Dr. Michael L. Baker MRSC FHEA – Lecturer and Diamond-Manchester Research Fellow Pronouns: He / Him
Mike Baker completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Exeter in 2007 (Physics BSc Hons). He obtained a PhD in neutron spectroscopy via an Institut Laue Langevin fellowship with supervisors including Prof. David Collison, Prof. Hans Güdel, Prof. Eric McInnes, Dr Hannu Mutka and Prof. Richard Winpenny (2007 – 2011). He was a JSPS postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Material Research, Tohoku University within the group of Prof. Hiroyuki Nojiri (2011-2013). He spent a short stint in the groups of Prof. Myriam Sarachik (CCNY, Dept. Physics) and Prof. Andy Kent (NYU, Dept. Physics). He then obtained a Cross-Disciplinary Fellowship from the Human Frontiers Science Program to work for Prof. Edward I. Solomon at Stanford, Dept. Chemistry (2014-2017). In 2018 Mike was appointed as Diamond Light Source – Manchester Research Fellow at the University of Manchester at Harwell and Department of Chemistry. In 2020 he was awarded a Comunity for Analytical Measurement Fellowship. In 2021 he obtained a New Investigator Award from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
Dr. Myron S. Huzan – PDRA Pronouns: He / Him
Myron graduated with an MSci in Physics from Nottingham Trent University in 2018, during which he experienced several experimental research opportunities at large-scale research facilities including CERN, ESRF, ISIS and CLF. He obtained a PhD in Chemistry in 2022 from the University of Manchester under the supervision of Dr Michael L. Baker, researching the utilisation of experimental and theoretical X-ray spectroscopic techniques to study the magnetic and electronic structure of single ion dopants within crystalline matter. He continues a role within the Baker lab as a postdoctoral research associate in f-block X-ray spectroscopy, specialising in applying experimental and theoretical techniques to probe actinide electronic structures.
Nathan Alcock – PhD Student Pronouns: He / Him
Nathan obtained an MChem(Hons) degree from the University of Manchester (2017-2021), during which time he completed research projects with Dr Louise Natrajan (2019) and Prof. Nik Kaltsoyannis (2020-2021) in both experimental and computational radiochemistry. He joins the group to carry out PhD research using RIXS measurements and computational quantum chemical methods to probe the electronic structure of actinides
Alban B. Riley – PhD Student (Maths) Pronouns: He / Him
Alban Bloor Riley graduated from The University of Manchester with an MMath and is now a PhD student working on an interdisciplinary project with Mike Baker and Marcus Webb (from the Mathematics Department). His research focuses on developing new algorithms for solving the inverse eigenvalue problem associated with inelastic neutron spectroscopy experiments.
ZhiBo (Alan) Qi – PhD Student Pronouns: He / Him
Alan is studying f-block electronic structure and magnetism. He has a Diamond Light Source studentship and is co-supervised by Dr Shu Hayama (I20-scanning) and Dr Peter Bencok (I10-BLADE). Alan conducted his MChem studies in the Baker group working on the inelastic neutron scattering of lanthanide molecular magnets.
Charlotte Waters – PhD Student Pronouns: She / Her
Charlie (Charlotte) completed her MChem at The University of Manchester (2018-2022). During the time, she undertook materials based research projects. She is now doing an interdisciplinary PhD based within the department for Earth and Environmental Science with Prof. Sam Shaw and Kath Morris and Dr Tom Neill, whilst being co-supervised by Mike Baker. Her work focuses on developing U L3 and M4,5 -edge EXAFS, HERFD-XANES and RIXS capabilities for environmentally relevant uranium complexes, for decommissioning purposes. Charlie is part of a joint studentship funded by UoM and Diamond Light Source, where she is co-supervised by Prof Fred Mosselmans and Dr Konstantin Ignatyev.
Charlie Moir – PhD Student Pronouns: He / Him
Charlie is utilising various x-ray spectroscopy techniques to develop novel insights into the rare earth metals. His PhD is a part of a dualship with Tsinghua University, with co-supervisors Hanshi Hu and Conrad Goodwin. Charlie acquired research experience during his placement year at Unilever and throughout his MChem project in the Barran lab.
Charlotte Dixon – MPhys Student Pronouns: She / Her
Dixon joins the Baker group to explore how corrections to the consideration of relativistic effects will affect trends seen in actinide complexes. Previously, she wrote her dissertation on the feasibility of a fast neutron reactor within the nuclear field with Dr. Stuart Christie. Dixon has also been very committed to supporting the student experience of both LGBTQ+ and Neurodiverse students, having completed a summer internship in this field with Dr. Jo Cartwright.
James Keller – MPhys Student Pronouns: He / Him
James joins the Baker research group in the final year of his Physics with Theoretical Physics degree. As a part of the practical component of this MPhys degree, he will be using computational techniques to research the electronic structure of the actinide series (RIXS).
Hoi NG – MChem Student Pronouns: She / Her
Hoi joins the group after having completed a placement year in the printed electronics industry. Within this role, she worked on applications within the automotive, semiconductor and solar cell sectors.
Previous Group Members
Dr. Timothy G. Burrow – Beamline Scientist, MARS, Synchrotron SOLEIL
Tim graduated from the University of the West of Scotland with a BSc(Hons) in chemistry, where between his studies he worked for the Royal Society of Chemistry and as a research assistant for a variety of projects. He then joined the Baker group in 2018, where his research sought to exploit the sensitivities of RIXS and develop the technique for the quantification of actinide electronic structure. [Linkedin]
Dr. Rasmus Tang Christiansen – PDRA at Georgia Institute of Technology
Rasmus obtained a BSc in Physics at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen (2014-2018). He has an MSc from the same institution (2014-2018). His MSc project was spent within the group of Prof. Kim Lefmann. In 2021, Rasmus started an Institut Laue Langevin PhD studentship where he studied valence delocalised spin excitations. Rasmus has now joined Henry La Pierre and Martin Mourigal at Georgia Institute of Technology as a postdoctoral researcher associate looking into both molecular and extended quantum systems, with a particular focus on f-elements and vibronic coupling. He is funded by the US deoartment of Energy on a Quantum Information Science grant.
Sayantan Sarkar – MSc Student. Sayantan went on to study a PhD.
Matei Pascariu – MChem Student Matei went on to study a PhD.
Chad Keeling – MChem Student
Ryan Dempsey – MChem Student During his time in the group, Ryan contributed to a published paper (O. Stagg, K. Morris et al., Environ. Sci. Technol., 2022, 56, 24, 17643–17652) and went on to do a PhD, here in Manchester, with Prof. Nikolas Kaltsoyannis.
Joy Chiappella – MChem Student During her time in the group, Joy contributed to a published paper (P. Sadhukhan, S. Wu et al., Nat. Commun., 2023, 14, 3394)
JiaFu Xian – MSc Student
Jin An – MSc Student