Experience

  1. Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow (Energy Sciences)

    U.S. Army DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory
    • Current research focus is on computational simulation of 3 dense ionic battery electrolyte chemistries for beyond-Li battery applications, as well as small organic molecules for novel aqueous electrolytes.
    • Conducted 15 Born–Oppenheimer molecular dynamics simulations, showing that Li–Cl electrolyte chemistries suffer from slow transport kinetics when paired with heavy transition metal ions.
    • Performed 650 density functional theory calculations to study the adsorption of small, N-containing molecules to iron electrodes, finding that such molecules may poison the electrode surface in aqueous conditions.
    • Trained 60 equivariant, deep neural network machine learning models as candidate interatomic potentials to accelerate molecular dynamics calculations by factors of 10–1000.
    • Authored a user guide on remote development using Visual Studio Code for the DoD High Performance Computing Modernization Project user community of approximately 4000 users across 8 supercomputers.

  2. Postdoctoral Associate

    University of Michigan (Bryan Goldsmith Computational Catalysis and Materials Laboratory)
    • Developed a web app and graph database for 10–100 monthly active users to document complex metal alloy synthesis recipes, alloy characterization data, and experimentally measured alloy material properties.
    • Mentored an undergraduate student, helping them learn the fundamentals and practice of density functional theory calculations.

  3. Graduate Student Research Associate and Postdoctoral Researcher

    University of Michigan (Bryan Goldsmith Computational Catalysis and Materials Laboratory)
    • Conducted an exhaustive DFT study of over 900 simulations to understand nitrate reduction on platinum-ruthenium alloys. Found that alloys of approximate composition Pt75Ru25 best remove nitrate from polluted water sources.
    • Studied the vacuum-phase stability and poison resistance of rhodium sulfide surfaces using DFT. Found that S-defected rhodium sulfide surfaces display partial resistance to chloride poisoning in water and identified Rh3S4(100) as an active phase for nitrate reduction.
    • Mentored 2 graduate students, 3 undergraduate students, and 1 master’s student in density functional theory, machine learning, and materials informatics screening, leading to a machine learning model for predicting chemisorption on metal alloys.

  4. Graduate Student Instructor

    University of Michigan (Department of Chemical Engineering)
    • ChE 505 – Applied Mathematics for Chemical Engineering (Fall 2021)
      • Served as a graduate student instructor for 32 students. Wrote 9 homework assignments, proctored and graded 2 exams, held weekly office hours, and designed and facilitated a semester capstone project.
      • Developed grading standards and procedures to ensure fair grading across all students and assignments.
    • ENGR 1000-320 – Practical Data Science for Engineers (Fall 2020)
      • Served as a graduate student instructor for a class of 44 students to help teach a data science course with an emphasis on machine learning. Responsibilities included facilitating laboratory exercises for 2 sections of 22 students each, holding weekly office hours, and grading homework.
      • Created a Python framework to automate grading group assignments, including rapid data entry via Google Forms and integration with Canvas LMS, shortening our grading turnaround to 3 days instead of a week.
    • ChE 505 – Applied Mathematics for Chemical Engineering (Fall 2020)
      • Served as a graduate student instructor for a class of 41 students. Composed 9 homework assignments, proctored and graded 2 exams, held biweekly office hours, and conducted one-on-one student mentoring.

  5. Visiting Student Scientist

    Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • Conducted a screening study of 295 perovskite oxynitride compounds to understand which factors influence the formability of these compounds, leading to a paper in ACS Chemistry of Materials.
    • Published two first-author perspective articles for Trends in Chemistry and Journal of Physical Chemistry C, focusing on metal oxynitrides as tunable materials for electrocatalytic ammonia synthesis.

  6. Chemical Engineer

    U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center
    • Synthesized and characterized the structure of PCN-222, UiO-66, and UiO-67 (MOF) catalysts identified for possible activity against chemical warfare agents. Characterized the kinetics of photocatalytic nerve agent simulant decomposition in the presence of PCN-222.
    • Developed a Microsoft Access database application to track progress of Army unit chemical detector equipment upgrades, including dependency resolution, rapid data input, and compliance reporting.
    • Managed routine testing of 134 air compressors across 59 active-duty, Reserve, and National Guard Army units. Developed a Microsoft Access database application to track tests and produce compliance reports.
    • Collaborated with the Japan Ministry of Defense to design and manufacture a new chemical detector, including attending 3 face-to-face conferences, coordinating two months of testing, and planning over 450 test trials.

Education

  1. Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering

    University of Michigan

    Cumulative GPA: 4.00/4.00

    See my dissertation

  2. M.S. in Chemical Engineering

    University of Michigan

    Cumulative GPA: 4.00/4.00

    • Three-time recipient of a research computing allocation from the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), totaling 2.75M service units.

  3. B.S. in Chemical Engineering

    Cornell University

    Cumulative GPA: 3.86/4.00

    • Graduated magna cum laude from the College of Engineering.
    • John McMullen Dean’s Scholar.
    • Coursework included quantum chemistry; statistical mechanics; organic chemistry; physical chemistry (irreversible thermodynamics); fluid mechanics; heat and mass transport; process thermodynamics; scientific computing (linear and nonlinear numerical methods); unit operations laboratory; and chemical process design.
    • Three-time recipient of a Semiconductor Undergraduate Research Corporation research grant.
Skills and Hobbies
Atomistic simulation
VASP

Geometry optimization, CI-NEB, dimer TS search, AIMD
ASE + Pymatgen

Slab+adsorbate generation, adsorption site finding algorithms
LAMMPS

Ionic liquid simulation, GPU builds
NequIP + Allegro
DeePMD-kit v2
Data science, AI
Python

NumPy, SciPy, Matplotlib, Pandas, scikit-learn
MATLAB
PyTorch
Weights & Biases
High-performance computing
Slurm, PBS/Torque
Fireworks
OpenMP
Web development
React

react-router-dom, Formik+yup, Tanstack Table, react-select, SWR
Django

djangorestframework, django-rest-knox, django-filter
Node.js

Typescript 5
Tailwind, Bootstrap
SWR
Insomnia
Cloud computing
Docker, Singularity

docker-compose
Kubernetes/Rancher
Let’s Encrypt

(including K8s-containerized auto-renewal)
Scripting
Python

jinja2, pymongo, google-auth-oauthlib, google-api-python-client
Bash
Powershell
Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)

MS Access DAO, MS Outlook
Databases
MongoDB + PyMongo
PostgreSQL

psycopg2, pgAdmin 4
JET SQL

(including VBA DAO interface)
Hobbies
Swimming
Cats
Pipe organ performance

19th-century French organ literature
Awards
ARL Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow
Army Research Laboratory, National Academy of Sciences ∙ December 2023
Army Research Laboratory (ARL) Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowships provide early-career researchers the opportunity to pursue independent research of their own choosing that supports the mission of ARL. Candidates display extraordinary ability in scientific research, show clear promise of becoming outstanding leaders, and have already successfully tackled a major scientific or engineering problem during their thesis work.
J. Robert Beyster Computational Innovation Graduate Fellow
University of Michigan ∙ August 2022
The J. Robert Beyster Computational Innovation Graduate Fellows Program supports Ph.D. students who are “the originators and carriers of innovative ideas and solutions from the University to the world”. This fellowship is given to 2–4 domestic Ph.D. candidates in the College of Engineering each year to support cutting-edge research in a variety of fields linking high ­performance computing, networking, and storage to applications of societal importance.
2018–2019 Fellow of the Michigan Institute for Computational Discovery and Engineering
University of Michigan ∙ August 2018
The Michigan Institute of Computational Discovery and Engineering (MICDE) offers fellowships to current and incoming University of Michigan graduate students whose research project involves the use and advancement of scientific computing techniques and practices. These fellowships carry a $4,500 allowance for conference travel, research costs, or other costs that enrich the student’s research experience.
John McMullen Dean’s Scholar
Cornell University ∙ August 2010
Honor held during all four years of undergraduate study. McMullen scholars broaden engineering’s impact on society and represent promising contribution to scientific problem-solving and discovery. Cornell University’s College of Engineering awards scholarships to 20 to 40 undergraduate students in each incoming class.
Languages
100%
English
25%
Spanish