Dr. Pengfei Li
Principal Investigator
07/2026-Present Associate Professor,
Loyola University Chicago
08/2020-06/2026 Assistant Professor,
Loyola University Chicago
01/2018-08/2020 Postdoctoral Associate, Yale University
(Advisor: Dr. Sharon Hammes-Schiffer)
09/2016-12/2017 Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
(Advisor: Dr. Sharon Hammes-Schiffer)
08/2016 Ph.D. in Chemistry, Michigan State University
Ph.D. Dissertation: Advances in Metal Ion Modeling
(Advisor: Dr. Kenneth M. Merz. Jr.)
07/2011 B.S. in Chemistry, Xiamen University
(Advisor: Dr. Zexing Cao)
Research Team
Dr. Madelyn Smith
Postdoctoral researcher
2025 Ph.D. in Chemistry, Loyola University Chicago
2020 B.S. in Biochemistry, Miami University: Oxford Campus
Bailey Hanson
Ph.D. Student
(Teaching Scholars Fellowship 2025-2026)
2020 B.S. in Chemistry & Minor in Mathematics, St. Norbert College
Richa Khatiwada
Ph.D. Student
2018 Bachelor of Technology in Biotechnology, Purbanchal University
Sunil Kumar
Ph.D. Student
2022 M.S. in Chemistry, Indian Insitute of Technology Madras
2020 B.S. in Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics, Government National College Sirsa
Rachel Lang
M.S. Student
2018 B.A. in Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago
2018 B.S. in Chemistry & Minor in Mathematics, University of Illinois at Chicago
Jiaying Ji
Post-bachelor researcher
2025 B.S. in Computer Science, University of Minnesota
Stephen O'Connor
Undergraduate Student
(Provost Research Fellowship 2025)
Loyola University Chicago
Andrew Chang
Undergraduate Student
(Mulcahy Fellowship 2025-2026)
Loyola University Chicago
Leroy Jing
William Fremd High School
Class 0f 2027
Alumni
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Dr. Madelyn Smith, PhD student, Fall 2020-Summer 2025, graduated with distinction
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Dr. Yang Wei, postdoctoral researcher Fall 2021-Summer 2023, current postdoc at Boston College​
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Prof. David Benson (Calvin University, joint visiting scholar of the Merz Group and Li group during Fall 2022)
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Kim Piehl, BS then MS researcher, Fall 2022-Spring 2025, graduated
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Griffin Hall, undergraduate researcher, Summer 2024-Spring 2025, graduated
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Diana Lambropoulos, undergraduate researcher, Spring 2024-Spring 2025, current graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania
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Brendan Nieukirk, undergraduate researcher, Fall 2020-Spring 2022, current Ph.D. student at Nortre Dame
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Juveria Fatima, undergraduate researcher, Fall 2020-Spring 2022, graduated
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Simran Patel, undergraduate researcher, Fall 2020-Spring 2022, graduated
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Stephanie Lorbes, undergrauate researcher Summer 2022-Spring 2023
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Victoria Marshall, undergraduate researcher, Summer 2022-Spring 2023, current graduate student in optometry school)
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Nathaniel Belshan, undergraduate researcher, Fall 2022-Spring 2024, graduated
Get in Touch
If you have any question for me about the Li research group, you can contact me through email: pli4 [at] luc.edu.