Joint Research Safety Initiative

Chemistry happens. Don’t let it happen to you.

JRSI

sustainable safety culture
educational tools
organized and centralized resources

By Researchers, For Researchers

The Joint Research Safety Initiative (JRSI) is a new safety community run by students, post-docs, and research assistants on campus that aims to provide centralized and accessible safety and educational resources for students and faculty. Our safety and efficiency is up to us, and only us.

What We Do

gather departmental data

We develop and implement surveys to measure the effectiveness of our initiative and the culture of our departments.

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facilitate open dialogues

We put on events, safety demos, vendor fairs, and safety programs to encourage open dialogue and participation.

train lab safety contacts

We are working to improve the quality and availability of training resources for current and future LSCs.

gather departmental data

We develop and implement surveys to measure the effectiveness of our initiative and the culture of our departments.

LEARN MORE

w

facilitate open dialogues

We put on events, safety demos, vendor fairs, and safety programs to encourage open dialogue and participation.

LEARN MORE

train lab safety contacts

We are working to improve the quality and availability of training resources for current and future LSCs.

LEARN MORE

gather departmental data

We develop and implement surveys to measure the effectiveness of our initiative and the culture of our departments.

LEARN MORE

w

facilitate open dialogues

We put on events, safety demos, vendor fairs, and safety programs to encourage open dialogue and participation.

LEARN MORE

train lab safety contacts

We are working to improve the quality and availability of training resources for current and future LSCs.

LEARN MORE

Contact Us

jrsi@uchicago.edu

Leadership

Serving Chemistry & PME

people

Lauryn Carver

lcarver@uchicago.edu

Co-President

Lauryn is a PhD Candidate in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering co-advised by Profs. Matthew Tirrell and Yun Fang. She graduated from the University of Oklahoma in May 2019 where she received B.S. in Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology. Her current research surrounds the use of nanoparticles in medical applications, specifically for the potential treatment of cardiopulmonary diseases and fibroses.

Joey Federico

jvfederico@uchicago.edu

Advisor

Joey is currently a fourth year PhD student in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering co-advised by Prof. Bana Jabri and Prof. Samantha Riesenfeld. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University with his B.S.E. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, after which he spent several years working in the biotechnology industry. Upon returning to academia, he has shifted his scientific focus on the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases using various ‘omics techniques.

 

Colleen Foley

crfoley@uchicago.edu

Publicity Committee Chair

Colleen is a fourth year PhD candidate in PME (Immunoengineering). She works in Melody Swartz’s lab, where she studies effects of lymphangiogenesis on immunotherapy response and metastasis in melanoma. Outside of lab, she volunteers with middle and high school students, and enjoys running and hanging out with her cats. She is excited to advocate for biosafety as a member of JRSI.

 

Ivan Vuong

ivuong1@uchicago.edu

Finance Committee Chair

Ivan is a third-year PhD student in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering advised by Prof. Jeffrey Hubbell. He earned his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Entrepreneurship and Management from Johns Hopkins University. In the Hubbell Lab, Ivan studies protein-protein interactions and engineers protein therapeutics for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. He joined JRSI to help equip researchers across departments with safety practices and resources.

 

Ryne Montoya

rmontoya@uchicago.edu

Publicity Committee Member

Education Committee Member

Ryne is a PhD candidate in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, working under the advisement of Jeff Hubbell. He primarily uses chemical synthesis techniques and protein engineering approaches to develop immunotherapies for the treatment of auto-immune diseases and various types of cancer. Ryne joined JRSI in 2024 and is looking forward to upholding the strong safety environment on campus. Outside of the lab, he enjoys watching/playing sports, hiking, and exploring the food scene in Chicago!



Andrea Diaz

andreadiaz@uchicago.edu

Research Committee Chair

Diaz was born in California, raised in the Chicago area, and received her BSE in Chemical Engineering from the University of Iowa. Prior to PME, she worked at Clorox as an R&D scientist focusing on water filtration and sustainable packaging materials, at Honeywell as a chemical engineer, and at Fresenius Kabi as a validation engineer for new pharmaceuticals. Diaz’s current research in the Patel group focuses on upcycling plastics, and she also conducts her research at Argonne National Lab. Andrea joined JRSI as her experience in industry and National Lab has motivated her to help promote better safety practices across university laboratories.

 

 

 

Ignas Masiulionis

ignas@uchicago.edu

Finance Committee Member
Education Committee Member

Ignas is a fourth year PhD Candidate in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and is a part of Prof. Supratik Guha’s group and spends most of his time at the Argonne National Lab. He graduated with B.S. in Astronomy and a secondary major in Physics from the Case Western Reserve University. His current research involves development of thin-film devices to be used as quantum repeaters.

Sam Marsden

samarsden@uchicago.edu

Publicity Committee Member

Education Committee Member

Sam is a PhD candidate in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering working in Prof. Stuart Rowan’s lab. His focus is on the synthesis and characterization of new materials that behave similarly to commercial plastics while being able to be chemically broken down for ease of recycling. He joined the JRSI in order to help foster a culture of safety at the university. Outside of work, Sam loves baking, tabletop games, and reading by the lakeside.

Shraman Saha

sahas@uchicago.edu

Finance Committee Member

Publicity Committee Member

Shraman is a PhD candidate in the Department of Chemistry and a member of the Guyot-Sionnest group. His research focuses on developing toxic-metal-free quantum dots to create LEDs in the mid-infrared region. Shraman joined JRSI to foster a strong culture of lab safety and contribute to safer research environments at the University. Outside of his academic work, he enjoys cooking, meditating, and reading.

 

Matt Styles

mstyles@uchicago.edu

Research Committee Member

Matt is a Postdoc in the Department of Chemistry in the Dickinson Lab. He received his PhD in 2021 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he worked in the Blackwell Lab at the intersection of biophysics, chemistry, and microbiology. His research in the Dickinson group focuses primarily on method development for directed evolution of protein-protein interaction modulating biomolecules.

Jelena Momirov

momirov@uchicago.edu

Education Committee Chair

Jelena is currently a fourth year grad-student in the Department of Chemistry and a member of the Dickinson group. She graduated from Barry University with BS in Chemistry, after which she spent several years as a research tech in the Boger Lab at Scripps Research. Her research interests include developing new chemical biology platforms to make drug discovery safer and more efficient. In the Dickinson group, she is  developing new protein engineering approaches for targeted prodrug activation and extracellular protein labeling. Jelena joined JRSI in order to learn and promote more precautionary lab safety techniques among her peers