(385aw) Molecular Design of Sustainable Lignin-Based Advanced Materials

My research interests are materials and polymer science, multiscale computational modeling for product and process development, and environmental sustainability. My PhD research is focused on the molecular design of sustainable lignin-based advanced materials using experimental and computational methods. I synthesized biomaterials and polymers from lignin and quantified the effects of lignin structure on material performance and properties. I have applied multiscale computational modeling from Density functional theory (DFT), molecular dynamics (MD), process simulations, techno-economic analysis (TEA), life cycle assessment (LCA), and Artificial Intelligence/Machine learning to facilitate understanding of phenomena from the lab bench and its translation to plant operation. I intend to pursue a career focused on developing new materials and/or improving existing materials and processes to ensure economic viability and maintain efficiency.