Principal Investigator
Dr. Prashun Gorai
Dr. Gorai is an assistant professor in Chemical and Biological Engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and holds a joint appointment at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). He is affiliated with the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies at RPI. Previously, he was a research assistant professor at the Colorado School of Mines. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree (IIT Madras) and PhD (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) in Chemical Engineering. He was then a postdoctoral fellow at Mines and NREL. Outside of work, he enjoys cooking, hiking, photography, and traveling to Japan and Italy.
Google Scholar LinkedIn Email: goraip<at>rpi<dot>edu
Research Associate
Dr. Cheng-Wei Lee
Dr. Lee is a research associate in the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM). He obtained his Ph.D. in Materials Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2019, and his Master’s degree from Cornell University in 2014. Cheng-Wei’s work focuses on the discovery of new tetrahedral ferroelectric and multiferroic materials, understanding the effect of defects and dopants on ion transport in solid electrolytes, and developing interatomic potentials for multiscale simulations. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his daughter, and seeking out good food.
Google Scholar LinkedIn Email: clee2<at>mines<dot>edu
Postdoctoral Researchers
Dr. Rinkumoni (Rinku) Chaliha
Dr. Chaliha is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. She has a Ph.D. in computational chemistry from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (India). She holds a Master’s degree from Tezpur University (India). Rinku’s postdoctoral research centers on the design and understanding of novel Zintl phases using graph neural networks and ab initio methods. She is also interested in the electrochemical degradation of PFAS. In her free time, she finds pleasure in hiking in the mountains.
LinkedIn Email: rinkumoni<dot>chaliha<at>mines<dot>edu
Graduate Researchers
Thi Nguyen
Thi is a Ph.D. student in Chemical & Biological Engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Applied Chemistry from the Kyushu University, Japan. Her PhD research focus on the discovery of new wurtzite-type ferroelectrics and developing design rules for future engineering of this new class of ferroelectrics. Outside of work, she enjoys making handcrafts, karaoke, and drawing.
LinkedIn Email: nguyet18<at>rpi<dot>edu
Deepthi Chitallury
Deepthi is a Ph.D. student in Chemical & Biological Engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Osmania University, India. Deepthi’s research focuses on designing materials with structural frustration to enable superior electronic and ion transport properties. Outside the lab, she enjoys expressing herself through painting and art. She is a nature enthusiast and finds joy in outdoor activities like hiking.
LinkedIn Email: chittd [at] rpi [dot] edu
Undergraduate Researchers
Victoria Bradford
Victoria is an undergraduate researcher in Pamir Alpay’s group at the University of Connecticut. She participated in the Mines NSF-REU program (Summer 2024) and worked on the design of new wurtzite ferroelectrics using a co-alloying approach. As part of her senior design project, she will explore other co-alloying approaches. Outside of work, she can be found enjoying cans of tuna and sardines.
Email: victoria [dot] bradford [at] uconn [dot edu
Group Alumni
Dr. Michael Toriyama (Co-advised Graduate Student, Northwestern University), Currently: Postdoctoral Fellow, U. Chicago
Dr. Neha Yadav (Postdoctoral Fellow, 2023-2024)
Dr. Manish Kumar Kothakonda (Postdoctoral Fellow, 2022-2023), Currently: Postdoc, Northeastern University
Dr. Naseem Ud Din (Postdoctoral Fellow, 2022-2023)
Dr. Shubham Pandey (Postdoctoral Fellow, 2020-2021), Currently: Materials Design, Inc.
Adam N. Carranco (Undergraduate Researcher, 2021-2022), Currently: Affiliated Engineers, Inc.
Alvaro Carbonero (DOE SULI Undergraduate Intern at NREL, 2022), Currently: PhD program, MIT EECS
Henley Sartin (NSF-REU Undergraduate Researcher from Harvey Mudd College, Summer 2020), Currently: PhD program, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Mitchell Koerner (Citrine NextGen Undergraduate Research Fellow from UCSB, 2018), Currently: Arista Networks