PrincipaI Investigator
Alex Mironenko
Assistant Professor – CHBE – UIUC
(217) 244-8458 – alexmir@illinois.edu
209B Roger Adams Laboratory
Postdoctoral researchers
Dongyue Liang
dyliang@illinois.edu
Dongyue earned his BS in Physics from the University of Science and Technology of China (2015) and his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2021). His doctoral research under Prof. Qiang Cui focused on atomistic simulations at nanomaterial-biological interfaces. As a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of Chicago (2021-2024), he worked with Prof. Juan de Pablo on multiscale simulations of inorganic-organic interfaces for energy storage applications. In July 2024, Dongyue joined the Mironenko group as a Postdoctoral Associate, and he is interested in method development and applications for interface and catalysis systems. Outside of his academic pursuits, Dongyue follows the English Premier League and enjoys reading fiction.
Marvi Kaushik
mkaushik@illinois.edu
Marvi did her Doctorate from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi with Prof. Divesh Bhatia in the field of automotive catalysis. Marvi focused on developing insights into Pd-zeolite based Passive NOx adsorbers using molecular simulations. Outside of work, she enjoys reading mythological books and watching cricket
Graduate Students
Ankit Gautam
gautam6@illinois.edu
Ankit started his PhD at UIUC in Spring 2021. Before coming to Illinois, he obtained his MS from Carnegie Mellon University and BS from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India. Ankit works on multiscale modeling of MoxCy nanoparticles for inexpensive fuel cell electrocatalysts. Outside of the office, he enjoys soccer, playing guitar, and video games.
Lanie Leung
alannal2@illinois.edu
Lanie graduated from the City College of NY with a BS in Biochemistry and Mathematics minor. She subsequently worked at JUST Inc. as a protein science research associate, where she became interested in modeling to increase the throughput of material discovery. Lanie began her Ph.D. work in Fall 2020 to develop a novel minimally empirical tight-binding potential for chemical reaction modeling. In her free time, she enjoys cycling, camping, and playing video games.
Neil Tran
nghiat2@illinois.edu
Neil joined UIUC starting in Fall 2021. Neil graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County with a BS in Chemical Engineering. Neil works on investigating reaction mechanisms and kinetics for heterogeneous catalysts for reactions traditionally carried out on homogeneous catalysts. In his free time, Neil plays piano, DOTA 2 and enjoys badminton with his friends.
Banhee Shikha Roy Brishti
bsr3@illinois.edu
Banhee started her PhD at UIUC in Fall 2022. She graduated from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology with a BS in Chemical Engineering. She is currently working on screening metal complexes for alkene separation. She enjoys listening to music and exploring new places in her free time.
Jiqing Zhuang
jiqing2@illinois.edu
Jiqing joined the group in Fall 2023. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Madison with a BS in Chemical Engineering and a minor in Computer Science. Being the newest member of the group, he is currently working on the development of the non-empirical tight binding model for describing the energy of the molecules. In his free time, he enjoys stargazing, linguistics and listening to music.
Jinyu Xu
jinyuxu3@illinois.edu
Before starting his PhD at UIUC in Fall 2024, Jinyu finished his MS in ChemE from University of Pennsylvania and BS from University of Rochester. He also spent two years in the battery industry prior to returning to academia. He will be working on modeling of rare-earth element separation process. In his free time, he enjoys playing games with his friends as well as playing with his cats.
Daniel Casey-Hain
dcc5@illinois.edu
Daniel graduated from Oregon State University with a Bachelors in Chemical Engineering and subsequently joined UIUC in Fall 2024. He is currently extending minimally empirical interatomic potentials, being developed by the Mironenko group, to model inverse heterogeneous catalysts. In his free time, he enjoys biking while listening to music, reading fiction, and tinkering with microcontrollers.
Alumni
Vijay Sundar
Vijay spent 2 years in the group as a postdoc with critical contributions on zeolites for alkene epoxidation and redox-mediated electrochemical separations. He started his position as a postdoc at Texas A&M in March 2023.