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)
Manna Jiang
Email: mjiang2 at uchicago.edu
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. James Burrow
Email: jnburrow at uchicago.edu
James Burrow serves as the deputy assistant director and the DOE Basic Energy Sciences Early Career Network representative for the Energy Storage Research Alliance (ESRA, energystoragera.org). After receiving his bachelor of science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, he worked as a postdoctoral scholar at the UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago and as a resident associate at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory. His research interests are in materials discovery, and in application of X-ray scattering and imaging techniques for emerging all solid-state battery chemistries.
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. Jing Wang
Email: wangj467 at uchicago.edu
Jing received her Ph.D. in Molecular Engineering from The University of Chicago under the co-supervision of Dr. Shirley Meng and Dr. Khalil Amine (ANL). She is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory under same supervisors. Her research focused on the synthesis, modification and characterization of single crystalline cathode materials for Li-ion batteries
Dr. Mingqian Li
Email: mingqianli at uchicago.edu
Mingqian Li received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), where his research focused on battery safety and electrolyte engineering. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Laboratory for Energy Storage and Conversion (LESC) at the University of Chicago, under the supervision of Prof. Shirley Meng. His current work focuses on developing novel methods for electrolyte extraction and recycling, as well as the characterization of sodium metal batteries.
Dr. Jinkwan Jung
Email: jij015 at ucsd.edu
Jinkwan received his B.S. and M.S. in Chemistry from the Sogang University and Ph.D. in the School of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology(KAIST). His previous research focused on the electrolyte engineering for lithium-sulfur batteries. He worked at LG energy solutions to develop the lithium-sulfur and lithium-SPAN batteries applicable to high-energy density UAM system. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher in Laboratory for Energy Storage and Conversion (LESC) at UC San Diego under the supervision of Prof. Shirley Meng where he is working on the characterization of liquid lithium-SPAN battery system and development of all-solid-state lithium-sulfur batteries.
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. Haozhe Zhang
Email: haozhe.zhang at anl.gov
Haozhe is a postdoctral appointee in Argonne National Laboratory. He received his Ph.D. in Molecular Engineering from the University of Chicago. His research focused on material design and mechanism investigation for energy storage and conversion systems like Zn batteries, Sn batteries, and electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction under the collabration of Dr. Shirley Meng and Dr. Di-Jia Liu (ANL).
Dr. Shuke Li
Email: shl196 at ucsd.edu
Shuke is a postdoctoral scholar in Prof. Shirley Meng’s Laboratory for Energy Storage and Conversion at UC San Diego. She received her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Prof. Liangbing Hu’s group at the University of Maryland, College Park in 2023. Her work was focused on electrified high-temperature heating in nanomaterials synthesis and chemical manufacturing. In LESC, she currently works on flash synthesis of SPAN cathode materials for Li-S batteries.
Dr. 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.
Dr. Hyunseok Moon
Email: h9moon at ucsd.edu
Hyunseok Moon received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Energy and Chemical Engineering from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Yonsei University. His previous research focused on developing advanced electrolytes for lithium-metal batteries and functional binders for lithium-sulfur systems. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Laboratory for Energy Storage and Conversion (LESC) at UC San Diego under the supervision of Prof. Shirley Meng. His present work involves the development of functional binders and polymer electrolytes, aimed at enabling high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries.
Dr. Won-Yeong Kim
Email: wonyeongkim at uchicago.edu
Won-Yeong received his Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Yonsei University in 2025 under the supervision of Prof. Sang-Young Lee. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago under the supervision of Prof. Y. Shirley Meng. His research focuses on developing advanced electrolytes for lithium metal batteries, aqueous zinc metal batteries, and solid-state batteries based on anion solvation chemistry.
Dr. Hiram Kwak
Email: hiramk@uchicago.edu
Hiram Kwak received his Ph.D. in Energy Engineering from Hanyang University where his research focused on the design and characterization of solid electrolytes. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, advised by Prof. Y. Shirley Meng. His current work focuses on developing Solid-State Lithium- and Sodium-Sulfur Batteries and characterizing their (mechano)chemical reactions using a synchrotron beam source.
Lafe Martinson
Email : lafe at uchicago.edu
Lafe received his B.S. in Chemistry from Georgetown University in 2021 and his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Columbia University in 2023. His previous research includes DFT simulations on Li-ion battery materials, electrolyte design for aqueous Zn batteries, and characterization of ultra-thick Li/Na-ion electrodes. He is currently working on cathode synthesis for Li-ion batteries and operando Raman spectroscopy under the co-supervision of Dr. Shirley Meng and Dr. Po-Chun Hsu.
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
Email : a7liu at ucsd.edu
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.
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 lithium-sulfur and high-voltage cathodes in all-solid-state batteries.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Matthew Miyagishima
Email: mmiyagishima at uchicago.edu
Matthew received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, San Diego. His undergraduate research focused on the characterization and development of novel cathode materials for Lithium-Sulfur Batteries. His current research focuses on the development of liquid and all-solid-state Lithium-Sulfur 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 fabrication of Josephson junction devices based on topological superconductor candidates. His current research interests include using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and theoretical modeling to study Li‑metal nucleation in anode‑free Li‑metal batteries. He is co-advised by Prof. Shirley Meng and Dr. Maria Chan (ANL).
Zhiyu An
Email: zan at uchicago.edu
Zhiyu received his B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Central South University and an M.S. in Materials Science and System Engineering from Cornell University . His previous research concentrated on advancing computational methods and aqueous zinc-ion batteries. Currently, Zhiyu is working on LGE in sodium batteries.
Rahul Mallela
Email: rmallela at uchicago.edu
Rahul received his B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Maryland. He previously worked on solid-state electrolytes/interfaces, as well as battery safety and second-life applications for EV cells. Currently, Rahul is working on materials discovery for all-solid-state batteries.
Aiden Larson
Email: alarson at ucsd.edu
Aiden holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from UC San Diego. He is currently a graduate student of NanoEngineering with a focus on Nanotechnologies for Energy and the Environment. As part of the liquified gas electrolyte group, he works to develop next generation Li-metal and Na-ion batteries.
Julien L’Her
Email: jlher at ucsd.edu
Julien holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from UC San Diego. He previously worked on conversion cathodes during his undergraduate studies and is currently focusing on scalable manufacturing methods for sodium all-solid-state batteries for his master’s thesis.
Yuncong Bai
Email: yuncong@uchicago.edu
Yuncong received his B.S. in Chemistry from CUHK–Shenzhen and is completing a Master in Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago. His previous research included layered transition-metal oxides and liquid-phase ion-exchange synthesis. Currently, Yuncong is working in the sodium-ion battery group on cathode synthesis and characterization.
Sumin Kim
Sumin is a second-year undergraduate student at the University of Chicago majoring in Computational and Applied Mathematics. He is currently working with Jahee Park and Hiram Kwak in the All Solid State Batteries subgroup, focusing on cell assembly, electrode and electrolyte preparation, and computational methods.
Caiden Brubaker
Caiden is a first year undergraduate student at the University of Chicago studying molecular engineering. He is currently working with Kun Ryu to understand the Li metal battery degradation mechanisms associated with corrosion.
Vincent Ji
Vincent is a first-year undergraduate student at the University of Chicago majoring in physics. He is currently working with Kun Wang on the UL and Applied Materials projects, learning electrochemical performance test, electrode and electrolyte preparation, and coin cell assembly.
Nicholas Lord
Nicholas is a first-year undergraduate student at UC San Diego majoring in nanoengineering. He is currently working with Shuke Li in the Lithium-Sulfur subgroup on synthesis of SPAN cathode materials.
Mila Martin
Mila Martin is a third year the University of Chicago studying molecular engineering with a focus in chemistry. She is working g under Ben Huang and James Burrow in the all-solid-state batteries subgroup, focusing on ASSB pouch cell making and halide SSE synthesis.
Daman Seth
Daman Seth is a second-year Chemical Engineering undergraduate student at UC San Diego. He is currently working with Jinkwan in the Lithium-Sulphur subgroup on quantification of Lithium Loss in Li-SPAN battery.
Jasper Zhang
Jasper is a second year undergrad at UC San Diego studying Chemical Engineering. He is currently working with Shen Wang in the Lithium Sulfur subgroup on the development of sulfur containing cathodes in lithium batteries
Margaret Ayers
Maggie is a second-year undergraduate student at UC San Diego studying Chemistry and Mechanical Engineering. She is currently working with Marta in the Lithium All-Solid-State Battery subgroup on high energy density anodes and strategies to lower operating pressure.
Justin Chen
Justin is a third year undergraduate at UC San Diego studying Chemical Engineering. He is currently working with Alex and Aiden on liquefied gas electrolytes for next generation anode materials such as silicon and sodium metal.
Yi Fung Winsten Lam
Winsten is a fourth-year chemical engineering undergraduate student at UC San Diego. He is currently working with Dr Jinkwan Jung in the all-solid-state batteries subgroup, focusing on development of all-solid-state lithium-sulfur batteries.
Michael Tesis
Email: mtesis@ucsd.edu
Unjong Lee
Faculty Assistant (2014-2018)
Dr. Ting Ma
Email: tingma at uchicago.edu
Postdoctoral fellow (2025-2026).
Dr. Weikang Li
Email: wel001 at ucsd.edu
Postdoctoral fellow (2019-2024). Weikang is currently the CTO of ExPost Technology Inc.
Dr. Grayson Deysher
Postdoctoral fellow (2025-2026). Grayson is now working at Quantumscape.
Dr. Abhirup Bhadra
Postdoctoral fellow (2025-2026).
Dr. Sven Burke
Postdoctoral fellow (2023-2025). Sven is now working at Gotion.
Dr. Pawan Kumar
Postdoctoral Fellow (2024) Pawan is previously a postdoc in LESC and now he back to India.
Dr. Jin An Sam Oh
Postdoctoral Fellow (2022-2024) Sam is a scientist in A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, Singapore.
Dr. Weiliang Yao
Postdoctoral Fellow (2024) Weiliang is a Senior R&D Engineer in CATL.
Dr. Seung-Hyeok Kim
Postdoctoral Fellow (2024) Seung-Hyeok is a assistant professor in Hanyang University.
Dr. Charlotte Gervillie
Postdoctoral Fellow (2023-2024) Charlotte is a associate researcher in Collège de France.
Dr. Bing Han
Postdoctoral Fellow (2022-2024) Bing is an assistant professor in Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo.
Dr. Kun Qian
Postdoctoral Fellow (2021-2023) Kun is currently a assistant professor in Great Bay University.
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.
Minje Ryu
Visiting Phd Student (2025)
Minje received his B.S. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering from Yonsei University. His previous research focused on optimizing dry-process electrode fabrication techniques for LIBs and designing low-strain electrode architectures for all-solid-state batteries (ASSBs). During his time in LESC, he worked on high-voltage cathode development for ASSBs and the high-capacity dry-processed anodes fabrication.
Tim Greitemeier
Visiting PhD student (2025)
Tim Greitemeier wa a visiting student at LESC and a Ph.D. student in Business Chemistry at the University of Münster. He was working on the integration of Large-Language-Models and network analysis to patent landscapes in nascent battery.
Dr. 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. During his time in LESC, he was working on microscopy image processing and Co-free batteries.
Dr. 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. During his time in LESC, he was working on exploring the oxygen activity in the high energy cathode materials.
Dr. 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. During his time in LESC, he worked on developing high-capacity anode materials including Silicon and Silicon Oxide and also to understand their failure mechanisms.
Dr.Ryosuke Shimizu
email: ryshimiz at eng.ucsd.edu Ryosuke is currently employed at 24M Technologies, Inc.
Dr. Weiliang Yao
Graduate student (2018-2023) Weiliang is a Senior R&D Engineer in CATL.
Dr. Na-ri Park
Na-ri is currently working in LG Chem.
Dr. Phillip Ridley
Phillip is currently working in DOE Manufacturing & Energy Supply Chains Office.
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..
Dr. 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.
Dr. 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.
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.
Allegra Hamacher
Undergraduate student (2025)
Allegra is a Molecular Engineering undergraduate student at the University of Chicago. She worked with Jaehee Park and Ben Huang in the all-solid-state batteries subgroup, focusing on lithium-based cathode materials.
George Duong
George is currently pursuing a PhD in Chemistry at Caltech.
Chenwei Hu
Chenwei is a undergraduate at UChicago.
Sharon Lin (Wan-Hsuan)
Sharon is currently pursuing a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at Cornell University.
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
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.
Sotaro Sudo
Sotaro is a visiting researcher from Nippon Steel Chemical & Material Co.,Ltd (Japan). He is currently working on the development of current collector for ASSBs at the University of Chicago.
Dr. Seung Bo Yang
Seung Bo is a visitor from LG Energy Solution (Korea). He is currently working on the development of all-solid-state batteries at UCSD.
Dr. Dong Hyeon Kim
Dong Hyeon is a visitor from LG Energy Solution (Korea). He is currently working on the development of all-solid-state batteries at UCSD.
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.