Andrew Bergman

G7 - Applied Physics

Andrew is studying an approach for direct air capture of atmospheric carbon dioxide using a new process, the alkalinity concentration swing (ACS), which describes the shift in equilibrium dissolved inorganic carbon content of a solution as a function of the concentration of alkalinity. His approach implements capacitive deionization to concentrate aqueous carbonate solution, driving the ACS. Beyond his lab work, Andrew works on justice-based frameworks for equitable deployment of carbon dioxide removal and other methods for responding to the climate crisis through collective governance, ownership, and operation of infrastructure and industry. Andrew is also an organizer and member of the Harvard Graduate Students Union and is always available to speak about our collective struggle for social justice on campus. Andrew received an A.B. in Physics from Princeton University.

Eric Fell

G6 - Materials Science & Mechanical Engineering

Eric is from Vancouver, Canada where he received his BSc in Chemistry at Simon Fraser University. In his undergrad, under the supervision of Prof. Gary Leach, he focused on photonics and electrochemical catalyst characterization. He also spent time in Germany developing water splitting catalysts and toxic gas sensors at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and the Universität Paderborn. He is currently exploring high-throughput electrochemical techniques for the screening of redox-active molecules for aqueous organic flow batteries.  Here is a video of him presenting our group research. While he is constantly excited about energy storage, he also has a passion for nuclear science, CO₂ capture, and space exploration.

Toly Rinberg

G6 - Applied Physics

Toly is an Applied Physics Ph.D. student working on a new process — the alkalinity concentration swing — for direct air capture of carbon dioxide. The approach is based on concentrating an alkaline solution that has been exposed to the atmosphere and loaded with dissolved inorganic carbon. He is specifically focused on experimentally testing whether reverse osmosis technologies could be applied to drive the ACS, and is (for now) the only group member who doesn't regularly apply voltage to electrodes. Beyond lab work, his interests include understanding and communicating how to equitably scale-up carbon dioxide removal, as well as developing governance models for public ownership of carbon dioxide removal. He's a Harvard Graduate Student Union steward in SEAS and is happy to be a resource to any student worker. Toly has a M.S. in Biophysics from Stanford University, and a B.S. in Physics and Math from Brandeis University.

Tommy George

G4 - Materials Science & Mechanical Engineering

Tommy studies ion exchange membranes for aqueous electrochemical reactors such as organic redox flow batteries and salt splitting for carbon dioxide removal. Tommy received a B.S. in Chemical and Biological Engineering from Tufts University, and did undergraduate research focused on catalysis and mechanism studies of the oxygen reduction reaction.

Jordan Sosa

G4 - Materials Science & Mechanical Engineering

I received my Bachelor of Science in Engineering Physics from the University of Tulsa, where I pursued different research areas from carbon electrode materials to optics to metallic glasses. By combining cycling experiments of static cells for faster and less noisy data with simulations of what happens inside the porous electrodes, I hope to better understand the effects from 1. physical properties of the electrode, 2. transport, chemical, and electrochemical properties of the electrolyte, and 3. the interface between those two phases. I am also a big fan of using open-source platforms to model and analyze our experiments. 

Luana Cristina Italiano Faria

Visiting PhD Student

Luana is a Brazilian Ph.D. student from the University of São Paulo (USP). She received a license in chemistry, where she conducted a computational study of electronic properties in ferrocene. Currently, she is working on the investigation of electrochemical and structural properties of carbon surfaces for application in organic redox flow batteries. She will focus on conducting an extensive survey of low-cost and high-performance carbon-based electrodes.

Dawei Xi

G3 - Materials Science & Mechanical Engineering
 

Dawei received his B.S. in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Science and Technology of China, focusing on CO2 reduction and electrocatalysis. Now he is working on the development of molecules for redox flow battery and seeking applications based on the developed flow battery system, combining insights from inorganic chemistry and catalysis.

Michael Emanuel

G3 - Applied Mathematics
Co-advised by Chris Rycroft

Michael got his undergraduate math degree from Harvard in 1999 and spent 17 years working in finance before returning to graduate studies in 2018 and completing a master's of data science at Harvard IACS in 2020. Michael is part of a team investigating the properties of porous electrodes used in redox flow batteries, where he performs numerical simulations. Michael has three young children and enjoys distance running and playing bridge and piano with his kids. In his younger days he placed 90th in the 2011 Boston Marathon in a time of 2:29:52.

Abdulrahman Alfaraidi

G2 - Materials Science & Mechanical Engineering
Co-advised by Richard Liu

Abdulrahman received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Southern California, and M.S. in Materials Science & Engineering from KAUST. He did his master thesis under the supervision of Prof. Jorge Gascon, working on the design and application of Titanium-MOFs for photocatalytic hydrogen production. Currently, Abdul is working on designing molecules to advance Aqueous Organic Redox Flow Batteries. 

Sofía Edgar

G1 - Materials Science & Mechanical Engineering

Sofía is from Boise, Idaho, and received her B.S. in physics at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. Her past research used computational methods to model defects in nanocrystalline materials and quantify uncertainty in measurements of star formation rates in high-redshift compact starburst galaxies. She is currently exploring new research directions.

Kyumin Lee

G1 - Materials Science & Mechanical Engineering

Kyumin received her B.S. in Material Science from Korea University, and M.S. in Material Science from Seoul National University. She did her master thesis under the supervision of Prof. Ki Tae Nam, exploring the use of redox-neutral reactions in electrochemical CO₂ reduction to expand the product scope and achieve higher efficiency. Currently, she is interested in improving energy storage devices and developing CO₂ capturing system.

Taobo Wang

G1 - Materials Science & Mechanical Engineering

Taobo started his undergraduate as a Pharmacy major at Peking University and later transferred to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, finished his degree with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and an Honor Degree in Chemistry. In his undergraduate studies, he conducted research in organic synthesis and finished his thesis with Prof. Weiping Tang. Also, he worked with Prof. Marcel Schreier in electrochemistry and electrocatalysis, focusing on small-molecule transformations. As a newcomer in Aziz Lab, Taobo is always open to opportunities in discovering more about electrochemical engineering in batteries.

Prof. Matthew Suss

Visiting Professor

Matthew obtained his PhD and MSc from Stanford University, and during his PhD was also a Lawrence Scholar at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Matthew did his postdoctoral training from 2013 to 2014 in Chemical Engineering at MIT. Currently, Matthew directs the Cleantech Innovations Lab at the Technion in Haifa, Israel, as an Associate Professor. His lab is focused on innovating electrochemical systems to aid in the energy transition and ion selective water purification, and is affiliated with Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, the Grand Technion Energy Program (GTEP) and Grand Water Research Institute (GWRI). Matthew is a Team Leader at the Israel National Research Center for Electrochemical Propulsion (INREP), a Delegate Member of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE) working group on electrochemical engineering, an Associate Editor for RSC journal Energy Advances, and co-founder of Maygia.

Dr. Kiana Amini

Postdoctoral Fellow - SEAS

Kiana received her B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the Sharif University of Technology in Iran. She received her M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo in Canada where she built up extensive experience in the development of metal-based redox flow batteries. Her research expertise includes in situ characterization of electrochemical processes, electrolyte design, battery architecture, and multiphysics modeling of electrochemical systems. Currently, she is focusing on understanding the long-term performance of organic-based redox flow batteries for large-scale storage applications.

Dr. Thomas Cochard

Research Associate

Thomas is from Paris, France where he received his PhD from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie. At Harvard he first joined the laboratory of Prof David Weitz as a post doc for 3 and a half years, working on fracture mechanics and multiphase flow in Porous Media (here is a link to his research). His knowledge in fluid mechanics and imaging made him join our group's effort to better understand the complex relationships between electrolyte flow and electrochemical efficiency in porous electrodes.  Thomas is a physicist and an engineer, passionate about complex flow in porous materials, and is hoping to combine his knowledge and interests in pushing the development of sustainable energy storage systems.

Lucie Mangold

Visiting Masters Student

Lucie is a French masters student coming from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. She did a bachelor in chemistry and is now finishing her masters in chemical engineering and biotechnology. She will be working for 6 months on modelling the performance and cost of a CO2 capture process at large scale.

Maia Alberts

Undergraduate Researcher

Maia is a junior concentrating in Chemistry and Environmental Science & Engineering. Her research focuses on optimizing CO2-absorption flow cells under oxygenated conditions.

Izzy Thomas

Undergraduate Researcher

Izzy Thomas is a visiting PRISE Emmanuel fellow from the University of Cambridge, England. She is about to start her third year of Natural Sciences, with a specialism in Materials Science. Izzy’s research focuses on improving the membrane efficiency in the aqueous redox flow batteries. She hopes that her research will increase the viability of large scale sustainable energy storage.

Manav Bansal

Undergraduate Researcher

Manav is a freshman planning to cocnentrate in Environmental Science and Engineering with a secondary in Chemistry. His research focuses on investigating different cell structures and catalysts that can be utilized in (direct air) carbon capture.

John Deneen

Undergraduate Researcher

John is a sophomore planning to concentrate in Chemistry and Physics. His research focuses on hexacyanoferrate uptake in cation exchange membranes, relevant to aqueous organic redox flow batteries. John is also a novice rower on the men’s heavyweight crew team.