Group Members

Bernadette Schneider (Postdoctoral Researcher)

Ph.D. Chemistry, University of Michigan, 2022

B.A. Chemistry, Oberlin College

• Hometown: Rocky River, Ohio

• Hobbies: Dance, crafting, cooking, and taking walks outdoors

Projects: Peptide-functionalized membranes for resource recovery, DGA-functionalized membrane adsorbers for Ac-225 separations, Model adsorbents for single molecule microscopy

Lianna Johnson (PhD Candidate)

B.S. Chemical Engineering, Rochester Institute of Technology, 2021

• • Hometown: Saegertown, PA

  • Hobbies: Rock climbing, playing guitar, reading, spending time with pets

Project: Bio-inspired membranes to recover rare earth elements from fertilizer tailings.

Awards:

• NAMS Elias Klein Founders' Travel Supplement, 2024

• CWRU ChBE Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant, 2024

• Abstract Award at World Tech Connect Conference, 2024

• Swanger Fellowship, 2021

Publications:

• Membrane adsorbers with copolymer coatings for the separation of actinides and lanthanides

• Electrospun membranes modified with lanmodulin-derived peptides for lanthanide adsorption (ACS Applied Engineering Materials 2024)

• Rare-earth element adsorption to membranes functionalized with lanmodulin-derived peptides (Langmuir 2025)

Shruti Krishna R (PhD Student)

M.Tech. Chemical Engineering, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, 2023

B.Tech. Chemical Engineering, Anna University, 2021

• • Hometown: Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

  • Hobbies: Video games, coffee, petting dogs and cats

Project: Ac-225 purification using membrane adsorbers

Kayla Kent (PhD Student)

B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, 2023

• • Hometown: Hollywood, FL

  • Hobbies: Traveling, hiking, swimming, trying new foods

Project: Process intensification for nuclear fuel reprocessing

Honors and Awards at CWRU:

• DOE Nuclear Energy UNLP Graduate Research Fellowship, 2024-2027

• Swanger Fellowship, 2023

Md Sarwar Kamal (PhD Student)

M.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Miami

B.Sc. Chemical Engineering, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology

• • Hometown: 

  • Hobbies: 

Project: Nanofiltration membranes for rare earth element purification

Morgan Schuld (PhD Student)

B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Toledo

• • Hometown: Rocky River, OH

  • Hobbies: 

Project: Nanofiltration membranes for rare earth element purification

Haozhuo Zeng (MS Student)

B.E. Chemical Engineering and Technology, East China University of Science and Tech., 2023 

• • Hometown: Chengdu, Sichuan, China

  • Hobbies: Playing badminton, playing soccer, eSports, and fishing

Project: Electrodialysis for rare earth element purification

Marius Driscoll (BS/MS Student)

B.S. Chemical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University

• • Hometown: 

  • Hobbies: 

Project: Th-debulking for Ac-225 processing

Izzy Wang (CWRU Chemical Eng. Class of 2025)

Project: Additive manufacturing to prototype separation process equipment 

Honors and Awards at CWRU:

• SOURCE Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Summer 2023

Gwyn Lai (CWRU Chemical Eng. Class of 2025)

Project: Extractive resins for the purification of lanthanides/actinides

Honors and Awards at CWRU:

• HIPPO (Horizon-Broadening Isotope Production Pipeline), Summer 2024

• ACS Nuclear Chemistry Summer School, Summer 2023

Sally Askalan (CWRU Chemical Eng. Class of 2026)

Project: Nanofiltration membranes for lanthanide/actinide separations

Oscar Heft (CWRU Chemical Eng. Class of 2026)

Project: Nanofiltration membranes for lanthanide/actinide separations

Eddie Liu (CWRU Chemical Eng. Class of 2027)

Project: Electrodialysis membranes for lanthanide/actinide separations

Lab Alumni (Postdoctral, Ph.D and M.S.)

Megan Sibley (Postdoctoral Researcher, 2021-2023) 

Current position: Postdoctoral researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Project at CWRU: Covalently bonded DGA-functionalized membrane adsorbers for Ac-225 purification

Honors and Awards at CWRU:

• Synthesized our first ligands and collected adsorption isotherms for Ac-225

• GLEI Excellence in Radiochemistry Fellowship to travel to Brookhaven National Laboratory and work with Ac-225

Priyanka Suresh (Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, 2022)

Current position: Associate Consultant at McKinsey & Company

Thesis: Membrane adsorbers for f-element separations

Honors and Awards at CWRU:

• Elisa Lindsey International Student Award, 2022

• 3MT People's Choice Award, 2022

• Graduate Student Fellowship Honorable Mention, NAMS 2022

• Elias Klein Travel Supplement, North American Membrane Society, 2021

• AIChE Women's Initiative Committee Travel Award, 2020

• Poster Award at American Filtration Society, 2019

Publications:

• Functionalizing polyethersulfone membranes: avoiding pitfalls when using UV-induced polymerization to 'graft from' surfaces (under review)

• Membrane adsorbers with copolymer coatings for the separation of actinides from lanthanides

• Incorporating comonomers into polymeric phosphate ligands can tune the affinity and capacity for rare earth element, La

• Poly(acid)-functionalized membranes to sequester uranium from seawater

Maura (Sepesy) Leahy (Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, 2023)

Current position: Assistant Teaching Professor at the University of Buffalo

Thesis: Aminated membrane adsorbers in pursuit of radiopharmaceutical separation

Honors and Awards at CWRU:

• • Graduate Student Teaching Award, CWRU ChBE, 2023

  • Elias Klein Travel Supplement, North American Membrane Society, 2022

  • Graduate Student Service Award, CWRU ChBE, 2021

  • Poster awards at CWRU Research ShowCASE 2019 and American Filtration Society 2019

Publications:

• Amine-functionalized membrane adsorbers to purify copper from acidic solutions

• Chemically stable styrenic electrospun membranes with tailorable surface chemistry

• Collecting and modeling membrane adsorber performance data: a tutorial review (in prep)

Bethany Dean-Kersten (Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, 2023) 

Current position: Postdoctoral Researcher, Nuclear and Fuel Cycle Technologies, Argonne National Laboratory

Thesis: Electrochemical studies of actinides in molten salt and aqueous electrolytes in support of nuclear material management (Co-advised with Rohan Akolkar)

Honors and Awards at CWRU:

• DOE Nuclear Energy IUP Graduate Research Fellowship, 2020-2023

• Travel Award, AIChE Women's Initiative Committee, 2021

• DOE Innovations in Nuclear Technology R&D Award, 2022 & 2023

• Graduate Student TA Award, CWRU ChBE, 2022

• Graduate Student Service Award, CWRU ChBE, 2022

• Graduate Student Research Award, CWRU ChBE, 2023

Publications:

• Synthesis of americium trichloride via chlorination of americium oxide using zirconium tetrachloride in LiCl-KCl molten salt

• The future of nuclear energy: electrochemical reprocessing of fuel takes center stage

• An electrochemical technique for sensing uranium adsorption and desorption

• Study of Am electrodeposition from AmCl3-KCl salt

Ming Yu (M.S. Chemical Engineering, 2020)

First position after CWRU: PhD student in a joint program between the University of Melbourne (Australia) and the University of Manchester (UK)

Publications:

• A lysine-modified polyethersulfone (PES) membrane for the recovery of lanthanides

Jialing Xu (M.S. Chemical Engineering, 2019)

First position after CWRU: PhD student at the University of Notre Dame

Chae Young Yoon (CWRU Chemical Eng. Class of 2023)

First position after CWRU: Engineer at Honda

Project: Preparation of polymer films for single molecule microscopy 

Honors and Awards at CWRU:

• SOURCE Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Summer 2022

Timothy Yen (CWRU, Chemical Eng. Class of 2023)

First position after CWRU: MS Student in Translational Medicine at City of Hope

Project: DGA ligand synthesis, purification and characterization

Luke Venturina (NMT Chemical Eng. Class of 2024)

Current Position:  Finishing his undergraduate degree at NMT

Project: Evaluation of DGA membranes and resins for Ac-225 purification 

Honors and Awards at CWRU:

• Visiting student from New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology

• Published co-author in Membranes (2023)

Amy Che (B.S. Chemical Engineering, 2023)

First position after CWRU: ELDP Chemical Engineer at EMD Electronics

Achievements at CWRU:

• Published co-author in ACS Applied Polymer Materials (September 2022)

• Contributed to 1 additional paper with her graduate mentor, Priyanka Suresh

Alexa Ford (B.A. Chemistry, 2023)

First position after CWRU: PhD student in Chemistry at UC Berkeley

Achievements at CWRU:

• Completed her capstone project using using click chemistry for chromatography materials

Benjamin Fugate (B.S. Chemical Engineering, 2023)

First position after CWRU: CWRU Law

Achievements at CWRU:

• SOURCE Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Summer 2020

• Published co-author in ACS Applied Polymer Materials (January 2022)

Joelle Scott (B.S. Chemical Engineering, 2021)

First position after CWRU: PhD student at the University of Washington

Awards at CWRU:

• WISER/SOURCE Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship, Summer 2020

• Poster award at 2020 AIChE National Student Conference: Separations Division

• 2021 REU at the Colorado School of Mines

• Undergraduate Travel Award, NAMS 2022

• First Place, Undergraduate Poster Competition, NAMS 2022

• Published co-author in Membranes (2023)

Alec Johnson (B.S. Chemical Engineering, 2022)

First position after CWRU: PhD student at Carnegie Mellon University

Awards at CWRU:

• SOURCE Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship, 2021

• Presented at CWRU Intersections in 2021

• Published co-author on paper in Membranes (2023)

Niko Kamlet (B.S. Chemical Engineering, 2022)

First position after CWRU: Engineer at Nike

Awards at CWRU:

• James Family Research Fellowship, Summer 2018

• Poster awards at 2019 AIChE North Central Regional Conference and 2019 AIChE National Student Conference: Environmental Engineering

Spencer Schmidt (B.S. Chemical Engineering, 2021)

First position after CWRU: Post-bachelors researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the Institute of Materials and Chemistry

Awards at CWRU:

• James Family Undergraduate Fellowship, Summer 2019

• Poster award at 2021 AIChE North Central Regional Student Conference

Dylan Kulbacki (B.S. Chemical Engineering, 2021)

First position after CWRU: Engineer at RoviSys.

Awards at CWRU:

• Poster award at 2020 AIChE National Student Conference: Separations Division

• Published co-author in ACS Applied Polymer Materials (September 2022)

Kevin Pataroque (B.S. Chemical Engineering, 2021)

First position after CWRU: PhD Student at Yale University, NSF GRFP Recipient (2022)

Awards at CWRU:

• 2019-2020 CWRU Beckman Scholar

• SOURCE PSURG Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Summer 2018

• Poster awards at 2019 CWRU Intersections and 2020 AIChE National Student Conference: Environmental Engineering

• Published co-author in ACS Applied Polymer Materials (September 2022)

Manan Gupta (B.S. Chemical Engineering, 2021)

First position after CWRU: Engineer at Intel