New Faculty Focus: Sviatoslav Baranets

The Louisiana State University Department of Chemistry welcomes Dr. Sviatoslav Baranets, who will be joining the LSU Chemistry faculty as an assistant professor in inorganic chemistry as of this fall 2022 semester.

Baranets, originally from Ukraine, earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in chemistry, with honors, from Vinnytsia State Pedagogical University (VSPU) in Vinnytsia, Ukraine. 

In 2010, Baranets pursued his doctoral degree in inorganic chemistry in the laboratory of Professor Sergiy Volkov at the Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (IGIC) in Kyiv, Ukraine. His doctoral research focused on the synthesis, structural characterization, and properties of novel chalcohalides of osmium, ruthenium, and rhodium. 

After earning his Ph.D., Baranets worked as a researcher at the Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry of NAS Ukraine from 2015 to 2017, and as a visiting scholar at the Technische Universität Dresden in Dresden, Germany in 2017. 

Interested in a faculty career, Baranets came to the U.S. in 2018 as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Professor Svilen Bobev at the University of Delaware. His postdoctoral research focused on the synthesis, development, and characterization of novel pnictide-bearing semiconducting materials for thermoelectric applications.  

In addition to research, Baranets has teaching experience at the high school and college level. During his doctoral studies, Baranets worked as a high school chemistry teacher from 2010 to 2017. He also taught as an adjunct instructor at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, U.S. from 2021 to 2022. 

With over 45 published works, including two book chapters and two patents, Baranets joins LSU will an impressive research and teaching record. At LSU, Baranets will build a research program focusing on the discovery of novel heteroanionic semiconducting materials and Zintl cluster compounds for energy applications and will deliver effective teaching strategies in the classroom.