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Dr. Semenikhin's areas of expertise include electroless metal deposition, surface chemistry, optical analysis, nanotechnology, colloidal systems, and materials science. He has extensive experience in materials characterization methods such as electron microscopy (SEM, TEM), vibrational spectroscopy (FTIR), UV-Vis, hyperspectral microscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), zeta potential measurements, and nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA).

As a Paper Science and Engineering Research Fellow at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Mr. Semenikhin's studies in surface modification and metallization of cellulose nanocrystals were aimed at developing a novel optical extinction-based particle characterization technique. To facilitate this research, Dr. Semenikhin developed a novel chemical modification protocol that produced suspensions of cationic, electrostatically stabilized, individually dispersed, cellulose nanocrystals. The resulting particles could then be metallized (i.e., Au, Ag, Ni) using electroless deposition methods to produce functional nanoparticles or be incorporated into high-strength polymer nanocomposites.

Prior to his graduate studies, Dr. Semenikhin worked at Tricon Tool Inc., a tool and die shop specializing in electrical discharge machining and CNC milling, where he reverse engineered damaged components, created 3-D models, and programed CNC machines to manufacture components for customers in the aerospace, medical, automotive, mold and die, and general machining industries.