Current Team Members
Mary Blankenship (Volunteer)
Mary holds a UNLV Masters degree in Chemistry and is now a Ph.D. student at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Karlsruhe, Germany. Her primary research as a Doktorandin involves the utilization of spectroscopic techniques to study the electronic and chemical properties of materials with novel quantum-based soft x-ray spectrometers. Mary is fascinated with Physical Chemistry, Energy and its practical application in our economy and environmental policy.
Stephen Faussett (Graduate Researcher)
Stephen finished his Undergraduate Studies at UNLV, majoring in both Physics and Chemistry, 2023. He is now pursuing a Ph.D. in Chemistry in our team, conducting research on novel iron-based oxides and their use as catalyst materials, using electron and soft x-ray spectroscopic methods. Stephen, in charge of our "Andere ESCA" is also conducting electronic structure studies of CdTe solar cells. He is captivated by energy and its vast utility in the world and is eager to develop his knowledge further to promote future advancements in renewable energy.
Dirk Hauschild (Adjunct Associate Professor)
Dirk’s research focuses on the investigation of surfaces and interfaces in applied material systems with soft x-ray and electron spectroscopies. During his Ph.D., he investigated the electronic and chemical structure of CIGSSe-based solar cells. Currently, Dirk utilizes soft and hard x-rays to study liquids, liquid/solid interfaces, and thin-film solar cells, e.g., perovskites and chalcopyrites. At the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Karlsruhe, Germany, Dirk is a research scientist in the Institute for Photon Science and Synchrotron Radiation (IPS).
Clemens Heske (Professor)
Clemens uses lab- and synchrotron-based soft x-rays to study surfaces and interfaces in a wide variety of material systems for energy conversion. With the expertise and technical skills of the team, we collaborate with a large number of national and international partners in academia, national labs, and industry to investigate and improve thin film solar cells, materials for hydrogen production, hydrogen storage, fuel cells, light-emitting devices, nuclear fuel, and other systems that involve interfaces and require a deeper understanding of their electronic and chemical properties to optimize the performance and stability of the final device.
Clemens thoroughly enjoys spending time teaching Physical Chemistry at UNLV and being among his colleagues in the UNLV Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Also, he is a Professor and Director of the Institute for Photon Science and Synchrotron Radiation (IPS) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Karlsruhe, Germany.
Clemens thoroughly enjoys spending time teaching Physical Chemistry at UNLV and being among his colleagues in the UNLV Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Also, he is a Professor and Director of the Institute for Photon Science and Synchrotron Radiation (IPS) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Karlsruhe, Germany.
Jeyan Lacson (Graduate Researcher)
Jeyan joined the graduate program in Chemistry at UNLV in the fall of 2025. She is interested in sustainability and physical chemistry's applications in the renewable energy industry. Jeyan is responsible for our "Scienta" surface science machine and is studying materials for energy conversion and hydrogen production, using x-ray and electron spectroscopy to analyze the chemical and electronic structure of surfaces and interfaces.
Thomas Nguyen (Undergraduate Researcher)
Thomas is an undergraduate student at UNLV, majoring in Physics, and is interested in learning about spectroscopy and complex research instrumentation.
Albert Paul (Volunteer)
Albert, from Kerala, India, was a Postdoctoral Researcher and is now transitioning to another post-doc position, continuing as a remote volunteer in our team. He completed his Ph.D. in Materials Engineering from the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Mexico, where his research focussed on thin-film solar cells.
Srabanti Ratna (Graduate Researcher)
Srabanti joined our team as a graduate student in fall 2024. She received her M.Sc. degree from the Vellore Institute of Technology in Chennai, India, and also completed her Masters thesis at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. Srabanti is currently focusing on the operation of our multi-chamber surface science instrumentation and will investigate materials for solar energy conversion with electron and x-ray spectroscopies.
Constantin Wansorra (Adjunct Assistant Professor)
Constantin is a Postdoc at the Institute for Photon Science and Synchrotron Radiation (IPS) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at UNLV. His research focuses on synchrotron-based techniques available at the X-SPEC beamline of the KIT Light Source in Karlsruhe. One of his research topics is the evaluation of excitation energy dependent Photoelectron Spectroscopy (PES) measurements, which are used for calculating depth distributions in materials. These measurements usually rely on calculated photoionization cross sections (PICS) that can vary by several orders of magnitude over the available excitation energy range. By comparing calculated PICS to measured data from reference samples, it is possible to estimate the error and reveal accuracy and risks of this technique.
Lothar Weinhardt (Adjunct Professor)
Lothar is working on applying electron and x-ray spectroscopies for the investigation of surfaces and interfaces in applied material systems. In particular, he is focusing on the development of specialized instrumentation to study such systems in in situ and operando environments. This also motivates his intense interest in using soft x-ray spectroscopies to study the electronic structure of liquids and gases, which includes salts and molecules in solutions relevant for biological questions. At the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Karlsruhe, Germany, Lothar leads the division for x-ray spectroscopy in the Institute for Photon Science and Synchrotron Radiation (IPS).