(6av) Engineering Catalytic and Reactive Interfaces for the Sustainable Production of Fuels and Chemicals

As the growing world population demands increasing food and fuel resources, the scientific community faces a grand challenge to both develop technologies that can sustain this population, and address the environmental consequences of resource consumption at increasing scales. There is a critical need for better catalysts, adsorbents and processes for the production of liquid fuels, storage of energy and the production of fertilizer through sustainable pathways. My research background and interests focus on the areas of sustainable fuel and chemical production. To address changing needs of the world population, both thermochemical as well as hybrid approaches amenable to electrification of chemicals production sectors are needed, to enable technologies that can deliver high volumes of products as well as those that provide necessities to remote locations through distributed production.

Teaching Interests:

Learning at the undergraduate and graduate level requires not only the acquisition and recollection of knowledge, but also reflection on and assessment of one's prior knowledge to complete missing pieces. This is ultimately what will bring the engineer, scientist, and any lifelong learner success long after completion of the required course material. My teaching philosophy places emphasis on encouraging self-directed (lifelong) learning by providing an atmosphere of inclusion and creating engaging activities that promote learning and teaching amongst peers both inside and outside of the classroom. At Stanford University I employed this approach to design the undergraduate senior level course entitled Chemical Engineering Plant Design and have been teaching it since 2017. I have a background in teaching and creating course material for the undergraduate senior laboratory course series, Environmental Engineering Laboratory I-II at Columbia University. I also have experience as a teaching assistant for the Environmental Control & Pollution Reduction and the graduate level Industrial Catalysis courses at Columbia University. I am interested in teaching courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level in chemical engineering and developing courses focusing on environmental catalysis and sustainability.