Lab Members
Dana D. Dlott
William H. and Janet G. Lycan Emeritus Professor of Chemistry
Professor Dana D. Dlott (he/him) received his undergraduate degree from Columbia in 1974 and his Ph.D. from Stanford in 1979. He joined the faculty at Illinois in 1979. Professor Dlott’s research interests are in chemical physics, and physical and materials chemistry. His research is focused on understanding the dynamical behavior of molecules in condensed matter, including crystalline solids, glasses, polymers, biopolymers, surfaces and liquids.
RESEARCH INTERESTS: Physical chemistry, chemical physics, materials chemistry and surface and interface chemistry. Ultrafast laser spectroscopy and laser development. Vibrational energy in molecules and materials. Energetic materials, especially nanotechnology energetic materials. High pressure and dynamic shock compression of molecules. Laser-material processes used in high speed imaging. Electrochemical energy generation and storage. Electrochemical surface science.
He can be contacted by emailing to dlott@illinois.edu. Additional links for peer-reviewed scholarly literature are ResearchGate and Google Scholar.
Dhanalakshmi Sellan
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Dhanalakshmi Sellan (she/her) joined the Dlott’s group as Postdoctoral Research Associate in 2022. She received both her Bachelor (B.E) and Master of Engineering (M.E) in Aeronautical Engineering. She received her Ph.D degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IITH), India. In her PhD thesis work she proposed LPG as an alternative fuel for gas turbine engine. She simulated LPG combustion in laboratory scale swirl burner and characterized using optical and laser diagnostics techniques. Currently, her research work focuses on studying high explosives under dynamic extreme conditions.
She can be contacted by emailing dhana@illinois.edu. Associated peer-reviewed scholarly literature may be found on Google Scholar
Siva Kumar Valluri
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Siva (he/him) earned a dual degree in 2014—a bachelor’s (B.E. (hons)) in chemical engineering and a master’s degree (M.Sc.) in chemistry from Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences-Pilani (India). Subsequently, he was awarded a master’s degree (M.S.) in 2016 and a doctoral degree (Ph.D.) in 2021, both in chemical engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Specializing in metal combustion, kinetic analysis, and material characterization, his dissertation work led to the development of novel reactive materials for use as fuel additives, insensitive propellants, and agent-defeat materials.
In 2021, Siva joined Dr. Dlott’s group, where he primarily focuses on maximizing the energy density of explosive formulations by engineering of metal composite additives. Additional projects include characterizing shock-induced reactivity attributed to packing microstructure, developing instrumentation for laser-launched hypersonic projectiles, and employing deep learning and data analytic techniques to extract valuable information from diagnostics such as high-speed imaging and fast pyrometry.
He can be contacted by emailing svalluri@illinois.edu. Associated peer-reviewed scholarly literature may be found on ResearchGate and Google Scholar. A comprehensive summary of his professional journal is available on LinkedIn.
Lakshay Bansal
Graduate Research Assistant
Lakshay (he/him) received a Bachelor of Technology in Aerospace Engineering from Amity University, India. His major project and bachelor thesis focused on studying the effects of various additives and different particle sizes on the ignition delay of shellac-based pyrotechnic compositions. He recently joined the Dlott group at the end of 2023 and is currently working on the shock compression of metal composites.
He can be contacted by emailing lbansa2@illinois.edu. Associated peer-reviewed scholarly literature may be found on ResearchGate and Google Scholar. A comprehensive summary of his professional journal is available on LinkedIn.
Tylor Takahashi
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Ryan Eisenstadt
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Ryan Eisenstadt (he/him) is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Physics at the Grainger College of Engineering on the Graduate Study Track and is thinking about specializing in nuclear physics and minoring in mathematics. Ryan officially joined the Dlott group at the beginning of 2024 and will be working on building a new laser-driven flyer plate setup. He is from Northbrook IL, and will graduate in 2026.
He can be reached by emailing ryanje2@illinois.edu.
Former Postdocs and Students
Some students who received their degree under Dr.Dlott’s supervision
1. Claire L. Schosser, Ph.D, 1984 (Monsanto Corp.)
2. Eric L. Chronister, Ph.D, 1985 (Professor, University of California, Riverside)
3. Thomas J. Kosic, Ph.D, 1985 (Hughes Research)
4. Jeffrey R. Hill, Ph.D, 1988 (Los Alamos National Lab)(Stanford University)
5. Jay C. Postlewaite, Ph.D, 1990 (Shell Oil Corp.)
6. Hackjin Kim, Ph.D, 1990 (Professor, Chungnam University)
7. Jeffrey B. Miers, Ph.D, 1992 (Center for Naval Analysis Corp.)
8. Xiaoning Wen, Ph.D, 1993 (Northwestern University)
9. Sheah Chen, Ph.D, 1994 (Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Taiwan)
10. Sandy Lee, Ph.D, 1995 (Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
11. Jens Franken, Ph.D., 1998 (Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Taiwan)
12. Lawrence K. Iwaki, 2000 (Northrop Grumman Space Technology)
13. James Patterson, MS Brigham Young University, Brigham Young University, 2004
14. Yoonsoo Pang, MS Seoul National University, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology
15. Aaron Lozano, BS Indiana University, MS Chemistry, US Army, 2010.
16. Ying Fang, BS Beijing University, Rice University, CGG Corp.
17. Jeffrey Carter, BS Virginia Tech, Picarro, Inc.
18. Rusty Conner, BA, Trinity University, Intel Corp.
19. Kathryn Brown, BS Cornell College, Los Alamos National Laboratory
20. Brandt C. Pein, BS University of Washington, MIT
21. Christopher M. Berg, BS Lebanon Valley College, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
22. Yuanxi Fu, BS Nanjing University, Institute for Basic Science, Ulsan Korea
23. William L. Shaw, BS Illinois State University, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
24. Yuxiao Sun, BS California Institute of Technology, Epic, Inc.
25. Will P. Bassett, BS, Texas Tech University
26. Alexander Moore (MS), BS Missouri Western State College
27. James M. Christensen, BS Utah State University
A few former postdoctoral associates
1. Ta-Chau Chang, Ph.D, Iowa State University, Institute for Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Taiwan
2. Taehyoung Zyung, Ph.D, Texas Tech University, Telecommunications Research Institute, Daejeon, Korea
3. Mark Doxtader, Ph.D, University of Pennsylvania, Graphics Technology International Corp.
4. William A. Tolbert, Ph.D, University of Wisconsin, 3M Corporation
5. Xiaoyu Hong, Ph.D, Brown University, SDL Corporation.
6. Sean Kirkpatrick, Ph.D U. Georgia, Naval Research Laboratory
7. David E. Hare, Kansas State University, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
8. Guray Tas, Ph.D Brown University, Brown University, Rudolph Technologies
9. Jeffrey R. Hill, Ph.D, University of Iowa
10. J. J. Cavaleri, Ph.D University of Kansas, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Forensic Laboratory
11. John Deàk, Ph.D, University of Rochester, Proctor and Gamble Corp.
12. Glennys Mensing, Ph.D, Vanderbilt University (physics), Beckman Institute, University of Illinois
13. Serguei Koulikov, Ph.D, Russian Academy of Sciences, Troitsk, Russia (physics), Informed Diagnostics, Inc.
14. Andrei Pakoulev, Ph.D, Moscow Technical Physics Institute, University of Wisconsin Madison
15. Zhaoyong Sun, Ph.D. Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of California Davis
16. Yangqiang Yang, Ph.D, Changchun Institute, Chinese Academy of Science (Physics), Dept. of Physics, Harbin Institute of Technology
17. Shufeng Wang, Ph.D. Department of Physics Beijing University, Associate Prof. of Physics, Beijing University.
18. Wentao Huang, PhD, Beijing University, University of Colorado
19. Hyunung Yu, PhD Seoul National University, Korean Institute of Standards and Technology (KIST)
20. Shinsuke Shigeto, PhD Tokyo University, Institute of Molecular Science, College of Science, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan
21. Mikhail Zamkov, PhD Kansas State University, Professor of Chemistry, Bowling Green State University
22. S. Eric Surber, PhD University of Arizona, Program Manager, ATK Corp.
24. Selezion Hambir, Ph.D, Michigan State University (chemistry)
25. Zhaohui Wang, Ph.D. Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor of Chemistry, Xiamen University
26. Nak-Hyun Seong, PhD Gwang-Ju Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, S. Korea.
27. Hiroki Fujiwara, PhD Kyoto University, University of Bristol
28. Prabuddha Mukherjee, PhD University of Wisconsin, Materials Research Laboratory University of Illinois.
29. Xianxu Zheng, PhD Institute of Fluid Mechanics, China Academy of Engineering Physics. Currently National key laboratory of shock wave and detonation physics, Institute of fluid physics, China Academy of Engineering Physics.
30. Alex Curtis, PhD. Brigham Young University
31. Jue Wang, PhD Princeton University
32. Alexandr Banishev, PhD. Moscow Lomonosov Moscow State University, IPG Photonics, Oxford, MA
33. Shuichi Toyouchi, PhD Tohoku University, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgiumm.
34. Natalia García Rey, PhD University of Liverpool
35. Mithun Bhomick, PhD Virginia Tech University