Preston Hollopeter, incoming PhD student joined the group in September. Preston earned his BS degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Rochester. He will work on incorporate metal organic frameworks (MOFs) in microporous fibers for direct air capture of CO2 applications. Yiqi Shao who did her MS thesis work in the group was admitted to our PhD program, and we will study the interplay between assembly of polymer/ceramic hybrids and material properties and electrochemical performance in LIB separator applications.

Yuxin Huo, Anjali Maheshwari, Adamya Patel, Bhavika Rathi, and Chunyi Zhang incoming MS students, joined the group in September. Yuxin will work on development of motionless 3D printing and it application to 3D electrodes, Anjali will work on tailoring graphene coating for LIB cathode materials. Adamya and Bhavika will work on processing exfoliated graphene and silicon from recycled screams for cost-effective next generation anode materials for LIBs. Finally,  Chunyi will develop gel ceramic electrolyte for Li metal batteries.

June-Yo Chen and Yash Joshi are currently doing their internship at Applied Materials and Tesla, respectively, and Yash will come back to the group in January.

Naman Gupta, Ritika, Jain, Vaidik Shah, Sanjana Sham Sunder Bharadwaj and Yiqi Shao defended their MS thesis this summer.  Naman and Sanjana started working at Applied Materials, and Ritika joined Tesla.  Vaidik is admitted to our PhD program, and will work on controlling gel structures of electrolyte for Li-Sulfur batteries. Yiqi continued to work on modification of membranes and electrodes for flow batteries as research assistant in the group.

Chris Klaassen successfully defended his PhD thesis on creating synergy between graphene and redox mediator for Li-Air Battery cathodes in June, and he will start working at Intel. Somy Zamani, postdoc in the group took the job at Nissan R&D Center in July.

Shreyans Gadiya, Ziang Gao, Anurag Holani, and Sweety Khatari, incoming MS students, joined the group in September. Shreyans will work on development of polymer-ceramic hybrid separators for Li-sulfur batteries, and Ziang will work on hybridization of Li metal and graphene for Li metal batteries. Anurag and Sweety will develop mesoscale modeling of directed assembly of block copolymers and membrane coating for Li-sulfur batteries, respectively.

June-Yo Chen and Chia-Yi Lin, incoming PhD students, joined the group. June-Yo who received her BS and MS from  National Tsing Hua University will investigate the dynamics of polymeric materials in lithography processes. Chia-Yi who received her BS and MS from Chang Gung University and National Taiwan University, respectively will work on the motionless 3D printing based on electrical switching on the collector.

Finally, and Dr. Mohammad Aziz, postdoc joined the group in late October. Mohammad will work on polymer/ceramic hybrid based separators and lightweight graphene fibers composites.

We have six group members who graduated this summer.

Mohammed AlAmer successfully defended his PhD thesis on synthesis and fabrication of graphenic microsheets using model Taylor-Couette reactors in May and went back to Saudi Aramco.

Nicole Huang, successfully defended her MS thesis on the development of polymer/ceramic hybrid materials in May and started working at Proctor & Gamble in June. 

Caspar Yi successfully defended his MS thesis on development of highly-loaded sulfur cathodes for Li-Sulfur batteries in May and went back to West Point as a faculty member.

Jasper Qiu and Meichun An successfully defended their MS thesis this summer as well.  Both are admitted to our PhD program, and will work on mesoscale modeling of directed self-assembly in block copolymer lithography and the interplay between the functionalization of graphene nanoribbons and mitigation of polysulfide shuttling in Li-S batteries, respectively.

Finally, Avinash Umasankaran successfully defended his MS thesis in July and started working at QunatumScape Corp. in Silicon Valley in August.

 

Shubham Pinge successfully defended his PhD thesis on mesoscale modeling of directed self-assembly of block copolymer lithography in January and started working at Intel in Portland, Oregon.

Mounica Divvela, successfully defended her PhD thesis on discretized modeling of electrically driven jets and droplets in June and started working in Computational Group at Intel in Portland, Oregon. 

George Shebert successfully defended his PhD thesis on modeling the dynamics of mesoscale materials and electrochemical systems for energy applications in July and started working Intel in Portland, Oregon

Chao-Wen Chang, Travis O’Neil, Leyan Wang, and Yash Joshi defended their MS thesis this summer.  Chao-Wen started his PhD study at Geogia Tech. this fall, and Leyan joined the PhD program at Nanyang Technical University in Singapore.  Travis started working at Global Research Center in GE in Niskayuna, NY. Yash will continue working in the group as research assistant, studying volume expansion of silicon-graphene hybrid anodes for Li-ion batteries.

Yiqi Shao, Incoming MS student, and Dr. Jongsung Won, postdoc joined group this summer. Yiqi has been working on membrane and electrode development for metal-free chemical flow batteries, Jongsung works on polymer/ceramic hybrid separators and graphene fibers.

Ritika Jain, Sanjana Bharadwaj, Naman Gupta, and Vaidik Shah incoming MS students, joined group in September. Ritika will work on development of polymer-ceramic hybrid separators for Li-sulfur batteries, and Sanjana will model the motionless 3D printing process. Naman and Vaidik will develop graphene/metal hybrids and gel electrolytes for energy storage applications.

Finally, Cecilia Gao and Kyle Kersy, incoming PhD students joined the group. Cecilia who received her BS and MS from Georgia Tech and UC Berkeley will investigate the interplay between the assembly of materials and rate capability in Li-S batteries. Kyle who earned his BS degree in chemical engineering at U Penn will work on the coupling between chemical modification and transport in organic chemical flow batteries.

Andrew Shah successfully defended his PhD thesis on modification of membranes and electrodes for Vanadium redox flow batteries in June and started working at Dow Chemical Co. in Midland, Michigan. Andrew was a recipient of the Austin Hooey Graduate Research Excellence Recognition Award in December, 2018 which is awarded to the best PhD student of the year in Chemical Engineering at Cornell to recognize outstanding performance in thesis work and excellent service to the department.

Ghazal Shoorideh started working at Apple and she will come back in January to have her PhD thesis defense. Our senior PhD students, Shubham Pinge and Mounica Divvela, both accepted offers from Intel, and will start working in January and in May, respectively.

Willy Halim, Snatika Sarkar and Rui Zhang defended their MS thesis this spring, summer and fall, respectively. Willy started working at SF Motors, and Snatika works at Conamix. Travis O’Neil, 2nd year MS student, accepted an offer from Edison Engineering Development Program at GE and he will start working at Global Research Center in Niskayuna, NY.

Five first year MS students in the department, Meichun An, Nicole Huang, Jasper Qiu, Avinash Umasankan, and Caspar Yi joined the group. Meichun started working on inclusion of graphene nanoribbon in silicon-graphene hybrid anodes, and Nicole works on non-flammable, high rate polymer-ceramic hybrid separators for Li-ion batteries. Jasper started working on mesocale modeling of line space patterns based on directed self assembly of block copolymer lithography. Avinash works on the tailoring polymeric binder in silicon/graphene electrodes, while Caspar is studying the layer-on-layer approach of sulfur infiltrated mesoporous carbon and graphene for Li-sulfur batteries .

Three former group members started their new academic career as an assistant professor this year. Dr. Ling Fei who was a postdoc in the group (2014 – 2016) took a faculty position in Chemical Engineering Department at University of Louisiana, Lafayette this spring. Our most recent postdoc, Dr. Jin Hong Lee (2017 – 2018) went back to his alma mater, Pusan National University, as an assistant professor in the Department of Organic Material Science and Engineering in August. Finally, Dr. Jay H. Park (PhD ’14) started his academic careers in the Plastics Engineering Department at University of Massachusetts, Lowell from this fall after his postdoctoral work at MIT and US Army Research Laboratory.

Joe Carlin and Mohammad Aljishi successfully defended their PhD thesis in August and November. Joe joined Axium Nano to develop next generation separator materials, and Mohammad went back to Saudi Aramco who sponsored his PhD program at Cornell.

Four first year MS students in the department, Travis O’Neil, Chao-Wen Chang, Leyan Wang and Josh Yashi, joined the group. Travis started working on polymer-ceramic hybrid separators for Li-air batteries, and Chao-Wen is studying moisture barrier films based on layering graphene/polymer hybrids. Leyan and Josh work on encapsulating silicon particles and hybridizing silicon with graphite, respectively, for Li-ion battery anode applications.

Christopher Klaassen, 1st year PhD student in the group has been awarded a prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. The NSF Graduate Reserach Fellowship is awarded to about 2,000 outstanding students out of 20,000 applicants across all STEM fields this year, and Chris has been working on controlling assembly of catalysts and graphene in Li-Air Battery Cathodes.

Jangwoo Kim and Zhenia (Yevgen) Zhmayev successfully defended their PhD thesis in November and January. Jangwoo joined IBM develop next generation battery materials, and Zhenia started working in BASF in Germany as a senior research engineer.

Christopher Klaassen, 1st PhD student in the department joined the group. Chris graduated from Texas Tech University, and will work on controlling assembly of catalysts and graphene in Li-Air Battery Cathodes. Dr. Jin Hong Lee from KIST (Korea Institute of Science and Technology) also joined the group as a postdoc. Jin Hong earned his PhD degree on ionogel electrolyte materials for Li-ion batteries from Seoul National University, and will be working on the development of high rate, high capacity Li-Sulfur batteries.

Mayank Jhalaria and Mounica Divvela successfully defended their MS thesis in July. Mayank joined the PhD Program in Chemical Engineering at Columbia University in September, and Mounica moved on to our PhD Program, continuing working on the mesoscale modeling of gas-assisted electrospinning and air-controlled electrospray.

Brian Williams also successfully defended his PhD thesis in August. He joined Axium Nano where he works on the development of mesoporous carbon materials and flexible Li-S batteries.

Dr. Seung Wan Kim joined the group as a postdoc in September. He received his PhD in Materials Science & Engineering at KAIST in 2011. Before he joined the group, he worked in the Open Innovation Team and Technology Planning Group at Samsung SDI as senior research engineer and project manager for LIB anode development for five years. He will take over Dr. Ling Fei’s work on silicon/graphene hybrid anode materials.

Christopher Klaassen, 1st year PhD student, joined the group. Chris received his BS in chemical engineering from Texas Tech Universiity, and will be working on creating synergy between graphene and redox mediator for Li-air battery cathodes.

Rui Zhang and Snatika Sarkar, 1st year MS students, also joined the group. Rui will work on flexible Li-S batteries based on directly deposited sulfur containing block copolymer and reduced graphene oxide, and Snatika will work on the chemical modification of mesoporous carbon nanofibers for energy storage applications.