Group

Principal Investigator

Bio: Andrej Lenert is an Associate Professor and Graduate Recruiting Chair of Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan. He earned a BS in 2008 from the University of Iowa and MS and PhD degrees in 2010 and 2014 from MIT, where he studied high temperature transport and solar energy materials with Evelyn N. Wang. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan (UofM), studying transport in near-field systems and molecular junctions with Pramod Reddy and Edgar Meyhofer, prior to joining the Chemical Engineering faculty in 2016. The efforts of his research group (https://lenert.engin.umich.edu/) are focused on the fundamental design and development of nanophotonic materials that control the direction and wavelength of energy transfer by radiation. He is particularly interested in developing technologies that enable equitable decarbonization of the grid and industrial processes. His group currently works on thermal photovoltaics for grid storage using thermal batteries, transparent aerogel materials for solar industrial process heat, and nanophotonic materials for environmental sensing and photochemical synthesis. In 2020, he started the MiChAMPS mentorship program to support applicants from underrepresented groups in engineering to pursue advanced degrees. Dr. Lenert’s contributions to research, education, and service have been recognized by numerous awards including the NSF CAREER Award, the UofM Henry Russel Award, and the College of Engineering 1938E Award.

Group Members

Group Alumni

Postdocs

Ali Davoodabadi, 2021–2022 (Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, SUNY Binghamton)
Subsequently: Universal Instruments Corporation

Venkata Yarlagadda, 2018–2021 (Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, University of Kansas)
Subsequently: General Motors

PhD

Bosun Roy-Layinde, Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, 2024 (Winter)
Thesis: “Improved Photon Utilization and Recovery in Thermophotovoltaic Systems Enabled by Heterogeneous Integration”
Current Position: McKinsey & Co

Sean McSherry, Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, 2023 (Winter)
Thesis: “Spectral Control of Thermal Radiation at High Temperatures and in the Near Field”
Current Position: Lelantos Tech

Alexander Hill, Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, 2022 (Summer)
Thesis: “Controlling Nanoscale Restructuring to Improve Catalyst Activity, Stability, and Material Utilization”
Current Position: NREL (Postdoctoral Fellow)

Zachary Berquist, Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, 2022 (Summer)
Thesis: “Developing Thermally Robust Aerogels for Next-Generation Linear Solar Receivers”
Current Position: ARPA-E Fellow

Tobias Burger, Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, 2021 (Fall)
Thesis: “Eliminating out-of-band loss in thermophotovoltaic systems utilizing cell-side spectral control”
Current Position: SolAero Technologies

Hannah Kim, Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, 2021 (Winter)
Thesis: “Tailoring optical and thermal properties of nanostructured materials for passive radiative cooling”
Current Position: BASF

Masters

Ziting Fan, U Michigan, Department of Chemical Engineering, 2018 – 2019
Subsequently: PhD Student, National University of Singapore
Krutarth Dhananjay Jhaveri, U Michigan, Department of Chemical Engineering, 2017 – 2018
Subsequently: Rocky Mountain Institute
Yulei Zhang, U Michigan, Department of Chemical Engineering, 2016­ – 2017
Subsequently: PhD Student, ChE, U Michigan

Undergraduate

Annyn Howle, U Michigan, Department of Chemical Engineering, 2021-2023
Subsequently: Masters Student, Energy Systems, U Michigan
Sean Fernandez, U Michigan, Department of Chemical Engineering, 2021-2023
Subsequently: PhD Student, ChE, Columbia University
Kai Abitbol-Pierce, Case Western Reserve University, Department of Electrical Engineering, 2020­ (REU)
Subsequently: Masters Student, Energy Systems, U Michigan
Nadine El Ghaffir, U Michigan, Department of Chemical Engineering, 2022
Rachel Fetter, U Michigan, Department of Chemical Engineering, 2021-2022
Subsequently: PhD Student, ChE, University of Virginia
Zhewen Deng, U Michigan, Department of Chemical Engineering, 2020-2021
Subsequently: PhD Student, Nanoengineering, UCSD
Spencer Cira, U Michigan, Department of Chemical Engineering, 2020-2021
Subsequently: PhD Student, ChE, U Washington
Oluka Okia, Case Western Reserve University, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2020­ (SROP) – 2021
Subsequently: PhD Student, ME, U Michigan
Kevin Turaczy, U Michigan, Department of Chemical Engineering, 2019
Subsequently: PhD Student, ChE, Columbia University
Brendon Brown, U Michigan, Department of Chemical Engineering, 2019
Subsequently: Trucent Separation Technologies
Apoorva Gupta, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (Pilani, India), Department of Chemical Engineering, 2019
Subsequently: Graduate Student, UCSD
Caroline Sempere, U Michigan, Department of Chemical Engineering, 2018­ – 2019
Subsequently: ExxonMobil
Michael Veksler, U Michigan, Department of Chemical Engineering, 2018­ – 2019
Subsequently: PhD Student, ChE, U Michigan
Alejandro Owen Aquino, Case Western Reserve University, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2018 (SROP)
Subsequently: PhD Student, Georgia Tech.
Silva Zhang, U Michigan, Department of Chemical Engineering, 2018
Vinod K. Raman, U Michigan, Departments of Chemical Engineering and Computer Science, 2017­ – 2019
Subsequently: PhD Student, Statistics, U Michigan
Brandon Woo, U Michigan, Department of Chemical Engineering, 2017­ – 2018
Subsequently: Staff Member, Lurie Nanofabrication Facility
Allison Goss, U Michigan, Department of Chemical Engineering, 2017