Room 334, SEB building

Sydney NSW 2052 Australia

Email: priyank.kumar@unsw.edu.au

Priyank is a Scientia Senior Lecturer and an ARC DECRA Fellow in chemical engineering at UNSW. Prior to this, he obtained his PhD in June 2015 under the guidance of Prof. Jeffrey C. Grossman in the department of materials science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. His dissertation focused on the atomistic computational design of two-dimensional materials (graphene, graphene oxide and transition metal dichalcogenides) for electronic, optoelectronic and biomedical applications. Following his PhD, he won a Marie-Curie grant to carry out his postdoctoral research in the group of Prof. David J. Norris at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. He applied ab initio methods such as density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TDDFT) to investigate plasmonic hot-carrier processes such as plasmon formation, hot-carrier generation, electron transport and electron-phonon coupling at metal-semiconductor and metal-molecule interfaces with an aim to advance photocatalysis and other applications. In May 2019, he started as a Scientia Lecturer in the school of chemical engineering at UNSW, Sydney with a vision to establish a computational materials design group and foster experimental collaborations.

Email: varun.kundi@unsw.edu.au

Varun obtained his PhD in 2017 from the department of chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India. In his thesis, he focused on the theoretical investigation of the non-linear optical properties of selected organic molecules. His current research involves identifying potential antimicrobial polymers using machine learning methods and studying catalytic processes using quantum-mechanical methods. In his free time, Varun likes reading popular non-fiction books and listening to Indian classical music.

Email: u.ghorpade@unsw.edu.au

Dr. Uma V. Ghorpade currently works a Research Fellow at the School of Chemical Engineering, having previously worked at the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia. Earlier, she worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Bernal Institute, University of Limerick in Ireland for two years on an SFI-funded project (Jan. 2019-Dec. 2020) followed her initial post doctorate at Chonnam National University (CNU), South Korea. She has received Ph. D. in 2017 in Chemistry from Shivaji University, India and due time awarded the “International Exchange Student” Scholarship from the Korean Government to work at CNU, South Korea, and the “INSPIRE” fellowship award from the Department of Science and Technology, India. Her research interests include the solution-based synthesis of a variety of semiconductor materials for solar energy conversion applications.

Email: m.mani@unsw.edu.au

Mani is a Chemical engineer with Bachelor’s in chemical engineering from Punjab Technical university (2006), and Masters from Panjab university (2008) in the field of Photocatalysis. She worked on on the preparation of titanium oxide catalyst and characterized its performance on photodegradation of chlorophenols using UV light. She has seven years industrial experience - she was a Process engineer at Reliance Industries Limited-DMD, Gujarat, India in Gas Cracker plant (2008-2011) and a Commissioning engineer at Reliance Industries Limited-DMD, Gujarat, India in PTA plant (2011-2015). She started her PhD in 2021 in the field of plasmonic catalysis, where she is synthesizing and evaluating the performance of bimetallic plasmonic photocatalysts.

Email: y.haghshenas@unsw.edu.au

Yousof obtained his MSc in reservoir engineering by focusing on applied machine learning in fluid flow through porous media in 2020 from the University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran. He started his PhD in 2021 under the supervision of Scientia Professor Rose Amal at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. In his project, data-driven approaches are utilized for photocatalyst materials. This project includes material property prediction as a foundation of an automated data-driven framework for material discovery purposes for photocatalytic reactions. Yousof is obsessed with classical Iranian music and spends his free time playing music, working out, and watching a movie.

Email: yuan.chi@unsw.edu.au

(Secondary supervision)

Yuan is a PhD student in the school of chemical engineering at UNSW. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Dalian University of Technology (Dalian, China) in 2015 and 2018, respectively. He is dedicated to the investigation of interfacial properties, including adsorption, diffusion, phase transition and charge transport occurring at the interface. He also works on surface modification and the fabrication of nanomaterials to achieve specific functions.

Email: jiewei.zheng@unsw.edu.au

Jiewei Zheng is currently a PhD candidate in UNSW. He completed his master’s degree in South China University of Technology (SCUT), China in 2019. His current research interest is investigating the unique features of liquid metals by DFT calculations and the application for synthesis of porous materials. 

Email: lucyann.johnston@student.unsw.edu.au

Lucy obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Glasgow, Scotland (2022). She started her PhD in 2023 under the supervision of Dr. Jianbo Tang in the field of liquid metals and nanoporous thin film metals for biosensing applications. Her fields of interest are electrode design and fabrication for flexible wearable devices and continuous monitoring. In her free time, Lucy likes to read novels, running and swimming.

Email: sankhadip.saha@unsw.edu.au

Sankhadip obtained his bachelor's degree in Ceramic Technology from Government College of Engineering and Ceramic Technology, Kolkata in 2018. Later he completed his master’s degree in Metallurgical Engineering and Material Science with specialization in Corrosion Science and Engineering from IIT Bombay in 2021. From 2021 till joining UNSW, he worked as a Project Associate at CSIR-Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, Kolkata. He is now pursuing his doctoral studies at the School of Chemical Engineering, UNSW. Sankhadip joined the CODELAB team in May 2023 and is working with Priyank on the development of cathode materials for Aqueous Zinc Ion Batteries (AZIBs) employing both computational and experimental approaches (Co-Supervisor: Dr. Dipan Kundu).

Email: r.kokate@unsw.edu.au

Ravindra completed his bachelor's degree in 2017 from RGTU, Bhopal, India, and went on to earn his master's degree in Material Science from Konkuk University, Seoul, South Korea, in 2022. Following his studies, he worked as a research assistant at Konkuk University for six months. In May 2023, Ravindra joined the School of Chemical Engineering at UNSW to pursue his PhD under the supervision of Dr. Priyank Kumar, with Dr. Dipan Kundu as his joint supervisor. His research focuses on anode protection in Aqueous Zinc Ion Batteries (AZIBs), employing both computational techniques, such as Density Functional Theory (DFT), and experimental approaches.

Email: thalpavila.samarasinghe@unsw.edu.au

Dilpium completed her undergraduate in Chemical Engineering at the University of Moratuwa Sri Lanka in 2017, where she developed an interest in studying catalysis and its industrial applications. Thus, she continued her Master of Science in 2018 at Thammasat University Thailand researching Zn-Cu bimetallic catalysts over methanol decomposition in low-temperature H2 production. Since February 2024, she has been working as a PhD student at the School of Chemical Engineering UNSW under the supervision of Dr. Priyank Kumar. Her main research scope is based on developing plasmonic-metal photocatalysts for effective conversion of solar to chemical energy. Currently, she is working on investigating the interface between plasmonic-metal and semiconductor in hybrid photocatalysts to enhance the interfacial charge transfer.

Email: m.alfaza@unsw.edu.au

Ghalib obtained his bachelor's degree from Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia. He is currently working on battery materials research under the guidance of Dr. Priyank Kumar and Dr. Dipan Kundu. In his spare time, he enjoys reading books and watching movies.

Email: karan.menon@unsw.edu.au

Karan Menon earned his bachelor's degree in Physics from SIES College, Mumbai University, India, in 2020. He then pursued a master's in Nanoscience and Technology at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India graduating in 2022. For his thesis, he focused on creating nanocomposite-based solar photocatalysts to treat organic contaminants in water. Currently, Karan is working towards his PhD at the School of Chemical Engineering, UNSW, under the guidance of Dr. Emma Lovell, A/Prof Jason Scott, and Dr. Priyank Kumar. Karan's research centres on developing catalysts for photothermal ammonia decomposition and exploring catalyst mechanisms and properties using experimental and computational methods.

Email: yimeng.jin@student.unsw.edu.au

Yimeng is an undergraduate Chemical Engineering student at UNSW. She focuses on utilising machine learning techniques to guide experimentation in her honour thesis. Potential application includes the rational design of antimicrobial polymer. She is also keen to explore the interplay between computational theory and bench-top experiments. In her free time, she enjoys hiking and baking.