group members
Graduate Alumni:
Christopher Mbonu, PhD, January 23, 2026.
Dissertation: “Interfacial Design for Polymer Nanocomposites: From Miscibility to Macroscopic Properties”
Kyle Shultz, M.S., May 2025
Research project: “Interfacial Ion Transport in Cellulose Nanocrystal-based Ionogels with Low Ionic Liquid Content”
Ruhao Li, Ph.D., May 2025. Post-doc at University of Delaware
Dissertation: “Utilizing Interfaces and Nanostructures in New Hybrid Electrolyte Designs for Enhanced Ion Transport”
Yi Feng, Ph.D., May 2024. Currently at 3M in China
Dissertation: “Mechanical Properties of Polymer Nanocomposites with Topologically Constrained Chains”
Di Wu, Ph.D., April 2022. Currently post-doc at UC-Merced
Dissertation: “Adaptive Polymer Nanocomposites by Interfacial Design”
Siqi Liu, Ph.D., August 18, 2020. Corning Inc, NY
Dissertation: “Nanostructure and Ion Transport Properties of Polymeric Hybrid Electrolytes”
Siyang Yang, Ph.D., August 2019. Senior research scientist at Orthobond Corporation, NJ
Dissertation: “Chemical and Dynamic Heterogeneities in Interfacial Layers of Polymer Nanocomposites”
Chongfeng Zhang, Ph.D., May 2019. R&D scientist at Heraeus, China
Dissertation: “Polyelectrolyte Grafted Nanoparticles: From Self-Assembly in Solution Toward Evaporation-Induced Ordering”
Mohammed Hassan, M.S., May 2018, MS&T process engineer at Pfizer
Haoyu Wang, Ph.D.,: August 2017. Senior research scientist II, Barnet Products, NJ
Dissertation: “Protein Functionalized Nanoporous Polymer Thin Films”
Erkan Senses, Ph.D., May 2015. Assistant Professor, Koc University, Istanbul-Turkey
Dissertation: “Interphase and Particle Dispersion Correlations in Polymer Nanocomposites”
Yang Jiao, Ph.D., December 2014. Polymer scientist, R&D, Product development, MonoSol, IN
Dissertation: “Multi-Functional Particle Assemblies in Polymer Nanocomposites”
Kristen Keller, M.S., 2012 . Senior Quality and Manufacturing Engineer at 3M
Dissertation: “Physical Nature of a Heterogeneous Protein-Polymer Grafted Surface”
Dali Huang, M.S. 2013. - Ph.D. student at Texas A&M
Undergraduate Students Advised:
Daniel Salvador
Emilia Lopes
Viktoria Matysiak
Yea Esther Chai (REU, Stevens)
Noga Vardi (Fall’23, Spring’24, REU Fall’24)
Deniz Bulucu (REU, Brandeis University)
Seena Seon (REU, Cooper Union)
David Riedell
Grant Conoghan, Masters research
Mika Naseef (REU, Stevens)
Gu Portugal Vasconcelos Barboza
Zeryn Tamton
Hailey Tanner
TJ Carlson
Mia Walton
Katelyn Zak
Yesenia Castelan - REU student (Union College, NY)
Kyle Hillegass
Andrew Isherwood
Brian Minevich (Stevens Institute of Technology-Chemical Engineering)
Anton Yevelev (Stevens Institute of Technology-Chemical Engineering)
Armen Amerian (Stevens Institute of Technology-Mechanical Engineering)
Matthew Black - REU student (University of Maryland-Bioengineering Department)
Thomas Cunningham (Stevens Institute of Technology-Chemical Engineering)
Javier Parra - REU student (Stevens Institute of Technology-Chemical Engineering)
Aaron Perelman (Stevens Institute of Technology-Mechanical Engineering)
Matthew Prestia (Stevens Institute of Technology-Chemical Engineering)
Tom Fay (University of Missouri-Columbia-Chemical Engineering)
Adam Holferty (University of Missouri-Columbia-Chemical Engineering)
Gilad Kaufman (University of Missouri-Columbia-Chemical Engineering) (received PhD from Yale U)
Senior Design Groups Advised
Raia Carr, Lena Lopez, Alex Rossi, Noga Vardi (Fall 2025-Spring 2026)
Kirk Kinzler, Bryan Valerio, Brian Galasso, Anthony Addeo
Project Title: Pervaporation of Ethanol-Water Mixture through Crosslinked Nanocellulose-based Membranes (Fall 2024-Spring 2025)
Kenji Onari, Alex Asmussen, David Goncalvez, Ryan McQuillan
Project Title: Integration of a biomembrane into a pervaporation system (Fall 2023-Spring 2024)
Michael Clark, William Nunez, Heli Shah, Sophia Cherayil, Ahmed Ghani
Project Title: Developing a Sustainable Membrane Design for Pervaporation (Fall 2022-Spring 2023)
Guilherme Barboza, Elizabeth Banat, Nisha Patel
Project Title: Pervaporation Membrane Project (Spring 2022)
Andrew Isherwood, Phil Szymanski, Eugenia Volkova, Brian Lawrey
Project title: Mechanical behavior of Chitosan-PNIPAM networks (Spring 2015)
Peter Walsh, Cole Liguori, Azlan Shah, Theresa Ponella
Project title: Temperature responsive magneto-micelles for drug delivery (Spring 2014)
Christopher Riley, Michael Huang, Katelyn Shigo, Teila Krahn
Project title: Fabrication of transparent & flexible polymer-graphene composite electrode (Spring 2013)
Allyson Mackavage, Devon Chin, Mae Abiog, Ryan Kilhaney
Project title: Ionic nanoparticle electrolytes for fuel cell applications (Spring 2012)
Ph.D. Students
Yang Ge
Christopher Mbonu
I received my B.E. degree from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Jilin University and M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. My current project focuses on the synthesis of polymer modified cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) and exploring the properties of their suspensions under different external stimulation. I also work on the evaporative assembly of polymer-grafted CNC.
I earned my bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the Federal University of Technology Owerri, Nigeria. Particularly, I study chemistry, transport, and phase separation principles of asymmetric polymer blends, topologically different polymer-graft particles for design of materials with enhanced mechanical strength as needed for membrane technologies. I enjoy cooking and playing soccer.
M.S. Students
Mohammad Moinul Hossain
Emiliano Corcino