Sustainability & Climate

• Professional Experience
  • Professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering and of Climate, Columbia University, 2026-
  • Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston, 2022-2026
  • Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston, 2020-2022
  • Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston, 2017-2020
  • Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston, 2012-2017
  • Postdoc, Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, 2010-2012 
  • Senior Scientist, Polyera Corporation, 2008-2010
• Honors & Awards
  • Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award in Engineering, Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science and Technology, 2025 
  • Research Excellence Award in Electrochemical Energy Storage, American Chemical Society ENFL Division, 2025 
  • Highly Cited Researcher, Clarivate Analytics, 2025 
  • Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry, 2020
• Education
  • PhD, Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles
  • BS and MS, Materials Science, Fudan University

Additional Information

• Professional Experience
  • Jan 2025–: Assistant Professor of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University
  • Sep 2021–Dec 2024: Crone Research Fellow, Physics Department (Cavendish Laboratory), University of Cambridge.
• Honors & Awards
  • 2023: Swiss Physical Society award in Computational Physics sponsored by COMSOL, for ‘contributions to a modern theory of thermal transport in solids’.
  • 2022: EPFL Doctorate Award, issued by the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne to up to three PhD theses per year, chosen over >400 STEM theses, to recognize research work of ‘exceptional quality’.
  • 2020: Dimitris N. Chorafas Foundation Award, issued by the Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel) to recognize ‘research characterized by its high potential for practical applications’.
  • 2017: Computational thinking award, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland).
  • 2015: IDEX Paris-Saclay scholarship, awarded by Université Paris-Saclay (France) to “students worldwide to enroll in a prestigious French master’s degree".

Additional Information

• Professional Experience
  • Professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering, 2016 – to date
  • Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering, 2011 - 2015
  • Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering, 2005 – 2010
  • Senior Engineer and Technical Specialist, Metcalf and Eddy, AECOM, 2001 - 2005
• Professional Affiliations
  • Water Environment Federation
  • International Water Association
  • AAAS
• Honors & Awards
  • MacArthur Foundation Fellow, 2015
  • WEF Camp Applied Research Award, 2016
  • Visiting Professor, Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences (2014)
  • WE&RF Paul Busch Award, 2010
  • NSF CAREER Award, 2009
• Education
  • PhD, Environmental Engineering, University of Connecticut
  • BE, Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee

Additional Information

• Professional Experience
  • Senior postdoctoral scholar, Caltech, 2017-2019
  • Junior Research Fellow, St John's College, University of Oxford, 2012-2016
• Education
  • DPhil, Engineering Science, University of Oxford