Stacy Copp
Assistant Professor
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Department of Chemistry
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Department of Physics and Astronomy
ISEB 5072 | 949-824-8181
stacy.copp@uci.edu
CV
Postdoctoral Researchers
Rweetuparna Guha
2021-current
PhD Chemistry, University of Münster 2020
Project: Structural properties of DNA-stabilized silver nanoclusters, nucleic acid-silver interactions
Kylie Lytle
2025-current
PhD Chemistry 2024, Texas A&M University
Project: Nanocluster architectures for advanced photonics
Nandini Kundu
2025-current
PhD Chemistry 2021, Texas A&M University
Project: Biomolecular functionalization of DNA-stabilized silver nanoclusters
Graduate Student Researchers
Eshana Bethur
PhD Candidate, Materials Science and Engineering
2020-current
Project: Expanding the toolbox of DNA nanotechnology with metal-nucleic acid chemistry
Jayme Chow
PhD Candidate, Chemistry
2021-current
Project: Controlled block copolymer-directed nanoparticle assembly for photonic nanomaterials
Anthea Segger
PhD student, Materials Science and Engineering
2023-current
UCI-LANL SoCal Hub Fellow ’24-’25
Graduate Opportunity Fellow ’23-’24
Project: Light-harvesting with DNA-stabilized nanoclusters
I-Hsin (Vivian) Lin
PhD student, Materials Science and Engineering
2023-current
CCAM Junior Research Fellow
Project: Discovery and development of near-infrared DNA-stabilized silver clusters for bioimaging
Jacqueline Lampert
PhD student, Chemistry
2024-current
Project: coming soon!
Future PhD student
This could be you – we are hiring!
Undergraduate Researchers
Kaicheng Jiang
Undergraduate researcher, 2022-current
UCI Chemical Engineering
Project: DNA-stabilized silver nanocluster discovery
Crystal Murillo
Undergraduate researcher, 2022-current
UCI Aerospace Engineering
Project: ML-guided DNA-stabilized silver nanocluster discovery
Carlos Melchor
Undergraduate researcher, 2023-current
UCI Mechanical Engineering
Project: ML-guided DNA-stabilized silver nanocluster discovery
Valentina Medina
Undergraduate researcher, 2024-current
UCI Chemical Engineering
Project: DNA-stabilized silver nanocluster discovery
Join our group
Graduate students are welcome to join our group from several different PhD programs at UCI, including MSE, Physics, CBE, and the ChaMP program. Students are encouraged to apply for fellowships. At present, the Copp lab anticipates recruiting new PhD students for Fall 2025.
For undergraduate students interested in research opportunities: Email Prof. Copp at stacy.copp@uci.edu and send a copy of your transcript and a brief description of your research interests. Students are encouraged to pursue funding through UROP and SURP.
Interested postdoctoral candidates are strongly encouraged to identify extramural funding and work with Prof. Copp to develop a research proposal and application package. Candidates must have a PhD by appointment start date in materials science, physics, chemistry, chemical and biomolecular engineering, or a related discipline. Inquiries should include a CV, brief description of your research interests in our group, and names of 3 individuals who can serve as reference.
Group Alumni
Graduate student researchers
Dr. Anna Gonzalez Rosell
PhD Materials Science and Engineering, 2019-2024
la Caixa Postgraduate Abroad Fellow
Thesis: Understanding Structure-Property Relationships of DNA-Stabilized Silver Nanoclusters with Near-Infrared Emission
Next step: Postdoctoral research at Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, Los Alamos National Lab
Dr. Peter Mastracco
PhD Materials Science and Engineering, 2019-2024
CCAM Junior Research Fellow
Thesis: Interpretable machine learning for understanding and designing materials systems
Next step: Postdoctoral researcher in Clancy group, JHU
Dan Snow, MS ’20 Materials Science and Engineering. Now materials chemist at Sherwin-Williams
Rushikesh Prasad Joshi, MS ’20 Computer Science. Now software development engineer at Amazon
Naomy Marrufo, PhD Student MSE, Competitive Edge Summer Fellow ’20. Now in the Hochbaum lab
DaVante Cain, PhD student Physics, ChAMP summer rotation ’21, Now in the Siwy lab.
Tia Wilson, PhD Student MSE and ChAMP, 2021-22.
Malak Rafik, MS UCI MSE, ’22 and Engineering Pathway to the PhD Fellow. Previously at Invenergy, now pursuing medical school at Noorda College.
Alex Vasquez, PhD Student, Physics, ChAMP program. 2021-2024.
Undergraduate student researchers
Wendy Lee, BS 2020 MSE. Now yield engineer at TSMC
Miriam Contreras STEM Summer Research Opportunity Intern 2021, Chaffey College. Now a Biomedical Engineering Major at UC Riverside
Diego Espino, Summer 2021 SURF Fellow, now MS student at UCLA
Hannah Martin, Summer 2021 CCAM REU Fellow, now a PhD student at Colorado School of Mines, McGuirk group
Joshua Evans, STEM Summer Research Opportunity Research Intern 2020-2021, Chaffey College. Now a biology major at UC Riverside
Nery Arevalos, 2021-22, Summer 2021 SURP Fellow, B.S. Biomedical Engineering ’22, now a PhD student in Biomedical Engineering at Boston University.
Tasneem Khokar, Summer 2022 SURP Fellow, UCI Physics student
Michael Friend, Summer 2022 CCAM REU Fellow, currently MSE student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
I-Hsin Lin, 2022 UCInspire summer research fellow, B.S. Biomedical Engineering at Taipei Medical University. Now PhD student in the Copp lab
John Bateman, 2022 SURP fellow, B.S. Physics 2022, now at Bloom Energy
Shan (Vicky) Yu, 2022 SURP fellow, B.S. Chemistry 2023. Now MS student at UPenn Chemistry
Vianna Xiao, 2022 SURP fellow, B.S. Chemistry 2023. Now MS student at Northwestern MSE
Anthea Segger, 2023 B.S. MSE, Now PhD student in the Copp lab
Christopher Muller, Summer 2023 REU Fellow, now completing degree at UCSD Aerospace Engineering
Jose Lopez-Gallego, 2023-24, completing BS. in MAE at UCI
Jessica Lee, 2023-24, completing BS. in MSE at UCI
Munachukwuso Charles-Monwuba, CCAM REU Fellow 2024, now completing B.S. Biochemistry at Millersville University
Vareesha Uddin, 2023-2024 LAEP fellow, now completing B.S. UCI Biomedical Engineering