Dr. Sanjeev Mukerjee is a College of Science Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Northeastern University where he has been since September of 1998. Since founding it in 2009, he has been Director of the center for Renewable Energy Technology and its subset the Laboratory for Electrochemical Advanced Power (LEAP). Sanjeev also serves as Northeastern University Site Director of the NSF IUCRC Center CEPS. His research on charge transfer dynamics at both two- and three-dimensional electrochemical interfaces encompasses development of new materials, in situ synchrotron spectroscopy, and electro-analytical methods, which has resulted in more than 200 peer reviewed publications and 8 US patents. He has led NUCRET towards the initiative of developing novel non noble metal electrocatalysts, new materials to enable Li-air batteries, novel materials for hybrid solutions in large scale energy storage, high temperature membranes for fuel cell applications and anion exchange membranes. He has secured industry partnerships with De Nora and BASF which provide an outlet for real world application of NUCRET research, along with local startup companies. Sanjeev is also a Director for Northeastern University Site for NSF IUCRC CEPS (www.greenCEPS.com). Dr. Mukerjee holds a PhD in Analytical Chemistry, M.Tech in Catalysis, and M.S. in Chemistry.

Serge brings to NUCRET over 25 years of combined academic, engineering, business, international collaboration, and entrepreneurial experience. He runs NUCRET day-to-day operations, plans and contributes to research, advises on the aspects of MOF catalyst technology development, takes care of all administrative, financial, personnel, equipment, facilities, lab safety, IP protection, technology commercialization and transfer. Serge also serves as Managing Director of the NSF IUCRC Center CEPS. Dr. Pann started his career at a large research/academic institution where he created and led his research group specializing in technology development and characterization of non-equilibrium metal alloys, powder metallic, ceramic and composite materials for structural and functional applications, such as ceramic doped high-temperature superconductors, plastically shapeable ceramic matrix composites, ceramic fuel cells, nanostructured super-magnets. As part of his group research he formalized phenomenological model of amorphous alloys strengthening via alloying. He also served as Director of the Overseas Operations of a multinational public corporation and as Director of its spin-out joint venture company developing and commercializing technology for solid-state batteries, Li-ion batteries, supercapacitors, porous blocks to replace space shuttle honeycomb panels, and super-strong/light metallic materials. Prior to Northeastern, Serge, for over 10 years, served as a Vice President of a Boston-based scientific consulting company involved in specialized technical reports, publishing, conferences in the fields of materials science, renewable energy and (bio)defense. He holds PhD degree in Solid State Physics, MS in Physical Metallurgy, and Diploma of Metallurgical Engineer. His additional background is in Business Administration and Computer Science.

Huidong Dai graduated with a Ph.D from the Stevens Institute of Technology in 2021.  He is currently working on several projects related to Li-ion batteries, which include solid-state electrolytes and Li-S.

Dr. Emory S. De Castro, is a CTO of Advent Technologies, Inc. He also is the Lead Project Scientist (Associate) at NUCRET. Emory brings over 18 years of fuel cell experience and 30 years of taking electrochemical R&D concepts to commercialization. Advent specializes in membranes, gas diffusion electrodes, and membrane electrode assemblies as they can be applied to energy creation, storage, or reducing energy consumption during electrolysis. Dr. De Castro has led teams that have won the Electrochemical Society’s New Electrochemical Technology Award for introducing energy saving gas diffusion electrodes in the electrolysis of HCl, and DOE’s Manufacturing R&D award for high throughput roll coating of gas diffusion electrodes. Focus of Advent’s joint projects (led by Emory) with NUCRET are for the Advent to identify technologies that can make both commercial and societal impacts.

Dr. Ian Kendrick is a postdoctoral researcher focusing on the development and characterization of catalysts for hydrogen evolution and oxygen evolution. He is also spearheading NUCRETs efforts to create methods for acquiring in-situ vibrational spectra of catalytic surfaces. In addition, he contributes to projects related to carbon dioxide reduction. His previous research activities included polymer electrolyte synthesis and characterization, electrochemical reactor design, organic synthesis, and protein overexperession.

Dr. Ryan Pavlicek is a Senior Scientist with Advent Technologies, Inc., a renewable energy R&D company based in Patra, Greece, while also conducting joint research with NUCRET scientists at NUCRET’s Boston based laboratories. Advent’s work includes a broad range of energy technology, including catalyst,electrode, and membrane development for a variety of energy systems, including HT-PEM (single cells and stacks) as well as redox flow batteries. He completed his PhD in 2017 working under Prof. Sanjeev Mukerjee. His work was primarily focused on fuel cell technologies, in particular PEM, AEM, and HT-PEM. His work focused on the development and evaluation of non-PGM materials for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction, both in terms of performance and long-term stability. Prior to joining NUCRET, he completed both a B.S. in Chemistry and B.A. in European Studies at Carnegie Mellon University in 2011.

Luisa Gomes is a second-year PhD student in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and graduate researcher at NUCRET. His research interests include Li-S batteries and electrode-electrolyte interfaces.

Ershuai Liu is a first year PhD student in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and graduate researcher at NUCRET. His research interest is catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline electrolytes. Prior to joining NUCRET, he received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Zhiyuan College, Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2013 under the advisory of Prof. Zi-Feng Ma

Jiao Li is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Chemical Engineering (College of Engineering at Northeastern University). She joined NUCRET as graduate researcher in the Fall 2017 and has since worked on development of PGM-based catalysts for HER-HOR. Prior to joining NUCRET, she received Bachelor and Master Degrees from Nanjing Forestry University (PR China) and her research had focused on the nanomaterials fabrication and application.

Derrick is a Ph.D. Candidate at the Department of Chemical Engineering (College of Engineering at Northeastern University). H joined NUCRET as graduate researcher in the Fall of 2020 and has since worked on interfacial issues related to PBI-based membrane-electrode assemblies designed for hydrogen clean-up and interfacial issues related to solid-state electrolytes for Li-ion batteries.

Lynne LaRochelle Richard is a first-year physical chemistry Ph.D. student. She returns to the academic environment after years in the public and private sectors where she was a secondary science educator and, later, an industrial chemist in a local Boston company that produces materials for a variety of industries, including batteries. Lynne is thrilled to be back in an intense research environment where she will learn the fundamental electrochemistry and learn to design innovative materials for lithium batteries. Lynne holds a Master’s degree in inorganic chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania, where she co-authored several papers and published a thesis on the catalytic, asymmetric addition of diethylzinc to ketones. She received her (Honors) Bachelor of Science from the University of Delaware and wrote her thesis on a di-copper hemocyanin model complex. In her free time, Lynne enjoys weightlifting, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and knitting.

Thomas Stracensky is a 1st year PhD candidate in the department of chemistry and chemical biology and graduate researcher at NUCRET with a focus on physical/electrochemistry. He is currently involved in increasing the efficiency of CO2 to O2 conversion using electrochemical hydrogen separation technologies as well as designing novel flow cell batteries. Prior to joining Northeastern he graduated from Salve Regina University with a B.S. in chemistry and worked for 1 year as a senior Associate Scientist at Euorfins. As a part of Eurofins’ personal scientific services, he investigated precipitation kinetics of weakly basic drugs by developing in-vitro testing methods for in-silico modeling.

Kevin Yang is a second-year Ph.D. student affiliated with the Chemical Engineering department. He is currently interested in oxygen depolarized cathode electrodes for various electrolyzer applications.

Dr. K. M. Abraham is Research Professor at the Center for Renewable Energy Technology (NUCRET), Northeastern University, and the principal of E-KEM Sciences, a battery consulting company in Needham, Massachusetts. K.M. has had a 44 year career in lithium battery research and development with emphasis on rechargeable Lithium and Li-ion batteries. He, along with his colleagues at EIC Laboratories in Norwood, Massachusetts, has made many pioneering contributions to advance primary and secondary lithium batteries. Dr. Abraham received his undergraduate education at St. Berchmans’ College of Kerala University, India, where he was a gold medalist and a National Merit Scholarship winner. He received his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from Tufts University, Medford, MA in 1973 and conducted post-doctoral research at Vanderbilt University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a member of the American Chemical Society, The Electrochemical Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Sigma Xi Honor Society. K.M has published more than 200 papers in journals, meeting proceeding volumes and book chapters, and authored 16 US patents. He received a number of awards for his work including the Battery Research Award of the Electrochemical Society (1995), The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Group Achievement Award for the Rechargeable Battery Team (1995), Two NASA Certificates of Merit for invention (1983 and 1997, and election as Fellow of the Electrochemical Society and Fellow of The Royal Society of Chemistry.

Dr. Arun Bansil is a University Distinguished Professor in physics at Northeastern University (NU). He served for over two years at the US Department of Energy managing the flagship Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics program (2008-10). He is an academic editor of the international Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids (1994-), the founding director of NU’s Advanced Scientific Computation Center (1999-), and serves on various international editorial boards and commissions. He has authored/co-authored over 398 technical articles and 18 volumes of conference proceedings covering a wide range of topics in theoretical condensed matter and materials physics, and a major book on X-Ray Compton Scattering (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2004). Bansil is a Highly Cited Researcher (ISI Web of Science/Clarivate Analytics; 2017, 2018).

Dr. Josh Gallaway is DiPietro Assistant Professor at Northeastern University since 2017 and the associate faculty at NUCRET. Main areas of Josh’s research interests are electrochemical engineering, batteries and energy storage, and energy sustainability. Since 2021, Josh is also a Co-PI of the Northeastern Site of the NSF IUCRC CEPS (www.greenCEPS.com). Josh holds PhD from Columbia University (2007). Prior to Northeastern University Dr. Gallaway was Senior Research Associate at CUNY Energy Institute, 2009-2017.

The primary focus of Dr. Hung’s research is computer simulation (molecular modeling, process simulation) of interfaces and mixtures relevant to separations, energy storage, development of nano/bio-materials and environmental chemistry. Research interests include ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents, nanoporous materials, hydrophobins, biomaterials, crystal nucleation, organics in environmental interfaces, and liquid crystalline systems. The third son of Chinese immigrants, I was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela, and joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at Northeastern University in Fall 2016. Prior to this appointment, I held faculty positions at the Cain Department of Chemical Engineering at Louisiana State University (2007-2016) and at Venezuela’s Universidad Simón Bolívar, Departamento de Termodinámica y Fenómenos de Transferencia (1996-2000).

Dr. Qingying Jia is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and a Senior Research Scientist at NUCRET. University. He received his Ph.D. in Material Sciences at Illinois Institute of Technology, USA in 2010. While at NUCRET, Dr. Jia’s research focus is on synchrotron-based in situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) characterization of (electro) catalysts with applications to fuel cells, elecrolyzers and batteries. Dr. Jia is also teaching graduate courses in quantum chemistry, thermodynamics and spectroscopic analytical methods.

Dr. Michael Kane is an Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northeastern University where his research and teaching focus on automation in the built environment and how people interact with automated systems. Prior to joining Northeastern, he served as a Fellow at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DoE) Advanced Research Project Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) where he identified new technology development opportunities for control of civil energy infrastructure, primarily in the areas of transportation, buildings, and distributed energy resources. In 2014, he finished a PhD at the University of Michigan where he pursued novel ways of embedding computational intelligence into civil systems in the Laboratory for Intelligent Systems and Technology (LIST).

Napachat (Jill) Payackapan is a second-year undergraduate student in the Chemistry and Chemical Biology department. She is interested in research around renewable energy through lithium battery innovation and other sustainable alternatives. Prior to attending Northeastern, Napachat received an International Baccalaureate diploma with a Higher-Level Chemistry course.

Amell Alsudairi is a fifth year PhD candidate in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and a graduate researcher at NUCRET. Her research focuses on the effect of electrolytes on the Oxygen Reduction Reactions in Lithium-air batteries. Before joining NUCRET, she received B.S. and M.S. in Chemistry from King Abdulaziz University. She is on a scholarship from her employer, King Abdulaziz University, and she intends to return to her country and resume her work there as an assistant Professor in the Chemistry Department.

Atma Spring graduated with his B.S. in Chemistry, minor in writing, from Fort Lewis College in Durango Colorado in May of 2015. At the time of his graduation he had completed over 300 research hours under Dr. Kenneth Miller and Dr. William Collins stamina. Much of the work was on developing the synthesis of an interesting class of conformationally constrained biaryl ethers, among other projects. Atma completed the NSF REU program at Northeastern over the summer of 2014 under Associate Professor Ke Zhang. His work while there was to continue research on Polycondensation of polymer brushes via DNA hybridization published in JACS, July 2014. He was able to successfully synthesize twelve tri-block polymers in his ten weeks there, four of which had PDI’s below 1.15. He brings to NUCRET strong background focused heavily in organic and materials chemistry. He is in the first year of the PhD program in the Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology.

Huong “Harsha” Doan graduated in May 2014 from Worcester State University (Worcester, MA). She is in her forth year of pursuing her Ph.D at NUCRET under advisement of Prof. Sanjeev Mukerjee. Her previous publication focused on a non-PGM OER catalyst, Ni-Fe (Co)/ Raney-PANI, which was published on November 2015. She also has experience on developing and optimizing the water splitting cell system, with the main purpose of producing hydrogen gas at low cost in alkaline media, using non-PGM OER and HER catalysts (both were developed at NUCRET with Harsha’s major contribution). She conducts two sponsored research projects funded through DOE and ARPA-E in collaboration with NUCRET partners.

Manav Sharma, graduated from Northeastern University (BS in Chemistry) in August 2017. Past his graduation, he has been working as a Research Scientist at Advent Technology, Inc. (Cambridge, MA). His focus has been on fabrication of MEAs and Electrodes for both R&D as well as Commercial Fuel Cells (Low and High temperature). Not only limited to the Fuel Cell world, he has also been actively involved in membrane Characterization for Redox Flow Battery Systems. As a part of a joint projects with NUCRET, he has been working on automation of various lab instruments using Lab View. He has also actively been a part of Inorganic catalyst synthesis and testing for NASA’s Plasma Pyrolysis Assembly Project as well as Catalyst Prep and Testing for a Project on Prevention of Noble Metal from Halide poisoning. He has also been a part of various low and high temperature fuel cell testing as well as water splitting experiment using alkaline membrane.