Ball received her doctorate in chemistry from Columbia University under Professor Colin Nuckolls. Her thesis focused on structure-function relationships between molecular design of organic small molecules and organic electronics. At her time at Columbia, she co-authored over ten publications and was awarded the Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching for her efforts in the classroom.

Ball joined the Loo Group at Princeton University as a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow in 2019. Her work in the Loo Group centered on the design of UV absorbers for transparent photovoltaic devices. These devices can be used as the power source for smart windows or for applications where color neutrality is a primary objective.

After leaving Princeton, Ball assumed a position as an Associate Director at Energy Impact Partners.

Tapomoy Bhattacharjee worked on developing ways to design and control bacterial communities at Princeton. Bhattacharjee developed 3D-printed biofilms to remediate contaminated water with Sujit Datta as his mentor. Bhattacharjee’s work focused on understanding the fundamental mechanisms by which bacterial communities behave, and used novel fabrication approaches to control and optimize biofilm-mediated remediation. In addition to Professor Datta, Bhattacharjee worked with Professors Peter Jaffé, Howard Stone, and Robert Austin.

Bhattacharjee earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Jadavpur University in Kolkata, India. He then went to University of Florida, where he earned two master degrees in chemical and mechanical engineering in 2014 and 2015, respectively. He earned his doctoral degree in mechanical engineering from the same university.

After leaving Princeton, Bhattacharjee assumed a position as an Assistant Professor at the National Centre for Biological Sciences in India.

Caggiano earned her Ph.D. from the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. Her dissertation research, chaired by Drs. Rachael Shwom and Cara Cuite, explored social-behavioral drivers of household resource consumption at the food-energy-water nexus.

As a Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Caggiano worked under the mentorship of professors Elke Weber and Chris Greig to identify pathways for cross-partisan public support for large-scale renewable energy deployment projects in key communities in the U.S. Motivated by ACEE’s Rapid Switch research effort and Net-Zero America study, this research contributes to deep decarbonization efforts to mitigate global climate change.

After leaving Princeton, Caggiano assumed a position as an Assistant Professor of Planning, Climate Justice and Environmental Planning at the University of British Columbia.

Ceferino earned his doctoral degree in civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University where he studied the effects of large earthquakes on hospital systems in Peru. His thesis focused on the policy implications for emergency planning and how to optimize the flow of patients, caregiving resources, and traffic during disaster emergency responses.

At Princeton University, Ceferino worked with Ning Lin, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Warren Powell, professor of operations research and financial engineering and director of the Program in Engineering and Management Systems. Ceferino’s work leveraged Lin’s expertise in hurricane and climate change modeling and Powell’s expertise in stochastic optimization theory to model power systems during hurricanes, and provided solutions for more resilient infrastructure. He also worked with researchers in the Andlinger Center’s Energy Systems Analysis Group.

After leaving Princeton, Ceferino was appointed an Assistant Professor in Civil and Urban Engineering and the Center for Urban Science and Progress at NYU, though he subsequently moved to UC Berkeley’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. 

Rebecca Ciez, who earned her doctoral degree in engineering and public policy from Carnegie Mellon University, worked on electric vehicle transportation and electricity generation technologies under mentors Daniel Steingart and Elke Weber.

At the Andlinger Center, she looked at the crucial transition of the electrification of transportation, specifically electric vehicle technology, and electricity generation technologies. On the former, she focused on the interactions between electric vehicle technology and consumer adoption by developing a model of the state of used electric vehicles at their time of sale, and comparing this model with consumer willingness to pay for different vehicle attributes that would justify battery replacement between owners. For the latter, Ciez examined design choices, operating methods, and how use requirements work together in solar energy generation and storage systems. The output of this research helps inform future research directions and development of new energy storage technologies.

After leaving Princeton, Ciez assumed a position as Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering & Environmental and Ecological Engineering at Purdue University.

Kian Wee Chen, who earned his doctoral degree in architecture and buildings systems at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, works on sustainable buildings with concentrations in sustainable design and computational design tools. At Princeton, Chen developed advanced digital tools to create more energy-efficient built environments. Working with Forrest Meggers as his mentor, Chen also engaged with Professors Mark Zondlo, Elie Bou-Zeid, Niraj Jha, and Naveen Verma in his work.

Chen’s research specifically examined sensors, computational algorithms, digital fabrication, and virtual and augmented reality technologies. User-friendly versions of these tools and processes can help designers create and measure prototypes for a more energy-efficient built environment, instead of focusing on technical troubleshooting. Chen hopes to help designers gain better access to advanced building technologies and to encourage their application in the design of a holistic energy solution for the built environment.

After leaving Princeton, Chen assumed a position as a senior researcher for Global Environmental Technologies.

Christie completed his doctoral degree in environmental engineering at Vanderbilt University, where he worked to advance water treatment and desalination technologies for high-salinity wastewater. His thesis focused on expanding our understanding of membrane distillation through module-scale thermodynamic analysis and elucidation of the causes and effects of inorganic fouling on membrane surfaces.

As a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow, Christie worked in the WET (Water & Energy Technologies) Lab of Z. Jason Ren, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. Christie’s work explored the intersection of membrane separation and crystal nucleation to sustainably recover solid and liquid resources from wastewater streams associated with coal-fired power plants. Additionally, Christie worked under the mentorship of Rodney Priestley, Pomeroy and Betty Perry Smith Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering.

After leaving Princeton, Christie assumed a position as an Assistant Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Louisiana State University. 

Euvrard earned a Ph.D. at CEA Grenoble, France, and University Lille I, France, where she studied electrical doping in organic semiconductors. In 2018, she joined the group of David Mitzi at Duke University as a postdoctoral associate where she focused on perovskite materials for photovoltaic applications.

As a Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Euvrard worked with professors Barry Rand and Antoine Kahn to develop Hall and carrier-resolved photo-Hall effect techniques for organic semiconductors. The techniques are a new and powerful tool that holds promise to rapidly characterize materials for use in energy harvesting devices.

After leaving Princeton, Euvrard assumed a position as Lecturer in Physics at Imperial College London.

McGaughey received her doctorate in civil and environmental engineering in 2020 from the University of Southern California, where she studied membrane-based water treatment systems for desalination and wastewater reclamation. Her dissertation focused on the role of material properties in performance for membrane distillation, a thermal desalination process that is promising for the reclamation of high-salinity waste streams.

As a Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, McGaughey worked with professors Rodney Priestley and Z. Jason Ren to explore advanced polymer materials for water treatment processes, specifically, highly effective antifouling materials that can improve performance and lower energy consumption.

Mohan has a Ph.D. in Engineering & Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University where he studied the technology policy challenges of electric and automated vehicles. His dissertation highlighted the trade-offs between automation and electrification for light vehicles and the societal costs and benefits of electrifying ride-hailing services.

As a Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Mohan studies the role of emerging technologies in transport, electricity, and carbon removal for achieving deep decarbonization, collaborating with Dr. Eric Larson and Professor Jesse Jenkins.

Mohan’s Website | Mohan’s Contact

Temprano-Coleto earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 2021 from the University of California Santa Barbara. His doctoral research focused on the effect of surfactants on the performance of superhydrophobic surfaces, coatings designed to reduce fluid drag and improve the energy efficiency in areas such as maritime transportation or pipeline hydraulics.

As a Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Temprano-Coleto is working with Professors Howard Stone, Sujit Datta, and Z. Jason Ren to develop techniques based on diffusiophoresis for the manipulation of colloids. These methods are targeted towards the characterization of microplastics, as well as their efficient remediation from natural water.

Temprano-Coleto’s Google Scholar Page | Temprano-Coleto’s Contact

Nathaniel Wei is working to realize the full potential of wind energy. He will work with Marcus Hultmark, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and Elie Bou-Zeid, professor of civil and environmental engineering, to study how atmospheric dynamics influence wind energy production. He plans to aid in the construction of a state-of-the-art wind tunnel on Princeton’s Forrestal Campus to better understand atmospheric surface layer dynamics, which could inform efforts to optimize the power production of wind farms. He also hopes to explore the use of drones to characterize atmospheric flows at scales in between the coarse resolutions of most climate models and the relatively granular resolutions of current experimental techniques, a gap in the scientific literature often referred to as the terra incognita of atmospheric dynamics.

Wei’s Website | Wei’s Contact

Bastien Wild, who earned his doctoral degree in earth science from the University of Strasbourg in France, studies the degradation of silicate materials, such as cements, rock-forming minerals, and glasses. These materials have implications for green cements, carbon dioxide sequestration, and nuclear waste storage. At Princeton he worked under the mentorship of Ian Bourg and Claire White and also worked with Professor Howard Stone.

As a postdoctoral fellow, Wild focused on the mechanisms underlying the alteration of silicate materials, including minerals, glasses, and cements. Silicate alteration rates have important implications for the long-term carbon cycle, the durability of urban infrastructure, and the feasibility of several low-carbon energy technologies, including green cements, carbon capture and storage, and radioactive waste storage. Despite extensive research efforts, fundamental controls on the rates of silicate weathering remain incompletely understood. Wild’s goal was to test the analogy between transport properties at fluid-silicate interfaces and those prevailing in semi-permeable nanofluidic membranes (a synthetic membrane that will selectively allow certain molecules or ions to pass through) in order to better understand overall silicate weathering processes.

After leaving Princeton, Wild assumed a position at ISTerre leading research on the EU funded Mobidic project. 

Zheng received his Ph.D. degree in Environmental Engineering in 2020 from the University of California, Berkeley. Before that, he obtained his B.S. degree from Zhejiang University of Technology (China) in 2013, and an M.S. degree in 2015 from the University of Maryland, College Park.

As a Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Zheng focused on developing novel nanomaterials and technologies for energy-efficient carbon capture and mineralization, collaborating with professors Z. Jason Ren and Claire White.

At Princeton and afterwards, Zheng worked to spin out a new company, PureLi, focused on energy-efficient  Li recovery from brine, and he secured seed and accelerator funding for its initial stages of growth.