John Despotopulos became a Lawrence Graduate Scholar in 2013, finishing his PhD in radiochemistry while working at LLNL. After receiving his PhD, he continued working at LLNL as a postdoctoral scholar in the Nuclear and Chemical Sciences Division and became a staff scientist in September 2017.

Despotopulos’s research interests include separation methods for chemical investigation of the transactinides, development of National Ignition Facility capsule target doping methods, rapid radiochemical separations, and investigation of macrocyclic compounds for use as highly selective extractants. His current research focuses on using thiacrown ethers as novel extractants for investigating the chemical properties of element 112 (copernicium, Cn) and element 114 (flerovium, Fl). A separate project uses microinjection techniques to add radioactive materials to the inner surface of NIF capsules.

Ph.D., Radiochemistry, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2015

B.S., Chemistry, University of Oregon, 2010

1. Despotopulos, J. D., Kmak, K. N., Moody, K. J., Shaughnessy, D. A., 2018, Development of a 212Pb and 212Bi generator for homolog studies of flerovium and moscovium, Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, doi: 10.1007/s10967-018-5848-7.
2. Despotopulos, J. D., Kmak K. N., Gharibyan N., Henderson R. A., Moody K. J., Shaughnessy D. A., Sudowe R., 2016, Characterization of the homologs of flerovium with crown ether based extraction chromatography resins: studies in hydrochloric acid, Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 310:1201–1207.
3. Despotopulos, J. D., Kmak K. N., Gharibyan N., Henderson R. A., Moody K. J., Shaughnessy D. A., Sudowe R., 2017, Characterization of the homologs of flerovium with crown ether based extraction chromatography resins: studies in nitric acid, Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 311:649–653.
4. Despotopulos, J. D., Kmak K. N., Gharibyan N., Brown T. A., Grant P. M., Henderson R. A., Moody K. J., Tumey S. J., Shaughnessy D. A., Sudowe R., 2015, Production and isolation of carrier-free homologs of flerovium and element 115 at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, doi: 10.1007/s10967-015-4500-z.
5. Despotopulos, J. D., Gostic, J. M., Bennett, M. E., Gharibyan, N., Henderson, R. A., Moody, K. J., Sudowe, R., Shaughnessy, D. A., 2014, Characterization of Group 5 dubnium homologs on diglycolomide extraction chromatography resins from nitric and hydrofluoric acid matrices, Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, doi: 10.1007/s10967-014-3398-1.

Livermore Graduate Scholar, LLNL, 2013-2015