Group Members

Current Research Students

Roxy Riles

Roxy started her work in the Choquette lab Summer 2024. She is expanding our syntheses and coupling reactions on the Schlenk line. Roxy is also a Drew Athlete, competing with the Women’s golf team. 

Gideon Sullivan

Gideon worked in the Choquette DSSI 2023 and DSSI 2024. He is going to continue leading our studies exploring new solvents to form soluble SmI2 (so we hopefully don’t have to distil THF as much!)

Josh Trochez Valeriano

Josh started working in the lab during DSSI Summer 2023 and has continued through Fall 2024. Josh is currently our expert with Sm-Ni catalysis reactions and is working towards an honors thesis at Drew. Josh presented his work at the Spring ACS meeting in New Orleans, sponsored by Drew’s Baldwin Honors Scholar program. 

Past Research Students

Gyedi Appiah-Pipim (Drew ’24)

Gyedi carried out research Summer 2023, working to complete our study on THF storage and use in SmI2 reactions on the Schlenk line. He is first author on the paper! Gyedi is currently at Northeastern in their Chemistry graduate program.

Peanut Edmonson (Drew ’24)

Peanut has started our study of SmI2-Ni catalysis and then continued our work with SmI2 in new ether solvents. Peanut is now attending Boston University for their Masters of Medical Sciences program.

Korka Fall (Drew ’23)

Korka worked in the Choquette from 2021- 2023.  She is on currently in a graduate program for chemical engineering at Lehigh University.

Aline Krueger (Drew ’23)

Aline is an international student from Brazil, double majoring in Chemistry and Neuroscience, but has a special interest in synthetic chemistry! Following her completion of Organic I & II the chemistry dept named her semesters of organic chemistry being named “2021 Top Organic Student”
Her career goal is to join a pharmaceutical company and work in drug development. She hopes to combine her interests by creating compounds that aid in neurological disorders. Outside of her new found love of the lab, her favorites hobbies are swimming and playing the tenor recorder.

Vanessa Sherwood (Drew ’24)

Vanessa worked in the during DSSI Summer 2022.  She worked through many of our protocols as the lab starting working in the glovebox!

Aaron Yengbie (Drew ’23)

Aaron worked in the Choquette lab for DSSI Summer 2022. He made substantial progress with us understanding the patterns and pitfalls of some of our most air sensitive reactions. “Check with Aaron’s data” is a common phrase still said in the lab 🙂 

Karima Shifa (Drew ’23)

Karima joined the lab in Spring 2022 and worked with SmI2 on the Schlenk line. 

Beyza Yilmaz (Drew ’22)

Beyza completed her work in the Choquette lab with an Honors thesis titled “Samarium Diiodide: Air-Free Synthesis Methods and Some Applications in Simple Reduction and Cross Coupling Reactions”. She is now in graduate school completing working towards her PhD at City University of New York (CUNY Brooklyn) in the Murelli Group

Caroline Tramontana (Drew ’22)

Caroline completed her work in the Choquette lab with an honors thesis and and almost “all wrapped up” project of our synthesis of SmI2 on the Schlenk Line! Caroline is currently studying medicine at Rowan University Medical School.

Riya Divekar (Drew ’22)

Riya is preparing the Choquette group for its first application to peptide synthesis. Following a proposal by Kayla Smalling, Riya is researching the ideas to start work when we are back on campus. Riya is now at

 Molly Royek (Drew ’21)

Molly worked DSSI summer 2019 and summer 2020, completing work of the synthesis of SmI2 using Kagan’s method and also participating in the first RSCU program during COVID shut down. Molly is currently enrolled in the 

Molly Thompson (Drew ’20)

Summer 2019 DSSI Molly^2 completed the work of comparing the Kagan synthesis of SmI2 to Imamoto’s method; and declared Kagan the winner! Molly is currently studying to be a Physician’s assistant at St. Elizabeth

Giselle Rojas (Drew ’18)

Giselle joined the lab Spring 2017, and continued in the lab through the summer and the following two semesters until she graduated. She also helped train two new students entering the lab. Giselle is now a graduate student at Lehigh University, working in the Chen Lab

Kayla Smalling (Drew ’18)

Kayla joined the lab Summer 2017, working with air-free conditions for the first time, but excited to continue learning new organic lab techniques!  Her incredible attention to detail and meticulous note taking helped the lab have new streamlined procedures for our THF-Na still and synthesis after only 8 weeks. 

Domenico DiSalvo (Drew ’18)

Dom worked in the lab during the Spring 2017 semester.  He was the first one to work on a synthesis project to obtain starting material for the SmI2/Ni coupling reaction.  Through his hard work we determined isomers that formed through this synthesis, which prompted him to search through the literature for a new approach.  Dom is currently at Rutgers Dental School. 

Eugene Cyrus (Drew ’17)

Eugene had the unique position of being the first student to join the Choquette lab, Summer 2016. Being the first student means he worked through the issues of finding all of the glassware we needed, figuring out the best set up for stills, and painstakingly identifying where air leaks were in our system.  Eugene continued to work in the lab from Summer 2016 through Summer 2017.