Y. Shirley Meng, Ph.D.
Dr. Y. Shirley Meng is a Professor of Molecular Engineering at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at University of Chicago and is an Adjunct Professor at University of California San Diego since 2021. She serves as the Chief Scientist for Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science (ACCESS) at Argonne National Laboratory. Dr. Meng’s research focuses primarily on energy storage materials and systems – including rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles and trucks, power sources for Internet of Things (IOTs), as well as grid-scale storage for deep renewable energy penetration. Meng has led the development of liquefied gas electrolytes, allowing for a new class of battery that can operate at -112°F, the technology led to the startup South 8 Technologies.
Her work pioneers in discovering and designing better materials for energy storage by a unique combination of first principles computation guided materials discovery and design, and advanced characterization with electron/neutron/photon sources. Dr. Meng is the principal investigator of the Laboratory for Energy Storage and Conversion (LESC). She received several prestigious awards, including the Faraday Medal of Royal Chemistry Society (2020), International Battery Association Battery IBA Research Award (2019), Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists Finalist (2018), C.W. Tobias Young Investigator Award of the Electrochemical Society (2016), Science Award Electrochemistry by BASF and Volkswagen (2014) and NSF CAREER Award (2011). Dr. Meng is the elected Fellow of Electrochemical Society (FECS), elected Fellow of Materials Research Society (FMRS) and Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She serves as the Editor-in-Chief for Materials Research Society MRS Energy & Sustainability Journal.
Dr. Meng received her Ph.D. in Advanced Materials for Micro & Nano Systems from the Singapore-MIT Alliance in 2005, and her bachelor’s degree with first class honor from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in 2000. She worked as a postdoctoral research fellow and became a research scientist at MIT from 2005-2007. Soon after her tenure at University of California San Diego (UCSD), she founded the Sustainable Power & Energy Center in 2015 and became the inaugural director of the Institute for Materials Discovery and Design in 2019. Dr. Meng was Zable Endowed Chair Professor in Energy Technologies at UCSD (2016-2021) before joining PME at University of Chicago. Dr. Meng’s current CV may be downloaded here.
Dr. Meng serves as the scientific advisory board member for several startups and public companies, including Advano (https://www.advano.io), Ensurge Micropower (https://ensurge.com), SES(https://ses.ai) and Shell (https://www.shell.com/energy-and-innovation.html)
Room 304, Center for Memory and Recording Research (CMRR)
University of California San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive, MC0448
La Jolla, CA 92093-0448
Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering
The University of Chicago
Accelerator Building (ACC)
5620 S. Ellis Ave, Room 216
Chicago, IL 60637
Phone: 858-822-4247
Fax: 858-534-9553
Email: shirleymeng@uchicago.edu
Web: http://lescmeng.ai
Administrative Contact:
- Combining first principles computation with experiments to pre-screen and design new high energy high power electrode materials – Meng’s Ph.D. work was the first of this kind and was awarded the prestigious MRS Graduate Student Award.
- Pioneering in investigations into the ion transport, phase transformations and surface/interface stability in lithium and sodium intercalation compounds for electrochemical energy storage with aberration corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy with electron energy loss spectroscopy (a-STEM/EELS)
- Developed advanced neutron-based characterization techniques of electrode materials, including in-situ measurements of oxygen evolutions in high voltage cathode materials.
- Developed nano battery fabrication with Focused Ion Beam (FIB)/SEM and in situ biasing and monitoring of solid/solid electrode electrolyte interfaces during electrochemical processes.
Rechargeable batteries (energy storage) for electric vehicles and renewable energy sources, functional ceramics materials for energy storage and conversion, operando characterization (electron scattering, x-ray and neutron scattering), first principles computation guided materials discovery and design.
- Thermodynamics of Materials – Nano148 (undergrad)
- Advanced Characterization for Nanosystems – Nan111 (undergrad) CENG230 (graduate)
- Energy Storage and Conversion – Nano 164 (undergrad) Nano261 (graduate)
2022–Now, Professor, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago
2019–2021, Inaugural Director, Institute for Materials Discovery and Design (IMDD)
2017–Now, Professor, NanoEngineering, University of California, San Diego
2015–2021, Found Director, Sustainable Power & Energy Center (SPEC)
2013–2017, Associate Professor, NanoEngineering, University of California, San Diego
2009–2013, Assistant Professor, NanoEngineering, University of California, San Diego
2009–2013, Adjunct Professor, Materials Science & Engineering, University of Florida
2008–2009, Assistant Professor, Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida
2007–2008, Research Scientist, Materials Science & Engineering, MIT
- Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2022 to present
- Fellow of the Materials Research Society 2021 to present
- Founding Director of Sustainable Power and Energy Center 2015 to present (http://spec.ucsd.edu)
- Fellow of the Electrochemical Society 2018 to present
- Executive Board Member and Secretary (Elected) for Battery Division of the Electrochemical Society USA (2014 to present)
- Executive Board Member and Treasurer for International Battery Association (IBA), 2017 to present
- Editor-in-Chief – MRS Energy&Sustainability 2019 to present
- Technical Editor– Journal of Power Sources (IF 6.7) 2015-2019
- Associate Editor–NPG Asia Materials (IF 9.0) 2012-2015
- Editorial Board Member – Ionics (IF 1.7) Sustainable Energy and Fuels (new journal 2016), Advanced
- Energy Materials (IF 21.8) and Chemical Reviews (IF 47.9)
- Guest Editor – First focused issue for Journal of the Electrochemical Society (JES) on “Intercalation Compounds” (co-editor, Stanley Whittingham)
- Guest Editor – Focused issue for MRS Bulletin on “Frontier in In Situ TEM” (co-editors, Haimei Zheng and Yimei Zhu)
- Regular reviewer for Journal of American Chemical Society, Chemistry of Materials, Journal of the Electrochemical Society, Electrochemical and Solid-State Letters, Solid State Ionics, Journal of Materials Research, Journal of Physical Chemistry, Advanced Energy Materials, ACS Nano and Energy and Environmental Science, Nature Communications, Nature Chemistry and Science.
- Panel reviewer for National Science Foundation and Department of Energy, USA and various overseas funding agencies including Hong Kong Council of Research, German Research Foundation, Israel Science Foundation and Canada Foundation for Innovation, Swiss National Science Foundation, Singapore A*STAR
- 2022, Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
- 2021, Elected Fellow of Materials Research Society (FMRS)
- 2020, Michael Faraday Medal of Royal Society of United Kingdom
- 2019, Chancellor’s Associates Faculty Excellence Award for Excellence in Research in Science and Engineering
- 2019, IBA2019 Research Award of International Battery Materials Association (IBA)
- 2018, Elected Fellow of Electrochemical Society (ECS)
- 2018, Blavatnik National Awards Finalist http://blavatnikawards.org/
- 2018, American Chemical Society ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces Young Investigator Award 2018, International Coalition for Energy Storage and Innovation (ICESI) Inaugural Young Career Award
- 2017, IUMRS-Singapore Young Scientist Research Award
- 2016, Clean Energy Education & Empowerment (C3E) Award Finalist (Honorable mention)
- 2016, Charles W. Tobias Award, Electrochemical Society
- 2015, Frontier of Innovation Award
- 2014, Science Award Electrochemistry by BASF and Volkswagen
- 2013, Chancellor’s Interdisciplinary Research Award
- 2011, National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award
- 2011, Christopher Fell (Meng’s first Ph.D. student) won the Student Award of Battery Division, the Electrochemical Society.
- 2008, Early Career Faculty Travel Award (The Electrochemical Society)
- 2003, Graduate Student Award (Materials Research Society)
- 2002, Systems on Silicon Manufacturing Co. Pte. Ltd (SSMC) Award
- 2000, Singapore-MIT Alliance Postgraduate Study Scholarship (2000-2005)
- 1998, Industrial Attachment Book Prize
- 1996, Singapore Welding Society Book Prize
- 1995, Ministry of Education Singapore Undergraduate Study Scholarship (1996-2000)
- 1994, Wong’s Fund (USA) Award
ABC News (The Future of Cars) – February 15th, 2021
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/futuretense/hype-versus-reality-futire-of-carsv1/13113238
UCSD News (NASA Grant) – February 12th, 2021
https://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/engineers-earn-nasa-grant-to-enable-flying-taxis
Science Daily (flexible, rechargeable silver oxide-zinc battery) – December 7th, 2020
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201207112246.htm
Reuters (Commentary on Tesla) – September 23rd, 2020
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tesla-battery-factbox/tesla-could-struggle-to-implement-some-ofits-battery-advances-experts-say-idINKCN26E3J4
Advanced Science News Interview – September 8th, 2020
https://www.advancedsciencenews.com/shirley-meng-this-is-materials-science-it-is-the-bread-andbutter-of-our-work/
AZO Materials (The Role of Electron Microscopy in Battery Research) – September 3rd, 2020
https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=19559
The Driven (Tesla & glassy metal battery research) – July 7th, 2020
https://thedriven.io/2020/07/28/tesla-could-reap-benefits-of-truly-exciting-glassy-metal-batteryresearch/
MRS Energy & Sustainability – December 5th, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcgxr2fmb3M
ECS Interview (Shirley Meng: Becoming an Engineer) – February 28th, 2019
https://www.electrochem.org/ecs-blog/shirley-meng-becoming-an-engineer/
Green Connections Radio (Eco-Battery Technologies) – October 14th, 2017
http://greenconnectionsradio.com/eco-battery-technologies-shirley-meng-u-c-san-diegosustainable-power-energy-center/
Qualcomm (Inside Innovation: The Global Race for Better Batteries) – March 2nd, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WSwyBs0axc&feature=youtu.be
Empowered Series Blog
https://www.empoweredtheseries.com/shirley-meng
Rebellion Research Interview
https://www.rebellionresearch.com/blog/the-future-of-batteries-electric-cars-and-sustainable-energya
About Zero Carbon Future
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/achieving-zero-carbon-future
About New Research Direction
https://www.inverse.com/article/51558-could-the-future-be-powered-by-salt-this-researcher-thinks-it-s-possible
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170615142736.htm
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160706175335.htm
http://jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/news/news_releases/release.sfe?id=2042
https://www.electrochem.org/the-future-of-batteries/?utm_source=Informz&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=ECS+Website
About SPEC Center
http://jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/news/news_releases/release.sfe?id=1998
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2015/oct/15/san-diego-researchers-push-build-better-batteries/
https://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/index.php/pressrelease/uc_san_diego_part_of_new_doe_consortium_to_revolutionize_electric_car_batte
Guest appearance on NOVA documentary Aired February 1, 2017 on PBS
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/super-battery.html
Inside Innovation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WSwyBs0axc&feature=youtu.be
Sodium Ion Batteries – funded by NSF
https://www.inverse.com/article/51558-could-the-future-be-powered-by-salt-this-researcher-thinks-it-s-possible
Times magazine
https://time.com/4970269/batteries-next-target-china-clean-energy-conquest/
Physics today
https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/PT.3.4359?af=R&feed=most-recent
Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-autos-tesla-batteries-exclusive/exclusive-teslas-secret-batteriesaim-to-rework-the-math-for-electric-cars-and-the-grid-idUSKBN22Q1WC
Manna Jiang
Email: mjiang2 at uchicago.edu
Manna Jiang holds a Bachelor of Science in Management from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is currently the Materials Science Institute Administrator at The Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago. In this role, Manna oversees a range of administrative responsibilities for faculty members, including streamlining office operations, coordinating schedules, and managing event logistics, among other tasks.
Dr. Minghao Zhang
Email: miz016 at uchicago.edu
Minghao Zhang is a research associate professor at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago from 2024. Minghao received his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from UC San Diego in 2017. He earned his B.S. in Physics from Nankai University (2009), and M.S. in Materials Physics and Chemistry from Chinese Academy of Sciences (2012). He worked as a postdoc research fellow since 2018 and became a project scientist at UC San Diego in 2020. Minghao received the Battery Division Postdoctoral Associate Research Award of The Electrochemical Society (ECS) in 2019. His research interests include energy storage system diagnosis through advanced multidimensional characterizations, functional materials design based on ab initio calculations, and synthesis/modification method development for next generation lithium-ion and post lithium-ion batteries with high energy density. Minghao is the author and co-author of more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles, 1 book chapter and 8 patents. Dr. Zhang’s current CV may be downloaded here.
Dr. Wurigumula Bao
Email : wubao at uchicago.edu
Wurigumula received her B.S. and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Beijing Institute of Technology in 2013 and 2019 respectively. She worked as postdoc research fellow from 2019 to 2022 and became a project scientist in 2022 in the Laboratory for Energy Storage and Conversion (LESC) under Prof. Ying Shirley Meng at the University of Chicago/ Argonne National Lab. Her research interests focus on the development of advanced analytical techniques for materials diagnosis, as well as the enhancement and advanced characterization of high energy density anode materials.
Dr. Shen Wang
Email : shenwang8713 at ucsd.edu
Shen received his Ph.D. in Nanoengineering from UC San Diego in 2018. He earned his B.S. in Chemistry from Peking University (2010) and M.S. in Condensed Matter Physics from Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2013). He worked as a postdoc research fellow since 2018 and became a project scientist at UC San Diego in 2024. His research is centered on developing advanced analytical techniques for material diagnosis and on the synthesis and sophisticated characterization of high-capacity cathode materials.
Dr. Kun Wang
Email: kunwang at uchicago.edu
Kun received his Ph.D. in University of Illinois at Chicago, at the Department of Chemical Engineering in 2024 under the supervision of Prof. Sangil Kim. His work focused on the zwitterionic solid polymer electrolyte for lithium-ion batteries. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher from the University of Chicago at the Laboratory for Energy Storage and Conversion (LESC) under Prof. Shirley Meng’s supervision. His current research interest is the safety of lithium-ion batteries and the effect of lithium anode manufacturing methods on the battery performance.
Dr. Sven Burke
Email: svenb at uchicago.edu
Sven received his Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University’s Materials Science and Engineering Department in 2022. His Ph.D. work focused on scaling the synthesis and optimizing the performance of cobalt free lithium-excess cathode materials. Sven is currently has a dual appointment as a postdoctoral researcher in the Laboratory for Energy Storage and Conversion (LESC) at University of Chicago under Prof. Shirley Meng supervision, and as consultant to Argonne National Laboratory where he is jointly supervised by Jason Croy and Prof. Shirley Meng. His current research is focused on the stabilization of lithium-rich cathodes through the development of novel synthesis techniques and processes.
Dr. James Burrow
Email: jnburrow at uchicago.edu
James Burrow (he/him) is a postdoctoral scholar in Prof. Shirley Meng’s Laboratory for Energy Storage and Conversion at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. In addition, James maintains a Resident Associate affiliation in the X-ray Science Division at Argonne National Lab under the supervision of Dr. Kamila Wiaderek. James received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Prof. C. Buddie Mullins’ group at the University of Texas at Austin in 2023. His dissertation defined design principles and structure-function relationships of N-rich nanoporous carbon materials for application in post-combustion carbon capture and energy conversion/storage. James’ current research focuses on the application of hard X-ray techniques such as scattering, spectroscopy, and imaging to characterize mechanisms of bulk ion conduction and interfacial ion transfer in ‘beyond-Li’ battery chemistries, such as all-solid-state sodium batteries.
Dr. Charlotte Gervillie
Email: cgervillie at ucsd.edu
Charlotte received her Ph.D. in France from the Paris Science et Lettre (PSL) University, at the Centre for processes, renewable energies and energy systems (PERSEE) laboratory in France (2020). Then, she joined the Solid-state chemistry and energy lab (CSE) in Paris to develop new operando techniques using optical fiber. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Laboratory for Energy Storage and Conversion (LESC) at UC San Diego under Prof. Shirley Meng’s supervision. Her current research is focused on non-invasive battery sensing and monitoring.
Dr. Chen-Jui (Ben) Huang
Email: bencjhuang at uchicago.edu
Ben received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering Department from National Taiwan University of Science and Technology in 2021. His Ph.D. work focused on exploring the energy storage materials via synchrotron-based in-situ/operando spectroscopy and imaging techniques. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher in Laboratory for Energy Storage and Conversion (LESC) at University of Chicago under Prof. Shirley Meng’s supervision, and a resident research associate at Argonne National Laboratory co-supervised by Dr. Eungje Lee. His current research interests include characterizing (electro)chemical reactions in all-solid-state batteries with synchrotron light source and scaling up the manufacturing of all-solid-state batteries.
Dr. Weikang Li
email: wel001 at ucsd.edu
Weikang obtained his B.S in 2013 and Ph.D. in 2019 both from Beijing Institute of Technology. His previous research supervised by Prof. Feng Wu focused on the interface issues of cathode materials. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Laboratory for Energy Storage and Conversion (LESC) at UC San Diego under Prof. Shirley Meng’s supervision. His current research is focused on the synthesis and advanced characterization of the interface for Cobalt-free cathode materials.
Dr. Jin An Sam Oh
Email: jao002 at ucsd.edu
Sam received his Ph.D. from National University of Singapore’s NUS Graduate School under the Integrative Sciences and Engineering programme in 2021. His Ph.D. work focused on NASICON structured solid-state electrolyte and the electrode/electrolyte interfaces. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher in Laboratory for Energy Storage and Conversion (LESC) under Prof. Shirley Meng’s supervision. His current research interest is on the development in the all-solid-state batteries.
Dr. Weiliang Yao
email: w1yao at ucsd.edu
Weiliang received his B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). His previous focus includes synthesis of WC-Co alloys and LiAlO2-Al2O3-coating on LiCoO2 cathode. His current research focuses on interface and mechanism studies of high voltage cathode materials.
Dr. Seung-Hyeok Kim
email: seunghyeok at uchicago.edu
Seung-Hyeok received his B.S and Ph.D in Energy and Chemical Engineering from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in 2017 and 2022, respectively. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Yonsei University, and a visiting postdoctoral scholar in the Laboratory for Energy Storage and Conversion (LESC) at the University of Chicago. His current research is focused on the characterization/development of lithium metal anodes.
Shuang Bai
email: s1bai at eng.ucsd.edu
Shuang graduated with a master’s degree majoring in Medicinal Chemistry from Shenyang Pharmaceutical University-Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, CAS joint program in 2016. She has been working at LESC as the research associate for two years before she becomes a PhD student. Her previous research interest includes using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to elucidate the materials structural change during electrochemical reactions. She is currently working on the modification and characterization of Si anode materials.
Rishika Jakhar
email : rjakhar at uchicago.edu
Rishika received her B.S. in Material Science and Engineering from Punjab Engineering College in 2021 and her M.S. in Materials Science from Georgia Institute of Technology in 2023. Her previous research focused on fabricating thicker and tailored morphology cathodes for sodium-ion batteries. She is currently working on high-capacity Sodium and Lithium cathode materials.
Alex Liu
Alex received his B.S. in Physics with a focus on Materials Physics from UC San Diego. He is currently a graduate student of NanoEngineering with a focus on Nanotechnologies for Energy and the Environment. As a part of the Li-metal subgroup, his current project is enabling next-generation Li-metal batteries with liquefied gas electrolytes.
Thomas Marchese
email: tsmarchese at uchicago.edu
Thomas received his B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. His undergraduate research investigated the interfacial chemo-mechanics of NASICON type solid-state electrolytes with Li- metal anodes. His undergraduate thesis culminated two years of development for a new mechanical indentation test that discerns the interfacial formation of alkali metal anodes with solid-state electrolytes. His current research entails advanced multidimensional characterization to build fundamental understanding of energy systems including sodium Based All-Solid-State Batteries.
Mahadeen Nashiru
email: mnnashiru at uchicago.edu
Mahadeen holds a BSc in Metallurgical Engineering and an MPhil in Materials Engineering, both earned at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana. His prior work focused on molten salt synthesis of porous carbon for supercapacitor application. His current research is centered on Sodium Solid-State Batteries.
Saurabh Parab
email: saparab at ucsd.edu
Saurabh received his Dual Degree (B.Tech + M.Tech) in Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science with a specialization in Ceramics and Composites from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 2020. His previous research was focused on the synthesis and characterization of layered oxide cathode material for sodium-ion batteries. Currently, he is working on exploring the oxygen activity in the high energy cathode materials.
Na-ri Park
email: napark at ucsd.edu
Na Ri received her B.S. and M.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Sogang University in Korea. Her previous research focused on developing Cathode materials for Li-ion batteries. Her current research involves synthesis and characterization of New generation Cathode for Li-ion batteries.
Jaehee Park
email: jaeheepark at uchicago.edu
Jaehee received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering at Okayama University and M.S. in Materials Science from Kyoto University in Japan. Her previous research focused on analyzing the interface of Li-metal solid-state batteries using operando X-ray computed tomography. She is currently working on Li metal anodes of all-solid-state batteries.
Ganesh Raghavendran
email: graghave at eng.ucsd.edu
Ganesh graduated from National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirapalli with B.Tech degree in Chemical Engineering. He previously worked at GAIL India Ltd., as Senior Process Engineer for two years. He is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Chemical Engineering at UCSD. His current research includes microscopy image processing and Co-free batteries.
Phillip Ridley
email: pridley at eng.ucsd.edu
Phil received his B.S. from Rochester Institute of Technology in Chemical Engineering in 2018 and M.S. in Materials Science & Engineering from Drexel University in 2020. His previous research focused on conversion of two-dimensional MXenes into layered oxides for energy storage applications. He is currently interested in the development of solid-state battery systems for EVs.
Kun Ryu
email: kunryu at uchicago.edu
Kun received his B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering with a minor in Materials Science and Engineering, complemented by M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. His previous research concentrated on advancing lithium batteries to operate effectively at ultra-low temperatures. Currently, Kun is making efforts to enhance lithium reversibility.
Bhagath Sreenarayanan
email: bs at eng.ucsd.edu
Bhagath received his B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. His previous research focused on synthesizing and characterizing Chitosan-Nanoclay/Nano Silica hybrid composites. His current project is to develop high-capacity anode materials including Silicon and Silicon Oxide and also to understand their failure mechanisms.
Marta Vicencio
email: mcvicenc at ucsd.edu
Marta received her B.S. in NanoEngineering with a focus in Material Science from UC San Diego and is a current graduate student of NanoEngineering with a focus in Nanotechnologies for Energy and the Environment. She is currently researching high capacity anodes for all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries.
Jing Wang
email: wangj467 at uchicago.edu
Jing received her B.S. in Chemistry from Sun Yat-sen University in China. Her previous research focused on developing cathode materials for Zinc-ion batteries and additive manufacturing of Li-ion batteries. She is currently working on the synthesis, modification and characterization of single crystalline cathode materials for Li-ion batteries under the co-supervision of Dr. Shirley Meng and Dr. Khalil Amine (ANL).
Hedi (Jerry) Yang
email: jyang39 at uchicago.edu
Hedi (Jerry) Yang received his B.S. and M.S. in Nanoengineering from the University of California, San Diego. His undergraduate research focused on sulfide-based solid-state systems for Li-ion batteries. Currently, he is working on binder materials for silicon anode material for Li-ion all-solid-state energy storage system under the co-supervision of Dr. Shirley Meng and Dr. Shrayesh Patel.
Haozhe Zhang
email: zhhaozhe at uchicago.edu
Haozhe received his B.S. in Materials Chemistry and M.S. in Physical Chemistry from Sun Yat-sen University. His previous research focused on material design and mechanism investigation for aqueous energy storage systems like Zn-ion batteries, aqueous alkaline batteries, and supercapacitors. He is currently working on electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction and aqueous batteries under the co-supervision of Dr. Shirley Meng and Dr. Di-Jia Liu (ANL).
Kathryn Hicks
email: kathicks at uchicago.edu
Kathryn received her B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Chicago. Prior to joining LESC, she worked at NanoGraf Corporation as a Senior R&D Engineer fabricating silicon-based anode materials and at Cuberg as a Senior R&D Scientist researching degradation mechanisms of lithium metal anodes. Her current research is centered on lithium metal.
Sravani Duggirala
email: sravanid at uchicago.edu
Sravani received her B.S. In Materials Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her previous research focused on intercalation rates and activation energies of lithium-ion batteries. Her current research is focused on li-metal.
Jeongmin Shin
email: jmshin at uchicago.edu
Jeongmin received her B.A in energy and materials engineering from Dongguk University and M.S in nano science and technology from Sungkyunkwan University. Her previous research focused on designing dry-processed electrodes to improve processability and performance. She is currently interested in solid-state batteries.
Renee Wright
email: rewright at uchicago.edu
Renee received her B.S. in Chemistry with a minor in Mathematics from Grove City College. Her previous research focused on cathode material design to improve Li-ion battery sustainability and performance. She is currently working on cathode synthesis and characterization for lithium-ion batteries.
Ben Broekhuis
email: benbroekhuis at uchicago.edu
Ben received his B.S. in chemical engineering with a focus in materials for sustainable energy from the University of Texas at Austin. His previous research broadly focused on the development of anode materials and localized high-concentration electrolytes for lithium battery chemistries. His current research involves cathodes for sodium-ion batteries.
Yuanlong (Bill) Zheng
email: yuanlongzheng at uchicago.edu
Bill received his B.A. in physics from the University of Chicago. His previous research focused on integrating machine learning and automation into thin film deposition process, as well as fabricaton of Josephson Junction devices for topological superconductor candidate. His currently developing advanced characterization methods for battery materials based on transmission electron microscopy (TEM) under the co-supervision of Dr. Shirley Meng and Dr. Zachary David Hood (ANL).
Chenwei Hu
Chenwei is a second-year undergraduate student at UChicago majoring in Molecular Engineering and Chemistry. He is currently working with Kun Ryu and Kun Wang in the Li metal subgroup on the Applied Materials and UL project.
George Duong
George is currently a fourth year Chemistry undergraduate at UC San Diego. He is working with Phil to develop novel halide-based solid electrolytes for use in sodium all-solid-state batteries.
Aiden Larson
Aiden is a 4th year Chemical Engineering undergrad student. He is currently working with Ganesh and Alex utilizing liquified gas electrolytes to develop next-generation Li-metal and Na-ion batteries.
Julien L’Her
Julien is a third-year Chemical Engineering undergraduate student. He previously worked in characterization techniques within Li-metal with Bhargav and has since transitioned to a project in Na-S solid-state batteries with Sam.
Matthew Miyagishima
Matthew is a third-year Chemical Engineering undergraduate student. He is currently working with Shen in the Lithium-Sulfur subgroup on developing novel cathode materials.
Sharon Lin (Wan-Hsuan)
Sharon is a fourth-year NanoEngineering undergraduate student. She is working with the solid-state team on developing Na solid-state batteries.
Michael Tesis
Email: mtesis@ucsd.edu
Faculty Assistant (2021-2022)
Unjong Lee
Faculty Assistant (2014-2018)
Dr. Bing Han
Postdoctoral Fellow (2022-2024)
Bing is currently searching for a Professor position back in his hometown.
Dr. Kun Qian
Postdoctoral Fellow (2021-2023)
Kun is currently a Assistant Professor back to his hometown.
Dr. Xiaowei Wang
Postdoctoral Fellow (2022-2024)
Xiaowei is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Argonne National Laboratory.
Dr. Mehdi Chouchane
Postdoctoral Fellow (2022-2024)
Mehdi is pursuing opportunities back home in France.
Dr. Long Hoang Bao Nguyen
Email: longuyen at eng.ucsd.edu
Long is currently a Principal Investigator at Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS).
Dr. Guomin Zhu
Postdoctoral Fellow (2021-2022)
Guomin is now a postdoctoral fellow at UC Santa Barbara.
Dr. Jean-Marie Doux
Postdoctoral Fellow (2018-2021)
Jean-Marie is now working as a research engineer at SAFT.
Dr. Min-cheol Kim
Postdoctoral Fellow (2018-2021)
Min-cheol is now an assistant professor at Pusan National University.
Dr. Enyue Zhao
Postdoctoral Fellow (2019-2020)
Enyue is now an associate professor at Neutron Science Platform, Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory (Dongguan, China).
Dr. Yoon-Gyo Cho
Postdoctoral Fellow (2019-2020)
Yoon-Gyo is now working at LG Energy Solutions.
Dr. Abhik Banerjee
Postdoctoral Fellow (2017-2020)
Abhik is now the director of battery division at Research Institute of Sustainable Energy (RISE) in India.
Dr. Dijo Damien
Postdoctoral Fellow (2019-2020)
Dijo is now a postdoctoral fellow under Fulbright fellowship in University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne.
Dr. Xuefeng Wang
Postdoctoral Fellow (2016-2019)
Xuefeng is now an associate professor at Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Marco Olguin
Postdoctoral Fellow (2017-2019)
Marco is now a computational scientist at University of Southern California.
Dr. Ju-hsiang (Shawn) Cheng
Postdoctoral Fellow (2017-2018)
Shawn is currently a research scientist at E-One Moli Energy Corp.
Dr. Thomas Brenner
Postdoctoral Fellow (2016-2018)
Tom is a post-doc at the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Dr. Cyrus Rustomji
Graduate Student in LESC, co-supervised by Prof. Sungho Jin (2013-2015)
Postdoctoral Fellow (2015-2017)
Cyrus is the co-founder & chief executive officer at South 8 Technologies, INC.
Dr. Mahsa Sina
Postdoctoral Fellow (2014-2017)
Mahsa is now a TEM scientist at Intel Corporation.
Dr. Sunny Hy
Postdoctoral Fellow (2015-2016)
Sunny is now the manager of cell materials engineering at Tesla, Inc.
Dr. Young-Sang Yu
Postdoctoral Fellow (2013-2014)
Young-Sang is a research scientist at LBNL at Advanced Light Source, Berkeley.
Dr. Tom Yersak
Postdoctoral Fellow (2013-2014)
Tom is currently a senior researcher at General Motors.
Dr. Dhamadaran Santhanegopalan
Postdoctoral Fellow (2011-2014)
Dhams is now an associate professor and DST Ramanujan Fellow at Amrita Center for Nanosciences and Molecular Medicine.
Dr. Kyler Carroll
Postdoc/Assistant Project Scientist (2010 – 2013)
Kyler is currently working at Rivian.
Dr. Daniel Gostovic
Postdoctoral Fellow (2009 – 2010)
Daniel is currently an account manager at Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Dr.Ryosuke Shimizu
email: ryshimiz at eng.ucsd.edu
Ryosuke is currently employed at 24M Technologies, Inc.
Dr.Baharak Sayahpour
email: bsayahpo at eng.ucsd.edu
Baharak is interested in the development of novel electrocatalytic systems for future energy storage technologies.
Dr. Yu-Ting Chen
Yu-Ting is currently working in Ampcera Inc..
Ashley Cronk
email: acronk at eng.ucsd.edu
Ashley received her B.S. in Civil & Environmental Engineering from University of California, Berkeley. Her previous research at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory focused on the development of a novel electrochemical flow cell with gas diffusion and membrane electrode architecture for CO2 reduction. Her research interests include electrochemical and nanocomposite materials for energy storage.
So-Yeon Ham
email : soham at eng.ucsd.edu
So–Yeon received her B.S. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Konkuk University in Seoul, Korea. Her previous research focused on high growth per cycle in atomic layer deposition of Al2O3 and perovskite solar cells. She is currently working on Li metal and Si anodes of all-solid-state batteries.
Grayson Deysher
email: gdeysher at eng.ucsd.edu
Grayson received his B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Drexel University. For his PhD work in LESC, he currently works on sodium all-solid-state batteries using inorganic solid electrolytes. His work focuses on exploring sodium anodes and their interfaces.
Dr.Diyi Cheng
email: d3cheng at eng.ucsd.edu
Diyi Cheng is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and is working with Dr. Haimei Zheng on developing and applying advanced in-situ TEM platform to study nanoscale materials dynamics.
Dr.Yijie Yin
email: yyijie at eng.ucsd.edu
Yijie Yin is currently working at SES AI corporation.
Dr.Xueying Li Quinn
email: xul101 at eng.ucsd.edu
Xueying is working as an Electrochemist at Powerit-Air2Energy.
Dr.Bingyu Lu
Dr. Yixuan Li
Graduate Student in LESC (2017-2022)
Yixuan is currently a cell engineer at Tesla.
Dr. Darren H. S. Tan
Graduate Student in LESC (2017-2021)
Darren is currently the CEO of Unigrid.
Dr. Jonathan Scharf
Graduate Student in LESC (2018-2021)
Jonathan is currently a senior electrode engineer at Tesla.
Dr. Hayley Hirsh
Graduate Student in LESC (2016-2021)
Hayley is currently working at Exponent.
Dr. Erik Wu
Graduate Student in LESC (2014-2020)
Erik is currently the CTO of Unigrid.
Dr. Hyeseung (Haelie) Chung
Graduate Student in LESC (2015-2020)
Haelie is currently working at QuantumScape.
Dr. Dan Davies
Graduate Student in LESC (2015-2020)
Dan is currently working at Tesla, Inc.
Dr. Yangyuchen Yang
Graduate Student in LESC (2015-2020)
Dr. Chengcheng Fang
Graduate Student in LESC (2015-2019)
Postdoctoral Fellow (2019-2020)
Chengcheng is currently an assistant professor at Michigan State University.
Dr. Thomas Wynn
Graduate Student in LESC (2015-2020)
Postdoctoral Fellow (2020)
Tom is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory).
Dr. Pritesh Parikh
Graduate Student in LESC (2014-2019)
Pritesh is currently a scientist at Nanolab Technologies.
Dr. Han Nguyen
Undergraduate Student in LESC (2012-2014)
Graduate Student in LESC (2014-2019)
Han is currently working at Enovix Corporation.
Dr. Shen Wang
Graduate Student in LESC (2013-2018)
Postdoctoral Fellow (2018-2019)
Shen is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at UCSD.
Dr. Andrew Ulvestad
Graduate Student in LESC, co-supervised by Prof. Oleg Shpryko (2012-2015)
Andrew is currently a senior cell research engineer at Tesla, Inc.
Dr. Michael Verde
Graduate Student in LESC (2010-2015)
Postdoctoral Fellow (2015-2017)
Mike is a research scientist at Trojan Battery Company.
Dr. Danna Qian
Graduate Student in LESC (2010-2015)
Postdoctoral Fellow (2015-2016)
Danna is now a senior engineer at Tesla, Inc.
Dr. Jungwoo Lee
Graduate Student in LESC (2014-2018)
Jungwoo is the co-founder & chief technology officer at South 8 Technologies, Inc.
Dr. Joon Kyo Seo
Graduate Student in LESC (2013-2017)
Joon is currently a scientist at X‐ray characterization of materials at LG Chem R&D.
Dr. Judith Alvarado
Graduat Student in LESC (2013-2017)
Judith is currently a scientist at Sila Nanotechnologies Inc.
Dr. Chuze Ma
Graduate Student in LESC (2012-2017)
Chuze is currently a lead scientist at Wildcat Discovery Technologies.
Dr. Hyojung Chloe Yoon
Graduate Student in LESC (2011-2016)
Chloe is currently a team leader for new battery chemistry in LG Chem.
Dr. Ziying Wang
Graduate Student in LESC (2011-2016)
Ziying is currently a senior research engineer at Tesla, Inc.
Dr. JaeWook Shin
Graduate Student in LESC (2011-2016)
Jae is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.
Dr. Haodong Liu
Graduate Student in LESC (2011-2016)
Haodong is currently a Project Scientist at UCSD.
Dr. Hyung-Man Cho
Graduate Student (2011-2015)
Hyung-Man (Josh) is currently a battery scientist at LG Chem Ltd.
Dr. Jing Xu
Graduate Student (2011-2014)
Jing is currently working at QuantumScape.
Dr. Daniel (Dae Hoe) Lee
Graduate Student (2009-2013)
Daniel is currently a cell design engineer at Northvolt.
Dr. Bo Xu
Graduate Student (2007-2012)
Bo is currently a data scientist at Unity Technologies.
Dr. Chris Fell
Graduate Student (2008-2012)
Chris is currently a staff engineer in battery cell development at Tesla, Inc.
Dr. Ming-Che (Tim) Yang
Graduate Student (2008-2012).
Ming-Che is now an independent photographer.
Naohiro Tojima
email: ntojima at ucsd.edu
Naohiro is working as a system and battery engineer at Qualcomm.
Randall Burger
Randall received his B.S. in Nanoengineering from UC San Diego, specializing in Materials Science. He received his M.S. student in Nanoengineering, focusing on nanomaterials for energy and the environment. His research was on thin film solid electrolytes for all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries.
Meghan Shen
Meghan is currently pursuing her PhD at UC Berkeley.
Carlos Mejia
Undergraduate Student (2017-2020) and Graduate Student (2020-2021) in LESC
Carlos is currently working at Tesla.
Matthew Mayer
Graduate student (2019-2021)
Matt is currently a consultant at J&J.
Yihui Zhang
Graduate student (2017-2019)
Yihui is currently pursuing her PhD at University of Pennsylvania.
Oeystein Fjeldberg
Oeystein graduated November of 2019 and is currently working as an Electrochemistry Testing Engineer at Opus 12.
Macwin Savio D’Souza
Macwin graduated August of 2019 and is currently working at QuantumScape.
Wilton Woo
Wilton graduated June of 2018 and is currently a technical engineer at MTI Corporation.
Christopher Kompella
Chris graduated March of 2017 and is currently a battery research engineer at American Lithium Energy.
Riley Yaylian
Riley graduated September of 2015 and is currently a staff hardware engineer at Dexcom.
Alex MacRae
Alex graduated June of 2015 and is currently the director at Visa.
Chandler Miller
Chandler graduated March of 2015 and is currently a program manager in Electricity Markets and Policy at Berkeley Lab.
Aoran Xu
Aoran graduated March of 2014 and is currently working at Illumina, Inc.
Octavio Salazar
Salazar is currently a design engineer in New Technology Group at Intel Corporation.
Chang Liu
Chang graduated December of 2013 and is currently a writing systems engineer at HP, Inc.
Thomas McGilvray
Thomas graduated June of 2012 and is currently a design engineering manager at Oasis Materials Company LP.
David Sandoval
David is currently pursuing a PhD in Chemical Engineering at Princeton University.
Louis Ah
Louis is currently pursuing a PhD in Materials Science at MIT.
Ashley Shen
Ashley is a third year Nanoengineering student. She is working with Hayley on the synthesis and characterization of cathode materials for sodium ion batteries.
Chris Redquest
Chris is a fourth year chemical engineering student. He is working with Jonathan to make stretchable Zinc batteries.
Briege Keenan
Briege Keenan is a third year Chemical Engineering undergraduate student. She is currently working with Min-cheol on Perovskite Solar Cells
Hyukin Moon
Bryant Dang
Bryant is a fourth year Nanoengineering Student at UCSD. He will be working with Xueying (Sherry) on the degradation mechanism of the Zn-AgO battery. He will be helping through battery fabrication and data analysis.
Di Feng
Di is currently pursing a Master degree in Enterprise Risk Management at Columbia University.
Susie Park
Sabrina Richardson
Sabrina is currently pursing a Master degree in Chemical Engineering at UC San Diego.
Katya Sablina
Katya is currently pursing a Master degree at Cornell University.
Miguel Ceja
Miguel graduated with a bachelor degree in Chemical Engineering with a focus in Li metal battery fabrication and characterization in Prof. Meng’s lab.
Ricky Huang
Ricky graduated with a bachelor degree in Chemical Engineering with a focus in cathode material synthesis in Prof. Meng’s lab.
Osman Trieu
Osman is currently a materials engineer at General Atomics.
Amanda Cabreros
Amanda is currently working as a process engineering Intern at Genentech.
Gautam Suresh
Gautam is currently pursuing a Master degree at University of Pennsylvania
Yongbai (Josh) Gong
Josh is currently a DFM engineer at Keysight Technologies.
Jessie Lin
Jessie is currently a product engineer at Texas Instruments.
Moses Kodur
Moses is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at UC San Diego.
Zihan Huang
Zihan is currently a Ph.D. condidate at University of Notre Dame.
Rohan Rajeev
Rohan is currently a design release engineer at General Motors.
Taylor M Uekert
Taylor is currently a Ph.D. Candidate at Cambridge University.
Brian P Shahbazian
Brian obtained a Master degree at University of Michigan.
Shawn Chen
Shawn is currently a NRC postdoc at National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Michael Mullins-Jensen
Michael obtained Ph.D. degree from MIT.
Toru Hatsukade
Toru is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Energy Conversion and Storage Group in Argonne National Laboratory.
Raziel Acosta
Raziel is currently a manufacturing technician IV at Gilead Sciences.
Michael Chen
Michael is currently pursing a PhD at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
Derek Lau
Derek is currently a research fellow at National Energy Technology Laboratory.
James Somerville
James is currently a battery materials engineer at Apple, Inc.
Michael Tang
Michael is currently a Ph.D. Student at Stanford University.
Dr.Jeong Beom Lee
Dr.Jeong Beom is a visitor from LG Energy Solution (Korea). He is currently working on the development of all-solid-state batteries at UCSD.
Kazuhiro Yoshino
Kazu is a visitor scholar from Nissan Motor Co.,Ltd (Japan). He is currently working on the development of all-solid-state batteries at UCSD.
Dr. Suk Jun Kim
Jan 2020 – Jan 2021
Jun is a professor at Korea University of Technology and Education.
Jessica Tortoledo
June 2019 – August 2019
Jessica is an undergraduate student in Nanotechnology at National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). She is working with Baharak on synthesis and characterization of catalytic cathode nanomaterials for Lithium-Oxygen batteries.
Evelyn Hernández Vargas
June 2019 – August 2019
Evelyn is an undergraduate student in Renewable Energy Engineering at the Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla. She is working with Baharak on synthesis and characterization of catalytic cathode nanomaterials for Lithium-Oxygen batteries.
Sahana Kumar
July 2019 – August 2019
Sahana is a first-year Biomedical Engineering student at Johns Hopkins University, and is currently helping with Jonathan’s research on zinc-silver batteries.
George Duong
July 2019 – August 2019
George is currently a high school student at San Gabriel High School in Los Angeles. He is working with Jonathan on a pressure study and the effects it has on stretchable zinc batteries.
Xiaowei Wang
Nov 2018-Mar 2019
Xiaowei is currently a Ph. D. student in NUS Graduate School for Integrative Science and Engineering from National University of Singapore.
Jesus Ricardo Carmona Moroyoqui
Axel Melchor Gaona-Carranza
Markus Wolff
Dr. Bao Qiu
Jun 2017-Oct 2017
Bao is currently working at Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology & Engineering (NIMTE), Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Akira Yoda
Oct 2015-Sept 2017
Akira Yoda is currently working at Denka Co., Ltd (Japan).
Marcella Günther
Dr. Akihiro Orita
Nov 2014-Dec 2016
Akihiro Orita is currently working at Hitachi Chemical Company (Japan).
Hitoshi Shobukawa
Sep 2014-Aug 2016
Hitoshi Shobukawa is currently working at Asahi-Kasei Corporation of Japan.
Hui Li
Oct 2015-Oct 2016
Hui is currently a graduate student at the Beijing Insititute of Technology.
Changrong Zhu
Nov 2015-Jun 2016
Changrong is currently a scientific editor in Cell Press.
Cécile CHENOT
Mar 2016-Jun 2016
Cecile is currently a graduate student at the University of Namur, Belgium
Dr. Katsunori Takahara
Sept 2014-Dec 2015
Katsunori Takahara is curretly a project scientist at Sony Corporation.
Dr. Xin He
June-Sep 2015
Xin He is currently a graduate student in Münster Electrochemical Energy Technology (MEET) battery research center (Germany).
Kuniko Chihara
Jingwen Yu
Oct-Dec 2014
Jingwen is currently an undergraduate student in Department of Materials Science and Engineering of Fudan University, China.
Ying-Ching Lu
Jul-Sep 2014
Ying-Ching is currently a graduate student in Department of Applied Science for Electronics and Materials in Kyushu University of Japan.
Alexandre Delmas
Jun-Aug 2014
Alexandre is currently an undergraduate student in the Science and Technology College of Bordeaux University.
Yuniba Yagües
Jun-Aug 2014
Yuniba is currently a high school student in Colegio La Paz (Tijuana, Baja California).
Lisset Vega
Jun-Aug 2014
Lisset is currently a high school student in Colegio La Paz (Tijuana, Baja California).
Qianyu Zhang
Oct 2013-Feb 2014
Qianyu is a PhD student in Department of Environmental and Engineering of Fudan University, China.
Uriel Pérez
Mar-Dec 2013
Uriel is an Engineering Student on the Centro de Graduados e Investigación en Química in Tijuana, Mexico .
Hao Liu
Feb-Jul 2013
Hao Liu is a PhD student in department of Physics in the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Dr. Jie Zhao
Jan-Mar 2013
Dr. Jie Zhao is currently interning at NTT facilities.
Dr. Elena M. Arroyo
Visiting Professor Summer 2011
Dr. Arroyo is Professor at Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid Spain.