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Brushett Research Group
Electrochemical Energy Storage and Conversion
Graduate Students
Lauren Blanks
Graduate Student, Technology and Policy
blank170@mit.edu
Lauren graduated in 2022 from the U.S. Air Force Academy with a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Her undergraduate research focused on robotics, with her capstone project under Lt Col Neil Rogers involving the development of an autonomous robotic system capable of passive radio frequency (RF) detection. In 2021, she was a Robotics Institute Summer Scholar at Carnegie Mellon University under Dr. Isaac Isukapati and Col Brian Neff, researching dynamic scheduling and navigation for an autonomous rover team in a GPS-denied environment. She is currently a military fellow at MIT Lincoln Laboratory where her research with the Brushett Group involves using recycled aluminum to generate electricity in a fuel cell system.
Isabella Caruso
Graduate Student, DMSE
icaruso@mit.edu
Isabella graduated in 2017 from Dartmouth College with an A.B. and B.E. in Materials Engineering. From 2017-2018, she was the Chemistry Teaching Science Fellow at Dartmouth, supporting students in introductory chemistry classes. She then worked as a materials engineer at Form Energy, a startup developing long duration energy storage, where she focused on anode performance. In the Brushett Group, Isabella will be working on electrochemical carbon dioxide separation.
Lauren Clarke
Graduate Student, ChemE
lclarke@mit.edu
Lauren received her B.S. and M.S., both in Chemical Engineering, from the University of North Dakota in 2016 and 2018, respectively. Her master’s research was performed under prof. Gautham Krishnamoorthy, where she focused on improving the performance of the CFD code MFiX by incorporating high-performance preconditioners and solvers. She was also a four-year member of the Division-I Women’s Volleyball team, and was selected to the CoSIDA Academic All-America third-team. In her thesis work, Lauren uses computational modeling and experimentation to understand and develop electrochemical carbon dioxide separation systems.
Weiran (Sasha) Gao
Graduate Student, ChemE
wgao2@mit.edu
Sasha received her B.S. in Chemical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in 2017, and her M.S. in Chemical engineering from WPI in 2018. For both her undergraduate and Master’s theses, she researched in the lab of Professor Ron Grimm at WPI focusing on the surface chemistry of perovskite materials. She enjoys playing piano, skiing, snowboarding and cooking. Her current research focuses on the development of convection enhanced electrochemical energy storage.
Chris Mallia
Graduate Student, DMSE
cmallia@mit.edu
Chris received his B.A. and M.A. in Physics from Hunter College, CUNY in 2019. His research as both an undergraduate and master’s student was done on energy storage materials using solid-state NMR techniques under Professor Steven Greenbaum. He focused on characterizing the dynamics of materials for electrolyte applications using field cycling NMR and high-pressure diffusion measurements. In 2017, he participated in a fellowship at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to model the process of spark plasma sintering for solid ceramic electrolyte applications. In his free time he enjoys nature through hiking, and spending time with animals. He is supported through a National Defense Science and Engineering (NDSEG) fellowship since 2020.
Nick Matteucci
Graduate Student, ChemE
nmatt@mit.edu
Nick obtained his B.S in Chemical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis in 2020. As an undergraduate, he initially researched functionalized carbon nanomaterials for water filtration membranes before transitioning to conduct experiments and develop models for dual-ion batteries under Professor Peng Bai. He also served as captain for the Cross Country and Track Teams, receiving 11 All-America titles and the 2020 NCAA DIII Academic All-America of the Year award. Co-advised by Professor Brushett and Professor Swan, Nick investigates how complex fluids can be applied to flow battery systems. He is supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.
Alex Quinn
Graduate Student, ChemE
quinnale@mit.edu
Alex graduated in 2018 with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University. He studied load-bearing/energy-storing composites in the Lutkenhaus Lab at A&M, characterized commercial Li-ion materials as a DOE SULI Intern at the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), and probed the thermal performance of battery packs at NASA JSC. He also studied biosensors under Dr. McShane at A&M, developed software at OSIsoft, and formulated propellant at NASA. Alex enjoys skateboarding, music, and the outdoors. His research interests lie in energy storage, and he is currently focused on rechargeable organic fuel cells. He is supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Minority Ph.D. (MPHD) Program.
Katelyn Ripley
Graduate Student, ChemE
ripleyk@mit.edu
CV | LinkedIn
Katelyn received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering and M.S. in Engineering Management from Northeastern University in 2020. While at Northeastern, she participated in the co-op program where she had the opportunity to work at a semi-conductor company, TEL NEXX, as well as at two companies developing long duration energy storage technologies: Lockheed Martin Advanced Energy Storage and Form Energy. At both early-stage companies, Katelyn studied the electrochemical stability of flow battery electrolytes. At Northeastern, Katelyn worked under Dr. Joshua Gallaway studying bismuth-modified manganese dioxide cathodes for long-duration energy storage. In the Brushett group, Katelyn will be engineering electrochemical cells for carbon dioxide remediation.
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Anish Sukumar
Graduate Student, ChemE
anish20@mit.edu
Anish received his B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) in 2022. As an undergraduate, he performed Molecular Dynamics Simulations to study polymer nanocomposites under Prof. Guruswamy Kumaraswamy, for which he received the Undergraduate Research Award. In his final year thesis, he worked on simulating bubble flow in microchannels, with Prof. Mahesh Tirumkudulu. He joined the Brushett Lab in January 2023, and his thesis will be on Electrochemical Metal Recovery. In his free time, he likes to play sports, mainly squash and also plays the Tabla.
John Vergados
Graduate Student, ChemE
vergados@mit.edu
John received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University in 2021. During his undergraduate career, John performed research on electronically-conductive radical polymers with Dr. Bryan Boudouris and also studied ionically-conductive amorphous polymers with Dr. Ernesto Marinero. His thesis work involves developing and scaling high-performance non-aqueous flow batteries. Outside of the laboratory, John enjoys rock climbing, playing piano, and running.
Trent Weiss
Graduate Student, ChemE
tweiss7@mit.edu
Trent received his B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering with a minor in Economics from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2019. As an undergraduate, he worked in Dr. Michael Filler’s lab studying selective surface chemistry techniques to develop area selective patterning methodologies on nanowires. Trent also spent two summers interning for ExxonMobil at their Baytown Technology Engineering Complex. Before attending graduate school, he spent one year developing mathematical models for ExxonMobil’s Supply Chain Optimization group. In the Brushett group, Trent’s research focuses on understanding the nature of SEI formation under flow for convection battery design.
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Cindy Wong
Graduate Student, ChemE
ciwong@mit.edu
Cindy received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Music Performance from Oregon State University in 2022. Her undergraduate research focused on metal oxide electrocatalysts for seawater splitting with Dr. Kelsey Stoerzinger. She also studied electrochemical CO2 reduction with Dr. Kelsey Stoerzinger and Dr. Konstantinos Goulas as well as the application of superabsorbent polymers with Dr. Skip Rochefort. In 2022, she studied lithium-ion battery degradation with Dr. Robert Tenent as a DOE SULI Intern at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). In the Brushett group, Cindy is researching electrochemical reactor designs for ammonia recovery. Cindy enjoys cooking, hiking, and playing tuba.
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