Team

Dr. Abdoulaye Djire

Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University

Abdoulaye Djire is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University. Before joining Texas A&M, Dr. Djire was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Chemistry and Nanoscience Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan. Dr. Djire is a Georgia Institute of Technology Focus Fellow, University of Michigan Tech Transfer Technology Fellow, DuPont GOLD Award recipient, and Founder & President of the Djire Foundation Inc. Dr. Djire’s research focuses on understanding the structure-function relationships controlling electrocatalytic and photocatalytic behavior of 2D carbide and nitride MXenes for applications in energy storage and conversion.

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Dr. Mark Barteau

Charles D. Holland ’53 Chair
Professor, Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University
Professor, Chemistry, Texas A&M University

Mark A. Barteau holds the Charles. D. Holland ‘53 Chair at Texas A&M, with appointments in the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Department of Chemistry. He received his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis, and his M.S. and Ph.D. from Stanford. He was an NSF Post-doctoral Fellow at the Technische Universität München. He has previously served in faculty and leadership roles at the University of Michigan and the University of Delaware. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2006, and the National Academy of Inventors in 2018. His research in surface chemistry, catalysis, and energy processes has been recognized with a number of awards, including the 2018 Lawrence K. Cecil Award in Environmental Chemical Engineering, the 2001 Alpha Chi Sigma Award, and the 1991 Allan P. Colburn Award of AIChE; the 1998 International Catalysis Award; the 1995 Ipatieff Prize from ACS; the Paul H. Emmett Award in Fundamental Catalysis, and the  1993 Canadian Catalysis Lecture Tour Award.

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Denis Johnson

PhD Candidate

I got my B.S. degree in chemical engineering at The University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown in 2020. My research during BS was focused on Modeling and Tools for Education. Here at Texas A&M, my focus is on in-situ spectroelectrochemical characterization techniques to understand N2 electroreduction on two-dimensional MXenes.

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Ray Yoo

PhD Student

I got my bachelor’s degree in Biochemical Engineering at UC Davis in 2020. My research focuses on the the optimization of nitride MXenes for electrocatalytic applications and for spectroelectrochemical analysis.

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Bright Ngozichukwu

PhD Student

I got my Bachelor Degree in Chemical Engineering at Federal University of Technology Minna, Nigeria in 2018. I am currently a First year PhD Student with research focused on electrocatalysis for CO2 reduction to value added fuels.

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David Kumar Yesudoss

PhD Student

I completed my Bachelor’s in Chemical and Electrochemical Engineering at CSIR- Central Electrochemical Research Institute, India in 2019. My undergraduate research focused primarily on the performance evolution of cathodes for lithium-ion batteries. After that, I pursued my Master’s in Energy Science and Engineering at DGIST, South Korea. During my stint in the DGIST, I focused on the interfacial tuning of electrodes for electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction. Exploring zero-gap electrodes and electrolyzers for the conversion of atmospheric pollutants to value-added products is one of my research interests. 

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Laura Hoagland

PhD Student

A Texas native, I came back to this state for my PhD after receiving my bachelors in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University in May of 2022. I am co-advised by Dr. Mark Barteau and Dr. Abdoulaye Djire to work on the applications of MXenes for energy storage.

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Eugenie Marie Pranada

PhD Student

I completed my Master’s Degree in Materials Science and Engineering at Texas A&M in 2023. For my PhD work, I will focus on the use of 2D MXenes for the electrode reactions of batteries, fuel cells, and water splitting devices.

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James Kasten

Undergraduate Researcher

I’m a Chemical Engineering undergraduate who transferred from Dallas College in 2022. My projects include application of MXenes for electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction, characterization of metal nitrides for aqueous supercapacitor devices, and optimization of ambient-pressure nitride MAX synthesis procedures.

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Olivia Rajagopal

Undergraduate Researcher

I’m an undergraduate student pursuing chemical engineering at Texas A&M. My research centers around the applications of nitride MXenes in ammonia production.

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Wynn Miholits

Undergraduate Researcher

I’m an undergraduate student studying chemical engineering at Texas A&M. I am currently focusing on the synthesis aspect of MXenes to develop novel, optimized approaches for existing structures, in addition to discovering pathways toward new synthesis strategies.

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Shrinarayanee Rengarajan

Undergraduate Researcher

Howdy! I’m a first year undergraduate engineering student interested in pursuing Chemical Engineering. My research focuses on MXenes for  electrochemical reduction of CO₂.

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Maxie

I am a 2-month old Cheetah weighing 3 lbs of chonk. I am interested in providing emotional support to all the members and I know I’ve been doing a great job so far.