Andy Lin earned his PhD from the Department of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington. His doctoral research, under Bill Noble, focused on developing computational methods for analyzing liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry-based proteomics data. Prior to his PhD, he received his BS in bioinformatics and cell molecular biology from the University of Michigan.

Andy currently works in the Chemical and Biological Signatures group, under the mentorship of Karen Wahl, in the National Security Directorate. His work at PNNL focuses on using proteomics data to understand how bacterial protein samples naturally degrade over time. Using this information, he plans on developing a predictive model for estimating the length of time a bacterial sample has been degrading.

Darian Smercina earned her PhD in crop and soil sciences from Michigan State University under the mentorship of Lisa Tiemann. Her doctoral research focused on understanding the complex biological and environmental controls on free-living nitrogen fixation in soil systems, a vital biogeochemical process. Darian also has a BS in biology from the University of Toledo.

Under the mentorship of Kirsten Hofmockel, Darian has joined the microbiome science team in the Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate. She will continue to pursue soil microbial ecology and biogeochemistry-relevant questions, using novel microfluidic systems and biological nitrogen fixation as a model process to address questions about microbial-scale processes and microbial interactions. Her work will contribute broadly to our understanding of environmental microbiology and aims to improve our predictive capacity of soil microbial communities as they relate to global biogeochemical cycles.

Neerja Zambare earned her PhD in chemical engineering from Montana State University, conducting research in the Bioprocess Laboratory at the Center for Biofilm Engineering. Under the mentorship of Robin Gerlach and Ellen Lauchnor, her graduate work focused on reactive transport during microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) and the applications of MICP in environmental remediation such as well-fracture sealing by biomineralization and heavy metal contaminant sequestration by co-precipitation. Her work also explored biomineralization at the single-cell level using droplet-based microfluidics paired with optical and chemical imaging techniques.

At PNNL, Neerja is expanding on her microscale biomineralization work in the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory under the guidance of Alice Dohnalkova. Neerja plans on studying the underlying cellular-level and biofilm-level processes that support biomineralization through correlative microscopic and microanalytic techniques. She is particularly interested in determining the function of microbes during nucleation of biological precipitates and in developing engineered microenvironments using organics to control the precipitation process.

Jayde Aufrecht earned her PhD from the University of Tennessee's Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education, supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. She conducted her doctoral research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory under the mentorship of Scott Retterer. This work focused on using microfabrication processes to create synthetic habitats for plants and microorganisms to enable dynamic imaging of rhizosphere interactions.

In the Environmental Molecular Sciences Division under the mentorship of Jim Moran, Jayde is continuing to build synthetic micro-habitats and uses a systems biology approach to understand microbial interactions in the soil. She plans to work with chemical imaging experts at the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory to develop a platform for dynamic spatial sampling of metabolite exchanges between organisms. Her research will contribute to our knowledge of terrestrial carbon cycling and could lead to improved sustainable agriculture methods.

Mavis Boamah received her PhD in chemistry from Northwestern University under the mentorship of Professor Franz M. Geiger after obtaining a BA degree from Wellesley College with majors in chemistry and mathematics. Her graduate school research focused on understanding reactions occurring at the charged mineral oxide/water interface using nonlinear optics, improving environmental remediation techniques, investigating the nanostructure of metallic films with atom probe tomography, and employing nanodevices to generate renewable energy.

At PNNL, her mentors are Kevin Rosso and Zheming Wang. She is a member of the Geochemistry group in the Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate. Here, Mavis is developing a molecularly resolved structural model of an electrical double layer at a ubiquitous and essential metal oxide/aqueous solution interface to improve fundamental understanding of how this structure controls interfacial electron transfer processes that lie at the heart of many environmental chemistry challenges and new energy device problems. She aims to overcome knowledge-limiting obstacles by capitalizing on her unique experience and PNNL's world-class capabilities in nonlinear optical spectroscopies and supporting theory and computation tools.

Sam Silva received his PhD in environmental engineering and computation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His PhD research largely focused on understanding the chemical composition of the atmosphere as it is influenced by interactions between the biosphere and the atmosphere. Sam also has a BS in physics and an MS in atmospheric science from the University of Arizona.

Sam currently works in the Atmospheric Sciences and Global Change Division with Susannah Burrows applying data science and artificial intelligence tools to research in atmospheric chemistry and composition. He is particularly interested in using these tools to improve the representation of processes relevant to atmospheric composition in Earth system models.

Sten Lambeets earned his PhD from the Universite Libre de Bruxelles under the mentorship of Professor T. Visart de Bocarme and Professor N. Kruse, supported by the National Fund for Scientific Research of Belgium. His research investigated the dynamics of the catalytic hydrogenation of carbon dioxide (CO₂) on single rhodium nanoparticles using field emission techniques. With the development of a unique methodology to explore chemical dynamics with atom probe tomography, this work uncovered the existence of an organized mechanism for oxygen atom penetration of the rhodium bulk with rates depending on the crystallographic surface structure.

Under the mentorship of Daniel Perea at PNNL, Sten has joined the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory to expand this unique methodology to explore the surface oxidation and carbonization process of single cobalt and iron nanoparticles during CO and CO₂ hydrogenation. The elucidation of these processes will contribute to developing more efficient catalytic materials tailored to revalorize CO₂ and CO from industrial and biomass feedstocks into higher-order, value-added chemical compounds. Sten's research will take advantage of the unique combination of expertise and tools available at PNNL.

Matt Kaufman received his PhD in geosciences from The University of Texas at Austin, in Professor M. Bayani Cardenas' process hydrology research group. Matt's doctoral work investigated the dynamics of riverbed biogeochemistry from physical, chemical, and microbial perspectives. He applies a broad array of novel and time-tested methods, combining laboratory, field, and numerical modeling to delve deep into the complex and dynamic network of interconnected biogeochemical processes at work in and around rivers.

At PNNL, Matt is part of the Subsurface Biogeochemical Research Science Focus Area in the Ecosystem Science research area within the Biological Sciences Division. Matt's current research is based around the development of novel, high-resolution, real-time sensors designed to probe the intricacies of dynamic subsurface redox conditions. He is mentored by James Stegen.

Ismael Rodríguez Pérez came from México in 2002 at the age of nine and went to school in the state of Washington. He went on to receive his BS in chemistry from Gonzaga University in 2014 and obtained his PhD in materials chemistry from Oregon State University in 2018 under the mentorship of Professor Xiulei "David" Ji. During his PhD, he focused on performance-driven testing and characterization of battery materials and electrolytes for beyond Li-ion and Li-ion batteries and was also the safety and laboratory manager of his research group. He worked on investigating electrolytes and organic crystalline solids as advanced electrodes for aqueous and non-aqueous dual-ion, Na-ion, K-ion, and Mg-ion batteries for energy storage applications. Furthermore, he investigated potential synthesis and characterization of organic crystals to fine-tune their electrochemical properties.

At PNNL, he is a former member of the Stationary Energy Storage team within the Battery Materials and Systems group in the Energy and Environment Directorate working in research for grid-level applications. Recently, Ismael joined the Physical Sciences Division in the Physical & Computational Sciences Directorate, and is mentored by Nancy Washton. He is working on a variety of technologies. His current focus, however, is geared more specifically toward dual-ion batteries (DIBs), water-in-(bi)salt electrolytes, and Gel electrolytes, where he is looking into using low-cost, renewable, and scalable materials for high-voltage aqueous batteries. Ismael engages in optimizing electrolytes to discover the potential of aqueous DIBs. Aqueous electrolytes would lower the levelized cost (simply water and a salt) for DIBs if they were to be scaled up, and the safety of the batteries would also improve significantly. Ismael is exploring the capacity limits of anion storage in new electrolytes (both liquid and gel) for high-rate and long-cycling DIBs by performing a series of electrochemical and structural characterization tests to determine and optimize stability of the electrolytes and electrodes. Moreover, he strives to determine the potential storage mechanism of anions in DIBs by carrying out a series of tasks for electrolyte, structural, and surface characterization of the electrodes, and even potential computational methods.