UCSD Crystallography Team

Dr. Gembicky serves as the Director of the Crystallography Facility. He received his PhD in Chemistry from Slovak Technical University in 2001 while working in the group of Dr. Roman Boca. From 2002 - 2009 he worked for Bruker-AXS as a Global Field Application Specialist. His specialties incldue all aspects of diffractometer service (installation, modification, maintenance, and repair), optimal data aquistion strategies, syncrotron data collection, and twinning.

Dr. Bailey is a Staff Scientist at the facility. He received his PhD in 2019 under the supervision of  Professor Akif Tezcan. His graduate research has focused on crystalline and semicrystalline materials such as Protein-MOFs, polymer-infused protein crystals, and hydroxamate-based MOFs. He has experience with macromolecular crystallography, small-molecule crystallography, powder X-ray diffraction, small angle X-ray scattering, and other diffraction based techniques.

Ritchie Hernandez began as a research assistant in the facility in January of 2024 while completing his Ph.D under the supervision of Professor Joshua Figueroa. His graduate research focuses on structural studies of highly reduced metal carbynes of Cobalt and Nickel and their reactivity. A passion for Xray Crystallography grew out of the heavy use of single crystal Xray diffraction his projects required, and his staffing in the facility was the perfect opportunity to expand his crystallographic skill set. He plans to continue as a crystallographer in the future.

A predominant crystallographer, Dr. Rheingold has determined over 7,500 crystal structures and authored over 2,000 publications. He previously held faculty appointments at SUNY-Plattsburgh and the University of Delaware. Dr. Rheingold was the director of the UCSD X-ray Crystallography Facility from 2002 up until his retirement in 2019. Even after retiring, he was a common sight in the facility, where he continued to collect data and solve structures up until his death in 2024. The facility continues his legacy of excellence in crystallography.