Principle Investigator
Hannah J. Sayre
Assistant Professor, Chemistry and Chemical Biology/Chemical Engineering
353 Egan Research Center
Hannah Sayre is a photochemist researching light-activated chemistry. She earned a MS from Virginia Tech where she studied supramolecular photocatalysts with Karen Brewer in 2015. She completed her PhD in 2018 at The Ohio State University while developing red light-activated dirhodium catalysis with Claudia Turro. Under the direction of Gregory Scholes at Princeton University, she was the lead distinguished postdoctoral researcher for Bio-Inspired Light-Escalated Chemistry (BioLEC), an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. She has been a faculty member at Northeastern University since 2021.
Postdoctoral Researchers
Harsh Bhatia
I am working as postdoctoral research associate in the group of Prof. Hannah J. Sayre to develop and understand the properties of the ruthenium based supramolecular photooxidants for the applications in photocatalysis. I received my M.Sc. in Chemistry from the Central University of Kerala (India) in 2015. In 2016, I joined the group of Prof. Debdas Ray at Shiv Nadar University (India) first as a Junior Research Fellow and then as Ph.D. research scholar. During Ph.D., my research was based on designing, synthesising and understanding the photophysical properties of purely organic long persistent luminescence-based room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials. Alongside, my research interest was to develop thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) based molecules and understanding the photophysics of simultaneous TADF and RTP from these single molecular systems. I completed my Ph.D. in October 2020 and then moved to University College London (UCL), U.K., in March 2021 as postdoctoral research associate to work over bismuth coordination complexes for solar light absorption and to develop the organic semiconductors for the contactless manipulation of droplets (CoManD) based printing technique under the joint supervision of Prof. Bob C. Schroeder, Prof. Giorgio Volpe and Prof. Robert Palgrave. In my free time I prefer to walk around the city, explore, different places and experiment with cooking.
Graduate Students
Daniel Chambers
Danny completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst where he received B.S degrees in Chemistry and Applied Mathematics while completing a minor in Physics. Danny worked in the lab of Dr. Michael Barnes where he modeled time resolved polaron emission in organic semiconductors using Markov Chain Analysis. With a robust background in theoretical chemistry, Danny is now working on synthesizing supramolecular photocatalysts. Outside of the lab, Danny works in the Massachusetts Army National Guard as a Water Treatment Specialist. Danny also enjoys participating in intramural wrestling, weight lifting, camping, and fishing.
Mahek Siwatch
I did my undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan. During my undergrad, I worked on the design and setup of a modular wastewater filtration system for testing biofilm fouling mitigation, and on a project in building a QLED for which I learned to synthesize different nanoparticles. I’m interested in photochemistry and in learning to change excited state properties of materials through synthesis. I like to read (favorite series is Stormlight Archive) and do taekwondo (I’m a blue belt) for fun!
Megan Forney
Megan received a B.S. degree in Chemistry with a Math minor from Nazareth College in December 2022. During her undergraduate studies, she conducted research with Dr. Sanela Lampa-Pastirk studying the biosynthesis of quantum dots in Shewanella MR-1 bacteria and bismuth-based perovskites for solar cell applications. She also completed an internship in 2021 at Danimer Scientific developing alternative ligands for organometallic catalysts and studying the copolymerization of biodegradable polymers. In 2022, she studied the mechanism of electrocatalytic oxidation of toluene in the lab of Dr. Astrid Müller at the University of Rochester during an REU program. Megan joined the Sayre Lab in 2023, and is currently working on red light photocatalysis. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, ice-skating, baking and reading.
Christopher Governor
Chris joined the lab in Spring 2025 as a Chemical Engineering PhD student, driven by a passion for sustainability and renewable energy. He aims to harness the potential of photocatalysis to promote sustainable energy production and delivery.
Chris earned his Bachelor of Science in Petrochemical Engineering with first-class honors from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). His undergraduate capstone project focused on designing a plant to extract wax from rice husk and bran, where he developed skills in process simulation using Aspen Plus and also in designing the plate heat exchangers.
He is passionate about developing skills in computational programs such as Python, Aspen Plus, and MATLAB and plans to incorporate them into his research. Outside academics, Chris enjoys listening to music, working out, cooking, and playing console games.
Jill Payackapan
Jill finished her undergraduate studies at Northeastern University in May 2024, receiving a B.S. degree in Chemistry with a Business Administration minor. During this time, she was a part of Dr. Sanjeev Mukerjee’s research group, investigating the oxygen reduction reaction activities of iron-based PGM-free catalysts on nitrogen-doped carbon (Fe-N-C) in acidic electrolytes as well as developing gel polymers for lithium-sulfur batteries. Jill also participated in two co-ops, where she worked on the optimization of electrolyzer performance, specifically investigating various proton exchange membranes (PEM) and developing porous transfer layers (PTLs).
Jill is continuing her graduate studies at Northeastern University, through the Plus One Master’s program to receive a M.S. in Chemistry. Joining the Sayre research group in January 2025, she will be investigating the light-induced anti-microbial mechanism of BOPHY dyads and corroles.
Outside of research, Jill enjoys baking, exploring cafes, crocheting, and reading.
Undergraduate Students
Alexander Kodak
Alex is a candidate for a BSc in Biochemistry at Northeastern University with interests in bio-conjugation, metallodrugs, and catalysis. He is currently working on synthesizing and characterizing ruthenium supramolecular photocatalysts. Some hobbies of his are ice-skating, roller-skating, and listening to music.
Eliana Williamson
Eliana is a candidate for a BS in Biochemistry at Northeastern University. She is currently involved in the synthesis of amide and olefinic group containing molecules involved in carbon-nitrogen bond formation. Outside of class she enjoys hiking and exploring Boston.
Alumni
Dr. Stephen DiLuzio
Camille Conte
Andes Willemsen
Hajjia Mohammed Gipson
Alysha Ebrahim
Ansh Tripathi
Lillian Woodard