Honors and Awards

• Young Investigator Lecture Series, The Electrochemical Society San Fransisco Section, 2021
• Miller Research Fellow, University of California, Berkeley, 2021-2024
• Graduate Student Award (Silver), Materials Research Society, 2020
• Best Presentation & Bingham Fluid Award in the Conference Viscoplastic Fluids: From Theory to Application, Banff, Canada, 2015
• Limmat Stiftung Award of Academic Excellence, Limmat Stiftung, 2015
• Postdoc Achievement Award for Outstanding Academic & Service Contributions, University of California, Berkeley, 2023
• Miretta Flytzani-Stephanopoulos Doctoral Thesis Achievement Award, The Circle of Hellenic Academics in Boston, 2023

Research Interests

My research uses theory and computation to understand the fundamental transport and reaction processes that occur in electrochemical systems relevant to energy storage and environmental applications, such as Li-ion batteries, electrochemical CO2 capture, and water treatment.

Many commonly used electrochemical devices, including batteries found in phones and electric cars, are characterized by structural and chemical disorder, which is known to result in reduced performance and a shorter lifespan. However, the underlying mechanisms causing these phenomena are still poorly understood. By investigating the influence of disorder on reaction and transport mechanisms, our goal is to gain a deeper understanding of electrochemical and transport processes and propose strategies to improve the performance and lifetime of electrochemical devices. We are interested in exploring several fundamental questions, such as: (1) How does structural and chemical disorder affect the ion transport mechanism in ionic conductors? (2) How does the presence of structural heterogeneities and thin films at electrode interfaces alter the electrochemical activity? (3) How does structural and topological disorder impact the performance and lifetime of electrochemical devices?

Our approach to addressing these challenges integrates theoretical methodologies inspired by non-equilibrium thermodynamics, stochastic processes, statistical mechanics, condensed matter physics, quantum dynamics, and dynamical systems. We also employ continuum and molecular computational methodologies, such as finite element methods, molecular dynamics, Monte Carlo methods, enhanced sampling techniques and free-energy calculations. As a result, our work is highly interdisciplinary, lying at the intersection of engineering, physics, chemistry, materials science, and applied mathematics.