Group Members
principle investigator
Christine E. Duval, PhD
Christine received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Connecticut in 2011. She spent two years as a consultant at the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, writing business plans for high-tech startup companies. In 2017, she earned her Ph.D. from Clemson University and her dissertation focused on the development of uranium-selective materials (resins and membranes) for environmental radiation detection. During the summer of 2017, she was a DOE Scholar at the US Department of Energy in the Nuclear Materials Information Program. Shortly after, she joined the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department at Case Western Reserve University as an Assistant Professor. Her group's work has been recognized through the DOE Early Career Research Award (2020), the Young Membrane Scientist Award (2022) from the North American Membrane Society, and the NSF CAREER (2023).
Hometown: Rocky Hill, Connecticut
Hobbies: Playing soccer, working at my pottery coop, and exploring Cleveland
Email: christine.duval@case.edu
Download: Curriculum Vitae (updated Oct. 2022)
Senior Research Personnel
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
Project: Peptide-functionalized membranes for resource recovery
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
Swanger Fellowship, 2021
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
Undergraduate Students
Chae Young Yoon (CWRU Chemical Eng. Class of 2023)
Case Western, Chemical Engineering - Class of 2023
Project: Preparation of polymer films for single molecule microscopy
Honors and Awards at CWRU:
SOURCE Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Summer 2022
Izzy Wang (CWRU Chemical Eng. Class of 2025)
Project: Additive manufacturing to protoype separations process units
Honors and Awards at CWRU:
SOURCE Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Summer 2023
Gwyn Lai (CWRU Chemical Eng. Class of 2026)
Project: Adsorbent materials to purify Ac-225
Honors and Awards at CWRU:
HIPPO (Horizon-Broadening Isotope Production Pipeline), Summer 2024
ACS Nuclear Chemistry Summer School, Summer 2023
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 (in prep)
Membrane adsorbers with copolymer coatings for the separation of actinides from lanthanides (in prep)
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:
Tuli Banik (M.S. Chemical Engineering, 2023)
First position after CWRU: PhD student at Texas A&M
Publications:
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:
Jialing Xu (M.S. Chemical Engineering, 2019)
First position after CWRU: PhD student at the University of Notre Dame
Lab Alumni (B.S.)
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 (under review) 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