Vijay Murugesan – Initiative Lead

Dr. Vijay Murugesan is a chief scientist in the Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate who leads a group of materials scientists consisting of over 70 researchers working on various research and development projects. He is also interim director of NW IMPACT a Pacific Northwest National Laboratory-University of Washington joint research center, and a focus area lead in the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research–a Department of Energy (DOE) Innovation Hub funded by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences. He is also a thrust lead in the Energy Storage Materials Initiative and a PI and co-PI on several DOE and industrial projects. He serves as chief editor of the journals Frontiers in Electrochemistry and Energy Storage and associate editor for Frontiers in Nano Energy. He has published over 160 peer-reviewed articles, with an h-index of 55 and total citations exceeding 11,000. He holds four patents in the field of electrochemistry.

Grant Johnson – Chief Scientist

Dr. Grant Johnson is a senior research scientist who leads the Chemical Physics and Separations team and is responsible for over 15 staff members. He also leads the Basic Energy Sciences core program in separation science, which is focused on understanding the role of solvation, transport, and confinement in the separation of metals from aqueous solutions. He has led several Laboratory Directed Research and Development projects focused on fuel cell catalysis, nanoparticle synthesis, and molecular qubits for quantum computing. In 2015, he was awarded the Ronald L. Brodzinski Award for Exceptional Early Career Achievement by PNNL. He serves as an editor for the journal, Frontiers in Chemistry. He has over 75 publications, with an h-index of 33 and total citations exceeding 3,200.

Maria Sushko – Thrust 1 Lead

Dr. Maria Sushko is a senior research scientist and a thrust lead and co-PI on three Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences, and Engineering programs and a key person on the Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences program. She serves as a sector manager for the Office of Science Fusion Energy Sciences program. She brings expertise in interfacial processes, nucleation and growth phenomena, and reactive transport. She brings additional expertise in the development of hybrid computational approaches that self-consistently couple quantum mechanics with statistical mechanics and diffusion theory. She serves on the editorial board of the journal, Scientific Reports, has published over 80 papers, has over 9,000 citations, and an h-index of 35.

Elias Nakouzi – Thrust 1 Deputy Lead

Dr. Elias Nakouzi is a materials scientist working on solid-liquid interfaces and crystallization. He brings expertise in non-equilibrium thermodynamics and precipitation phenomena. He has published over 40 peer-reviewed papers and has over 1,000 citations with an h-index of 19.

Chinmayee Subban – Thrust 2 Lead

Dr. Chinmayee Subban is a chemist who currently leads several DOE-funded efforts ranging from fundamental interfacial studies to bench-scale demonstrations and technology transfer for separation strategies, and she brings expertise in the development of materials and methods for diverse liquid separations. She has published over 20 peer-reviewed articles and has over 680 citations with an h-index of 12.

Amanda Lines – Thrust 2 Deputy Lead

Dr. Amanda Lines is a chemist with expertise in the development and validation of online spectroscopic process monitoring sensors and associated data analytics tools. She has over 45 peer-reviewed publications with over 400 citations and an h-index of 11.

Venky Prabhakaran – Crosscut Thrust Lead

Dr. Venky Prabhakaran is a chemical engineer who currently leads a thrust in the Basic Energy Sciences-funded Separation Science core program. He brings extensive experience in the development of in situ and operando approaches for studying ion interactions and nanoscale phenomena at electrochemical interfaces relevant to separations, energy conversion, and storage. He currently serves on the editorial boards of the journals, Scientific Reports, Journal of Ionic Liquids, and Frontiers in Energy Research. He has over 50 publications with over 1,700 citations and an h-index of 21.

Jaehun Chun - Crosscut Thrust Deputy Lead

Dr. Jaehun Chun is a chemical engineer who has served as a thrust lead and key personnel for the Basic Energy Sciences-supported IDREAM Energy Frontier Research Center, beginning in 2016. Since 2011, he has been serving on a review panel for the National Science Foundation Particulate and Multiphase Processes program. He was an invited panelist at the National Academy of Sciences committee for “A Research Agenda for a New Era in Separations Science.” He is an expert in revised continuum theories for electrostatic/electrodynamic forces implementing interfacial structures and their coupling to hydrodynamics in nanoparticle self-assemblies. He has more than 90 peer-reviewed publications, an h-index of 32, and over 4,100 citations.