Principal Investigator
Dr. Prashun Gorai
Dr. Gorai is an assistant professor in Chemical and Biological Engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and holds a joint appointment at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). He is affiliated with the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies at RPI. Previously, he was a research assistant professor at the Colorado School of Mines. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree (IIT Madras) and PhD (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) in Chemical Engineering. He was then a postdoctoral fellow at Mines and NREL. Outside of work, he enjoys cooking, hiking, photography, and traveling to Japan and Italy.
Google Scholar LinkedIn Email: goraip<at>rpi<dot>edu
Postdoctoral Researchers
Graduate Researchers
Thi Nguyen
Thi is a Ph.D. student in Chemical & Biological Engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Applied Chemistry from the Kyushu University, Japan. Her PhD research focus on the discovery of new wurtzite-type ferroelectrics and developing design rules for future engineering of this new class of ferroelectrics. Outside of work, she enjoys making handcrafts, karaoke, and drawing.
LinkedIn Email: nguyet18<at>rpi<dot>edu
Deepthi Chitallury
Deepthi is a Ph.D. student in Chemical & Biological Engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Osmania University, India. Deepthi’s research focuses on designing materials with structural frustration to enable superior electronic and ion transport properties. Outside the lab, she enjoys expressing herself through painting and art. She is a nature enthusiast and finds joy in outdoor activities like hiking.
LinkedIn Email: chittd [at] rpi [dot] edu
Sanjukta Israt Rashid
Sanjukta is a Ph.D. student in Chemical & Biological Engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Bangladesh. Her research focuses on understanding the impact of defects and disorder on the functional properties of wurtzite ferroelectrics. Apart from research, she enjoys painting, cinema and music.
LinkedIn Email: rashis4 [at] rpi [dot] edu
Undergraduate Researchers
Ahiri Garde
Ahiri is an undergraduate student in Chemical and Biological Engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Ahiri’s research on solid electrolytes focuses on mechanistically understanding the role of structural frustration in enhancing ion transport and developing design guidelines to further improve their performance. Ahiri is excited to begin researching early in her career, and is passionate about advancing future battery technologies. Outside of research, Ahiri enjoys playing volleyball with friends and baking.
Email: gardea4 [at] rpi [dot] edu
Logan Escano-Smith
Logan is an undergraduate student in Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His research utilizes Machine Learning Interatomic Potentials (MLIPs) to study amorphous wurtzite ferroelectrics, aiming to uncover the mechanisms behind their polarization-switching behavior. Outside of research, Logan enjoys playing the drums for his band, Supercritical, and exercising with friends.
Email: escanl [at] rpi [dot] edu
Noah Churchill
Noah is an undergraduate student in Chemical and Biological Engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His research focuses on using machine learning to study defect formation and its impact on the electronic properties of semiconductors. He is particularly interested in integrating neural networks with materials science principles to better understand and model semiconductor behavior. Noah is excited to begin research exploring the broader impact of combining machine learning and materials science. Beyond research, Noah is a member of the RPI Men’s Soccer team and enjoys working with cars and watching movies.
Email: churcn2 [at] rpi [dot] edu
Group Alumni
Dr. Cheng-Wei Lee (Research Associate, 2023 – 2025), Currently: Materials Design, Inc.
Dr. Rinkumoni Chaliha (Postdoctoral Fellow, 2023 – 2025), Currently: Altrove AI, France
Dr. Michael Toriyama (Co-advised Graduate Student, Northwestern University), Currently: Postdoctoral Fellow, U. Chicago
Dr. Neha Yadav (Postdoctoral Fellow, 2023-2024)
Dr. Manish Kumar Kothakonda (Postdoctoral Fellow, 2022-2023), Currently: Postdoc, Stanford University
Dr. Naseem Ud Din (Postdoctoral Fellow, 2022-2023), Currently: Miami Cancer Institute
Dr. Shubham Pandey (Postdoctoral Fellow, 2020-2021), Currently: Materials Design, Inc.
Victoria Bradford (NSF REU, 2024), Currently: PhD program, Materials Science, Colorado School of Mines
Adam N. Carranco (Undergraduate Researcher, 2021-2022), Currently: Affiliated Engineers, Inc.
Alvaro Carbonero (DOE SULI Undergraduate Intern at NREL, 2022), Currently: PhD program, MIT EECS
Henley Sartin (NSF-REU Undergraduate Researcher from Harvey Mudd College, Summer 2020), Currently: PhD program, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Mitchell Koerner (Citrine NextGen Undergraduate Research Fellow from UCSB, 2018), Currently: Arista Networks