Symposium Speakers
Professor Harry Atwater
(he/him)
Professor Jillian Dempsey
(she/her)
Dr. Joseph Berry
(he/him)
Professor Fikile Brushett
(he/him)
Professor Sharon Hammes-Schiffer
(she/her)
Professor Amanda Morris
(she/her)
Professor Haotian Wang
(he/him)
Dr. Jennifer Wilcox
(she/her)
Professor Jenny Yang
(she/her)
Professor Thomas Jaramillo
(he/him)
Professor Harry Atwater (he/him)
LiSA Director and Lead Principal Investigator
Howard Hughes Professor of APhMS, Caltech
Professor Harry Atwater is the Otis Booth Leadership Chair of the Division of Engineering and Applied Science and Director of LiSA at the California Institute of Technology. Atwater’s scientific interests span light-matter interactions from quantum nanophotonics, 2D materials and metasurfaces to solar photovoltaics and artificial photosynthesis. Atwater is an early pioneer in nanophotonics and plasmonics; he gave the name to the field of plasmonics in 2001. He was the founding Director of the Resnick Sustainability Institute at Caltech. He also chairs the Breakthrough Starshot Lightsail Committee and is a PI of the Caltech Space Solar Power Project.
Professor Jillian Dempsey (she/her)
CHASE Deputy Director and Principal Investigator
Bowman and Gordon Gray Distinguished Term Professor, University of North Carolina
Research in the Dempsey group applies the tools of physical inorganic chemistry to address challenges associated with developing efficient solar energy conversion processes. In particular, they focus on understanding the proton-coupled electron transfer reactions that underpin fuel production and elucidating electron transfer processes across materials interfaces. Their research program bridges molecular and materials chemistry and relies heavily on methods of physical inorganic chemistry, including electrochemistry and time-resolved optical spectroscopy.
Dr. Joseph Berry (he/him)
Senior Research Fellow, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Dr. Berry's interest in transport at semiconductor interfaces has resulted in significant contributions to advances in organic optoelectronic devices, as well as emerging next-generation photoconversion technologies. Understanding semiconductor structure and its relationship to optoelectronic properties at heterointerfaces is an ongoing theme of his work throughout his scientific carrier. These interests in fundamental aspects of interfaces have also led to ongoing internal and external collaborations to develop solution-processed materials systems, and closely related efforts on high-throughput approaches to material and device development.
Professor Fikile Brushett (he/him)
Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, MIT
The Brushett research group seeks to advance the science and engineering of electrochemical technologies needed for a sustainable energy economy. Their approach combines characterization of redox active materials, design and engineering of electrochemical reactors, and techno-economic modeling of electrochemical systems. Ultimately, they aim to develop robust and portable guiding principles for the design of materials, processes, and devices that harness electrochemical phenomena.
Professor Sharon Hammes-Schiffer (she/her)
Sterling Professor of Chemistry, Yale University
CHASE Principal Investigator
The Hammes-Schiffer lab's research centers on the development and application of theoretical and computational methods for describing chemical reactions in condensed phases and at interfaces. Research is pursued in three general areas: proton- coupled electron transfer reactions, enzymatic processes, and non-Born- Oppenheimer electronic structure methods. Their overall objectives are to elucidate the fundamental physical principles underlying charge transfer processes and catalysis, as well as to assist in the interpretation of experimental data.
Professor Amanda Morris (she/her)
Professor of Inorganic and Energy Chemistry, Virginia Tech
Amanda Morris is the Patricia Caldwell Faculty Fellow and Professor of Inorganic and Energy Chemistry at Virginia Tech. She completed her bachelor of science at Penn State University, doctorate at Johns Hopkins University, and postdoctoral appointment at Princeton University. She has received numerous awards for her independent career research pursuits, including the Sloan Research Fellowship, Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar, NSF Career Award, and InterAmerican Photochemical Society Young Investigator Award. The Morris Lab is an interdisciplinary research group at the intersection between physical and inorganic/molecular materials chemistry focused on the areas of light-matter interactions and catalysis. They synthesize small organic and inorganic molecules for stand-alone studies and integration into 3D molecular materials, namely metal-organic frameworks. They use the synthesized molecules and molecular materials to study complex reaction mechanisms and uncover design rules for desired reactivities, including photo-induced water oxidation, proton reduction, and CO2 reduction. She currently serves as an American Chemical Society Expert in the area of Sustainable Energy. She also serves as an Associate Editor of Chemical Physics Reviews and sits on the Editorial Advisory Boards for ACS Applied Energy Materials and EnergyChem.
Professor Haotian Wang (he/him)
William Marsh Rice Trustee Chair Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University
The Wang Group is currently exploring highly efficient catalysts and novel reactors for very important catalytic reactions, including CO2 reduction, H2O2 generation, nitrate reduction, water splitting, fuel cell electrocatalysis, etc. Coupling electrochemical redox reactions for high-energy rechargeable batteries is also explored. Those fundamental reactions play critical roles in practical applications, ranging from renewable energy conversion and storage, chemical or fuels production, water treatment, agriculture fertilization, etc. Different types of tuning methods in catalytic materials have been developed in the Wang Group, including size tuning from bulk materials to isolated single atoms, facets tuning for varied catalytic performances, and coordination tuning for changing the intermediate binding strength. Their research interests range from fundamental mechanism understandings to practical applications of technology.
Dr. Jennifer Wilcox (she/her)
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (Acting Assistant Secretary) for Fossil Energy and Carbon Management
Jennifer Wilcox, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (Acting Assistant Secretary) in the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management at DOE and is on leave as the Presidential Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering and Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition, as a senior fellow at the World Resources Institute, she led WRI’s Carbon Removal Program.
Having grown up in rural Maine, Dr. Wilcox has a profound respect and appreciation of nature. That appreciation permeates her work; she focuses on minimizing climate and environmental impacts of our dependence on fossil fuels.
Dr. Wilcox holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and an M.A. in Chemistry from the University of Arizona and B.A. in Mathematics from Wellesley College. Dr. Wilcox's research takes aim at the nexus of energy and the environment, developing both mitigation and adaptation strategies to minimize negative climate impacts associated with society's dependence on fossil fuels. She has served on committees of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Physical Society to assess carbon capture methods and impacts on climate. She is the author of the first textbook on carbon capture, Carbon Capture, published in March 2012. She co-edited the CDR Primer on carbon dioxide removal in 2021.
Professor Jenny Yang (she/her)
Chancellor’s Professor of Chemistry, University of California Irvine
Professor Yang's research is centered on developing efficient and abundant metal catalysts for the production of fuels or feedstock chemicals using renewable energy. Their approach takes inspiration from enzymatic active sites as well as thermochemical activity descriptors used in heterogeneous catalysis. Their initial targets are the electrocatalytic reduction of water to hydrogen, and carbon dioxide to more energy-dense carbon fuels. Their research combines synthesis with advanced electrochemical and spectroscopic techniques. Detailed mechanistic and kinetic studies are employed to improve catalyst design and optimize activity.
Professor Thomas Jaramillo (he/him)
Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Photon Science at Stanford University
LiSA Principal Investigator, LiSA Science Impact Coordinator and Durability Team Lead
Professor Thomas F. Jaramillo is a senior fellow and affiliate of Precourt Institute for Energy. He has been the Deputy Director of SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis since 2014 till date.
The Jaramillo group investigates chemical transformations in energy. More specifically, they study the chemistry and physics of materials as they relate to catalyzing chemical reactions of interest. Generally speaking, they study two types of reactions: those that convert water and CO2 into fuels and chemicals utilizing renewable energy (e.g. solar or wind), and those that convert those fuels back into usable energy in the form of electricity.