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Dr. Robert Vajtai joined Ajayan's group at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in July 2000 spending there his sabbatical with a NATO-NSF Fellowship. Robert received his M.S. degree in physics and his Ph.D. degree in solid-state physics from University of Szeged, Hungary (the highest ranked university in Hungary), in 1986 and 1997, respectively. From 1987 to 2002 he was a faculty member of the Experimental Physics Department of Szeged University, Hungary. He was rewarded by the Bolyai Fellowship of the Hungarian Scientific Academy for 1999-2000. He also spent sabbatical time as a Fellow of the Swedish Institute in The Ångström Laboratory in Uppsala, Sweden from 1998 to 1999; as an Eötvös Fellow at the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland from 1995 to 1996 and he also visited the Max Planck Institute in Göttingen, Germany in 1993 via Max Planck Fellowship. Between 2003 and 2008 he was a Laboratory Manager at the Rensselaer Nanotechnology Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Troy, NY managing the nanoparticle generation by inert gas deposition and the carbon nanotechnology laboratories. He is currently a Faculty Fellow at Rice University. His work is focused on growth and applications of carbon nanotube structures. |
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Dr. Leela Mohana Reddy received his Ph.D in Physics from Indian Institute of Technology Madras (India) in 2007 and M.Sc in Physics from Sri Venkateswara University (India). Before moving to Rice University, Dr. Reddy worked as a post doctoral research associate in the Department of Chemistry at University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA. His research interests are in the field of controlled growth of carbon nanostructures and Energy storage and conversion, with a focus on low temperature Fuel Cells, Li-ion batteries and Supercapacitors. |
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Narayanan received his Ph.D. in Physics from Cochin University of Science and Technology (India). His Ph.D. dissertation was focused on hybrid magnetic materials and carbon nanotube based magnetic heterostructures. He was a Visiting Scholar in Prof. Ajayan’s lab at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute during 2007. He joined Prof. Ajayan's group at Rice University as a post-doctoral fellow in March 2010. His current research interests include magnetic nanoparticles for various applications, carbon-based nanostructures in the fields of energy technology and environmental protection and bio-inspired materials. |
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Dr. Zheng Liu joined Prof. Ajayan group at Rice University in April 2010. He received his Ph.D from National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing, China in 2010. His current research focus is on the electromechanical/electrical behaviors of nanomaterials and NEMS Fluid/Gas sensors based on suspended low dimensional nanomaterial such as carbon nanotubes, graphene and metallic nanowires. |
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Dr. Myung Gwan Hahm received his Ph. D in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering from Northeastern University under the guidance of Professor Yung Joon Jung in 2010. His Ph. D dissertation was focused on controlled synthesis of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (SWNTs, DWNTs and MWNTs) and fabrication of their diverse polymer hybrid structures. He joined Professor Ajayan’s group at Rice University in September, 2010. Current research interests include synthesis of carbon based nano-materials, investigation of their physical properties and fabrication of carbon nano-materials based polymer flexible devices and their applications. |
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Dr. Mohammad Ali Rafiee joined Prof. Ajayan’s group in May 2011 focusing on the development of novel advanced materials for CO2 capture, storage and sequestration to prevent global warming. His research background is on synthesis of advanced materials for aerospace, energy and environment applications. He received the 2010 International Robert L. Lichten Award sponsored by the American Helicopter Society (AHS). Ali graduated with a BS degree in Industrial Metallurgy from Tehran Polytechnic University in Sept. 2007, then spent one year at the Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology (GIFT), Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), South Korea. In Jan. 2009, he joined the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), in USA, received an MS and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 2010 and 2011. |
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Dr. Huma Jafry received her Ph.D in Chemistry from Rice University in 2010, under the guidance of Professor Andrew Barron. Her dissertation was on treating nanoparticles and coating carbon nanotubes and nanofibers with various nanoparticles of ceramic, transition metals, and metal compounds. These materials were further developed for applications in areas such as fracturing fluids for oil wells, catalysts for water purification, and X-ray radiation absorbtion. Her current interests include working on nanostructures of boron and boron compounds to be used for various applications. |
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Dr. Liehui Ge received his Ph.D in Polymer Science from The University of Akron in 2010 under the guidance of Professor Ali Dhinojwala. His dissertation was on adhesion mechanism in geckos and fabrication of useful synthetic gecko-inspired adhesive using vertically aligned carbon nanotubes. He is currently working on fabrication of pure boron nanostructures such as B nanotubes, sheets and buckeyballs to be used for various applications. |
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Dr. Shubin Yang joined Prof. Ajayan group at Rice University in September 2011. Before moving to Rice University, he worked as a post doctoral research associate at Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz, Germany. He received his Ph.D in Material science from Beijing University of Chemical Technology in 2008. His current research is focusing on the controllable growth of 2-dimensional materials for energy storage and conversion. |
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Dr. Seunghyun (Sean) Lee received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Rice University under the guidance of Prof. Jason Hafner. His Ph.D. study was focused on synthesis of various plasmonic gold nanoparticles, surfactant’s structural transition study on their surface by surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), biosensor applications based on localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) and SERS analysis on 3D structure of carbon nanotubes with gold nanoparticles. Dr. Lee joined Prof. Ajayan group at Rice University in September 2011. Currently, he is involved with energy harvesting research based on pyro- and piezoelectric materials. |
 Brent Carey
Graduate Student brent.carey@rice.edu |
Brent Carey received his B.S. in Physics from Clarkson University in 2006. In the summer of 2004, he studied the effects of supersaturation on the nucleation of precipitates in Ni-based superalloys in the NSEC REU program at Northwestern University. During the summer of 2005, he helped create a UV Raman system to detect armchair carbon nanotubes in the RQI REU program at Rice University. His research in Dr. Ajayan’s group involves creating novel polymer composites reinforced with carbon nanotubes and studying their resistance to fatigue and mechanical failure. |
 Sanketh Gowda Graduate Student sankethrg@gmail.com |
Sanketh received his B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from National Institute of Technology Surathkal, India (2007). He has previously worked on different areas of nanotechnology which included, High Pressure studies on structure of SWNTs (summer 2004), Synthesis and assembly of SiO2 nanotubes for catalysis applications (summer 2005), Synthesis and optical studies on metal and semiconducting (CdS, Ag, Au) quantum dots (summer 2006) at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore, India. Currently he works on fabrication of nanoscale energy storage devices.
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 Wei Gao Graduate Student wg2@rice.edu |
Ms Wei GAO received
her B.S. in Chemistry from Nanjing University, China in
2004, and M.S. in analytical chemistry in 2007 from the
same university. Her research interests lie at energy
storage and environmental protection disciplines. She
had some research experiences on Carbon based
supercapacitors, Direct Methanol Fuel Cells,
Electrochemiluminescence, and water purification. Now
she is working on a water purification project which
involves purifying water from heavy metal ions and small
organic contaminations by different composite membranes
and Nano-engineered materials, such as CNTs and
graphene.”
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 Paris Cox Graduate Student paris@rice.edu
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Paris Cox works on synthesis and mechanical characterization of layer by layer assembly of polymer composites, Biological-inspired hydrogels for low friction applications and Polymer composite smart sensor and actuator devices. |
 Charudatta Galande Graduate Student ccg1@rice.edu |
Charudatta Galande received his Bachelor of Technology in Materials and Metallurgical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur) in 2007. After graduating from IIT Kanpur, he worked in the Department of Condensed Matter Physics at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (Mumbai) on Tunnelling studies on Nanostructured Superconductors. Previously, he has also worked on Semiconductor Nanocomposite thin films for solar applications (Summer 2006) at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland). After joining Ajayan group in Fall 2008, Charu has worked on supercapacitor-based energy storage devices. His current interests are in graphene-based device physics. |
 Hemtej Gullapalli Graduate Student hemtej@rice.edu |
Hemtej Gullapalli joined Ajayan's group at Rice University as a research intern in June 2008. He is a student in the Professional Masters in Nanoscale Physics program at Rice University and has a undergraduate degree in electrical engineering. As part of his internship project, he is working on flexible peizo-electric materials for energy harvesting and sensor applications. He is also involved in exploring materials for gas sensor applications. |
 Daniel P. Hashim Graduate Student DanielPaul@rice.edu |
Daniel
P. Hashim joined Prof. Ajayan’s group as an
undergraduate researcher at Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute (Troy, NY) in summer 2006. He worked
alongside former PhD graduate student Dr. Trevor J.
Simmons and co-authored in a few publications along
the work of aqueous suspensions of SWNT, CNT
functionalization chemistry, and CNT-based antiseptic
bandages for wound healing applications. He
received his B.S. degree in Materials Science &
Engineering from RPI and rejoined Ajayan’s group at
Rice University as a PhD student of Materials Science.
He has done international collaborated research in CVD
growth of CNT’s with specific interest in doping over
the summers of 2006, 2008, and 2009 at IPICyT (San
Luis Potosí, México). He plans on doing
further work with CVD growth, and applications of
CNT-based nanostructures. |
 Neelam Singh Graduate Student ns8@rice.edu |
Neelam
has received her Bachelor of Technology degree in
Mechanical Engineering from H.B.T.I. Kanpur (India) in
2007. In 2009 she graduated in "Materials for Energy
Storage and Conversion" (MESC), master program
coordinated by Prof. J.-M. Tarascon and Prof. C.
Masquelier. During her master course she worked on
"Carbon materials for Li-oxygen battery applications"
at Angstrom Laboratory, Uppsala University. In June
2008 she worked on polymer electrolyte based on
Sulfonated-PPTA at NSM, Delft University. Previously,
she has also worked on designing an inlet pipe with
laminar flow for the backward facing step geometry
using Fluent and Gambit CFD tools at Biocentrum-DTU,
Denmark (Summer 2006). In fall 2009 she joined Dr.
Ajayan's group as a graduate student and currently she
is continuing her work on Li-oxygen batteries. |
 Xiaobo Zhan Graduate Student sophiaxb@rice.edu |
Xiaobo
Zhan received her B.E. degree in Materials Science and
Engineering from Tsinghua University in 2009 and is
now a graduate student in department of Materials
Science of Rice University. She has research exprience
in fabrication of nanofibers through electrospinning.
Her present research is about carbon nanotubes. |
 Akshay Mathkar Graduate Student aum1@rice.edu |
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 Rebeca Romero Graduate Student rr10@rice.edu |
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 Lulu Ma Graduate Student lm14@rice.edu |
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 Jaime Taha Graduate Student jjt3@rice.edu |
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Ken P. Hackenberg received his B.S. in Materials Science & Engineering from Cornell University and is now pursuing his Ph.D. in Materials Science at Rice University. In the past, he has worked with polymers as implant materials, thermoplastic vulcanizates, e-beam patterned polymer brushes, as well as ion conducting polymer electrolytes. His current projects are focused on energy storage. |
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Gang (Andy) Shi received his B.E. degree in Electrical Engineering and B.A. degree in English Literature from Wuhan University of Sci. & Tech. (WUST) in 2009. Now he is a graduate student in department of Materials Science at Rice University. His current research is focusing on the design & fabrication of novel nanoelectronics and nanosystems based on 2D materials. |
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Soumya received BTech in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Kannur University, India and she completed her MS in Electrical Engineering from University of Hawaii, Manoa. Her main research focus was on Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). She worked on developing corrosion sensors and microfluidic actuators. Currently she is a visiting student at Rice University and her research interests include energy harvesting and corrosion at nanoscale. |
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Francesca received her BS from the University of Bologna (Italy) in Chemical Engineering in 2009. She is currently a PhD student in Chemical Engineering at Rice University and is working under the supervision of Dr. Robert Vajtai, Dr. Robert Hauge and Prof. Matteo Pasquali. Her research involves studying single walled carbon nanotubes synthesis and catalysis. |
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Kaushik Kalaga received his bachelors and
masters degree (M.Tech(Integrated Dual Degree)) in
Metallurgical Engineering from the IT-BHU (India) in 2011.
He has joined the group in Fall 2011 for his PhD in
Material Science at Rice University. During his
undergraduate studies, he has worked on growth of
multi-walled carbon nanotubes on conducting substrates
using chemical vapour deposition technique. He has also
worked on developing thin films of magnetic iron oxide
nanoparticles for photovoltaic applications and
biomaterials for scaffold applications. His interests are
developing graphene based electronic devices and energy
storage devices. |
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Amelia Church joined Dr. Ajayan's Growth Lab in
Fall 2011 as a PhD student. She recieved her B.S. in
Physics from Henderson State Univ. in 2007 and her M.Sc.
in Physics from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in
2010. For her masters thesis she worked on combining
multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) with various metals to
use as solid lubricants. For her PhD, she is interested in
the growth and use of CNTs for various applications. |
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Yongji Gong received his B.S. degree in
Chemistry from Peking University in 2011 and now is a
graduate student in the Department of Chemistry at Rice
University. He has research experience in fabrication of
nanowires through different methods, such as CVD, flux
method and others. Now his research interest is production
of nanomaterials and investigation of their applications
in energy convertion and storage. |
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Minjie Wang received her M.S. in Condensed
Matter Physics from Nanjing University, China in 2011. She
is now a graduate student in Applied Physics Program at
Rice University and is working under the supervision of
Prof. Jun Kono and Prof. Pulickel Ajayan. Her current
research involves the growth and optical properties of
nanomaterials. |
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Sina Najmaei received his BS and MS degrees in
physics from Azad University of Tehran, Iran and The
University of Texas at Austin, respectively. He is
currently pursuing his PhD in materials science at Rice
University. His research, supervised by Dr Lou and Dr
Ajayan, focuses on the synthesis and characterization of
Molybdenum Disulfide thin films (MoS2) and other layered
sulfides. |
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Sehmus Ozden received his B.S. in chemistry and
M.S. from Fatih University in 2009 and 2010, respectively.
During his M.S. studies, he has worked on proton
conducting polymers used for fuel cell applications. |
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Sidong Lei received his master's degree of
physics from Nanjing University, China, where he studied
photoluminescence and photo-catalysis of several
materials. Right now his research interest lays in
synthesis of novel two dimensional atomic layer materials
and characterizing their optical and electronic
properties. |
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Yean is a 4th year undergraduate student from Brown college. He expects to graduate in May 2011 with B.S. in physics. He joined Ajayan's group in summer of 2010. |
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Wes Chapkin is a third year undergraduate student at Rice University from College Station, Texas. He expects to graduate with a B.S. Materials Science and Engineering in Spring 2012. He began his undergraduate research in the Ajayan Growth Lab in the fall of 2010. |
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Dylan Tozier is an undergraduate in the class of 2013 at Brown College. He plans to graduate with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering with a specialization in Materials Science and a B.A. in Mathematics. Dylan began his undergraduate research with Dr. Ajayan in the fall of 2010, working with graphene and graphene oxide in novel energy applications. |
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TBD. |
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Soorya Avali is an undergraduate student at Brown College, class of 2014. He plans to graduate with a B.S. in Materials Science. He began his research with Dr. Ajayan in Fall 2011, and is currently working on preparation and application of exfoliated graphene and boron nitride. |
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Chenpeng Huang is an undergraduate in the class of 2014 at Wiess college. He plans to graduate with a B.S. in chemical engineering and B.S. in chemistry. Chenpeng began his undergraduate research with Dr. Ajayan in fall 2011. He is currently working on carbon nanotube applications. |
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Tianshi Ji a sophomore from Baker college and major in Mechanical and minor in Business. |
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Chris is an undergraduate in the class of 2014 at Duncan college; he is from Chicago, Il. He is pursuing a B.S. in Material Science and a minor in Political Sciencelans.Chris began his undergraduate research with Dr. Ajayan and Dr. Vajtai in spring of 2012, he is currently working on carbon nanotube growth and applications. |
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Guanhui GAO received her M.S. in Materials Processing Engineering from the Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, China in 2008. Now she is a Ph.D Candidate for Special Functional Materials in the Ocean University of China. She joined Ajayan's group in September 2010 as a visiting scholar under CSC fellowship (China). Her research interests are in the fields of nano-structured materials synthesis and application in antibacterial coating properties. |
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Raquel Silveira Borges received her M.S. in
Chemistry from University of Minas Gerais (Brazil) in
2009. Now she is a Ph.D candidate at the same
university. She joined Ajayan´s group in August 2011
as a visiting scholar. She had some research experiences
in supercapacitors based on carbon materials and polymer
electrolytes. Her research interests are in the field of
storage energy devices based in carbon nanotubes and
graphene, using polymer electrolytes based in ionic
liquids. |
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Liujun Cao is supported by China Scholarship
Council for two years to carry out research studies at
Rice.He is a PhD candidate at the Department of Material
Science and Engineering, Chongqing University, China. His
research was focused on the nanomaterial sythesis, e.g.,
hydrothermal method to sythetise nano manganese
dioxide and study their use as supercapacitor's
electrodes. |
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Esam AM Husain is an ex-Marine Engineer with
Kuwait Oil Tanker Company, undergraduate from Southtyne
side college in United Kingdom. His Master and Phd in
Marine Technology from Cranfield University (UK). His
speciality are in Marine corrosion, Erosion-corrosion,
Tribo-corrosion, marine coatings and organic coatings. He
also has vast experience in ship building, operation and
maintenance and academic experience working as head and
recently a faculty staff of marine engineering technology
Dept. in College of technological Studies (CTS) in KUWIAT.
He established a consultancy company for marine
engineering services (www.marinescb.com).
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Dr. Tsanka Dikova joined Prof. Ajayan’s group in
October 2011 as Fulbright visiting scholar. She obtained
her MSc degree in Manufacturing Engineering in 1984 form
Technical University of Varna and PhD degree in Materials
Science and Technology of Materials in 2004 form the
Specializing Scientific Council “Mechanical Technology and
Machines”, High Testimonial Committee – Sofia, Bulgaria.
Her PhD thesis was focused on the laser treatment of
hot-work tool steels. Tsanka took “Matsumae” grant in 2005
and worked 6 months in Tokai University, Japan, as
exchange researcher in the field of laser treatments of
metals. Since 2007 she is an Associate Professor in
Faculty of Dental Medicine, Medical University of Varna,
Bulgaria. In 2010 she took Fulbright grant with project
“Nano-engineered coatings on Ti Implants”. Her scientific
interests are in the field of dental materials,
application of lasers in dentistry, implant materials,
nanomaterials and nanocoating with application in
medicine. |
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Dr. Liang Zhan joined Prof. Ajayan group at Rice
University in November 2011. He is an associate professor
at East China University of Science and Technology,
Shanghai, China. He received his Ph.D in Chemical
Engineering from Institute of Coal Chemistry, Chinese
Academy of Science in 2003. His current research is
focusing on the synthesis of porous carbon, carbon
nanomaterials and their applications in energy storage,
biomedicine and gases (CO2, NOx) removal. |
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Marco-Tulio F. Rodrigues received his B.S. in
Chemistry from Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
(Brazil) and is now a M.S. candidate at the same
university. He joined Ajayan`s group as a visiting
scholar in February 2012. He has some experience with
polymer nanocomposites and in spectroscopy of carbon
materials. He is now interested in carbon nanotubes and
graphene thin-films for being used in supercapacitors. |
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Department of Mechanical Enginnering &
Materials Science, Rice University, 6100 Main Street,
Houston, TX 77005
Ph: 713-348-5904; Fax: 713-348-5423; Email: ajayan@rice.edu We welcome your questions and views |
