Dr. Nathanael Kazmierczak joined the Hope College Department of Chemistry in 2025. The Kaz Lab studies the interaction of light with molecules in the presence of magnetic fields. Through advanced spectroscopy techniques, the Kaz Lab gleans insights on how to build better light-activated catalysts, organic LEDs for display technologies, and quantum bits. Dr. Kazmierczak’s teaching roles include Physical Chemistry I (thermodynamics and kinetics) and Physical Chemistry II (quantum mechanics and spectroscopy).

See Dr. Kazmierczak’s current research 

Areas of expertise

• Magnetic circularly polarized luminescence (MCPL) spectroscopy
• Magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) spectroscopy
• Lasers and cryogenics
• Transition metal catalysis
• Photochemistry
• Computational chemistry

Education

• Ph.D., chemistry, California Institute of Technology, 2025
• B.S., chemistry, Calvin University, 2020
• B.A., music, Calvin University, 2020

Honors, Grants, and Awards

• Herbert Newby McCoy Thesis Prize Award, Caltech, 2025
• Hertz Fellowship, 2021–2025
• NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, 2020–2023
• Barry M. Goldwater Scholar, 2017–2019
• Beckman Scholar, 2016–2017

Selected Publications

A full list of publications, including academic citations, is available on Dr. Kazmierczak’s CV.

• “A Spectrochemical Series for Electron Spin Relaxation.” With co-first author K. T. Xia and co-authors E. Sutcliffe, J. P. Aalto, and R. G. Hadt. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2025, 147, pages 2849-2859.
• “Spectroscopic Signatures of Phonon Character in Molecular Electron Spin Relaxation.” With co-authors P. H. Oyala and R. G. Hadt. ACS Central Science, 2024, 10, pages 2353-2362.
• “Ultrafast All-Optical Coherence of Molecular Electron Spins in Room-Temperature Water Solution.” With first author E. Sutcliffe and co-author R. G. Hadt. Science 2024, 386, pages 888-892.
• “Illuminating Ligand Field Contributions to Molecular Qubit Spin Relaxation via T₁ Anisotropy.” With co-author R. G. Hadt. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2022, 144, pages 20804-20814.
• “The Impact of Ligand Field Symmetry on Molecular Qubit Coherence.” With co-authors R. Mirzoyan and R. G. Hadt. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2022, 143, pages 17305-17315.

Outside the College

Nathanael enjoys birdwatching, chess, classical guitar, and spending time with his wife, Joyce. His favorite animal is the little blue penguin.