Group Members

Principal Investigator

Professor Xiao Su

Office Number: RAL-105 // E-mail: x2su@illinois.edu

Xiao Su is an Assistant Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He obtained his Bachelor in Applied Sciences in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo in 2011. He completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering from MIT in 2017, working under the supervision of Professor T. Alan Hatton from Chemical Engineering and Professor Timothy F. Jamison from Chemistry. During his doctoral studies, Xiao received the MIT Water Innovation Prize and the MassCEC Catalyst Award for his work on electrochemically-mediated water purification. His research program pursues the molecular engineering of functional materials for advanced separations and process intensification.

Group Members

Kwiyong Kim
Postdoc

Office Number: RAL-7 // E-mail: kwiyongk@illinois.edu

Kwiyong Kim received his Bachelor in Bio and Brain Engineering, and Civil and Environmental Engineering from KAIST in 2012. He earned his PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from KAIST in 2018 under the supervision of Prof. Jong-In Han. His thesis focused on the electrochemical synthesis of ammonia from water and dinitrogen as a next-generation energy carrier. He continued his career at Iowa State University, working with Prof. Wenzhen Li on electrocatalysis topics. Kwiyong’s interests at UIUC are on developing new electrochemical systems for energy-efficient water purification processes.

Raylin Chen

PhD Student

Office Number: RAL-7 // E-mail: raylinc2@illinois.edu

Raylin graduated from the University of California Berkeley, in 2017, receiving a dual B.S. in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering. He has performed undergraduate research at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on catalyst synthesis and characterization. His current research interests at UIUC lie in the fundamental investigation of materials synthesis and processing through electrochemical control.

Stephen Cotty

PhD Student

Office Number: RAL-7 // E-mail: cotty2@illinois.edu

Stephen graduated from Clemson University in 2017 in Chemical Engineering. During undergraduate at Clemson, he worked with Prof. Mark Roberts on redox-flow battery research, and also full-time at the Argonne National Laboratory on the design of a pilot-scale Flame Pyrolysis Plant. His focus at UIUC is on leveraging redox electrochemistry for process intensification in chemical and environmental applications.

Haley Vapnik

PhD Student

Office Number: RAL-7 // E-mail: hvapnik2@illinois.edu

Haley received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University, in 2018. Her undergraduate research at Purdue involved the study of functional polymers for projects in sensing and enhanced oil recovery, and internships at Logan Aluminum, Kraft Heinz Company, Walt Disney Imageneering and King Nutronics Corporation. Haley’s interests at UIUC focus on functional materials discovery and synthesis for selective electrochemical separations.

Paola Baldaguez Medina

PhD Student

Office Number: RAL-7 // E-mail: paolaab2@illinois.edu

Paola received her B.S in Chemical Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez in 2019. During undergraduate, she conducted research in separation processes with Prof. Hernández-Maldonado, and spectroscopy with Prof. Hernández-Rivera. She also had internships at the University of Minnesota through the NSF REU program working on block-copolymers, and at the University of Florida with Prof. Rinaldi on rheology studies. Paola’s interests at UIUC focus on electrochemically-driven water purification, interfacial electrochemistry, and electroactive polymer development.

Emmanuel Kayiwa

MSc/PhD Student, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Office Number: RAL-7 // E-mail: ekayiwa2@illinois.edu

Emmanuel received his B.S in Civil Engineering with a concentration in Environmental Engineering from Marquette University in 2019. He conducted electrochemical desalination research at Cornell’s Center for Nanomaterials Engineering and Technology (CNET), and worked with electrocatalysis at MIT in Prof. Yang Shao-Horn’s group. His current research interests at UIUC include novel material development and integrated flow-systems comprising of redox-electrodes. Emmanuel is co-advised with Prof. Roland Cusick from Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Jemin Jeon

PhD Student, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Office Number: RAL-7 // E-mail: jeminj2@illinois.edu

Jemin received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Hanyang University at Seoul in 2019. He conducted undergraduate research in solar cell with Prof. Min Jae Ko, microstructures with Prof.Bongjun Yeom, and nanocrystal synthesis with Prof. Brian Korgel at the University of Texas, Austin. He also had an internship as a process engineer at Hanwha Chemical in South Korea. Jemin’s interests at UIUC are on redox-polymer development, process intensification, and small molecule separations.

Riccardo Candeago

Visiting MSc Student, Technical University of Munich

E-mail: candeago@illinois.edu

Riccardo received his Bachelor’s degree in Environmental and Land Engineering at the University of Trento, Italy, in 2016. He is currently enrolled in joint Master’s program in Materials and Mechanical Engineering with the University of Trento and the Technical University of Munich, under the supervision of Prof. Sonja Berensmeier. He is writing his Master’s thesis at UIUC under the supervision of Prof. Su, with his research interests focusing on developing new electrochemical systems for environmental remediation.

Leticia de Souza Stefanini

Visiting BASc Student, University of São Paulo

Leticia is an exchange student from Brazil graduating in 2021 in Foods Engineering at USP – University of Sao Paulo. She has research experience at the Bio Process Engineering Lab at USP.

Leticia’s interests at UIUC focus on electrochemically driven water purification, interfacial electrochemistry, and the capture of contaminants of emerging concern.

Undergraduate Researchers

Matthew Brucks

Academic Year: Senior

Expected Graduation: May, 2020

Major: Chemical Engineering

Waliyat Oyewole

Academic Year: Senior

Graduation Date: May, 2020

Major: Chemical Engineering

Thomas Sheehan

Academic Year: Junior

Graduation Date: May, 2020

Major: Chemical Engineering

Angelique Klimek

Academic Year: Junior

Graduation Date: December, 2020

Major: Chemical Engineering

Krista Roth

Academic Year: Junior

Graduation Date: May, 2021

Major: Chemical Engineering

Jing Lian Ng

Academic Year: Junior

Graduation date: May, 2020

Major: Chemical Engineering

Alumni

Yonghwan Kim

Visiting PhD Student, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering KAIST

E-mail: kyhwan53@illinois.edu

Yonghwan received his Bachelor’s degree in 2015 and Master’s degree in 2017 in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from KAIST. He is currently PhD student in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from KAIST under the supervision of Prof. Jae W. Lee. At KAIST, he conducted research in selective separation of radionuclides using composite adsorbents. Yonghwan’s interests at UIUC are on developing novel electrode materials for electrochemical separation of toxic heavy metal ions.

Mateus Almeida de Araujo

Visiting exchange student, University of São Paulo, Brazil

Research period in our group: Summer/Fall 2019

Expected Graduation Date: Spring 2022

Major: Food Engineering

Shio Kinoshita

Undergraduate Researcher, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Research period in our group: Summer/Fall 2019

Graduation Date: December 2019

Major: Chemistry