Graduate Student Researchers
Winters K. Guo (2020-present)
B.S. Chemical Engineering, Penn State (2018)
Ph.D. Research: Aqueous separation of critical elements using porous materials.
Interests: Traveling, cooking, gym time.
(co-advised by Dr. Michael Janik)
Musa Mohammed (2021-present)
B.Eng. Chemical Engineering, Ahmadu Bellow University (2020)
Ph.D. Research: Microporous Lewis acids for alcohol dehydration.
Interests: History podcasts, chess, non-fiction novels, soccer, walking.
Brendan Troesch (2021-present)
B.A. Chemistry, German, Washington & Jefferson College (2021)
Ph.D. Research: Synthesis of porous oxides for catalysis and ion exchange.
Interests: Climbing, rocks, linguistics, mechas, Yahtzee, trivia.
(co-advised by Dr. Jim Hodges)
Sathya Perera (2022-present)
M.S. Chemistry, Southern Illinois University Carbondale (2022)
B.Sc. Chemistry, University of Ruhuna (Sri Lanka) (2016)
Ph.D. Research: Carbon Dioxide hydrogenation to higher alcohols over metal oxide supported catalysts.
Interests: Traveling, hiking, card games, exploring different kinds of cuisines.
(Potentially co-advised by Dr. Raymond Schaak)
Kathryn Fasold (2022-present)
B.S. Chemical Engineering, The University of Alabama (2022)
Ph.D. Research: Catalytic plastic recycling/upcycling by identifying and investigating the most promising routes to transforming consumer plastics.
Interests: Hiking, sports (both watching and participating), board games, trivia, cooking, puzzles, reading for fun.
Gunnar Sly (2022-present)
B.S. Chemical Engineering, Washington State University (2022)
Ph.D. Research: Computational investigation of zeolite-based Lewis acids for alcohol dehydration using DFT and machine learning.
Interests: Guitar, cooking, tinkering, Home Depot Saturdays, cats.
(co-advised by Dr. Michael Janik)
Nirenjan Shenoy (2022-present)
B.Tech. Chemical Engineering, Amrita University, India (2021)
Ph.D. Research: Design of Ni/mixed metal oxide catalysts for dry reformation of methane.
Interests: Singing (Carnatic music), cooking, swimming, hiking, adventure sports.
(co-advised by Dr. Michael Janik)
Kaiyuan Wang (2022-present)
M.S. Chemistry, University of Manchester (2022)
B.S. Chemistry, Ocean University of China (2021)
M.S. Research: Kinetics and thermodynamics of adsorption on MOFs
Interest: Badminton, cooking, hiking.