Members
The Elkin lab encourages students and researchers from all backgrounds to join us in scientific discovery. Fostering a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and supportive scientific community is paramount to promoting creative research breakthroughs and addressing pressing challenges facing human society.
Masha Elkin
Assistant Professor
(she/her)
Masha Elkin is the D. Reid (1941) and Barbara J. Weedon Career Development Assistant Professor of Chemistry at MIT. Masha was born in Moscow, Russia and grew up outside of Boston, Massachusetts. She completed her B.A. in Chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis (2014), working with Prof. Vladimir Birman on the development of amidine-based ligands for asymmetric catalysis. She completed her Ph.D. at Yale University (2019), working with Prof. Timothy Newhouse on the synthesis of meroterpenoid natural products, the study of biomimetic terpene rearrangements, and the development of computational tools for natural products synthesis. She then completed an NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship at UC Berkeley (2023) with Prof. John Hartwig, where her research focused on using machine learning to predict selectivity in transition metal catalysis. She started her independent career at MIT in July 2023, where her group combines catalyst development, natural products synthesis, and machine learning to tackle important chemical challenges.
melkin [at] mit.edu
Jonas Rein
Postdoctoral Scholar
(he/him)
Jonas grew up in Mainz (Germany) and completed his chemistry undergraduate degree (2019) at the Johannes-Gutenberg University Mainz under the supervision of Prof. Siegfried Waldvogel developing electrochemical arene oxidation. He then started his Ph.D. studies supported by the ERP fellowship in the research group of Prof. Song Lin at Cornell University, working on aminoxyl radical-peptide catalysis for asymmetric oxidation of alcohols. and C–H activation, the development of technological solutions to facilitate high-throughput experimentation for electrosynthesis, and data chemistry. In 2024, Jonas moved to MIT for postdoctoral studies in the Elkin group. Outside the lab, he enjoys cooking, hiking, or table tennis.
jrein [at] mit.edu
Kaushalendra Patel
Postdoctoral Scholar
(he/him)
Kaushalendra (Kausha) was born in Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh, India. He completed his Bachelor’s degree at Banaras Hindu University (BHU), followed by a Master’s degree from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Mohali in 2019, under the supervision of Prof. S. S. V. Ramasastry. In 2020, he joined the research group of Prof. Ilan Marek at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, where he focused on stereospecific nucleophilic substitution at quaternary carbon stereocenters. During his Ph.D. studies, Kausha was awarded the Jacobs Excellence Fellowship by the Jacobs Foundation, as well as a Faculty-funded Excellence Scholarship. In 2025, he moved to MIT to begin his postdoctoral research in the Elkin group. Outside the lab, he enjoys swimming, music, cooking, and traveling.
kausha22 [at] mit.edu
Katie Pelham
2nd year graduate student
(she/her)
Katie grew up in the Catskill mountains in NY and carried out her undergraduate studies at Skidmore College (2020) where she researched Tandem Intramolecular Diels-Alder reactions with Professor Giguere. After graduating, she worked as a medicinal chemist for three years first at a CRO, Curia, and next in the Center for the Development of Therapeutics at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Outside of lab, she enjoys being outdoors—hiking, skiing, gardening, and camping. While indoors, she enjoys live music, crafting, baking, reading, or melting her brain to bad TV.
kapelham [at] mit.edu
Jonathan Edward
2nd year graduate student
(he/him)
Jonathan grew up in Singapore and completed his BSc in Chemistry at the National University of Singapore in 2023. As an undergraduate research assistant, he worked with Prof. Zhao Yu on asymmetric borrowing hydrogen reactions and atroposelective transformations of biaryl compounds. He also worked with Prof. Zhu Ye on the synthesis of mechanically planar chiral rotaxanes. In his spare time, he enjoys chess, bowling, board games, and watching movies.
joedward [at] mit.edu
Evan Ferry
2nd year graduate student
(he/him)
Evan Ferry is a graduate student in the Elkin Group. Evan was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and grew up in New Jersey. He studied chemistry and philosophy at the University of Michigan, where he researched carbonyl-olefin metathesis in the Schindler Group under the mentorship of Dr. Ashlee Davis and Dr. Daniel Steigerwald. In 2022, he was a recipient of the ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship. Outside the lab, Evan can be found hiking, reading, or drawing.
ekferry [at] mit.edu
Jasmin (Jimin) Park
1st year graduate student
(she/her)
Jasmin grew up in South Korea and in Colorado and completed her B.S. in chemistry at Boston College. She was an undergraduate research assistant in the Morken Lab, where she researched tandem diboration-protoboration of terminal alkynes and a total synthesis of an amphidinolide H analog. In 2024, she was a recipient of the ACS Organic Division Undergraduate Award. Outside the lab, she enjoys skiing, hiking, baking, playing the piano, and shopping 😉
jpark14 [at] mit.edu
Alexander Müller
1st year graduate student
(he/him)
Nate Somers
1st year graduate student
(He/him)
nsomers [at] mit.edu
Aaron Wang
Undergraduate
(he/him)
Aaron was born and raised in Philadelphia. Prior to joining the Elkin group, he worked in the Winkler group at the University of Pennsylvania, conducting research on novel inhibitors of the S6K2 kinase domain. Aaron is currently an undergraduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology majoring in biochemistry. When he is not knocking over vials and turning the wrong knob on his hood, Aaron enjoys experimenting in his kitchen, immersing himself nose-deep in books, and *strongly* encouraging himself to experience the great outdoors.
amzwang1 [at] mit.edu
Michael Harrison
Administrative Assistant
(HE/him)
Michael is the administrator for the Elkin, Danheiser, and Raines labs in the Department of Chemistry. He helps manage seminar logistics, lab operations, purchasing, travel arrangements, and anything else needed to keep things running smoothly behind the scenes. He really enjoys supporting great science and being part of such a collaborative and energetic community.
mharriso [at] mit.edu
Away from the Bench
Join Us!
Undergraduate Students
Undergraduate students should email Masha at melkin@mit.edu. Please put “Undergraduate Research Interest” in the subject line.
Graduate Students
Postdoctoral Fellows
Prospective postdocs should email Masha at melkin@mit.edu with a cover letter, CV, and research summary. Please put “Postdoc Application” in the subject line.