of substituted phenyl carbenes. In addition to chemistry, Laura loves reading a good book, pondering the mysteries of the universe, or just exploring Madison.
Contact Information
Laura Kopff
Department of Chemistry, Room 6233
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1101 University Avenue
Madison, WI 53706
Email: kopff@wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 262-0599
Zoe Samer received her B.A. in Chemistry from Wellesley College in 2010. During her time there, she worked with Professor David R. Haines synthesizing histidine analogs for structure-activity relationship studies of glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) binding with the GLP-1 receptor, about which she wrote her undergraduate thesis research. In the McMahon group, she is working to synthesize and continue study of HC5H. Zoe also enjoys reading good books, walking, and Doctor Who.
Contact Information
Zoe Samer
Department of Chemistry, Room 6233
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1101 University Avenue
Madison, WI 53706
Email: zsamer@wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 262-0599
Terese Kreifels graduated from Bradley University (Peoria, IL) with a B.S. in Chemistry in 2009. While there, she studied the mechanism of the decomposition of N-nitrosoamides with Professor Kurt Field. During the summer of 2007, Terese studied soy bean oil as a potential steel lubricant additive at the USDA National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research. Additionally, in 2008, she was a LANDO Summer Research Fellow at the University of Minnesota, where she investigated carboxylic acid initiated ring-opening polymerization under the supervision of Professor Tom Hoye. Building upon previous McMahon group studies of triplet propynylidene (HC3H) and its isomers, Terese’s current research focuses on the synthesis, spectroscopic characterization, and photochemistry of triplet MeC3Me. She has also explored the MeC3Me energy surface computationally, using B3LYP/6-31G(d) and CCSD/cc-PVDZ methods. Terese recently begun work on a collaborative project with Prof. Scott Reid (Marquette University), which should lead to the matrix isolation of products produced through the reaction of triplet carbon atoms and unsaturated hydrocarbons. Aside from chemistry, Terese's interests include playing flute, letterboxing, and baking yummy things. She is a huge fan of pancakes and IHOP.
Contact Information
Terese Kreifels
Department of Chemistry, Room 6233
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1101 University Avenue
Madison, WI 53706
Email: kreifels@wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 262-0599
Joshua D. Shutter (undergraduate)
Joshua is a second-year undergraduate who is working toward a B.S. in Chemistry. As an advantage of taking the honors Chem 115/116 course sequence, Joshua was able to join the group in his freshman year at UW-Madison. Under the guidance of Brian Esselman, he is currently performing computational work to assess the feasibility of looking for the enol tautomers of known interstellar compounds in the ISM. Upon completing his undergraduate studies, Joshua wants to pursue a Ph.D. in Chemistry. Joshua also works at both Memorial Library and Chemistry Library, and he enjoys topics related to the universe, space exploration, and NASA.
Contact Information
Joshua Shutter
Department of Chemistry, Room 6207
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1101 University Avenue
Madison, WI 53706
Email: jdshutter@wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 262-0599
Andrew J. Wiederhold (undergraduate)
Andrew is a sophomore undergraduate working toward a B.S. in neurobiology and considering a biochemistry double-major. In the Spring of 2010, Andrew joined the group upon completing his undergraduate organic chemistry coursework. Despite having Brian Esselman as his teaching assistant in two chemistry courses, he is currently working under Brian's guidance on the compuational study of various ene-diynes. Andrew’s future plans include completing his undergraduate studies and moving on to medical school to pursue either an M.D. or an M.D./Ph.D. His interests outside of academics include running, snowboarding, Qdoba burritos, and soccer.
Contact Information
Andrew Wiederhold
Department of Chemistry, Room 6207
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1101 University Avenue
Madison, WI 53706
Email: wiederhold@wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 262-0599