Staff Directory

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.

By inclination and education, Venkatasubramanian is attracted to foundational questions that are at the intersection of different disciplines.

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.

Scott Banta’s research focuses on applying protein engineering, metabolic engineering, and synthetic biology tools to solve a variety of important problems in bioengineering.

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.

David Goldberg is Paros Lamont Research Professor in Climate Science Research and Carbon Management. His interests focus on the integration of different technologies and cross-disciplinary approaches to develop achievable climate solutions. Goldberg received his undergraduate and MS degrees in earth and planetary sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his doctorate in geophysics and an MBA from Columbia University. He conducted post-doctoral studies at the Institute Français du Petrole in Paris and has been at Lamont-Doherty since 1985. He also currently serves as a Deputy Director of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Associate Director of the Marine Large Programs division, Director of the Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy, and a lecturer in the Columbia University Sustainability Science program. 

Daniel Steingart is the co-director of the Columbia Electrochemical Energy Center.

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.

Alan C. West creates, analyzes, and develops electrochemical technologies used for materials, sensors, energy storage and conversion, and the sustainable production of chemicals.