Graduate Students

Alexander Best

BS Chemical Engineering
University of Connecticut
Research: Expanding the scope of polymer modeling

Geoffrey Bonnanzio

BS Chemical Engineering
University of Delaware
Research: Computational Metabolic Engineering
Co-advised by Keith Tyo

Yash Chainani

BS Chemical Engineering
University of California, Berkeley
Research: Bioinformatics
Co-advised by Keith Tyo

Matthew Hayes

BS Chemical Engineering
BS Mathematics
Arizona State University
Research: Modeling electrocatalytic organic oxidation reactions
Co-advised by Linsey Seitz

Shivani Kozarekar

BS Chemical Engineering
University of Michigan
Research: Designing highly recyclable plastics

Dachey Lin

BS, Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Texas
Research: Polymer Degradation Modeling

Tung Nguyen

BS & MS Chemical Engineering
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Research: Autoxidation polymer modeling

Stefan Pate

BA Neurobiology
Harvard College
Research: Metabolic Engineering
Co-advised by Keith Tyo

Maya Milrod

BA Chemistry
Wesleyan University
Research: Modeling catalytic depolymerizations
Co-advised by Tobin Marks

Kenna Roberts

BS Chemical Engineering
Colorado School of Mines
Research: Bioinformatics
Co-advised by Keith Tyo

William Sprague

BS Chemical Engineering
University of Texas at Austin
Research: Accelerating synthetic pathway discovery with machine learning

Christina Thaggard

BS Bioengineering
North Carolina A&T State University
Research: Metabolic Pathway Design
Co-advised by Keith Tyo

Postdoctoral Fellows

Quan Zhang

BS, Chemical Engineering, Tianjin University, China
MS, Mechanical Engineering, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
PhD, Engineering Science, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Research: Discovery of Novel Pathways Using Artificial Intelligence

Aswathy Raghu

BS, Chemical Engineering, Government Engineering College, Thrissur
MS & PhD, Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras
Research: Microkinetic modelling of plastic pyrolysis

Alexander Shaw

MChem, Chemistry, Sheffield Hallam University
PhD, Chemistry, Queen’s University Belfast
Research: Mechanistic and kinetic modelling of polymer formation and degradation

Xiaoyang Liu

BS, Applied Physics, Jilin Normal University, China
MS, Materials Physics and Chemistry, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, China
Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, The University of Alabama
Research: Microkinetic modeling of lignin depolymerization.

Sai Praneet Batchu

BS, Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras)
Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, The University of Delaware
Research: Kinetic modeling of metabolic pathways and heterogenous catalytic reactions.

Gaurav Deshmukh

BChemEngg, Chemical Engineering, Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai
PhD, Chemical Engineering, Purdue University
Research: Multiscale modeling of small molecule and polymer chemistry

Visiting Students

Lukas Spiekermann

BSc Mechanical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University, Germany
MSc Chemical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University, Germany
Currentl doctoral student at ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Undergraduate Students

Hunter Lee

BS, Chemical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston
Research: Designing highly recyclable plastics

Margaret Guilarte-Silva

BS/MS, Chemical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston
Research: Bioinformatics

Professor Linda Broadbelt

Linda Broadbelt is Sarah Rebecca Roland Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the Associate Dean for Research of the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University. She was Chair of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering from 2009-2017. She was also appointed the Donald and June Brewer Junior Professor from 1994-1996. She has completed the short course Business for Scientists and Engineers through the Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Her research and teaching interests are in the areas of multiscale modeling, complex kinetics modeling, environmental catalysis, novel biochemical pathways, and polymerization/depolymerization kinetics. She served as the Past Chair, Chair, First Vice Chair and Second Vice Chair of the Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division of AIChE, and also previously served on the Executive Board of the National Program Committee of AIChE.

She is currently an Associate Editor for Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research. Her honors include selection as the winner of the R.H. Wilhelm Award in Chemical Reaction Engineering from AIChE, the E.V. Murphree Award in Industrial Chemistry and Engineering from the American Chemical Society, the Dorothy Ann and Clarence Ver Steeg Award, a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation, an AIChE Women’s Initiative Committee Mentorship Excellence Award, selection as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Fellow of AIChE, a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar, appointment to the Defense Science Study Group of the Institute for Defense Analyses, selection as the Su Distinguished Lecturer at University of Rochester, Ernest W. Thiele Lecturer at the University of Notre Dame, and the Allan P. Colburn Lecturer at the University of Delaware. She was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2019.

Alumni

Kevin Shebek PhD|"Computational Approaches for the Design and Screening of Novel Biopolymers"| Dow

Rawia Marafi MS| "A Deterministic Kinetic Model for Enhanced Starch to Fructose Conversion via an Enzyme Cascade" | Northwestern University

Matthew Coile PhD| "Towards Computational Modeling of Polymer Structure During Depolymerization" | Midrex

Tracy Dinh PhD| "Advancing Promiscuity Characterization of ThDP-dependent Enzymes for Carbon-Carbon Bond-forming Catalysis" | Co-advised by Keith Tyo | Merck

Guanhua Wang PhD| "Computational Study Towards Sustainable Polyurethanes: Novel Monomers and Selective Catalysis" | PostDoc at University of Michigan

Sri Bala Gorugantu PostDoc| "Mechanistic modeling of polyurethane decomposition for monomer recovery" | Assistant Professor at the University of Houston

Grant Marsden PhD| "Computational Modeling of transforming light hydrocarbon fuels" | Shell

Lauren Lopez PhD| "Automated Network Discovery as a Cheminformatics Tool For the Identification of Performance Advantaged Materials" | City of Chicago

Jake Martin PhD| "Constructing Kinetic Models of Cell-Free Metabolism for the Rapid Design, Understanding and Optimization of Biosynthetic Pathways" | BiomeSense

Rebecca Harmon PhD| "Computational Modeling of Polymerization and Degradation of Complex Polymer Systems" | The Ohio State University

Jonathan Strutz PhD| "Exploring the Uncharted Biochemical Universe: Predicting Metabolites across Scales"

Joseph Ni PhD| "Integrating Cheminformatics & Bioinformatics Approaches to Build Infrastructures for Novel Biosynthetic Pathway Exploration" | Lanzatech

Elsa Koninckx PhD| "Light Hydrocarbon Adsorption and Oligomerization in Acidic and Ni-Acid Zeolites" | DuPont

Manali Dhawan PostDoc| "Modeling Nylon Intermediates and Pathways" | Eastman Chemical Company

Maksim Tyufekchiev PostDoc| "Lignin KMC Modeling" | Honeywell UOP

Charmaine Bennett PhD| "Regioselective Ring Opening of Epoxides" | Dow Chemical Company

Mihir Bhagat PhD| "Catalytic isomerizations of polyether, polyalcohols for use in polyurethane manufacturing" | Consulting at Guidehouse

Lauren Dellon PhD| "Computational Modeling for Biomass Pyrolysis Applications" | Tachyus

Sergio Vernuccio PostDoc| "Microkinetic model of propylene oligomerization on Brønsted acidic zeolites at low conversion" | University of Sheffield

Rob Brydon PhD| "Microkinetic Modeling of Homogeneous and Catalyzed Oxidation Systems" | Gamma Technologies

Rosalia Rizo MA| "Application of a Generalized Framework to a Coupled Structural and Kinetic Model of Lignin Pyrolysis" | Avery Dennison in Belgium

Xiaowei Zhou PostDoc| "A Mechanistic Model of Fast Pyrolysis of Hemicellulose" | The Chemours Company

Jennifer Greene PhD| "Expanding Computational Metabolic Modeling Methods"| ExxonMobil

Lindsay Oakley PhD| "Mechanistic Studies of the Autoxidative Curing of an Oil-Based Paint Model System" | University of Copenhagen

Ying Yu PhD| "Mechanistic Study of Regio-selective Epoxide Ring Opening Reactions Using Lewis Acid Catalysts" | Dow Chemical Company

Hanyu Gao PhD| "Process Simulation and Optimization of Free Radical Polymerization" | MIT

Adam Pelzer MS| Uptake

Abraham Yanez-McKay PhD| "Lignin Deconstruction Understood Through Coupled Structural and Kinetic Models" | Cummins

Guozhen Zhang, Postdoc | "Computational study on the copolymerization propagation kinetics of methacrylates" | USTC

Heather Mayes PhD | "Uncovering Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Thermochemical and Enzymatic Cellulose Decomposition" | University of Chicago Post Doc, continued to University of Michigan

Matthew Moura PhD | "Computational and Experimental Techniques for the Application of Promiscuous Enzymes to Novel Biosynthetic Pathway Development" (co-advised by Keith Tyo) | UGreenlight Biosciences

Andrew Stine PhD | "Utilization and Computational Generation of Enzymatic Reaction Rules to Predict and Analyze Biochemical Pathways" | Immunetrics

Beatriz Peñalver Bernabé PhD | "Dynamic Systems Biology Approaches for Regenerative Medicine" (co-advised by Prof. Lonnie Shea) | Northwestern Post Doc

Renhu Ma PhD | "Computational Screening of Catalysts for Carbon Dioxide Hydrolysis" | Cummins

Venkat Reddy Regatte PostDoc | Developing a kinetic Monte Carlo framework for modeling of acrylic polymers | Sandvik Asia Pvt Limited, Pune, India

Di Wu PhD | "Development of a Structural-based Enzyme Screening Strategy and Its Application" | Intel

Kanika Mital MA | "A DFT Study of the Epoxidation of Alkenes using Free and Supported Peroxyacids" | Northwestern University

Kate Bjorkman PhD | "Computational Methods for Analysis of Complex Catalytic Reaction Networks" | Honeywell UOP

Satyender Goel PostDoc | Detailed chemical kinetic model for surface chemistry of C-SiC-SiO2 rubber composite materials | Chicago Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center

Majeed S. Shaik PostDoc | Computational screening of catalysts for carbon dioxide hydrolysis | Shell

Parag A. Deshpande PostDoc | Biomimetic catalyst design using density functional theory | Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur

Vinu Ravikrishnan PostDoc | Kinetic modeling of pyrolysis of biomass and polymers | Associate Professor at Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

Ivan Konstantinov PhD | "Towards the Rational Design of Biomimetic Catalytic Materials: A Molecular Modeling Approach" | Dow Chemical Company

Patrick Ryan PhD | "Metal-Organic Frameworks and Porphyrin Nanomaterials for Hydrogen Storage, Gas Separations, and Catalysis" (co-advised by Prof. Randy Snurr) | Baxter

Eric Mondor MA | "Group Additivity Determination for Enthalpies of Formation of Carbenium Ions and Microkinetic Modeling of Solid Acid Catalyzed Isobutane/Butene Alkylation" | High School Teacher, Tampa, FL

Janine Cheng Postdoc | Microkinetics modeling on solid acid akylation | BASF, Germany

Gloria Emberger Oxford PhD | "Analysis and Design of Supramolecular Metal-Organic Complexes for Catalysis and Separations" | Freelance Editor, American Journal Experts

Andrew Adamczyk PhD | "Prediction of Silicon Nanoparticle Formation: Thermochemistry and Kinetics Generalized from Quantum Chemistry" | Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.

Lin Wang PhD | "Designing Polymer Architectures through Synthesis, Characterization and Kinetic Analysis" | Dow Chemical Company

Xiaoying Bao PhD | "Molecular Modeling of Enantioselective Adsorption in Metal-Organic Frameworks" | General Electric

Stacey Finley PhD | "Computational Approaches to Systems Biology: Applications in Xenobiotic Metabolism and Cellular Signaling" | Assistant Professor Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California

Chunyi Sung PhD | "Quantum Chemical Investigations of NOx Reduction with BaY Zeolites" | Postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University

Andrew Cho PhD | "Mechanistic modeling of nitroxide-mediated controlled radical polymerization" | Eagle Seven Trading

Rajeev Surendran Assary Postdoc | Discovery of novel biochemical pathways | Argonne National Laboratory

Seth Levine PhD | "Mechanistic Modeling of Polymer Pyrolysis: Investigation of Intrinsic Kinetics, Reaction Pathways, and Structural Heterogeneities" | Genomatica

Xinrui Yu PhD | "Kinetic Modeling of Acrylate Polymerization at High Temperature" | ExxonMobil

Rodney Priestley | "Effects of Nanoscale Confinement and Interfaces on the Structural Relaxation of Amorphous Polymers Monitored at the Molecular Scale by Fluorescence and Dielectric Spectroscopy" (co-advised by Prof. John Torkelson) | Associate Professor at Princeton University

Simon Albo PhD | "Development and Application of Tools for Modeling Mass Transport and Catalytic Reaction in Nanostructured Membranes" (co-advised by Prof. Randy Snurr) | Honeywell UOP

Jim Pfaendtner PhD | "Mechanistic Modeling of Hydrocarbon Autoxidation: Theory and Application to the Study of Lubricant Degradation" | Associate Professor at the University of Washington

Joanna González-Lergier PhD | "Theoretical Considerations and Computational Analysis of the Complexity in Polyketide Synthesis Pathways" (co-advised by Prof. Vassily Hatzimanikatis) | In-house Editor, American Journal Experts

Chris Henry | "Computational Thermodynamic and Biosynthetic Analysis of Genome-Scale Metabolic Models" (co-advised by Prof. Vassily Hatzimanikatis) | Argonne National Laboratory

Matt Jankowski PhD | "On the Feasibility of Novel Biochemical Transformations: A Thermodynamics and Constraints-Based Study" (co-advised by Prof. Vassily Hatzimanikatis) | Mayo Clinic

Chunhui Li PhD | "A Computational Framework for the Discovery of Novel Biotransformations" (co-advised by Prof. Vassily Hatzimanikatis) | Pace Analytical, Inc.

Debarshi Majumder PhD | "Multiscale Modeling in Materials Design: Molecular Square Catalysis" | Honeywell UOP

Maria Curet-Arana PhD | "Mechanistic Analysis of Styrene Epoxidation Catalyzed by Manganese Porphyrins and Molecular Squares" | Associate Professor at University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez

Shumaila Khan PhD | "Computational Chemistry and Mechanistic Modeling of Atmospheric Chemistry: Models of Alkane and Oxygenate Chemistry" | Abbott Labs

Chen Ramachandran PhD | "Solvent Effects in the Liquid Phase Epoxidation of 1-Hexene with Titanium Silicate-1" (co-advised by Prof. Randy Snurr) | Shell

Debarshi Majumder PhD | "Multiscale Modeling in Materials Design: Molecular Square Catalysis" | Honeywell UOP

Maria Curet-Arana | "Mechanistic Analysis of Styrene Epoxidation Catalyzed by Manganese Porphyrins and Molecular Squares" | Assistant professor at University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez

Hsi-Wu Wong PhD | "Analysis of Complex Reaction Systems: Application to the Chemistry of Silicon Nanoparticle Formation and Polystyrene/Polypropylene Degradation" | Assistant Professor at University of Massachusetts at Lowell

Todd Kruse PhD | "Detailed Mechanistic Modeling of Polymer Degradation: PhD Application to Polystyrene, Polypropylene and Polystyrene/Polypropylene Mixtures" | Honeywell UOP

Scott McMillan PhD | "Modeling Nitrogen Oxide Catalysis Over Cobalt-Exchanged Zeolites: The Role of Cobalt-Zeolite Coordination Environment" (co-advised by Prof. Randy Snurr) | Intel

Ned Haubein PhD | "Koch Carbonylation of Methyl tert-Butyl Ether: Challenges in Liquid Phase Mechanistic Modeling and Many-Body Optimization" | Penn Medicine

David Dooling PhD | "Development and Analysis of Kinetic Models for Nonuniformity in Heterogeneous Catalysis" | Washington University at St. Louis

Oh Sang Woo PhD | "Resource Recovery of Polystyrene to Monomer Through Binary Mixture Pyrolysis and Base Catalysis" | 3M

Matthew De Witt PhD | "Elucidation of the Primary Reaction Pathways and Degradation Mechanism During Coprocessing of Polymeric Waste with Coal" | Dayton Research Institute

Letitia Garber MA | "The Thermal and Catalytic Degradation of High Density Polyethylene using HUSY and HZSM-5 Zeolites" | Kraft Foods

David Klinke PhD | "Computational Developments in Heterogeneous Catalytic Reaction Modeling: Mechanisitic Elucidation of Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis" | Associate professor at West Virginia University