Research

Check out the research our lab is passionate about.

We cover topics including catalysis, biological engineering, biomass utilization, and polymerization .

Meet the Team

Find out who's working hard and dreaming big.

Become acquainted with current graduate students, masters students, and post-docs, Professor Broadbelt, and alumni.

Publications

Read about our lab's advancements in science and engineering.

Let us know if you want to collaborate and work together. Contact us.

Recent Publications

Microkinetic Model of Propylene Oligomerization on Brønsted Acidic Zeolites at Low Conversion

The construction of a computational framework that describes the kinetic details of the propylene oligomerization reaction network on Brønsted acidic zeolites. An automated generation procedure using a set of eight reaction families was applied to construct the reaction network. The kinetic parameters for each elementary step were estimated using transition state theory, Evans–Polanyi relationships, and thermodynamic data.

View paper

Probing Monomer and Dimer Adsorption Trends in the MFI Framework

It is generally known that adsorption is a coverage-dependent phenomenon; however, few studies have systematically investigated the coadsorption of molecules on a single active site, specifically focusing on the strength of interaction of the second adsorbate after the initial adsorption step. In this work, we quantify the unimolecular and bimolecular adsorption energies of varying adsorbates, including paraffins, olefins, alcohols, amines, and noncondensible gases in the acidic and siliceous ZSM-5 frameworks.

View paper

Insight into Polyethylene and Polypropylene Pyrolysis: Global and Mechanistic Models

A review of historical data and empirical models for two distinct polyolefins, polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), is provided followed by a comparison to recent mechanistic models. The characteristic sigmoidal behavior of linear polymer decomposition is captured with global, lumped-species, and mechanistic models of high-density polyethylene.

View paper

Announcements

January
The Broadbelt Lab is happy to welcome Geoffrey Bonnanzio, Tung Nguyen for PhD and Dachey Lin, Rawia Marafi for Masters to the lab.

February
Dr. Pavlo Kostetskyy will leave the group and start a position in ADM. Good luck!

March
Guanhua Wang recieves Koke's Award for the 28th North American Catalysis Society (NACS) meeting. Congrats!

April
Professor Rebecca Harmon in her office at Ohio State University!


(Picture taken by Professor Linda Broadbelt)

January
The Broadbelt Lab is happy to welcome Alexander Best, Yash Chainani, Shivani Kozarekar, and Aswathy Raghu to the lab. You're going to do great things!

February
We are so proud that Matthew Coile won a GRFP from NSF and William recieved an honorable mention. Go Cats!

April
Becca, Jonathan, Joseph, and Elsa (not chronological or alphabetical order) all successfully defend their thesis and climb the ranks to PhD.

June
Lauren takes part in the Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program where whe will travel to NREL for the summer and amaze even more researchers.

July
We welcome Sherry Liu and Quan Zhang as postdocs to the lab!

November
Undergraduate member Daniel Soto placed 3rd in the materials science category for his poster at the undergraduate AIChE conference. Congrats!

January
The Broadbelt Lab gives a warm welcome during this cold winter to William Sprague for his PhD and Sai Phani Kumar Vangala for his post-doc.

March
Becca receives a McCormick Engineering Terminal Year Fellowship. Nice job!

July
Our lovely Charmaine and Mihir successfully defend their thesis and move onto bigger and brighter things (not to mention, better paying). Congrats you guys!

The Broadbelt lab gains another post-doc, Alexander Shaw, who is venturing over from across the pond. Welcome!

August
A 2021 Travel award from the AIChE Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division was awarded to Elsa - see you all in Boston!

September
A new post-doc joins the ranks, we welcome Manali to the lab! We're excited to share the joy of NetGen.

October
Becca was awarded a NICO Service Award for co-organizing Research/Networking Sessions for the Data Science Fellows. She's an inspiration to us all.

November
Linda Broadbelt elected to AAAS (American Academy of Arts and Sciences).

January
The Broadbelt lab has gained some new players to the party: thanks for joining us Matthew Coile for your PhD and Guanhua Wang for your Masters!

Veel plezier op reis! Becca and Elsa depart to spend a few months working in Amsterdam and Gent. We miss you already.

May
Linda is listed as one of the 32 women who represent different corners of the STEM world—science, technology, engineering and math in Crain's 2020 Notable Women in STEM!

Linda gives a virtual seminar as part of the recognition for winning this year's Thiele award from the Chicago Section of AIChE. Wash your hands guys.

June
We'd like to give a big social-distancing conscious elbow touch to our new post-docs, Sri Bala and Max - welcome!

October
Elsa and Grant presented like winners, because they were the 1st and 3rd poster pitch winners, at the 2020 CISTAR Bi-annual Conference (Virtual)!

Linda is awarded as a Distinguished Alumni Award for Academic Excellence from The Ohio State University! And we agree with Dean David B. Williams, she is one of the best and brightest.

November
Becca and Pavlo attended the 1st ever virtual AIChE meeting and presented their research to a crowd of boxes! They did great!

Grant is promoted to NSF INTERN fellow! He will work with BASF, a CISTAR Industry partner, from Nov 2020 - March 2021! We'll miss you!

January
The Broadbelt lab is happy to add Lauren Lopez and Tracey Dinh to the group!

Happy travels! Grant, Elsa, and Sergio won a travel grant to NASCRE-4 in Houston. Bon voyage!

February
Linda Broadbelt is announced as a new member into the the National Academy of Engineering (NAE)! Congratulations! Wow!

Broadbelt lab participates in SWE Career Day for Girls. We're breaking through chemical bonds and social barriers.

March
Grant, Elsa, Sergio, and Pavlo attend NASCRE-4 in Houston. At NASCRE-4 the judges realize Elsa knows how to make a poster and talk about it - laurels for winning best poster!

The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering’s (AIMBE) College of Fellows elects Linda Broadbelt and others to the College of Fellows Class of 2019!

Our lab is happy to host Onur Doğu and Sri Bala Gorugantu from University of Ghent. Let's explore Chicago and new kinetic pathways!

Fortuitously, Elsa receives a 2019 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF). We're so proud of you.

May
With thrilling heroics and dashing good looks, Lauren Dellon defends her thesis and claims the title of doctor!

June
Becca Harmon once again departs for research in with Pieter Iedema at University of Amsterdam. Veilige reis mijn vriend.

The Broadbelt Lab is happy to add Kevin Shebek to the group!

June
Becca decided one PhD wasn't enough and is now dual enrolled in Northwestern and Universiteit van Amsterdam's PhD programs.

September
With only 90 seconds on the clock, Grant and Elsa highlight their research and take second and third place at the CISTAR Biannual Poster Perfect Pitch competition, respectively.

Sergio Vernuccio, the heart-throb of the Broadbelt Lab, completes his post-doc and will charm his students as a professor at the University of Sheffield.

October
Linda Broadbelt is formally inducted into the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) during a ceremony at the NAE's annual meeting on October 6 in Washington DC. Broadbelt was cited for “contributions to complex kinetic modeling, particularly for understanding the pathways by which hydrocarbons and polymers undergo pyrolysis.”

November
Linda and the Broadbelt lab soak in some sun and some knowledge at the AIChE Biannual Meeting in Orlando!

February
Hear hear! Linda Broadbelt nominated as an AIChE fellow!

March
Congratulations to Lauren Dellon and Sergio Vernuccio on their ISCRE 25 Travel Grant!

Double congratulations to Lauren Dellon on receiving SCGSR Fellowship!

April
Jake Martin recieved an NSF Fellowship Honorable Mention.

May
Rosalia Rizo successful defended her Masters thesis on biomass pyrolysis! Great work!

June
Round of applause to Xiaowei Zhou, Linda Broadbelt, and collaborators on their cover publication in Energy and Environmental Science!

July
Jubilation for Rob Brydon's successfully defended thesis!

August
Prof. Linda Broadbelt earns the R.H. Wilhelm Award from AIChE for her contributions in chemical reaction engineering.

September
A warm welcome to our new post-doc Pavlo Kostetsky!

October
Joseph Ni was awarded the Northwestern Institute for Sustainability and Energy (ISEN) Cluster Fellowship, great work!

Give Andrew Wolek and Elsa Koninckx a pat on the back for being the 1st and 2nd place winners, respectively, at CISTAR’s NSF Perfect Poster Pitch Presentation.

December
Huge round of applause for Charmaine and Mihir for a successful proposal!

April
Prof. Linda Broadbelt is awarded the Ver Steeg Fellowship.

May
Dr. Ying Yu successfully defends her Ph.D. thesis!

August
Prof. Linda Broadbelt started her new position as Associate Dean of Research.

September
Prof. Linda Broadbelt on receiving the E.V. Murphree Award from the American Chemical Society!

November
The Broadbelt Lab would like to welcome Becca Harmon, Elsa Koninckx, Grant Marsden, Jake Martin, and Joseph Ni.

December
Dr. Jennifer Greene triumphantly defends her Ph.D. thesis!

May
Andrew Stine, a graduate student in the Broadbelt group, was selected by the Council for Chemical Research to give a poster presentation at their annual meeting themed "Disruption" which is focused on disruptive technologies.

September
Congratulations to Heather Mayes on being selected as the co-winner of the department's Distinguished Graduate Researcher Award!

Congratulations to Ying Yu on being named a teaching assistant of the year!

October
Heather Mayes is featured on the cover and in a profile in DEIXIS, the annual publication of the DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellowship.

November
Congratulations to Heather Mayes on earning the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Computational Molecular Science and Engineering Forum (CoMSEF) Graduate Student Award.

Congratulations to Lindsay Oakley on successfully defending her dissertation proposal!

December
Broadbelt group welcomes Lauren Dellon to the lab!

Congratulations to Dr. Beatriz Peñalver Bernabé on successfully defending her disseration!

March
Congratulations to Heather Mayes on being selected to participate in the 63rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, to be held from 30 June to 5 July 2013, in Lindau, Germany. This year's meeting will focus on Chemistry, and 35 Nobel Laureates will be participating.

April
Congratulations to Lindsay Oakley and Justin Finkle for recognition by the National Science Foundation!

May
Congratulations to Kanika Mittal for successfully defending her master's thesis!

July
Congratulations to Renhu Ma for receiving a terminal year fellowship!

August
Congratulations to Di Wu for successfully defending his PhD dissertation!

September
Watch lab member Heather Mayes discuss the role of biofuels in our sustainable energy future with Nobel Laureates Steven Chu and Hartmut Michel in this Nature video filmed at the 63rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting.

Congratulations to Beatriz Penalver on being selected as one of this year's runners up for the department's Distinguished Graduate Researcher Award!

Congratulations to Adam Pelzer for earning an NSF Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability (SEES) postdoctoral fellowship. He will be partnering with Virent, a biofuels startup in Madison Wisconsin, to analyze how to economically convert the lignin component of biomass into drop-in biofuels.

December
The lab welcomes Rob Brydon and Hanyu Gao to the group.

January
The lab welcomes Venkat Regatte to the group.

March
Congratulations to Dr. Xiaoying Bao whose paper "Rate-Determining Step in the NOx Reduction Mechanism on BaY Zeolites and the Importance of Long-Range Lattice Effects" had been chosen as the cover story for the ACS Catalysis March 2, 2012 edition.

Congratulations to Broadbelt Lab alumnus Jim Pfaendtner, now an assistant professor at the University of Washington, on winning an NSF CAREER Award.

The lab welcomes Chun-Yi Sung back to the group.

May
Congratulations to Andrew Stine on receipt of the prestigious Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (DOE CSGF)!

June
The lab welcomes Adam Pelzer to the group.

July
Congratulations to Dr. Kate Bjorkman on successfully defending her PhD thesis.

August
The lab welcomes Guozhen Zhang to the group.

October
The lab welcomes Xiaowei Zhou to the group.

November
The lab welcomes Lindsay Oakley to the group.

December
The lab welcomes Ying Yu to the group.

January
Congratulations to Eric Mondor who successfully defended his master thesis.

March
The lab welcomes Matt Moura to the group.

Congratulations to Dr. Lin Wang whose paper "Model-Based Design for Preparing Styrene/Methyl Methacrylate Structural Gradient Copolymers" had been chosen as the cover story for Macromolecular Theory and Simulations in March 2011

April
Congratulations to Heather Mayes on receiving a Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (DOE CSGF).

The lab welcomes Dr. Parag Deshpande to the group.

May
The lab welcomes Dr. Majeed Shaik to the group.

June
The lab welcomes Andrew Stine to the group.

Congratulations to Dr. Patrick Ryan on successfully defending his PhD thesis.

July
Congratulations to Dr. Ivan Konstantinov on successfully defending his PhD thesis.

August
Congratulations to Heather Mayes on receiving an ARCS Foundation Scholarship for 2011-2012.

September
Congratulations to Di Wu on winning the Kemin Industries Travel Award to support his travel to attend the ACS National Meeting in San Diego in March.

February
Congratulations to Patrick Ryan who has been selected to attend the 60th Meeting of Nobel Laureates in Lindau, Germany. This is an interdisciplinary meeting dedicated to the Laureates in chemistry, physics, medicine/physiology and will give Patrick the opportunity to network with some of the greatest minds in science.

June
Congratulations to our 2010 Ph.D. graduates!
Dr. Gloria Emberger Oxford has accepted a NRC post-doctoral position at NIST.
Dr. Andrew Adamczyk has accepted a post-doctoral position at University of Southern California.
Dr. Lin Wang has accepted a position at Dow Chemical Company.
Dr. Xiaoying Bao has accepted a position at General Electric.

July
Congratulations to Patrick Ryan and Ivan Konstantinov who both received Terminal Year Fellowships from The Graduate School.

September
Congratulations to Patrick Ryan who was selected as one of the runner-ups for the Distinguished Graduate Researcher Award for the department in 2010.

December
The lab welcomes Renhu Ma and Heather Mayes to the group.

Congratulations to Beatriz Peñalver Bernabé and Di Wu who have successfully defended their research proposals and become Ph.D. candidates.

Congratulations to Lin Wang whose work was featured on materialviews.com titled as "A Clever Way to Reduce Calculation Times for Polymer Chain Sequences"

April
Congratulations to Professor Linda Broadbelt who will succeed Professor Wes Burghardt as ChBE Department Chair starting this September 2009.

June
Congratulations to our 2010 Ph.D. graduates!
Dr. Andrew Cho has accepted a position at Eagle Seven Trading in Chicago, IL.
Dr. Chunyi Sung has accepted a post-doctoral position at University of Minnesota - Twin Cities.
Dr. Stacey Finley has accepted a post-doctoral position at Johns Hopkins University.

September
Congratulations to Lin Wang who was granted a 2009 AIChE Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division travel award for the AIChE conference in Nashville, TN.