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Group Photo Winter 2025From left to right: Martina, Fabio, Jenny, Sohaib, Aarzoo, Ria, Christine, William, Patrick
Principal Investigator
Martina Lessio
Martina Lessio
Email: martina.lessio@unsw.edu.au
Ph.D. in Chemistry, Princeton University (US) 2017
Master Degree in Chemistry, Universita' degli Studi di Torino (Italy) 2012
Bachelor Degree in Chemistry, Universita' degli Studi di Torino (Italy) 2010
Short Bio
Martina is originally from Torino (Italy), where she completed both her bachelor's and master's degrees in Chemistry. She then moved to Princeton University (United States) where she earned a PhD in Chemistry in 2017 under the mentorship of Professor Emily Carter. During her time at Princeton, Martina used computational chemistry to investigate catalysts for CO2 conversion. After the completion of her PhD, Martina joined Columbia University (United States) as a Columbia Science Fellow. In this role, Martina was part of a team of scientists teaching the first-year undergraduate course "Frontiers of Science" and conducted research on novel functional materials in the group of Professor David Reichman. Following this experience, Martina moved to Australia to continue her research and teaching career at the University of Sydney, where she was awarded a University of Sydney Fellowship to work on computational modelling of metal-organic frameworks. In 2020, Martina joined the School of Chemistry at UNSW as a Scientia Lecturer. In this role, she uses computational methods to investigate molecules and materials for sustainability applications. Martina was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2023. At the 2024 Royal Australian Chemical Institute National Awards Martina was awarded the Rita Cornforth lectureship, granting her funding to conduct a lecture tour within Australia.
Graduate Students
William Huang
William Huang
PhD student (2024 - Present), Master's student (2021-2023)
Project: Computational design of catalytic systems for the conversion of polymers to high quality liquids
Bio: I have recently completed my Bachelors of Science - Nanotechnology at UNSW in 2020. I was inspired by Martina's research on energy sustainability via catalytic CO2 to fuels and decided to join the group to work on this project as a research assistant. I am now a PhD student in the Lessio group working on a catalytic plastic waste upcycling project.
Jenny Zhang
Jenny Zhang
2022-Present, PhD student
Project: Computational Investigation of MOFs for atmospheric water harvesting
Bio: I am currently pursuing my PhD in Chemistry at UNSW and have joined the Lessio group as an Honours student in 2021.
Ria Stephenson
Ria Stephenson
2023-Present, PhD student
Project: Improving Marble Conservation Treatments Using Computational Modelling
In collaboration with Prof. Enrico Sassoni at University of Bologna (Italy)
Bio: Ria is currently pursuing her PhD in Chemistry after completing her Honours research in the group in 2022. Being passionate about art conservation, she is interested in the application of computational methods to better understand and improve conservation techniques, in particular the preservation of marble.
Sohaib Umer
Sohaib Umer
2023-Present, PhD student
Project: Computational modelling of catalytic reactions on transition metal surfaces
Bio: Hi I am Sohaib from Pakistan. I completed my master’s at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in February 2023 and joined the Lessio group in September 2023 for my PhD. My research interests include the computational study of various catalytic reactions over the surface of transition metals and single atom catalysts.
Rose Haideri
Rose Haideri
2024-Present, MPhil student
Project: Improving Marble Conservation Treatments Using Computational Modelling
Bio: Hello, my name is Rose 🌹 and I am an international student from India. I completed my schooling in New Delhi, and later did a BA in Chemistry at Cornell University, USA. I'm now an MPhil Chemistry student in the Lessio Group, computationally investigating protective treatment for marble artwork.
Christine Yu
Christine Yu
2025-Present, PhD student
Project: Computational Modelling of MOFs for catalytic plastic recycling
Bio: Hi 👋 I am Christine from New Zealand. I completed my Bachelor's and Honours at the University of Auckland, doing Green Chemical Science. I am continuing my environmental passion through a more sustainable means of computational chemistry in the Lessio group, where I will do my PhD research in plastic waste upcycling.
Patrick Utsu
Patrick Utsu
2025-Present, PhD student
Project: Computational modelling of catalytic reactions on transition metal surfaces
Bio: Patrick Utsu is a Nigerian. He earned his B.Sc.(Hons) In Pure Chemistry and M.Sc. in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria. He is interested in solving prevailing industrial and environmental challenges employing Computational tools.
Honours Students
Research Assistants
Undergraduate Students
Egan Kumala
Egan Kumala
2024-Present
Project: Computational catalysis for plastic waste upcycling
Bio: I am an undergraduate student who's currently taking an honours program for biotechnology. I have an interest in sustainability research and how it can be implemented in the real world.
Student Research Collaborators
Alumni
Fabio Colasuonno
Fabio Colasuonno
2021-2025, PhD student
Current position: Postdoctoral Scholar at SLAC Stanford
Project: Computational design of catalytic systems for the conversion of polymers to high quality liquids
Lisa Hua
Lisa Hua
2021-2025, PhD student with A/Prof. Alex Donald and Dr Shiva Prasad
Current position: Chemical Risk Assessor at Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
Project: MOFs for lowering the detection limits of PFAS
Claudia "Claude" Cox
Claudia "Claude" Cox
2020-2024, PhD student
Current position: Scientific Programmer at Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
Project: Computational Design of New Materials for Water Purification
Merryn Baker
Merryn Baker
Graduate student in A/Prof. Alex Donald group at UNSW
2020-2024
Project: Development of Preconcentration Materials to Detect Cancer Biomarkers Via Breath Analysis
Hannah Wah Day
Hannah Wah Day
2023-Present, TSP student
Project: Computational catalysis for plastic waste upcycling
Bio: Hannah is currently completely her Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) (Chemical Product Engineering)/Science (Mathematics) with an interest in sustainability research. She has joined the group working on plastic waste upcycling as part of the Talented Students Program.
Qinyu Li
Qinyu Li
Undegraduate summer project student, Summer 2019/2020
Udaybir Chawla
Udaybir Chawla
CHEM 2999 student (Term 3 2020)
Project: Computational Study of Functional Groups for Water Purification
Aaron Tran
Aaron Tran
CHEM 3998 student (Summer Term 2020) and Research Assistant
Project: Computational Study of Metal Organic Frameworks for Water Purification
Ethan Abergas
Ethan Abergas
2020
Project: Computational insights on the Effect of Conjugated Substituents and Substrates on Homogeneous Electrocatalysts for CO2 Reduction
Jenny Zhang
Jenny Zhang
CHEM3998 student (Term 2 2021) and Honours student (2021-2022) - Now PhD student in the group
Project: Computational Study of MOFs for water purification and water harvesting
Valeria Cossich Galicia
Valeria Cossich Galicia
Undergraduate student visiting from Columbia University, USA (2020-2021)
Project: Computational Design of New Materials for Water Purification
Vivien Li
Vivien Li
Honours student (2021)
Project: Computational Surface Catalysis for Plastic Upcycling
Ria Stephenson
Ria Stephenson
Summer Vacation Research Scholarship Student (2021/2022) and Honours student (2022) - Now PhD student in the group
Project: Improving Marble Conservation Treatments Using Computational Modeling
Antonia Papasergio
Antonia Papasergio
Research Assistant in the group (2020-2022)
Project: Improving Marble Conservation Treatments Using Computational Modeling
In collaboration with Prof. Enrico Sassoni at University of Bologna (Italy)
Andrea Ung
Andrea Ung
CHEM3998 student (Term 2 2023)
Project: Computational design of catalytic systems for the conversion of polymers to high quality liquids
Alicia Evans
Alicia Evans
PhD student with A/Prof. Jason Harper (2021-2023)
Project: Computational and Experimental Evaluation of Ionic Liquid Solvent Effects on Organic Processes
Simone Brown
Simone Brown
CHEM3998 student (Term 3 2023)
Project: Computational chemistry applied to marble conservation treatments
Nomi Blom
Nomi Blom
2023, TSP student
Project: Computational investigation of MOFs for atmospheric water harvesting
Past group photos
Group Photo Spring 2024. From left to right: Sebastian, Martina, William, Ria, Fabio, Jenny, Rose, Sohaib Missing: Hannah and Egan
Group Photo Fall 2024. From left to right: Sohaib, Ria, Claude, Fabio, William, Hannah, Martina. Missing: Jenny, Egan, Sebastian.
Group Photo Winter 2023. From left to right: Martina, Andrea, Hannah, Nomi, Lisa, Jenny, Claude, Fabio, William. Missing: Alicia and Ria.
Group Photo Spring 2021. Top row from left to right: Sa Xiao, Fabio, Lisa, Martina, Alicia, William, Claude. Bottom row from left to right: Azzy, Antonia, Jenny. Missing: Vivien and Merryn.
Group Photo Fall 2021. From left to right: Merryn, Lisa, Aaron, Claudia, Martina, Antonia, William.
Group Photo Spring 2020 (Bronte Beach): From left to right: Ethan, Alicia, Merryn, Martina, Antonia, Claudia.
Group Photo Winter 2020: From left to right: Alicia, Martina, Claudia, Merryn, Ethan.
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