Members

The email addresses for all members can be found at https://mcommunity.umich.edu

Principal Investigator

Yiyang Li

Yiyang is an Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. He received his BS in Electrical Engineering at Olin College, and his PhD at Stanford University in Materials Science and Engineering. His research interests aim to bridge electrochemistry with microelectronics, identifying both fundamental mechanisms and novel devices. Yiyang recently received the Intel Rising Star Award, the Sandia Truman Fellowship, and the Solid State Ionics Young Scientist Award. In his free time, he enjoys playing with his daughter and going bicycling.

Graduate Students

Jingxian Li

Jingxian is a PhD student in Materials Science and Engineering. He graduated from University of Science and Technology, Beijing with B.Eng. in Materials Physics and M.Eng. in Materials Science and Engineering, where he investigated organic light-emitting diodes, resistive switching memory and neuromorphic computing. His current research focuses on understanding and developing novel memory devices with ion movement. In his spare time, he enjoys cooking, drinking tea, playing sports such as basketball and table tennis. 

Jinhong Min

Jinhong is a Ph.D. student in Materials Science and Engineering. He graduated from University of Seoul with his B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering and graduated from Sungkyunkwan University with his M.S. in Electrical Engineering. During his M.S degree, his research topic was characterizing ferroelectric-based semiconductor devices. His current research interest focuses on the heterogeneity of cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries. In his free time, he likes to play guitar.  

Catherine Haslam

Catherine is a PhD candidate in Materials Science and Engineering. She received her B.S.E. from the University of Michigan and a MS from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Catherine studies the mechano-electrochemical behavior of in situ formed Li anodes in “Li metal-free” cells with LLZO solid-state electrolyte. Catherine is primarily advised by Professor Jeff Sakamoto.

Won Jon Suk

Wonjoon is a Ph.D. student in Materials Science and Engineering. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering. Wonjoon previously worked on all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries, and his current research interest focuses on the characterization of sodium-ion battery particles in a liquid electrolyte system. In his free time, he likes to play tennis and table tennis. Won Joon is co-advised with Prof. Jeff Sakamoto.

Dongjae Shin

Dongjae is pursuing a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering. He received his BS from Konkuk University in Chemical Engineering with honor and his MS from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. He studied solid-state electrolytes for lithium-based batteries during the MS program. Since MS, his research has focused on interests including electrochemistry, solid-state electronics, and solid-state ionics for batteries and memory devices. 

Emily MacInnis

Emily is a master’s student in materials science and engineering. She graduated from UCLA with her B.S. in materials engineering in June 2022, where she conducted research on flexible battery matrices for biomedical devices. During her time at UCLA, she interned at IBM in their R&D division, where she studied back-end-of-line processes for heterogeneous integration. Her current research interests lie in novel memory technologies and semiconductor fabrication techniques. In her free time, Emily enjoys baking, movies, and trying new kinds of tea.

Andrew Jalbert

Andrew is a PhD student in Materials Science and Engineering. He earned his BS in Engineering Physics from UC Berkeley. Following his undergraduate education, he entered the workforce as a Field Service Engineer where he worked on installing, calibrating, and servicing electron beam lithography tools. His research interests lie in electronics beyond conventional CMOS and understanding material interactions at the nanoscale. In his free time he likes to workout at the gym.

Pengyu Ren

Pengyu is a master’s student in electrical and computer engineering. He graduated from Huazhong University of Science and Technology with his B.S. in microelectronics engineering in June 2022, where he conducted research on peripheral circuit design of memristor crossbar. His current research interests lie in emerging memory device and in-memory computing. In his spare time, Pengyu enjoys playing soccer and playing the violin.

Sangyong Lee

Sangyong is a PhD student in Materials Science and Engineering.  He graduated from Chonnam National University with his B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering and graduated from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology with his M.S. in Electrical Engineering. Following his graduate education, he entered a semiconductor company where he worked on developing NAND flash memory as a process integration engineer. His research interests lie in understanding and developing next-generation memory. In his free time, he likes playing with his kids.

Po-Yu Kung

Po-Yu is a PhD student in Materials Science and Engineering. He graduated from National Taiwan University with his B.S. and M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering. During his M.S. degree, his research topic focused on Cu-to-Cu Bonding in 3D integration. His current research interest is in solid-state batteries. Po-Yu likes to play table tennis and work out at the gym in his free time.

Yerin Hong

Yerin is a Ph.D. student in Materials Science and Engineering. She got her BS and MS from Korea University in Materials Science and Engineering. Her former research focused on synthesizing noble metal nanoparticles and photocatalysts, and her current research interest lies in 2D nanomaterials and their properties’ modification. During her free time, she mostly spends time riding bicycles and cooking.

Harshada Suryawanshi

Harshada is pursuing a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering. She obtained her undergraduate and master's degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. During her master's thesis, she focused on modeling the Electronic Band Structure of thermoelectric materials designed for low-temperature applications. Presently, her research interests are centered around Solid State Batteries. In her free time, she enjoys playing badminton and table tennis, and you can often catch her humming songs throughout the day.

Undergraduate Students

Riley Hargrave

Riley Hargrave is pursuing a BS in Mechanical Engineering. His research interests include single particle electrocatalysis and battery cathode materials characterization. He aspires to obtain a Ph.D. in an energy storage related field. In his spare time, Riley enjoys working on electric motorcycles with SPARK Electric Racing as well as playing the guitar.

Sabrina Wong

Sabrina Wong is an undeclared student in engineering. She has done research on cellulose-degrading microbes and biodiesel and hopes to continue exploring the field of renewable energy. As part of the battery subgroup, she is currently working on the molten-salt synthesis of battery materials. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, picking up new skills, and physical activity such as working out at the gym.

Leah Simakas

Leah Simakas is an undeclared student in engineering. Her research interests include solid-state electronics as well as particle and electrode-level heterogeneity in batteries. In the future, she hopes to pursue a career in the improvement of renewable energy production and storage. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, experimenting with new cooking styles, and exploring nature.

Alumni

Lindsay Gubow

MS in Materials Science and Engineering (2021)

Current Position: General Motors TRACK Rotation Program (Detroit, MI)

Diana Kim

MS in Macromolecular Science and Engineering (2022)

Current Position: Actnano (Boston, MA)

Brianna Roest

BSE in Materials Science and Engineering (2022)

Current Position: Janicki Industries (Seattle, WA)

Virgil Watkins

BSE in Materials Science and Engineering (2023)

Current Position: PhD Student at MIT DMSE 

Laszlo Cline

BSE in Materials Science and Engineering (2023)

Current Position: Argonne National Laboratory

Noah Giesler

Visiting student for Semiconductor REU program (2023)

Current Position: Undergraduate student in Electrical Engineering at University of Southern Indiana