Fall 2024

• Dr. Rakesh Agrawal and Dr. Mohit Tawarmalani received the Computing in Chemical Engineering Award at the 2024 AICHE Annual Meeting in San Diego, California
• Solar Energy Research Group members Shubhanshu Agarwal, Kiruba Catherine Vincent and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Quantitative scales for haliphilicity of metals: Tailoring the halide affinity of alkaline earth metals to synthesize chalcogenide perovskite BaMS3 (M=Ti, Zr, and Hf) and Cu2BaSnS4 compounds” was published in ACS Applied Energy Materials.
• Solar Energy Research Group member Shubhanshu Agarwal participated in the AICHE Electronic and Photonic Materials: Graduate Student Awards session. 
• Solar Energy Research Group members Shubhanshu Agarwal and Kiruba Catherine Vincent presented at the 2024 AICHE Annual Meeting  in San Diego, California.
• Solar Energy Research Group members Shubhanshu Agarwal, Kiruba Catherine Vincent and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Breaking Barriers in Chalcogenide Perovskite Synthesis: A Generalized Framework for Fabrication of BaMS3 (M═Ti, Zr, Hf) Materials” was published in Advanced Functional Materials.
• Solar Energy Research Group members Apurva Pradhan, Shubhanshu Agarwal, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Emergence of Ruddlesden–Popper phases and other pitfalls for moderate temperature solution deposited chalcogenide perovskites” was published in RSC Materials Chemistry Frontiers.
• Solar Energy Research Group member Daniel Hayes successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis. Congratulations Daniel!!

Summer 2024

• Solar Energy Research Group members Jonathan Turnley and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “The Viability of Photovoltaics on Agricultural Land: Can PV Solve the Food vs Fuel Debate?” was published in Journal of Cleaner Production.
• Solar Energy Research Group members Jonathan Turnley and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Rethinking tolerance factor analysis for chalcogenide perovskites” was published in RSC Materials Horizons.
• Solar Energy Research Group members Kiruba Catherine Vincent and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Expanding the horizons for viable precursors and liquid fluxes for the synthesis of BaZrS3 and related compounds” was published in RSC Journal of Materials Chemistry C.

Spring 2024

• Solar Energy Research Group members Jonathan Turnley and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s Feature Article “Solution processed metal chalcogenide semiconductors for inorganic thin film photovoltaics” was published in RSC Chemical Communications.
• Solar Energy Research Group member Shriya Khandelwal was awarded the Undergraduate Research Award. Congratulations, Shriya.
• Solar Energy Research Group member Jonathan Turnley was awarded College of Engineering Outstanding Research Award. Congratulations Jonathan!
• In collaboration with Prof. Edgardo Saucedo’s group at UPC Spain, Solar Energy Research Group members Jonathan W. Turnley, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Novel synthesis of semiconductor chalcohalide anti-perovskites by low-temperature molecular precursor ink deposition methodologies” was published in Journal of Materials Chemistry C.
• Solar Energy Research Group members Daniel C. Hayes, Samantha A. Langdon, Robert M. Spilker, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Carbon Impurity Minimization of Solution-Processed, Thin-Film Photovoltaics via Ligand Engineering of CuInS2 Nanoparticles” was published in ACS Applied Energy Materials.

Fall 2023

• In collaboration with Prof. Lydia Wong’s group at NTU Singapore, Solar Energy Research Group members Ryan Swope, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Efficiency enhancement and doping type inversion in Cu2CdSnS4 solar cells by Ag substitution” was published in Journal of Materials Chemistry A.
• Solar Energy Research Group members Shubhanshu Agarwal, Kyle Weideman, David Rokke, Kiruba Catherine Vincent, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Enhancing the optoelectronic properties of solution-processed AgInSe2 thin films for application in photovoltaics” was published in Journal of Materials Chemistry C.
• Solar Energy Research Group members Jonathan Turnley, Swapnil Deshmukh, Ryan Ellis, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Molecular Precursor Approach to Sulfur-Free CuInSe2: Replacing Thiol Coordination in Soluble Metal Complexes” was published in ACS Omega.
• Solar Energy Research Group member Jonathan Turnley was awarded 2nd place for his presentation at the AICHE Electronic and Photonic Materials: Graduate Student Awards session. Congratulations Jonathan!
• Solar Energy Research Group members Apurva Pradhan, Scott McClary, Kyle Weideman, Shriya Khandelwal, Joseph Andler, David Rokke, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Tuning the optoelectronic properties of enargite (Cu3AsS4) solar cells by Ag alloying: A DFT-informed synthesis” was published in Applied Physics Letters.
• Solar Energy Research Group members Jonathan Turnley, Swapnil Deshmukh, Robert Spilker, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “A selenium-based “alkahest”: reactive dissolutions of metals and metal compounds with n-alkylammonium polyselenide solutions” was published in Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers.
• Solar Energy Research Group members Shubhanshu Agarwal, Jonathan Turnley, Apurva Pradhan, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Moderate Temperature Sulfurization and Selenization of Highly Stable Metal Oxides: An Opportunity for Chalcogenide Perovskite” was published in Journal of Materials Chemistry C. 

Spring 2023

• Separations Research Group Members Tony Mathew, Prof. Mohit Tawarmalani, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Relaxing the constant molar overflow assumption in distillation optimization” was published in AIChE Journal.
• Solar Energy Research Group member Isabel Panicker was awarded 1st place in the Purdue AICHE undergraduate poster competition. Congratulations, Isabel!
• After graduation, Solar Energy Research Group undergraduate Isabel Panicker will be going to Georgia Tech to get a PhD in chemical engineering. Congrats, Isabel!
• After graduation, Solar Energy Research Group undergraduate Kevin Ng will be joining Parker Hannifin in their Engineering Leadership Development Program. Congrats, Kevin!
• Solar Energy Research Group undergraduate Lily Whitmoyer has accepted a summer internship position with Washington River Protection Solutions. Congrats, Lily!
• Solar Energy Research Group members Apurva Pradhan and Kiruba Catherine Vincent presented at the 2023 MRS Spring Meeting and Exhibit in San Francisco, California.
• Solar Energy Research Group member Jonathan Turnley presented at the ACS Spring 2023 meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana.
• Solar Energy Research Group member Jonathan Turnley presented at the 2023 Gordon Research Conference on Nanomaterials for Applications in Energy Technology in Ventura, California.
• The Purdue OTC announced in their March update that Prof. Rakesh Agrawal, Zewei Chen, and Peter Oladipupo received a patent titled “Electrically Heated Dehydrogenation Process“.
• Solar Energy Research Group members Apurva Pradhan, Shubhanshu Agarwal, Jonathan Turnley, Shriya Khandelwal, Ryan Swope, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Synthesis of BaZrS3 and BaHfS3 Chalcogenide Perovskite Films Using Single-Phase Molecular Precursors at Moderate Temperatures” was published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition.
• Solar Energy Research Group members Kiruba Catherine Vincent, Shubhanshu Agarwal, Jonathan Turnley, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Liquid Flux-Assisted Mechanism for Modest Temperature Synthesis of Large-Grain BaZrS3 and BaHfS3 Chalcogenide Perovskites” was published in Advanced Energy & Sustainability Research.

Fall 2022

• In collaboration with ExxonMobil’s Research Group, Separations Research Group Members Tony Mathew, Prof. Mohit Tawarmalani, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Advances in distillation: Significant reductions in energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions for crude oil separation” was published in Joule.
• Separations Research Group Members Zheyu Jiang, Prof. Mohit Tawarmalani, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Minimum reflux calculation for multicomponent distillation in multi-feed, multi-product columns: Mathematical model” was published in AIChE Journal.
• Solar Energy Research Group member Jonathan Turnley presented at the 2022 MRS Fall Meeting and Exhibit in Boston, Massachusetts.
• Solar Energy Research Group members Jonathan Turnley, Apurva Pradhan, Daniel Hayes, and Shubhanshu Agarwal presented at the 2022 AIChE Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona.
• Solar Energy Research Group members Jonathan Turnley, Kiruba Catherine Vincent, Apurva Pradhan, Isabel Panicker, Ryan Swope, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Solution Deposition for Chalcogenide Perovskites: A Low-Temperature Route to BaMS3 Materials (M = Ti, Zr, Hf)” was published in Journal of the American Chemical Society.
• Separations Research Group Members Akash Sanjay Nogaja, Prof. Mohit Tawarmalani, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Identifying Heat-Integrated Energy-Efficient Multicomponent Distillation Configurations” was published in I&EC Research Journal.
• Separations Research Group Members Radhakrishna Tumbalam Gooty, Prof. Rakesh Agrawal, and Prof. Mohit Tawarmalani’s manuscript “Advances in MINLP to Identify Energy-Efficient Distillation Configurations” was published in Operations Research Journal.

Summer 2022

• Separations Research Group Members Jose Adrian Chavez Velasco, Prof. Mohit Tawarmalani, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Which separation scenarios are advantageous for membranes or distillations?” was published in AIChE Journal.
• Solar Energy Research Group member Kevin Ng was awarded the Best Presentation Award at the Purdue Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium. Congratulations Kevin!
• Separations Research Group member Tony Mathew won the 2022 Graduate Student Research Award of the Distillation and Absorption Area of AIChE Separations Division. Congratulations Tony!

Spring 2022

• Solar Energy Research Group member Apurva Pradhan was awarded the 2022 ChE Excellence in Safety award. Congratulations Apurva!
• Solar Energy Research Group member Isabel Panicker’s poster received 2nd place in the College of Engineering at Purdue’s 2022 Spring Undergraduate Research Conference. Congratulations Isabel!
• Solar Energy Research Group member David Rokke successfully defended his thesis and has accepted a position at Applied Materials. Congratulations David!
• Solar Energy Research Group members David Rokke, Essam Alruqobah, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s review article “Extrinsic Doping of Ink-Based Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2-Absorbers for Photovoltaic Applications” was published in Advanced Energy Materials.
• Solar Energy Research Group members Swapnil Deshmukh, Caleb Miskin, Apurva Pradhan, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Solution Processed Fabrication of Se-Te Alloy Thin Films for Application in PV Devices” was published in ACS Applied Energy Materials.
• Solar Energy Research Group members Swapnil Deshmukh, Kyle Weideman, Ryan Ellis, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Enabling fine-grain free 2-micron thick CISe/CIGSe film fabrication via a non-hydrazine based solution processing route” was published in Materials Advances.
• Solar Energy Research Group members Joseph Andler, Xianyi Hu, Scott McClary, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Analysis of enargite thin films synthesized from carbon-containing and novel carbon-free processing methods” was published in Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing.

Fall 2021

• Solar Energy Research Group members Ryan Ellis, Swapnil Deshmukh, Jonathan Turnley, Dwi Sutandar, Jacob Fields, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Direct Synthesis of Sulfide-Capped Nanoparticles for Carbon-Free Solution-Processed Photovoltaics” was published in ACS Applied Nano Materials.
• The work of the NRT project on Aglectric Farming was covered by The Herald Bulletin, a newspaper in Anerson, Indiana
• Energy System Group Members Zewei Chen, Yiru Li, Wasiu Peter Oladipupo, Edwin Rodriguez, Gary Sawyer, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Alternative ordering of process hierarchy for more efficient and cost-effective valorization of shale resources” was published in Cell Reports Physical Science.
• Energy System Group Undergraduate Researcher Arsh Bhatia received OUR scholarship for 2021-2022 academic year. Congratulations Arsh!

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Summer 2021

• Separations Research Group Members Jose Adrian Chavez Velasco, Zewei Chen, Radhakrishna Tumbalam Gooty, Prof. Mohit Tawarmalani, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Energy-efficient membrane cascades for industrial separations” was published in Computer Aided Chemical Engineering.
• Separations Research Group Members Tony Joseph Mathew, Radhakrishna Tumbalam Gooty, Prof. Mohit Tawarmalani, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “A Simple Criterion for Feasibility of Heat Integration between Distillation Streams Based on Relative Volatilities” was published in Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research.
• Separations Research Group Members Jose Adrian Chavez Velasco, Radhakrishna Tumbalam Gooty, Prof. Mohit Tawarmalani, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Optimal design of membrane cascades for gaseous and liquid mixtures via MINLP” was published in Journal of Membrane Science.
• Separations Research Group member Tony Joseph Mathew successfully defended his thesis. Congratulations Tony!
• David Rokke’s poster presentation is selected for the Best Poster Award in the Chalcogenide Thin Film Solar Cells area of the 2021 IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference. Congratulations!
• Separations Research Group Members Radhakrishna Tumbalam Gooty, Jose Adrian Chavez Velasco, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Methods to Assess Numerous Distillation Schemes for Binary Mixtures” was published in Chemical Engineering Research and Design.

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Spring 2021

• David Rokke’s poster presentation is nominated for the Best Poster Award at the 2021 Spring MRS Meeting and is selected as the best poster presentation in the Thin-Film Compound Semiconductor Photovoltaics Symposium at the 2021 Spring MRS Meeting, earning him the Symposium Award. Congratulations, David!
• Tony Joseph Mathew and Zewei Chen both gave oral presentations at the 2021 AIChE Spring Meeting
• Solar Energy Research Group member Swapnil Dattatray Deshmukh received the Outstanding Research Award 2021 from the College of Engineering. Congratulations, Swapnil!
• Separations Research Group Member Jose Adrian Chavez Velasco, Prof. Mohit Tawarmalani, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Systematic Analysis Reveals Thermal Separations Are Not Necessarily Most Energy Intensive” was published in Joule.

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Fall 2020

• Energy Systems Research Group member Zewei Chen received the Bill Murray Fellowship for 2020-21 academic year. Congratulations Zewei!
• Separations Research Group Members Tony Joseph Mathew, Radhakrishna Tumbalam Gooty, Prof. Mohit Tawarmalani, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript “Quickly Assess Distillation Columns” was published in Chemical Engineering Progress.
• Solar Energy Research Group member Swapnil Deshmukh won the Second Place Award in the 2020 AIChE Graduate Student Award Competition in the Inorganic Chemistry Area. Congratulations Swapnil!
• Separations Research Group member Radhakrishna Tumbalam Gooty successfully defended his thesis. Congratulations Radhakrishna!

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Summer 2020

• Tony Joseph Mathew received first place for his Oral Presentation in the Energy and Process Intensification & Biotechnology category, and won the Best Overall award, at the 29th Annual Symposium organized by Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Organization. Congratulations, Tony!
• David Rokke received first place for his Oral Presentation in the Material Science category at the 29th Annual Symposium organized by Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Organization. Congratulations, David!
• Solar Energy Research Group members David Rokke and Swapnil Deshmukh’s submissions to the 2020 Annual AIChE conference are accepted for an oral presentation and two Graduate Student Award Oral Presentations respectively.
• Separations Research Group member Jose Adrian Chavez Velasco successfully defended his thesis. Congratulations Adrian!
• Prof. Rakesh Agrawal and Separations Research Group Member Radhakrishna Tumbalam Gooty’s manuscript “Misconceptions about Efficiency and Maturity of Distillation” was published in AIChE Journal.
• Separations Research Group member Radhakrishna Tumbalam Gooty is a winner of the 2020 AIChE Separations Division Graduate Student Research Award in the Distillation and Absorption area. Congratulations Radhakrishna!
• Solar Energy Research Group member Swapnil Deshmukh is a winner of the best student paper award at the 47th IEEE PVSC. Congratulations Swapnil!
• Separations Research Group member Zewei Chen, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript, “Classification and Comparison of Dividing Walls for Distillation Columns” was published in Processes.
• Prof. Rakesh Agrawal is interviewed on the Purdue University College of Engineering’s podcast, “Sounds Like the Future” on Episode 08: Advancing Sustainability Across Disciplines. Prof. Agrawal discusses his research and interests centered around sustainability.
• Solar Energy Research Group members Swapnil Deshmukh, Kyle Weideman, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript, “Analyzing and Tuning the Chalcogen–Amine–Thiol Complexes for Tailoring of Chalcogenide Syntheses” was published in Inorganic Chemistry

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Spring 2020

• Solar Energy Research Group members Ryan Ellis, Jonathan Turnley, David Rokke, Jacob Fields, Essam Alruqobah, Swapnil Deshmukh, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript, “Hybrid Ligand Exchange of Cu(In,Ga)S2 Nanopartcles for Carbon Impurity Removal in Solution Processed Photovoltaics” was published in Chemistry of Materials
• Solar Energy Research Group member Essam Alruqobah’s and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal’s manuscript, “Potassium Treatments for Solution-Processed Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2 Solar Cells” was published in ACS Applied Energy Materials
• Solar Energy Research Group member Joseph Andler successfully defended his thesis. Congratulations Joe!
• Solar Energy Research Group members, Ryan Ellis and Swapnil Deshmukh’s submissions to IEEE’s 2020 PVSC conference were both selected for (now virtual) oral presentations
• Solar Energy Research Group member, David Rokke, is accepted to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) Hands on Photovoltaic Experience (HOPE) 2020 program, a week long on-site educational program with field experts at NREL
• Group member Tony Mathew received the 2020 Estus H. and Vashti L. Magoon Award for Excellence in Teaching by the College of Engineering for his teaching assistantship of CHE660: Chemical Reaction Engineering during the Spring 2019 semester
• Prof. Rakesh Agrawal and alumni Xianyi Hu are co-authors of a newly published book, “Sustainable Photovoltaics,” which is an overview of various research projects that were a part of the SERIIUS funding network
• Group members Ryan Ellis, Swapnil Deshmukh, and Zewei Chen all receive $1000 travel grants from the Davidson School of Chemical Engineering for conference travel
• Solar Energy Research Group members Ryan Ellis and Swapnil Deshmukh’s submissions to the 2020 Spring MRS conference are accepted for oral presentations

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Fall 2019

• Solar Energy Research Group member Ryan Ellis wins first place in the Electronics and Photonic Materials Graduate Student Awards Session at the 2019 AIChE Annual Meeting for his oral presentation
• Prof. Agrawal is an invited panelist for the Meet the Innovators presentation and panel discussion at the 2019 AIChE Annual Meeting
• Ryan Ellis, Kyle Weideman, Zewei Chen, Jose Adrian Chavez Velasco, Yiru Li, and Peter Oladipupo all give oral presentations at the 2019 AIChE Annual Meeting
• Solar Energy Research Group members Swapnil Deshmukh,* Ryan Ellis,* David Rokke, Dwi Sutandar and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal publish a paper titled, “Versatile Colloidal Synthesis of Metal Chalcogenide Nanoparticles from Elemental Precursors using Amine-Thiol Chemistry” in Chemistry of Materials
• Prof. Rakesh Agrawal is awarded the Phillip C. Wankat Graduate Teaching Award in Chemical Engineering recognizing his achievements as an instructor in graduate-level courses. Congratulations, Prof. Agrawal!
• Prof. Rakesh Agrawal writes a “Behind the Paper” blog post for Nature Sustainability describing the motivation behind the recently published paper
• Prof. Rakesh Agrawal and Prof. Mitch Tunistra write a second blog post on Medium discussing the concept of Aglectric Farming
• Prof. Rakesh Agrawal and Prof. Mitch Tunistra write a blog post on Medium featuring the NRT team and their research along with the new Nature Sustainability publication
• Group alumni Caleb Miskin and current group members Yiru Li, Ryan Ellis, and Prof. Rakesh Agrawal publish, “Sustainable co-production of food and solar power to relax land-use constraints” in Nature Sustainability
• Ryan Ellis and Kyle Weidman receive the Eastman Travel Grant from the Davidson School of Chemical Engineering to attend the 2019 AIChE Fall Meeting

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Summer 2019

• Ryan Ellis received first place for his Oral Presentation in the Energy and Process Intensification category at the 28th Annual Symposium organized by Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Organization. Congratulations, Ryan!
• Jose Adrian Chavez Velasco received first place for his poster in Energy and Process Intensification category at the 28th Annual Symposium organized by Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Organization. Congratulations, Adrian!
• Prerena Prahlad, undergraduate student working with Peter Oladipupo, received ‘Top Research Poster’ award at the 2019 SURF Research Symposium. Congratulations, Prerena!
• Solar Energy Research Group members Xianyi Hu and Scott McClary successfully defend their theses. Congratulations, Xianyi and Scott!
• Solar Energy Research Group members Ryan Ellis and Kyle Weidman’s abstracts for the 2019 AIChE conference were accepted for an Awards Session Oral Presentation and Oral presentation respectively
• Solar Energy Research Group member Scott McClary and David Rokke were nominated for the best student presentation award and best poster award respectively at the 46th IEEE PVSC
• Yiru Li presented an oral talk and a poster at the 12th Natural Gas Conversion Symposium, San Antonio, Texas

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Spring 2019

• Solar Energy Research Group member Kyle Weideman receives Purdue University’s Teaching Academy Graduate Teaching Award for outstanding work as a teaching assistant for CHE378
• Solar Energy Research Group members Scott McClary, Ryan Ellis, David Rokke, and Joseph Andler’s submissions to the 2019 PVSC in Chicago are accepted for oral presentation, and three poster presentations respectively
• Prof. Rakesh Agrawal is recognized at a National Medal and Patent Wall unveil in Purdue’s Armstrong Hall
• Solar Energy Research Group member Essam AlRuqobah and alumini Steven McLeod publish a paper titled, “Liquid assisted grain growth in solution processed Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2,” in Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells
• Solar Energy Research Group members Scott McClary and Brian Graeser publish a paper titled, “A Cu3PS4 nanparticle hold selctive layer for efficient inverted perovskite solar cells” in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A
• Solar Energy Research Group member Swapnil Deshmukh and alumini Caleb Miskin publish a paper titled, “Lead Chalcogenide Nanoparticles and Their Size-Controlled Self-Assemblies for Thermoelectric and Photovoltaic Applications” in ACS Applied Nanomaterials
• Radhakrishna Tumbalam Gooty was awarded the Bilsland Dissertation Fellowship for the 2019-2020 fiscal year.

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Fall 2018

• Solar Energy Research Group members Ryan Ellis and Xianyi Hu give oral presentations at the 2018 Fall MRS conference in Boston and are featured in the Davidson School of Engineering Newsletter
• Congratulations to Scott McClary on securing 3rd position for his talk in ‘Graduate Student Award Finalists’ (Electronic and photonic materials) session at AIChE Annual Meeting 2018.
• Prof. Agrawal gave an invited talk titled “Electronic and Photonic Materials: Industry and Academia” at AIChE Annual Meeting 2018.
• Prof. Agrawal gave an invited talk titled “FEW Nexus: Emerging Chemical Engineering Innovations from Microscale to Complex, Interconnected Systems” at AIChE Annual Meeting 2018.
• Group members Dr. Zheyu Jiang, Yiru Li, Tony Mathew, Scott McClary, David Rokke and Radhakrishna Tumbalam Gooty gave oral presentations at AIChE Annual Meeting 2018.
• Congratulations to Dr. Jiang for successfully defending his PhD Thesis titled “Multicomponent Distillation – Mathematical Modeling, Global Optimization, and Process Intensification”.
• Congratulations to Dr. Ridha for successfully defending his PhD thesis titled “Transformation of Biomass and Shale Gas Carbon to Fuels and Chemicals”.
• Solar Energy Research Group member Ryan Ellis completes a four month visiting graduate student position at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in Melbourne, Australia where he worked with researchers on slot die coating of Cu(In,Ga)S2 nanocrystal inks
• Postdoctoral Researcher Dr. Brian Graeser’s paper titled, “Pure phase synthesis of Cu3PS4 and Cu6PS5Cl for semiconductor applications” is published in RSC advances
• Solar Energy group member Scott McClary and Solar group alumnus Bobby Balow’s paper titled, “Role of annealing atmosphere on the crystal structure and composition of tetrahedrite–tennantite alloy nanoparticles” is published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry C
• Energy Systems Modeling group member Yiru Li received the Women in Engineering Program Travel Grant
• Solar Energy Research Group members Ryan Ellis and Xianyi Hu’s submissions to the 2018 Fall MRS Conference are accepted for oral presentations
• Solar Energy Research Group member Scott McClary is recognized at the Chemical Engineering GSO Graduate Research Symposium for best overall talk
• Solar Energy Research Group members David Rokke and Kyle Weidman are recognized at the Chemical Engineering GSO Graduate Research Symposium for Best Poster in the Energy and Process Intensification Category

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Summer 2018

• Group members David Rokke, Scott McClary, Radhakrishna Tumbalam Gooty, Yiru Li, Zheyu Jiang and Tony Matthew’s submissions to the 2018 AIChE Conference are accepted for oral presentations
• Prof. Rakesh Agrawal delivered plenary lecture on “Energy Systems Engineering for Emerging Solar Economy” at the 13th International Symposium on Process Systems Engineering (PSE) 2018
• Radhakrishna Tumbalam Gooty and Yiru Li presented their research at PSE 2018
• Congratulations to Zheyu Jiang for receiving the 2018 AIChE Separations Division Graduate Student Research Award
• Congratulations to Radhakrishna Tumbalam Gooty for receiving PSE 2018 Young Researcher Award

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Spring 2018

• Professor Rakesh Agrawal and the NSF NRT research project are featured in an article by Forbes
• Congratulations to Solar Energy Research group alumni Charles (Chuck) Hages for accepting a faculty position at the University of Florida
• Congratulations to Solar Energy Research group alumni Charles (Chuck) Hages for receiving the Citation Award from the Purdue University Davidson School of Chemical Engineering
• Congratulations to Scott McClary for receiving the 2018-2019 Bisland Dissertation Fellowship
• Congratulations to Yiru Li for passing her Preliminary Examination
• The Solar Energy Research Group and Energy Systems Research Group welcome Kyle Weideman and Zewei Chen respectively

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Fall 2017

• Congratulations to Essam AlRuqobah, Swapnil Deshmukh, and Ryan Ellis for passing their Preliminary Examinations
• Prof. Rakesh Agrawal received the Alpha Chi Sigma Award for Chemical Engineering Research during the 2017 AIChE National Meeting.
• Swapnil Deshmukh, Zheyu Jiang, Radhakrishna Tumbalamgooty, Taufik Ridha, and Parham Mobed presented their works during the 2017 AIChE Annual Meeting
• Swapnil Deshmukh is recognized at the Chemical Engineering GSO Graduate Research Symposium for Best Poster in the Materials and Nanotechnology Category
• Prof. Rakesh Agrawal was selected by the executive editors of Chemical Engineering Science to give the prestigious Denckwerts Memorial Lecture titled “Challenges and Opportunities for Chemical Engineering in an Emerging Solar Economy” at the 10th World Congress of Chemical Engineering, Barcelona, Spain (October 2017).

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Summer 2017

• Swapnil Deshmukh and Ryan Ellis attend the Hands on Photovoltaic Experience (HOPE) educational conference and present their work on solution processed CIGSSe
• Scott McClary and Joseph Andler’s paper titled, “Solution-Processed Copper Arsenic Sulfide Thin Films for Photovoltaic Applications” is published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry C
• Joseph Andler presents a poster at the 2017 Crystal Growth and Assembly Gordon Research Conference entitled ” Luzonite Nanoparticle to Enargite Grain Polymorphic Transition for Thin-film Photovoltaics”
• Taufik Ridha presents a poster at the 2017 EFRC-Hub-CMS PI Meeting entitled  “Systems-Level Molecular Mapping of Biomass-derived Molecules to Target Products”
• Scott McClary is nominated for the Best Student Presentation Award at the 2017 PVSC
• Scott McClary gives a talk at the 2017 Photovoltaic Specialist Conference in Washington DC titled, “Fabrication of Copper Arsenic Sulfide Thin Films from Nanoparticles for Application in Solar Cells”
• Congratulations to Dr. Mark Koeper for accepting a job at Intel in Portland, OR. Best of Luck in Industry Mark
• Congratulations to Dr. Xin Zhao for accepting a job at Roche in Pleasanton, CA. Best of Luck in Industry Xin
• Congratulations to Dr. Caleb Miskin for accepting a job at ASM in Pheonix, AZ. Best of Luck in Industry Caleb
  Spring 2017
• Emre Gencer and Caleb Miskin paper titled, “Directing Solar Photons to Sustainably Meet Food, Energy, and Water Needs” is published in Nature Scientific Reports
• Congratulation to Dr. Mark Koeper, Dr. Xin Zhao, Dr. Brian Graeser, and Dr. Steven McLeod for successfully defending their PhD theses
• Congratulations to Taufik Ridha for winning the 2017 Undergraduate Award for Teaching Excellence in a Senior Course
• Congratulations to Scott McClary for passing his preliminary examination
• Dr. Caleb Miskin was selected as the 2017 winner of the Faculty Lecturship Award for outstanding scholarly research and publications
• The Solar Energy Research Group welcomes new student, David Rokke
• Dr. Bobby Ballow and Dr. Caleb Miskin’s paper “Synthesis and Characterization of Cu3(Sb1-xAsx)S4 Semiconduction Nanocrystal Alloys with Tunable Properties for Optoelectronic Device Applications” published in Chemistry of Materials
  Fall 2016
• Ryan Ellis, Essam AlRuqobah, Swapnil Deshmukh, Yiru Li, and Radhakrishna T. Gooty successfully pass their qualifying exams.
• Dr. Emre Gencer and Dr. Gautham M. Ramapriya successfully defend their theses
• Emre Gencer is the recipient of the 2016 AIChE Sustainable Engineering Forum Student Paper Award
• Emre Gencer is the recipient of the AIChE Process Development Student Paper Award for 2016!
• Melissa LaGuire receives Bravo Award. Congratulations Melissa!
• Mark Koeper and Xin Zhao Receive First Conference Papers at the PVSC
• Dr. Caleb Miskin successfully defends thesis
• Scott McClary receives a honorable mention for the NSF fellowship
• Robert Boyne and Mark Koeper receive purdue presidential safety award
• Emre Gencer receives the highest award recognizing graduate student teachers: The 2016 Graduate School Excellence in Teaching Award
• The Solar Energy Research Group welcomes new students, Joespeh Andler, Essam AlRuqobah, Swapnil Deshmukh, and Ryan Ellis
• The Modeling Research Groups welcomed Yiru Li and Radhakrishna Tumbalam Gooty