Postdoctoral Researchers
Graduate Students
Lisa Karlsson
lisadono@sas.upenn.edu
Ph.D. Student
Lisa was raised in North Carolina and attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There, she worked on novel methods to analyze 3D cell cultures in Dr. Matthew Lockett’s lab, and explored bioderived polymer applications under Dr. Aleksandr Zhukhovitskiy. After graduating in 2022 with a B.S. in chemistry, Lisa came to Penn and joined the Lester group in 2023. In her free time, Lisa likes to practice yoga, ride her bike, and hang out with her cat.

Meijun Zou
Ph.D. Student
Meijun was born and raised in Jiangxi, China. During her undergraduate study in Nanjing University, she conducted some research on photophysical properties of perovskite under Professor Yuxi Tian. After graduating with a B.S. in chemistry, Meijun continued her study in the University of Pennsylvania. She joined the Lester Group at the beginning of 2020. In her spare time, Meijun enjoys a variety of hobbies including drawing, calligraphy and volleyball.

Yujie Qian
Ph.D. Student
Yujie was born in Jiangsu, China. She did her undergraduate in Chemistry at Pennsylvania State University. She studied the homogeneity of water-polypropylene glycol mixtures in her undergraduate research. She joined Lester’s group at the beginning of 2021. In her spare time, she loves watching movies.

Rawan Rabayah
Ph.D. Student
Rawan was born and raised in Atlantic City, New Jersey. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She worked with Dr. Shu Yang to synthesize liquid crystal elastomers. She also worked with Dr. Marsha Lester to investigate Criegee intermediates using electronic spectroscopy and computational methods. In her free time she enjoys painting, reading, and playing video games.

Lilyana Walsh
Ph.D. Student
Lily was born and raised in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. She did her undergraduate studies at Providence College, where she investigated the impact of solvent on the structure and reactivity of iron pentacarbonyl in Dr. Christopher Laperle’s lab. After graduating in 2023 with a B.S. in chemistry and a B.A. in mathematics, Lily came to Penn and joined the Lester Group in 2024. In her spare time, Lily enjoys baking, roller skating, and playing tennis.
