People

Frank Abild-Pedersen
Charge Transfer & Reactivity Fundamentals, SLAC

Dr. Abild-Pedersen is a Senior Staff Scientist at SLAC and Group Leader for Computational Catalysis. His research in LiSA focuses on catalysis theory and durability. His expertise is theory of thermal and electrocatalytic heterogeneous chemistry for CO₂ and N₂ on nanomaterials.

Theo Agapie
Complex Interfaces Team Lead, Caltech

Dr. Agapie is a Professor of Chemistry at Caltech. He is the LiSA Team Lead for Chemical Microenvironments. His research in LiSA focuses on hybrid organic-inorganic electrocatalyst approaches to CO2 reduction. His expertise is in the synthesis and mechanism of organometallic and electrochemical catalysts for upgrading inexpensive chemical precursors.

Peter Agbo
Integrated Tandem Systems, LBNL

Dr. Agbo is a staff scientist in the Chemical Sciences Division at LBNL. His research in LiSA focuses on photocatalytic systems. His expertise is in bio-inspired photoelectrochemical catalysts for CO₂ reduction and vapor-fed, light driven solar fuels systems.

Joel Ager
Integrated Tandem Systems, LBNL

Dr. Ager is a Senior Scientist in the Materials and Chemical Science Division sat LBNL and Adjunct Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at UC Berkeley. His research in LiSA focuses on discovering new photocathodes for carbon dioxide reduction and discerning the design rules for photoelectrocatalytic processes. His expertise is synthesis and fundamental studies of optoelectronic materials, electrocatalysts, and advanced designs of solar fuels systems. Dr. Ager also serves as the LiSA site lead for LBNL.

Shane Ardo
Complex Interfaces, UC Irvine

Dr. Ardo is a Professor of Chemistry at UC Irvine. His research in LiSA focuses on using photoinduced proton transfer, electrochemical pH swings, and carbonic anhydrase mimic catalysts to control bicarbonate speciation for selective CO₂ reduction using dilute, real-world feedstocks. His expertise is in photochemical proton transfer, ion transport and electrostatics in ion-exchange membranes, protonic diodes, and photocatalytic water splitting.

Harry Atwater
Complex Interfaces, Caltech

Dr. Harry Atwater is the Howard Hughes Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science and the Otis Booth Leadership Chair, Division of Engineering and Applied Science at Caltech. He serves as the Director of LiSA. His research in LiSA focuses on GaN, ZnTe and Zintl compound semiconductor photocatalyst synthesis, carrier dynamics and photoelectrochemistry, multimodal instrumentation design, and pH imaging microscopy. His expertise is in photophysics and photocatalysis, photocatalyst materials, light-mediated selective CO2 reduction, and artificial photosynthesis.

Michal Bajdich
Foundational Processes, SLAC

Dr. Michal Bajdich is a Lead Staff Scientist at SLAC and co-PI in Computational Catalysis. His research in LiSA focuses on catalyst discovery, durability, and AIML. His expertise is in computational heterogeneous chemistry of Oxygen, Water and CO₂ on metal-oxide photo-materials.

Shannon Boettcher
Charge Transfer & Reactivity Fundamentals Team Lead, LBNL

Dr. Boettcher is Senior Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He is also a Professor and the Theodore Vermeulen Chair in Departments of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Chemistry at University of California, Berkeley. His expertise spans (electro)catalysis, (photo)electrochemistry, and ion-exchange membranes science. His work combines fundamental mechanistic insight with device-relevant materials design to advance energy conversion technologies. His research in LiSA will establish quantitative, experimentally validated understanding of electrochemical interfaces, including double-layer structure, ion transport, and charge transfer processes, to inform and refine predictive computational electrochemistry models.

Bingqing Cheng
Foundational Processes, LBNL

Dr. Cheng is an Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley and faculty scientist at LBNL. Her expertise is on atomistic simulations, machine learning, and statistical mechanics. Her work at LiSA will focus on building and employing machine learning interatomic potentials to understand interfacial phenomena.

Amy Cordones-Hahn
Photodynamics Team Lead, SLAC

Dr. Cordones-Hahn is a Lead Scientist at SLAC. Her research in LiSA focuses on the photodynamics of light absorbers, catalysts, and hybrid materials. Her expertise is photophysics and photochemistry of functional transition metal complexes studied by transient optical and x-ray methods.

Scott Cushing
Complex Interfaces, Caltech

Dr. Cushing is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Caltech. His research in LiSA focuses on using transient X-ray spectroscopy and electron-pump electron-probe spectroscopies to understand semiconductor photocatalysis and photoelectrocatalysis, including studies of plasmonics, polaronics, and charge transport in multi-layer devices.

Walter Drisdell
Charge Transfer & Reactivity Fundamentals, LBNL

Dr. Drisdell is a Staff Scientist in the Chemical Sciences Division at LBNL. He serves as the User Facilities Lead in LiSA. His research in LiSA focuses on in situ and operando characterization of the structural and functional evolution of catalyst and photoelectrode systems. His expertise is in synchrotron or free electron laser X-ray spectroscopy, scattering and imaging studies of chemical and material systems for energy applications.

Kara Fong
Charge Transfer & Reactivity Fundamentals, Caltech

Dr. Fong is an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at Caltech. Her research in LiSA focuses on simulating electrolyte transport using machine learning interatomic potentials. Her expertise is in theory and molecular simulation of electrolytes and electrochemical interfaces.

Naomi Ginsberg
Complex Interfaces, LBNL

Dr. Ginsberg is a Professor of Chemistry and Physics at UC Berkeley and a Faculty Scientist at LBNL. Her research in LiSA focuses on using interferometric optical and X-ray scattering to study electronic, thermal, and ionic transport. Her expertise also includes spatiotemporally resolved measurements of ultrafast electron dynamics and the study of transformations in heterogeneous systems.

Bill Goddard
Charge Transfer & Reactivity Fundamentals, Caltech

Dr. Goddard is the Charles and Mary Ferkel Professor of Chemistry, Materials Science, and Applied Physics at Caltech. His research in LiSA focuses on catalysis theory and large-scale atomistic modeling. His expertise is in theory and simulations of (photo)electrochemical reduction and oxidation reactions, and transport in polymers.

John Gregoire
Foundational Processes, Caltech

Ann Greenaway
Integrated Tandem Systems, NLR

Dr. Greenaway is a Staff Scientist in the Photochemistry and Chemical Processes group at NLR. Her research in LiSA focuses on the design of novel photoelectrode architectures and high-quality synthesis of nitride and phosphide photocatalysts. Her expertise is in semiconductor synthesis and photoelectrochemical characterization for solar fuel production.

Joel Haber
Foundational Processes Team Lead, Caltech

Dr. Haber is a staff scientist at Caltech. His research in LiSA focuses on high throughput/directed materials translation and integration. His expertise is in solid state and precursor chemistry and advanced high throughput techniques for materials discovery for solar fuels systems.

Martin Head-Gordon
Charge Transfer & Reactivity Fundamentals, LBNL

Dr. Head-Gordon is the Kenneth S. Pitzer Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at UC Berkeley and a Senior Faculty Scientist at LBNL. His research in LiSA focuses on catalysis and electronic structure theory. His expertise is modeling core and valence excitations, and ground state reactive pathways associated with corrosion and durability.

Thomas Jaramillo
Charge Transfer & Reactivity Fundamentals, SLAC

Dr. Jaramillo is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at Stanford, Professor of Photon Science at SLAC, and Director of the SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis. His research in LiSA focuses on catalysts and integration. His expertise is in catalysis, including materials discovery, mechanistic understanding, and device development. Dr. Jaramillo also serves as the site lead for SLAC.

Cliff Kubiak
Complex Interfaces, UC San Diego

Dr. Kubiak is a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the Harold C. Urey Chair in Chemistry at UC San Diego. His research in LiSA focuses on tailoring and selectivity. His expertise is in catalyst synthesis and mechanisms of molecular and supported (photo)electrocatalysts for CO₂ reduction.

Karthish Manthiram
Integrated Tandem Systems, Caltech

Dr. Manthiram is the Bren Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and Executive Officer of Chemical Engineering at Caltech. His research at LiSA focuses on tailoring microenvironments to encourage the formation of selectively functionalized hydrocarbons.  His expertise is in heterogeneous electrocatalyst synthesis and mechanism determination.

Jeff Neaton
Foundational Processes Team Lead, LBNL

Dr. Neaton is a Senior Faculty Scientist at Berkeley Lab, a Professor of Physics at the University of California, Berkeley, and a member of the Kavli Energy NanoSciences Institute at Berkeley. He also serves as the Associate Laboratory Director for Energy Sciences at Berkeley Lab. His research in LiSA focuses on advancing and applying theory and simulation to novel photocatalysts and photocatalytic interfaces. His expertise is ab initio electronic structure theory, machine learning and high-throughput calculations, and studies of the excited states of optoelectronic materials.

Adam Nielander
Integrated Tandem Systems, SLAC

Dr. Adam Nielander is Staff Scientist in the Chemical Sciences Division and SUNCAT Center for Interface Science at Catalysis at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. His research in LiSA focuses on understanding the processes that define durable operation for (photo)electrochemical systems under ‘on-sun’ and diurnal conditions. He uses electrochemical methods in combination with advanced measurement methods (e.g., x-ray synchrotron, neutron sources) to understand electrified interfaces under operating conditions. His expertise include electrocatalysis, photoelectrochemistry, water electrolysis, membrane/ionomer performance, and electrochemically-driven N2 reduction.

Kristin Persson
Foundational Processes, LBNL

Dr. Persson is the Daniel M. Tellep Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at UC Berkeley, Director of the Materials Project, and a Faculty Senior Staff Scientist at LBNL. Her research in LiSA focuses on accelerated discovery for durability. Her expertise is materials discovery by high throughput computation and workflows tailored for (photo)electrochemical systems.

Sandeep Sharma
Charge Transfer & Reactivity Fundamentals, Caltech

Dr. Sandeep Sharma is a  Professor of Chemistry at California Institute of Technology. His research in LISA focuses on developing advanced electronic structure methods for beyond DFT level accuracy of reactants, transition states and adsorption energies.

Wilson Smith
Charge Transfer & Reactivity Fundamentals, NLR

Dr. Smith is an Associate Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at UC Boulder. His research in LiSA focuses on catalyst-membrane integration. His expertise is in atomic and molecular characterization of (photo)electrodes using in situ and operando spectroelectrochemical techniques.

Emily Warren
Integrated Tandem Systems Team Lead, NLR

Dr. Warren is a Senior Staff Scientist and Group Manager of the Performance and Tandems team at NLR. Her research in LiSA focuses on photoelectrode architectures and carrier management. Her expertise is in the synthesis and integration of semiconductor materials into high performance solar energy conversion systems, and the design of tandem photovoltaic devices.

Adam Weber
Foundational Processes, LBNL

Dr. Weber is a Senior Scientist and Group Leader of the Energy Conversion Group at LBNL. His research in LiSA focuses on Multiphysics modeling. His expertise is in multiphysics models of concentrated solutions and electrolytes and advanced electrochemical systems including solar fuels generators, fuel cells, and electrolyzers.

Peidong Yang
Integrated Tandem Systems, LBNL

Dr. Yang is the S.K. and Angela Chan Distinguished Professor of Energy and Professor of Chemistry at UC Berkeley and a Senior Faculty Scientist in the Materials Science Division at LBNL. His research in LiSA focuses on integrated tandem catalysis. His expertise is nanostructure synthesis, assembly and characterization, and plasmonics, catalysis and nanofluidics.

Junko Yano
Complex Interfaces, LBNL

Dr. Yano is a Senior Scientist and the Division Director in the Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division at LBNL. She is the Deputy Director in LiSA. Her LiSA research focuses on operando X-ray characterization of CO2 reduction reaction processes. Her expertise is in operando synchrotron X-ray and time-resolved X-ray free electron laser studies of heterogeneous/molecular catalysis and biological systems.

Andriy Zakutayev
Integrated Tandem Systems, NLR

Dr. Zakutayev is a Research Scientist leading Materials Discovery and Design team at NLR. His research in LiSA focuses on materials synthesis of phosphide and chalcogenide photoactive materials, contacts, and electrode stacks. His expertise is discovery of new semiconductors for energy and electronics by high-throughput thin film synthesis and characterization methods.