
The Pieri Group is committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in academia. Our lab welcomes students and researchers from all backgrounds: we believe that diverse sets of experiences, preferences and ideas fuel the best science. We are committed to prioritizing mental health and kindness: we build together.

Principal Investigator
Elisa Pieri
Elisa completed her undergraduate studies in Chemistry in Siena, and got her PhD in Computational Chemistry in Marseille in 2018. She was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford (USA) in the Martínez group for four years, prior to joining the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Department of Chemistry in 2023.
LIKES: track&field, pets, white tea
DISLIKES: pineapple on pizza, the middle seat, cucumbers

Postdoc
Kiriko Terai
Kiriko completed her undergraduate studies at International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan in 2019. She got her PhD in Computational Chemistry under the supervision of Prof. David Beratan at Duke University in 2025.
LIKES: Puppy play date, rocks and minerals, archery for non-hunting purposes
DISLIKES: Unreliable public transportation

Postdoc
Eleftherios (Lefteris) Mainas
Lefteris completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Athens, Greece. He then moved to Rhode Island to get his Ph.D. at Brown University under the supervision of Richard Stratt.
LIKES: coffee, triathlon, dogs
DISLIKES: cake donuts, the person who invented them

Graduate student
Kaiyi Tong
Kaiyi completed his undergraduate study in Physics at the University of Hong Kong. Then, he got a master’s degree in Physics at Stony Brook University, SUNY, under the supervision of Prof. Cyrus Dreyer. Kaiyi enjoys watching and playing football, gaming, reading, and cooking in his free time.
LIKES: NFL games, Arknights, fishes, Chinese traditional literature
DISLIKES: 8 am classes, foods being too sweet

Graduate student
Noureen Abdelrahman
Noureen completed her undergraduate studies in Chemical Engineering at Lafayette College. She worked in clinical trial design for three years before returning to academia for her master's in Biophysics at Rutgers University under the supervision of Grace Brannigan.
LIKES: hiking, coffee, spicy foods
DISLIKES: 8 am classes, pickles, snow

Graduate student
Madeline Thomas
Madeline completed her undergraduate studies in Chemistry at The University of Alabama. Madeline enjoys cooking, baking, and drawing.
LIKES: Sweaters, Studio Ghibli Movies, Random Smiles
DISLIKES: Wet Socks, Seafood, Mosquito Bites

Graduate student
Janis Zellmer
Janis completed his undergraduate studies in Chemistry at Rutgers University.
LIKES: Foxes, World of Warcraft, Cucumbers
DISLIKES: exercises left for the reader, peanut butter

Graduate student
Conner Baucom
Conner completed his undergraduate studies at UNC Chapel Hill.
LIKES: Star Wars, motorcycles, electric guitar
DISLIKES: wheelbarrows, the letter zeta

Undergraduate Student
Ding Ma
Ding is a senior undergraduate from Winston Salem, NC majoring in chemistry. In his free time he enjoys going to the gym and watching Youtube.
LIKES: Clash of Clans, Peach Vibe Celsius
DISLIKES: unskippable ads

Undergraduate Student
Charan Palavanchu
Hi! I'm a sophomore undergraduate at UNC majoring in Biochemistry and minoring in Neuroscience. I am from San Francisco, California and enjoy listening to music while driving!
LIKES: asian food, cats and Formula 1
DISLIKES: bugs, early mornings and avocados

Undergraduate Student
Eli Calcagni
Eli is a junior undergraduate biochemistry major and math minor from Boston, MA. Outside of studying, he also enjoys cooking, lifting, and watching movies.
LIKES: Chicken parm, cats, & Christopher Nolan films
DISLIKES: Leg day & slow walkers

Undergraduate Student
Campbell Ruffing
Campbell is a freshman undergraduate from Raleigh, NC majoring in Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry at Yale University.
LIKES: organ music, soft pretzels, running
DISLIKES: pickleball, strawberries

High School Student
Clare Lee
Clare is a junior student at Cary Academy with a passion for science and music.
LIKES: plushies, opera, smell of freshly printed paper, anime
DISLIKES: soda, being too clean, loud places
Our Gallery
Pictures from lab life and events!





Alumni

Undergraduate student
Trevor Du
NOW: chemistry graduate student at Purdue

Undergraduate student
Shaena Riddles
NOW: lab technologist at Labcorp

Postdoc
Gregory Curtin
NOW: postdoctoral researcher at AMES national lab