Dr. Joaquín Rodríguez-López
Department of Chemistry
Materials Research Laboratory
Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Roger Adams Laboratory 58, Box 33-5
Urbana IL, 61801, USA
joaquinr[at]illinois.edu | Office: (217)-300-7354 | Lab/Student Office: (217)-300-0972
Post-Doctoral — Cornell University
Prof. Héctor D. Abruña — Electrochemical characterization of single-layer graphene electrodes
Ph.D — Analytical Chemistry — The University of Texas at Austin
Prof. Allen J. Bard — The use of SECM for the detection of adsorbed intermediates on electrodes [link]
Bachelor in Science (LCQ) — Tecnológico de Monterrey
Prof. Marcelo Videa Vargas — Ion transfer across polarizable liquid-liquid interfaces for the detection of quaternary ammonium ions [link]
Michael Harrigan
Michael grew up in Bainbridge Island, Washington; home to pickleball, Dave Pilkey and the heaviest man in recorded history. After two years at Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis as a biologist, he transferred to Purdue University where he worked for Professor Jeffrey Dick on various metal-anode battery systems, nanodroplet mediated nanoparticle synthesis, and molecularly imprinted polymers for PFAs sensing. Later, Michael also worked for Professor Justin Andrews to synthesize ZnPS3, a solid-state material capable of conducting zinc ions. At UIUC, he is a member of the JRL and Braun groups, interrogating electrochemical materials critical for energy storage applications. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with Michael Jr. (turtle), playing the banjo, and exploring Middle America.
Yen-Chun (Andrew) Huang
Yen-Chun is from Taiwan, a beautiful island known as the origin of boba tea. He obtained his bachelor's degree from National Taiwan University. He focused on photoelectrocatalysis using semiconducting materials in his undergraduate research, under the mentorship of Dr. Chang-Ming Jiang. He is excited to expand his interest in studying electrochemical interfaces and mechanisms for electrocatalytic processes. In his free time, he enjoys playing tennis, badminton, and basketball, and watching NBA games.
Catherine Ihrke
Catherine grew up in New Lenox, Illinois and received her B.Sc in chemistry from Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, Minnesota. During her time there, she conducted organic electrochemical research on the electrochemical pathways of thymoquinone using differential pulse and cyclic voltammetry under the mentorship of Dr. Jay Brown. Additionally, she worked in the SMSU chemistry club to put on chemistry shows on campus as well as in the surrounding communities. Alongside her work in the chemistry department, she minored in English literature while competing on the cross country and track & field teams all four years. She is excited to join the JRL lab and learn more about the intersections between analytical, organic, and electrochemistry through advanced techniques. In her free time, Catherine enjoys reading, watching movies, and running at nearby forest preserves.
Abby Miller
Abby is from Lockport, Illinois and attended Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan. As an undergrad, she worked under Dr. Richard Lord and utilized computational chemistry to model heavy transition metal complexes and reproduce the structures, energies, and electrochemical potentials of wet lab experimental results to assess why these complexes undergo multi-electron transfer reactions. She is excited to research electrocatalysis through automated electrochemistry, guided by machine learning. She is also co-advised by Prof. Nick Jackson. Outside of the lab, Abby enjoys baking, video games, listening to music, and playing with her cats Rocky and Buddy.
Zackary Epright
Zack is from Vernon, New Jersey, the biggest town in an otherwise very rural county. Originally intending to go to medical school to become a medical geneticist due to his family's unique genetic disease, he started his college journey at Sussex County Community College, ultimately taking a hiatus when the COVID-19 pandemic began to serve as an emergency medical technician in Vernon for several years. In 2021, Zack returned to school at Montclair State University and began working under Prof. Glen D. O'Neil, to develop light-addressable electrochemical sensors for catecholamine detection, where he became the first undergraduate student trained on atomic force microscopy at Montclair. Now, as part of the JRL group, Zack is very excited to learn new scanning probe techniques to investigate systems in electrocatalysis. In his free time, Zack enjoys cooking, playing video games, and spending time with his cat, Zipper.
Marita Roshael
Roshael is originally from Kandy, a historic city set in the lush central highlands of Sri Lanka, a country renowned as the pearl of the Indian Ocean. She graduated with First Class Honours after completing a four-year Bachelor's degree in Chemistry, with Prof. M. N. Kaumal as her research supervisor. During her studies, she worked on an innovative electrochemical sensor project and presented her findings at the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University International Research Conference with a paper titled "Development of a Low-Cost Paper-Based Electroanalytical Device for the Detection of Caffeine." With a strong passion for electrochemistry, Roshael is excited to advance her research in the JRL group through the DROPLETS project, focusing on electrochemical reactions and the study of different electrode materials. Outside of the lab, she enjoys music, dancing, singing, traveling, reading, and cooking.
Julia Koldobskiy
Julia is from Columbia, Missouri. As an undergraduate, she worked in the lab of Prof. Héctor Abruña on projects involving transition-metal based catalyst materials for hydrogen fuel cells. She is excited to join the JRL group and learn more about electrocatalysis, interfacial chemistry and advanced electrochemical techniques. In her free time, Julia enjoys reading, drawing and nature photography.
Sonam Rani
Sonam grew up in the Land of Five Rivers (Punjab, India). She enjoys Electrochemistry and is passionate about research in renewable energy materials, hoping to contribute to a sustainable future. Motivated by her passion for research, she joined the Bio-Inspired Polymeric Materials Lab, led by Dr. Uttam Manna, during her Master's degree at IIT Guwahati, India. She worked on various projects where she explored the physics and chemistry of interfacial wettability. Her primary research focused on the development of chemically reactive non-catalytic coating embedded with superaerophobicity for applications in the enhancement of kinetics of Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER) via electrochemical water splitting. This project was published in "Advanced Functional Materials" journal. As a member of the JRL group, Sonam is thrilled to contribute to the DROPLETS project, focusing on the mechanistic understanding of this super-cool chemistry, and exploring its potential in practical applications such as clean H2 production, CO2 conversion into value-added products, and depolymerization strategies. Alongside her work on DROPLETS, she enjoys reading papers on nano-plasmonic effects and bio-inspired wettability. Beyond research, she finds fulfilment in tutoring and mentoring others. Outside the lab, she loves watching TV shows/movies, listening to music, cooking, experimenting with different cuisines, and spending time in nature - or on the badminton court.
Supriya (Riyo) Das
Riyo was born and grew up in the geographically diverse Rahr Plains of Eastern India, in a small village of West Bengal. He was always fascinated by chemistry and wanted to pursue innovative research in the field. That is why he spent 3 years obtaining his Bachelor's degree in chemistry from Shantiniketan, a culturally diverse and unique learning space in India established by Noble Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. After completing his B.Sc. degree, he enrolled in the M.Sc. program at IIT Hyderabad where he worked with Prof. Ch. Subrahmanyam on the "Decomposition of Volatile Organic Compounds Using Plasma Catalysis." His master's project was with ASL-DRDO for "The Determination of Aging Conditions of Prepreg Materials to Observe its Effects on the Parts Manufactured for Aerospace Applications." He conducted his summer research from IISER Kolkata on "Electrode Design for Electrocatalytic Water Oxidation." In the JRL group, he is really excited to work on the DROPLETS Project to conduct electrochemical reactions in microdroplets to produce clean hydrogen, sequester CO2, and store renewable energies sustainably. Besides being a researcher, Riyo is passionate about dancing, fashion modelling, and contributing in leadership roles. In free time, he loves to cook food for his friends and enjoys listening to music.
Gavin Hazen
Gavin grew up in Gilbert, Arizona where he developed his love for science competing in his local robotics team in high school. He then attended Carleton College where he conducted two years of research on cheap photocatalyst creation by evaporative and electrodeposition techniques in the lab of Steven Drew. Additionally, he interned at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory working in scientific communications and at a startup company where he researched novel microemulsion creation and uptake methods, resulting in multiple patent applications. Now he is excited to join the JRL lab to further expand his research knowledge in electrochemistry and instrumentation. When he is not in the lab, he enjoys listening to music, playing video games, working out, and climbing.
Yichen (Ethan) Li
Ethan is born and raised in Beijing, China, but has studied in New Jersey and Minnesota before coming to Illinois. At Carleton, Ethan worked with Professor Steven Drew and his labmate Gavin for two years, developing restricted evaporative deposition and electrodeposition of Fe-Cr-Al mixed metal oxide semiconductor thin films, characterizing them with 2D photocurrent scanning, SEM and EDS, and studying them as potential materials for water-splitting hydrogen production. Ethan is excited to further his studies in electrocatalysis and electrodeposition with applications in addressing sustainability and renewable energy issues using the automated systems in the JRL lab. In his free time, Ethan enjoys playing and watching soccer, listening to all genres of music, singing in choirs, and arranging for and beatboxing in acapella groups.
Aditi Prasad
Aditi is from Mumbai, a culturally diverse city on the western coast of India. She obtained her bachelor's and master's degrees from University of Mumbai. During her master's, she worked with Prof. Rajesh Kamble to develop transition metal based nanocomposites for supercapacitive applications. During the summer of 2022, she did a research internship at IIT Madras where she worked with Prof. Kartik Chandra Mondal on synthesis of cyclic alkyl amino carbenes (cAAC) for the development of cAAC stabilized transition metal complexes. In JRL group, she is excited to explore the fundamental domains of interfacial electrochemistry and gain expertise in advanced electrochemical techniques. Outside of the lab, she enjoys reading, watching crime shows, cooking, and exploring different cuisines.
Dong Ok Kim
Dong Ok is from Seoul, South Korea. She came to the US to attend Swarthmore College, a liberal arts college right outside of Philadelphia. She completed her Bachelor's degree in Chemistry in Swarthmore College. During her junior year, she went back to South Korea due to Covid-19 pandemic and conducted her research in electrochemistry while taking some time off from college. She worked with Prof. Jongwoo Lim in Seoul National University on optimizing electrolytes for Lithium metal batteries. During her research in South Korea, she realized her passion in research in energy storage materials and electrochemistry. She is excited to join the Rodríguez-López group and continue research on electrochemistry of various electrode materials. In her free time, she enjoys listening to music, reading books and cooking.
Kristin Martin
Kristin was born and raised right outside of the city of Atlanta, in Rockdale County, GA. She attended an HBCU (Historically Black College/University) with intent to go to medical school to become a forensic pathologist. However, during her freshman year, she took a strong liking to her chemistry courses that focused heavily on analytical techniques & background. She soon shifted her focus to chemistry and research. During her undergraduate studies, Kristin worked with the USDA in 2018, earned her first publication from the Georgia Communication Association (2018), and participated in research under Dr. John L. Williams regarding Myocardial Structural Markers. Within the Rodríguez-López group, she is excited to continue researching CO2 Capture & Release methodologies that explore environmentally sustainable efforts through electrochemical interfaces. And in her free time, she enjoys hiking, theme parks, building Harry Potter Lego sets, cooking Creole & Cajun meals to honor her parent's heritage & traveling.
Peisen Qian
Peisen comes from Fuzhou, a small city famous for two historic celebrities, Anshi Wang and Gong Zeng, who are two of the Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song. His undergraduate project focused on inorganic-organic hybrid perovskite degradation mechanisms. He looks forward to expanding his interest in revealing the nature of interfacial chemical processes in the JRL lab. He is also co-advised by Prof. Vura-Weis. He enjoys Go (a strategy board game) and playing the flute during his free time. For more details, see here.
Micah Robinson
Micah was born and raised in hard times Mississippi surrounded by things that just weren't so pretty. Well motivated, her pursuit for education began young. As an undergrad, Micah worked under Prof. George Armstrong, synthesizing a novel potential prostate cancer drug and performing cytotoxicity analyses. While characterizing the drug, proposing various experiments, and maintaining the lab's NMR and IR instruments, she developed an interest in protocol design and analytical instruments. As a Jackson Heart Study scholar and a Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation scholar, Micah was trained to incorporate activism and transparency with science. Now at UIUC, she is an excited member of the JRL group looking forward to developing sensors towards serviceable science. In her free time, she reads up on environmental topics, listens to music from 70s to now, and watches horror movies.
Zirui Wang
Zirui is from Shenyang, a city in Northeastern China. The heavy industry in his hometown led him to an interest in materials science and metallurgy. During his undergraduate studies, he realized the necessity for sustainable energy storage systems and gradually shifted his interest to electrochemistry. He also took semiconductor classes which gained him micro-fabrication experiences. He loves his current project in Prof. Rodríguez-López's group as it combines his interests and experiences in microfabrication, automation, and electrochemistry. He worked with Prof. Yingjie Zhang as an undergraduate researcher on a project about machine learning-assisted nanoscale surface profiling using scanning probe microscopy. Zirui is a Liverpool FC supporter, and he likes to play soccer, ski, browse for random indie rock bands, and one-on-one meetings with his furry collaborator, Han Bao (汉堡).
Mo Xu
Mo was born in Hangzhou, China—famed for West Lake and a vibrant tech/innovation scene in the Yangtze River Delta. Motivated by a long-standing love for organic chemistry, Mo majored in polymers and worked with Prof. Alex K. Y. Jen and Dr. Lijian Zuo to synthesize self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) for high-efficiency photovoltaics during undergraduate studies. Mo is excited to join the JRL lab and explore projects that unite organic synthesis, laboratory automation, and machine learning to accelerate discovery in electrochemistry and energy materials. Outside the lab, Mo enjoys cycling, listening to music, and playing video games—and is a devoted Manchester United supporter.
Diana Soto
Diana Soto was born and raised in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. Her interest in chemistry began through her father's work in agriculture in Mexico, where she first became fascinated by the medicinal properties of plants. Through hands on laboratory work, she later discovered how molecules could be engineered to create real world solutions, inspiring her to pursue chemistry and chemical engineering. She spent two years in the Murphy Group, where she developed a new chemical synthesis method for trimetallic Cu, Au, and Ag nanorods used as catalysts for CO₂ reduction. She is excited to continue working on projects at the intersection of chemistry and engineering, currently focusing on interrogating electrochemical materials critical for energy storage applications. Outside of her academic and professional work, Diana is an active member of SHPE, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and Alpha Chi Sigma, a professional chemistry fraternity. In her free time, she enjoys tending to her growing collection of plants, playing badminton with friends, and baking.
Jazz Narula
Jazz grew up in Ahmedabad, India and first cultivated an interest in chemistry in middle school when first learning about the the smallest divisions of matter. Since her teachers helped this interest grow, she began to find a passion for chemical engineering. Through an internship at a fertiliser production company during high school, her interests now lie in wet lab work and R&D for studies applicable for industrial purposes. She is currently working with Armando Santiago, her mentor, to develop microemulsions as electrolytes for large-scale energy storage. She is excited to understand more about phase separations and surfactant analysis through the lens of electrochemistry at JRL. In her free time, Jazz loves creating beaded jewellery, listening to music and sitting on the quad to watch the sunset.
Collin Reutimann
Collin is from North Aurora Il, one of many Chicago-Area suburbs. His interest in chemistry sparked in high school thanks to his great teacher, and he decided to pursue a major in chemistry at the University of Illinois. Collin is looking forward to all the unique opportunities that come along with working in a research lab, as well as to learning about all the cool things that can be accomplished with electrochemistry. In his free time he enjoys running, building LEGO sets, and listening to music.
Rakshitvashista (Rocky) Gentyala
Rocky grew up in Aurora, Illinois. Driven by the curiosity to design, he pursued Mechanical Engineering to bridge the gap between theory and application. With a strong foundation in battery research developed at Argonne National Laboratory and the Nanopores Lab at UIC, Rocky brings a mechanical engineering perspective to electrochemical systems. He is currently working on automating electrochemistry experiments by programming microcontrollers and developing Python scripts for data collection. Rocky also uses his CAD and simulation skills to design enclosures for microfabricated devices and perform finite-element analysis. He is excited to continue exploring the intersection of mechanical design and experimental electrochemistry. In his free time, he enjoys cooking, self-motivated design projects, and reading.
Luyao (Lynn) Zhao
Grown and raised in Shenzhen, an urban city in southeastern China, Lynn carried a quiet yearning of nature since early age. She developed a deep interest in chemistry since Science Olympiad before coming to college and lab working experience in company R&D department in high school. She is currently working with her mentor Zirui on electrodeposition and polymerization of flow batteries electrode. Lynn loves the group environment and excited to spend her future undergrad years exploring electrochemistry in JRL lab. In her free time, Lynn enjoys gardening, reading, working out and outdoor activities.
Zican (Belinda) Lin
Belinda is from Xiamen, a coastal city in China famous for tourism. She developed a strong interest in chemistry when she first learned about redox reaction in high school. Within the JRL Lab, she is excited to explore her interest in electrochemical reaction through instrumental analysis. She is now working with Peisen. In her free time, she enjoys ballet, cooking and listening to music.
Alex Ziminski
Alex is from the suburbs of Chicago, where he was born and raised. He is attending the University of Illinois to pursue a career in chemical and biomolecular engineering, and he is currently in his second year. He joined the JRL lab to explore the fascinating field of microdroplet chemistry. He is working with Riyo to explore the remediation of greenhouse gases like CO2 to transform into value-added small molecules utilizing the emulsive microdroplet system. He is also interested into scaling-up the system with further collaborations for large scale CO2 reduction. Outside of the lab, he enjoys weightlifting, cycling, playing guitar, and skating.
Matthew Maranowski
Matthew was born and raised in San Jose, California. He developed an interest in chemistry from doing labs in his high school chemistry classes. As he grew up, he noticed how chemistry could be used to solve the planet's pressing issues, such as climate change. He is very excited to be in the JRL Lab working on electrochemically mediated carbon dioxide capture. Outside of the lab, Matthew participates in the LAS Global Leader's Program (GLP), Alpha Phi Omega (APO), and SCI-STEMA (formerly LSAMP). In his free time, he enjoys spending time in nature and on the beach, hanging out with friends, and cooking elaborate Sunday dinners.
Alumni
Dissertation: Investigating the Composition, Electrochemical Performance, and Dynamics of Redox-Active Microemulsions
Distinctions: Zumdahl Teaching Award (2024), Lebus Graduate Scholar Award (2023), Bertin Fellowship (2022), Illinois Chemistry Fellowship (2022)
Now: Process Engineer 3 at Lam Research
Dissertation: Electrochemical Generation and Collection of Radical Intermediates
Distinctions: Walter Klemperer Award for Outstanding Thesis in Materials Chemistry (2026), NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (2023), Park-Klemperer IMAC Best Poster Award (2023), C.S. Marvel Fellowship (2022), John C. Bailar, Jr. Fellowship (2021)
Now: Linus Pauling Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington State
Dissertation: Developing Electrochemical Methodologies Towards Addressing Challenges in Flow Energy Conversion Technologies
Distinctions: List of Teachers ranked as Outstanding and Excellent for ME 330 (Spring 2021)
Now: Battery Engineer at Tesla in California
Dissertation: Probing Functionalized Interfaces for Carbon Capture Using Spectroelectrochemistry
Distinctions: Mark Pytosh Fellowship (2023), Best Analytical Literature Seminar Award (2022), C.S. Marvel Fellowship (2022), John C. Bailar Fellowship (2021)
Now: Process Engineer at Lam Research in Oregon
Dissertation: Systematic Study of Redox-Active Polymers for Energy Storage: Exploring Structural Modulation, Electrolyte Interactions and Programmable Degradation
Distinctions: Mirzayan Fellow (2023), Park-Klemperer IMAC Best Poster Award (2023), Graduate College Fellowship (2022), NSF GRFP Fellow (2019), Alfred P. Sloan Fellow (2019), Illinois Platinum Fellowship (2019)
Now: Program Coordinator at the UIUC Graduate College
Dissertation: Automating Electrochemical Characterization for Studies in Energy Storage and Conversion
Distinctions: Beckman Graduate Fellowship (2023), Drickamer Research Fellowship (2023), Arthur Sloan Estate Prize in Chemistry (2022), Fuson Fellowship (2022), Lester E. Kathleen A. Coleman Fellowship (2021)
Now: Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Utah with Prof. Shelley Minteer and Prof. Long Luo
Distinctions: Patent Chosen for Chevron-NREL Studio Entrepreneurship Funding (2024), UIUC Research Live Finalist (2024), TBP Engineering Honor Society Outstanding Graduate (2024), TBP Outstanding Member (2023), MatSE Conference Travel Award (2023), CITL Outstanding Instructor (2023), Racheff Teaching Fellow (2023, 2022)
Now: Postdoctoral researcher at Argonne performing techno-economic analysis for battery recycling
Dissertation: Accessing the degradation of battery cathodes in real-time via spatially resolved electrochemical methods
Distinctions: Racheff-Intel Award for Outstanding Graduate Thesis (2024), Mavis Future Faculty Fellow (2022), Link Energy Foundation Fellowship (2022), 1st prize ENFL SPAC Fall 2022, List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent for CHEM 524 (2021), MatSE Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award (2021)
Now: Postdoctoral researcher at Caltech with Prof. Kimberly See
Dissertation: Optimizing selectivity and activity in heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis for chemical production
Distinctions: Chia-Chen Chu Fellowship (2020, 2019)
Now: M.S. in Computer Science Student at UIUC
Dissertation: Graphene Electrochemistry and Battery Interfaces
Distinctions: Link Energy Fellowship Honorable Mention (2021), Best Poster Award - SEAC Poster Session at Pittcon (2020), DAAD-RISE Professional Fellow (2017), List of Teachers ranked Outstanding for CEE 300 (Spring 2018), List of Teachers ranked as Outstanding and Excellent for CEE 401 (Fall 2016, 2017)
Now: Battery Engineer at Gotion
Dissertation: Electrochemical and Spectroelectrochemical Investigations of Interfacial Electrode Processes
Distinctions: James R. Beck Chemistry Fellowship (2020), Dr. Harold R. Snyder Fellowship (2019), Victor E. Buhrke Fellowship (2018)
Now: Staff scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory
Dissertation: Dynamic measurement and control of electrochemical interfaces for energy storage and conversion
Distinctions: Drickamer Research Fellowship, 2019; C.S Marvel Fellowship, 2018; Mark Pytosh Fellowship, 2017; Roger Adams Fellowship, 2016
Now: Head of Electrochemistry at SiTration (formerly a postdoc at Argonne)
Dissertation: Revealing ion transfer kinetics and charge dynamics at operating battery materials through scanning electrochemical microscopy
Distinctions: ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry Summer Fellowship 2019; ECS student travel grant to attend AiMES, 2018; Hinoree T. and Mrs. Kimiyo Enta Fellowship, 2018
Now: Postdoctoral researcher at Tokyo University of Science in Japan
Dissertation: Electrochemical analysis of photoelectro-, electro-, and thermal catalysis towards more efficient hydrogen peroxide production
Distinctions: R. C. Fuson Fellowship, 2018; University Block Fellowship, 2016
Now: Lecturer at Stanford University (formerly a visiting assistant professor of chemistry at Harvey Mudd College, California)
Dissertation: Coupling Raman Spectroscopy and Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy for Spectroelectrochemical Analysis of Electrode Interfaces
Distinctions: Harry G. Drickamer Fellowship, 2018; Outstanding Literature Seminar, 2016; Buhrke Fellowship, 2016
Now: Senior Staff Member at Sandia National Laboratory
Dissertation: Polymer Electrochemistry and Redox-Flow Batteries
Now: DAAD internship in Germany, then Semiconductor Industry in Arizona
Dissertation: Molecular Design and Electrochemical Evaluation of Redox Active Macromolecules for Energy Storage
Distinctions: ECS student travel grant to attend AiMES, 2018; Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, 2016; Argonne Hispanic/Latino Club Scholarship, 2016; Ullyot Fellowship, 2016; Honorable Mention, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program, 2016; SACNAS Conference Graduate Student Poster Presentation Award, 2015; Chinoree T. Kimiyo Enta Fellowship, 2015; St. Elmo Brady Fellowship, 2014
Now: Formulation Scientist at CMC Materials (Formerly a Senior Chemist at Dow, Midland MI)
Dissertation: Scanning electrochemical microscopy with conducting polymer probes: Validation and applications
Distinctions: Outstanding Literature Seminar, 2017
Dissertation: Electrochemical mechanisms in nano-structured graphitic and redox-active polymeric architectures
Distinctions: Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Students Abroad, 2017; Best Oral Presentation Award and K.M. Abraham Travel Awards PRiME 2016; NIST Summer school, 2014
Now: Associate professor of chemistry at the College of Energy, Soochow University, China
Dissertation: Spatially Resolved Ionic Measurements with Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy
Distinctions: National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, 2014; DOW Travel Award, Fall 2015; G. Frederick Smith Scholarship, 2012; Hannum Fellowship, 2012
Now: Senior Electro-Optical Engineer at Lockheed Martin (Previously: Postdoctoral researcher at University of Colorado, Boulder)
Dissertation: Probing the Electrochemical Dynamics of Soluble Redox Active Polymers
Distinctions: Norman Hackerman Young Author award, 2017; Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science Graduate Student Research Award, 2016; National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, 2015; Roger Adams Fellowship, 2013
Now: Engineering Services Manager at Reed Creek Energy (Formerly: Analyzer Engineer at Exxon Mobil)
Dissertation: Probing Structure-Function Relationships at Catalytic Surfaces with Emerging Electroanalytical Tools
Distinctions: SEAC Travel Award, 2017; MUACC Conference Best Poster Award, 2016; ISE Conference Best Poster Award, 2016
Now: Scientist at Illumina (Previously: Postdoctoral researcher at Caltech in the Lewis lab)
Dissertation: Single layer graphene as a stable and transparent electrode for the measurement of non-aqueous electrogenerated chemiluminescence and charge transfer inverse photoemission
Distinctions: Honorific Mention, NSF
Now: Scientist at Bayer (Formerly at Monsanto)
Farewell Lab Coat Designs
When students graduate from the JRL lab, a unique design is made for them and put in a lab coat that is given to them to remember their days at UIUC.
Project: SECM for Lead-Acid Batteries and Microdroplets
Now: Postdoctoral researcher at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Project: Electrochemical capture of CO2
Now: Postdoctoral researcher at Idaho National Laboratory
Project: Electrochemical sensing and detection of cancer biomarkers
Project: Synthesizing redox active molecules and polymers
Now: Postdoctoral Researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory
Project: Electrochemical simulations, programming, and experiment automation
Now: Staff Scientist at the National Physical Laboratory (England)
Personal website | The JRL GitHub
Project: Understanding molecular reactivity at polarized interfaces
Now: Senior Research Scientist at Conamix
Project: Refurbishing of Lead-Acid Batteries
Now: Electrochemist/Battery Engineer at General Motors
Project: Raman-SECM of redoxmers at electrodes
Now: Lecturer at Norwich University (Previously: Postdoctoral research at the University of Montreal in the Schougaard lab)
Project: Electrochemical Characterization of Redox-Active Polymers
Distinctions: Beckman Postdoctoral Fellowship; Ford Foundation Fellowship (declined)
Now: R&D Chemist at Dupont (Pennsylvania)
Project: Photoelectrochemical imaging with SECM
Now: Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy at University of Texas - San Antonio (Previously: Postdoc at UIUC in the Dlott lab)
Project: 3D-printed high-surface area electrodes for Hydrogen Evolution
Project: Single-crystal electrochemical measurements of BaNiO3 OER Electrocatalysts
Project: Synthesis of organic and inorganic molecules for the electrochemical capture of CO2
Project: Characterization of photoelectrochemical materials
Project: Raman-SECM of Battery Electrode Interfaces
Project: Interdigitated array simulations and experimentation for reaction mechanisms
Project: SECM detection of advanced oxidation processes
Project: SECM imaging of battery interfaces | Fund: CSC Scholarship
Project: SECM of photoelectrochemical interfaces | Fund: Sao Paulo Research Foundation Fellowship and Research Internships Abroad
Project: Cathodic Corrosion of Metal Oxide Nanoparticles | Fund: BRIDGE Program
Project: Photoelectrochemical imaging of interfaces based on porous templates | Fund: Etiuda4 Fellowship
Project: Photoelectrochemical imaging | Fund: Independent study abroad, University of Milano