Staff Directory

Xiaoyang Shi was born in Henan, China. He received the B.Sc. degree (Energy and Power Engineering) from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, the M.A. Sc. degree (Mechanical Engineering) from Columbia University, and the Ph.D. degree (Environmental Engineering) from Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy at Columbia University.

Xiaoyang’s Ph.D. work is on studying the mechanism of humidity-swing CO₂ sorbent. According to atomistic modeling and experiments, Xiaoyang demonstrated a series of unconventional chemical reactions in nano-confinement and applied them to capture of CO₂ driven by inexpensive water. Currently, Xiaoyang is working as Postdoctoral Scholar with Prof. Alissa Park at Columbia University. His research focuses on the emerging fields of carbon management for fixing the climate, with an emphasis on the underlying chemistry and nanoscience that can advance Direct Air Capture of CO₂, CO₂ conversion to synthetic fuel, and novel materials discovery for energy and environmental applications.

Vijay Modi is a Professor and past-Chair of Mechanical Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science and a faculty member at the Earth Institute, Columbia University. His work focuses on the use of engineering to help address development issues. His group engineers software solutions to help make development planning smarter and to improve the delivery of critical services like health and energy in the developing world. Dr. Modi currently leads the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network working group on Energy Access for All.

Suk Yun received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology before earning his Ph.D. in Earth Sciences and Environmental Engineering from Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology.

Suk Yun's research focuses on Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS), urban mining technologies for circular economies, and biomass-to-hydrogen synthesis.

Shiho Kawashima’s research interests are in cement and concrete science. In particular, she is interested in characterizing and tailoring the rheology (or flow behavior) of fresh cement-based systems to improve the concrete casting process. Over its lifetime, concrete transitions from behaving as a viscoelastic fluid-like material to a rock-like solid. And although the first phase is fleeting compared to the latter (hours versus decades), this earlier life period is intimately tied to materials processing. Therefore the corresponding rheological properties are critical in determining the feasibility and efficiency of the placement process during construction, as well as the eventual performance of the structure in place. In addition, Kawashima is interested in other materials science aspects of cement-based materials, including nano-/microstructural characterization and modification, to improve their properties for various applications.

Robert Farrauto is a Professor of Professional Practice in the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia. His research at Columbia is currently focused on capturing and catalytically upgrading carbon dioxide to useful products, catalytic pollution control, and hydrogen generation using catalyst technology. Prior to joining the full-time faculty at Columbia. Dr. Farrauto worked for nearly 40 years in the Research and Development department of BASF, most recently serving as Vice President, Research and Development and Manager of the BASF hydrogen generation program.

Peter Kelemen is the Arthur D. Storke Memorial Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University. His research is focused on understanding processes in natural systems, particularly “reaction driven cracking”, with relevance to engineered geological capture and storage of CO2, stimulation of geothermal reservoirs, in situ mining, and extraction of hydrocarbon resources from tight formations.

Oscar Nordness is an assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia University. Prior to this position, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California Santa Barbara in the Departments of Chemical Engineering and Materials. Dr. Nordness earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering under the advising of Dr. Joan Brennecke at the University of Texas at Austin in 2020, and received his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Connecticut in 2015. His research is dedicated to elucidating ion transport and thermodynamic behavior towards engineering electrolytes and ionic materials for next generation energy production and storage, water treatment, and CO₂ capture technologies

Martin Stute is the co-chair of the Environmental Science department at Barnard College and an Adjunct Senior Research Scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University. Dr. Stute is an expert in hydrology and paleoclimate, with an interest in the earth as a reactor system. His research centers on the composition of ground gases and related thermodynamics, surface water-groundwater interactions, water-air gas exchange, and water/rock interactions.

Jingguang Chen is the Thayer Lindsley Professor of Chemical Engineering at Columbia University. His research centers on understanding and developing metal carbides and bimetallic alloys as catalysts and electrocatalysts through combined theoretical and experimental approaches over model surfaces and supported catalysts. Dr. Chen’s team is also investigating structural and electronic properties of catalysts using in situ synchrotron techniques.

James Hone creates and studies nanoscale materials and structures for basic understanding and a wide variety of applications. This work combines materials synthesis, fabrication of nanoscale structures, and characterization by mechanical, electrical, and optical techniques. 

Dr. Greeshma Gadikota is the Lenfest Earth Institute Chair and Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering and Columbia Climate School at Columbia University.

Dongjae joined the Park Group as a postdoc researcher in 2021. He earned a B.S. in 2013 and Ph.D in 2018, both in Chemical Engineering, from Sungkyunkwan University in the Republic of Korea.

Dongjae's research focuses on Direct Air Capture of CO2, designing fluidized bed reactors, and Modeling and Simulation. 

Daniel Esposito is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Columbia. His research is centered on accelerating the societal transformation towards a sustainable energy future, focusing on Photoelectrochemical and photovoltaic energy conversion, catalysis, solar thermal technologies, high-throughput screening of materials, fuel cells, interfacial phenomena, and in-situ micro/nano-scale analysis of PEC, PV, and catalytic surfaces.

Colin Nuckolls received his Ph.D. in 1998 from Columbia University. He was an NIH post-doctoral fellow at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California until he joined the Faculty at Columbia University as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry in 2000. In 2006, Nuckolls was promoted to the rank of Professor, and from July 2008 to June 2011 he acted as Chairman of Columbia’s Department of Chemistry. His research focuses on integrating reaction chemistry into electrical devices. He is a founding member of the Columbia University Nanoscience Center.