Laboratory for Engineering and Applications of Nanomaterials
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Laboratory for Engineering and Applications of Nanomaterials |
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Leah Benard-Boggs joined Prof. Ajayan’s group at Program Manager in September, 2011. She received her BS in Management from the University of Phoenix and has worked at Rice University since 1997. Her positions include Center Manager for Richard E. Smalley; Sr. Administrator for Chemistry; Sr. Administrator for Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science; and Special Projects Administrator in the Dean’s office at the School of Natural Sciences. |
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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, 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 Ĺngström 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, 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 synthesis and applications of nanomaterials. |
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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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Dr. Zheng Liu received his Ph. D (2010) in
Physics from National Center for Nanoscience and
Technology (NCNST), China, under the guidance of Prof.
Lianfeng Sun. He is currently a joint research scientist
at Rice University in Prof. P. M. Ajayan and Prof. Jun
Lou's groups. His research focus on the synthesis,
characterization of large-scale and high-quality
two-dimensional crystals, including graphene, hexagonal
boron nitride (h-BN), molybdenum disulfide (MoS2)
and their hybridized architectures for electronic,
mechanical and optical applications. He is also
interesting in the lower-dimensional nano-materials such
as graphene quantum dots, carbon nanotubes and metal
nanowires. |
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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. Antony George obtained his PhD in December 2011 from MESA+ institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, Netherlands under guidance of Prof. André ten Elshof and Prof. Dave Blank. His PhD research was focussed on soft lithographic patterning of functional materials. On the 27th of June 2012, Dr. George was awarded a prestigious Rubicon fellowship by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) to perform post doctoral research at Prof. Ajayan’s research group. The granted research proposal is concerned with the fabrication of nanoscale devices using layered materials by soft lithographic patterning and related approaches. The work is a follow-up of his PhD thesis research at the MESA+ Institute, University of Twente. His research interests are micro/ nanofabrication of devices using materials such as nanowires, nanotubes, PZT, BTO, ZnO, graphene, MoS2 etc. |
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Dr. Bo Li received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (Materials Engineering) from Northeastern University (Boston) under the guidance of Prof. Yung Joon Jung. His Ph.D. research is mainly forced on the micro- and nano-fabrication of highly organized carbon nanotube architectures, their hierarchy integrations with polymeric substrates through novel transfer technologies and flexible electronic applications. His current research is focusing on micro- and nano-fabrication of hierarchy structures from novel one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) materials (nanotube, nanowire, graphene, MoS2 and BN) and their applications. |
 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 |
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 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 |
Akshay
graduated from the University of Minnesota, Twin
Cities, with a BS in Chemical Engineering. After
moving to Rice, he completed a Master’s in Chemical
Engineering before switching into the Materials
Science department at Rice for his Ph.D. His research
focuses on chemical methods to controllably
functionalize the surface of graphene based
derivatives (primarily graphene oxide). He has
published studies on both organic and inorganic
functionalization (i.e. fluorination) of GO. In
collaboration with ConcoPhillips, Akshay created
superhydrophobic CNT-polymer composites that were to
be implemented in existing ConocoPhillips technology
for CO2 absorption. In the summer of 2012, Akshay
interned at Intel Corporation (Chandler, AZ) on
improving existing microelectronic packaging
technology. In his free time, he enjoys playing
tennis. |
 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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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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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
applications of h-BN atomic layers. |
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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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Soumya Vinod received her Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Hawaii where she worked on micro sensors and actuators. She joined as a graduate student in MEMS department at Rice University in Spring 2012. Her current research involves studying nanoscale corrosion and synthesis and applications of boron nanoparticles. |
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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 Hart 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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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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Mohamed Kabbani graduated from the Lebanese
American University in 2012 with a BS in Chemistry. His
main training during the B.S is the use of metal
nano-particles for drug design. He had an internship in
Professor Ajayan's laboratory in summer 2012 and joined
the group as a Doctorate student in Fall 2012. |
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Alin Cristian Chipara received his Bachelor of
Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of
Texas – Pan American (UTPA) in 2012. He joined the
research group in the fall semester of 2012. He has
previously studied nanofiller and polymer matrix
interaction as well as various composites at UTPA.
His main research interests include nanocomposite
characterization and applications and the pursuit of novel
uses of carbon nanotubes within differing matrices. |
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Kunttal Keyshar graduated from University of
California San Diego in 2010 with a BS in Chemical
Engineering. He worked for two years at a chemical
research company, Liquid Light inc, where he researched
and aided in scaling up an electrochemical process for
converting carbon dioxide to various commodity chemicals.
The fall of 2012 he joined Dr. Ajayan’s group to pursue a
PhD in Material Science. |
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Gonglan received B.S. and M.S. degree in China
University of Geosciences(CUG) in 2010 and 2012,
respectively. |
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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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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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Ge You is a first year undergraduate student from Wiess College. She plans to graduate with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering with a specialization in Materials Science. Ge began her undergraduate research with Dr. Ajayan in the winter of 2011, working on the exfoliation of graphene and its applications in marine coating. |
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Patrick Nguyen is an undergraduate in the class
of 2014 at Martel College. He plans to graduate with a
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Business.
Patrick began his undergraduate research with Dr. Ajayan
in the spring of 2012, working with graphene and its
applications. |
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Ryan McCotter is currently a Sophomore in
the Mechanical Engineering Program at Rice University. He
plans to graduate in Spring 2014. He has been working on
corrosion resistant film coatings. |
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Patricia Chang is an undergraduate in the class
of 2014 at Martel College. She plans to graduate
with a B.S. in Chemistry and a minor in Biochemistry and
Cell Biology. Patricia began undergraduate research
with Dr. Ajayan in the spring of 2012, working with
graphene and graphene oxide and its applications. |
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Rachel Tenney is an undergraduate student of
class of 2014 at Sid Richardson College. She plans to
graduate with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. Rachel
began her undergraduate research summer of 2012 and is
currently working on the preparation and thermal
application of 2D materials. |
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Molly Cougill is an undergraduate student of
class of 2014 at Sid Richardson College. She plans to
graduate with a B.S. in Materials Science. Molly began her
undergraduate research summer of 2012 and is currently
working on the preparation and thermal application of 2D
materials. |
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Sooyoun Park is a junior at Wiess college, her
major is Mechanical Engineering. Sooyoun began her
undergraduate research in 2013 and she is working on the
topic of hybrid carbon nanostructures. |
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Mika is an undergraduate in the class of 2014 of
Martel College. She is pursuing a B.S. in Bioengineering.
Mika began her undergraduate research with Dr. Ajayan and
Dr. Vajtai in spring of 2013. She is currently working on
graphene fabrication and characterization. |
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Austin is a Freshman ('16) in Duncan College,
his major is Mechanical Engineering. He joined the group
at the beginning of 2013 Spring semester. Austin is
working on synthesis and application of nanomaterials. |
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Zach Bielak is an undergraduate student majoring
in Mechanical Engineering, with a focus on environmental
sustainability. He is in the class of 2015 at Sid
Richardson College. Zach began researching in Dr. Ajayan's
group in December 2012 and is currently working with Ashok
Kumar to investigate organic lithium ion batteries. |
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Reid Coleman is an undergraduate student in the
class of 2016 at Sid Richardson college. He is currently
pursuing a double major in Materials Science and
Mathematical Economic Analysis. Reid began researching in
Dr. Ajayan's group at the beginning of the spring 2013
semester. He is currently working on the design and
fabrication of nano electronics and nano systems based on
2D materials. |
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Sachin is a undergraduate student in the class
of 2015 at Baker College. He is pursuing a major in
Materials Science & Engineering and a minor in Ecology
& Evolutionary Biology. Sachin joined the Ajayan group
in Spring 2013 due to his involvement with the paintable
battery project that is currently underway in the Ajayan
lab. His two chief interests are materials for energy and
biologically-inspired design. |
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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 Chemistry
and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing University, China. His
current research is focusing on the graphene based
composite materials and other two-dimensional material
(such as MoS2) for energy storage and conversion
applications (lithium ion battery, supercapacitor,
electro-catalysis). |
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Srividya is a Ph. D student of Delhi University,
Delhi, India. She joined Ajayan's group in April
2012 as a complimentary staff. Srividya received her
Master degree in Physics from Bharathidasan University,
Trichy, India. Her research focuses on "Growth and
characterization of Carbon nanotubes for improved field
emission". |
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Xiaoyang Cui is a Ph.D candidate at the
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua
University, China. She is supported by China Scholarship
Council for one year to carry out research studies at
Rice. She joined Ajayan’s group in October 2012 as a
complimentary scholar. She has experience with growth of
carbon nanotubes and graphene using CVD method. She is now
interested in graphene based composite materials for being
used in supercapacitors. |
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Dr. Lidong Wang joined Prof. Ajayan's group at
Rice University in October 2012. He is an associate
professor at Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin,
China. He received his Ph.D in Materials Science and
Engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology. As a
visiting scholar, he is supported by China Scholarship
Council for one year. His current research is focusing on
mass production of few-layer graphene, nano carbon sheets,
graphene-based nano-composites and their applications in
supercapacitors, functional coatings with high thermal
conductivity and high thermal emission and graphene-based
metal matrix nanocomposites. |
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Yingsi Wu is a Ph.D student at South China
University of Technology, Guangzhou, China. Supported by
China Scholarship Council, she joined Ajayan’s group in
October 2012 as a visiting student. Her current research
is mainly focused on carbon based nanocomposites for
energy and catalysis applications. |
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Huajie Huang is a Ph.D candidate at the School
of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and
Technology. He joined Ajayan's group as a visiting scholar
in December 2012. His research interest focuses on
synthesis of carbon-based nanocomposites for energy
storage and conversion applications (supercapacitor and
fuel cell). |
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Dr. Pedro Alves da Silva Autreto has joined the
group in January, 2013. He is a FAPESP Postdoctoral Fellow
at University of Campinas - UNICAMP, Campinas, SP, Brazil.
Pedro has physics bacground from undergraduate to PhD
level, he received his undergrad degree from Săo Paulo
State University and his master and PhD degree from
UNICAMP. He was a Visiting Student with the Erasmus Mundi
Fellowship Program at University of Cambridge. His
research interest is computational approaches of transport
properties in nanomaterials, most recently structural,
mechanical and transport properties of graphene and
related structures. |
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As a visiting scholar, Dr. Zhongrong Geng joined
Ajayan’s group in January 2013. She is supported by
China Scholarship Council for one year at Rice University.
She received her Ph.D in School of Physical Science and
Technology from Lanzhou University. She is an associate
professor at Lanzhou Jiaotong University, China. Her
current research focuses on functional films for
photothermal and photovoltaic conversion, the preparation
and characterization of nanomaterial energy storage
and magnetic nanomaterials. |
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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 |
