Skip to content
NC STATE UNIVERSITY College of Engineering Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
SuPER Lab

Recognition

Awards and Grants

$3,911,000 in external funding across 9 active and selected awards.

Awards

  1. 2026

    Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor Award

    University of Utah

  2. 2025

    CAREER Award

    National Science Foundation (NSF)

  3. 2025

    Investigator on the Rise Award

    University of Utah, Technology Commercialization Office

  4. 2023

    Emerging Investigator Award

    Royal Society of Chemistry, Journal of Materials Chemistry A

  5. 2022

    Early Career Rising Star Award

    American Chemical Society, ENFL Division

  6. 2022

    Rising Star of Science Award

    Research.com

  7. 2022

    Highly Cited Researcher Award

    Web of Science

  8. 2016

    Dean's Dissertation Fellowship

    University of Maryland

  9. 2015

    Outstanding Graduate Assistant Award

    University of Maryland

  10. 2009

    National Fellowship

    Tsinghua University

  11. 2008

    Outstanding Scholarship

    Tsinghua University

External grants

Total: $3,911,000

  1. 01

    Collaborative Research: Rational design of organic catholyte molecules for non-aqueous Mg-organic hybrid redox flow batteries

    National Science Foundation

    07/2023 — 06/2026 · PI · share $339,797 of $600,000

  2. 02

    Pre-pilot scale demonstration of co-production of lithium, potassium, and magnesium from Great Salt Lake brine

    Department of Energy

    selected · PI · share $1,000,000 of $2,000,000

  3. 03

    CAREER: Understand electro-reduction of Fe ions and oxides in aqueous electrolytes

    National Science Foundation

    09/2025 — 08/2030 · PI · share $550,000 of $550,000

  4. 04

    Lithium extraction from brine using electrochemical absorption/desorption

    NexGen Material

    03/2023 — 02/2024 · PI · share $71,880 of $71,880

  5. 05

    High-efficiency continuous electrolysis of iron ore for carbon-emission-free iron production

    DOE STTR Phase I (subaward from Storagenergy Technology)

    07/2023 — 04/2024 · PI · share $79,996 of $200,000

  6. 06

    Wide-Temperature Lithium-Ion Batteries for Extreme Conditions

    DoD SBIR Phase I (subaward from Talos Tech LLC)

    03/2025 — 09/2025 · PI · share $75,000 of $200,000

  7. 07

    Scalable Production of High-Performance Metal-Organic Framework Membranes

    NSF SBIR Phase I (subaward from NCO Technology LLC)

    10/2025 — 09/2026 · PI · share $60,000 of $200,000

  8. 08

    Electrochemical behaviors of explosives in the Li-ion battery cell environment

    Department of the Army

    selected · Co-PI · share $30,000 of $60,000

  9. 09

    Highly selective, efficient and scalable electrochemical process for selective iodine extraction

    NexGen Material

    11/2025 — 10/2026 · PI · share $20,000 of $20,000

Internal grants

Total: $142,000

  1. 01

    Acid-in-clay proton membrane for novel chemical technologies

    UofU College of Engineering Seed Fund

    04/2023 — 03/2024 · PI · $38,000

  2. 02

    Novel electrolytes for fast-charging and low-temperature Li-ion batteries

    UofU Energy Accelerator Funding

    01/2024 — 03/2025 · PI · $69,000

  3. 03

    Sodium-ion batteries

    UofU Faculty Small Grant Program (FSGP)

    — · PI · $10,000

  4. 04

    Ion-Conductive Membrane-Enabled Sustainable Industrial Electrochemical Production

    1U4U Future of Sustainability Seed Grant

    10/2024 — 04/2026 · Co-PI · $25,000 (share $12,500)

  5. 05

    Highly selective, efficient and scalable electrochemical process for selective iodine extraction

    UURF

    04/2026 · PI · $30,000