Cody Ritt

  • Assistant Professor
  • CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING
Cody Ritt in a dark suit and tie with a building blurred in the background

Cody Ritt will join the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at CU Boulder in Fall 2026. 

Education

  • PhD, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Yale University (2022)
  • MS, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Yale University (2019)
  • BS, Civil and Environmental Engineering, North Dakota State University (2016)

Selected awards and honors

  • Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) Dissertation Award (2023)
  • Schmidt Science Fellowship Finalist (2022)
  • ACS C. Ellen Gonter Environmental Chemistry Award (2021)
  • NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (2016)
  • North Dakota Water Resources Research Institute (NDWRRI) Fellowship (2016)
  • Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship (2015)

Selected publications 

  1. C.L. Ritt‡*, M.G. Barsukov‡, I.V. Barsukov, E.M. Syth, M. Elimelech, “Influence of graphite geography on the yield of mechanically exfoliated few-layer graphene,” Carbon, 208, 355-364 (2023)
  2. C.L. Ritt, J.P. de Souz, M.G. Barsukov, S. Yosinski, M.Z. Bazant, M.A. Reed, M. Elimelech, “Thermodynamics of charge regulation during ion transport through silica nanochannels,” ACS Nano 16, 15249-15260 (2022)
  3. C.L. Ritt‡, M. Nami‡, M. Elimelech, “Laser interferometry for precise measurement of ultralow flow rates from permeable materials,” Environ. Sci. Technol. Lett. 9, 233-238 (2022)
  4. C.L. Ritt, M. Liu, T.A. Pham, R. Epsztein, H.J. Kulik, M. Elimelech, “Machine learning reveals key ion selectivity mechanisms in polymeric membranes with subnanometer pores,” Sci. Adv. 8, 2, eabl5771 (2022)
  5. C.L. Ritt‡, T. Stassin‡, D.M. Davenport, R.M. DuChanois, I. Nulens, Z. Yang, N. Segev-Mark, A. Ben-Zvi, M. Elimelech, C.Y. Tang, G.Z. Ramon, I.F.J. Vankelecom, R. Verbeke, “The Open Membrane Database: Synthesis–structure–performance relationships of reverse osmosis membranes,” J. Membr. Sci. 641, 119927 (2022)
  6. C. Lu, C. Hu, C.L. Ritt, X. Hua, J. Sun, H. Xia, Y. Liu, D. Li, B. Ma, M. Elimelech, J. Qu, “In situ characterization of dehydration during ion transport in polymeric nanochannels,” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 143, 14242-14252 (2021)
  7. W.-H. Zhang, M.-J. Yin, Q. Zhao, C.-G. Jin, N. Wang, S. Ji, C.L. Ritt, M. Elimelech, Q.-F. An, “Graphene oxide membranes with stable porous structure for ultrafast water transport,” Nat. Nanotechnol. 16, 337-343 (2021)
  8. C.L. Ritt, J.R. Werber, M. Wang, Z. Yang, Y. Zhao, H.J. Kulik, M. Elimelech, “Ionization behavior of nanoporous polyamide membranes,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 117, 30191-30200 (2020)
  9. R. Epsztein, R.M. DuChanois, C.L. Ritt, A. Noy, M. Elimelech, “Towards single-species selectivity of membranes with subnanometre pores,” Nat. Nanotechnol. 15, 426-436 (2020)
  10. C.L. Ritt‡, S.K. Patel‡, A. Deshmukh, Z. Wang, M. Qin, R. Epsztein, M. Elimelech, “The relative insignificance of advanced materials in enhancing the energy efficiency of desalination technologies,” Energy Environ. Sci. 13, 1694-1710 (2020)
  11. C.L. Ritt‡, J.R. Werber‡, A. Deshmukh, M. Elimelech, “Monte Carlo simulations of framework defects in layered two-dimensional desalination membranes: Implications for permeability and selectivity,” Environ. Sci. Technol. 53, 6214-6224 (2019)
(* = corresponding, ‡ = co-first)


Research Interests

Escalating populations and industrialization of global communities have imposed unprecedented pressures on Earth's natural resources—with expanding water and energy demands at the heart of these pressures. Advancing selective separations, particularly those dictated by membranes, is critical for tackling challenges at this water–energy nexus. The increased complexity of new-age water resources that were once considered waste, but are now necessary targets of valorization (e.g., industrial brine), demands materials that are selective, modular, and resilient. However, designing the next generation of membranes and other selective nanoporous materials is currently limited by the empirical approaches and conventional materials used to drive innovation.
 
By integrating precision nanofluidic platforms throughout the design process for novel nanoporous materials, the Ritt Lab, also known as the Nanofluidic Separations (NanoSep) Lab, will develop synthesis–structure–performance relationships that translate from the molecular to the macroscopic scale and enable sustainable separations for water and energy applications. Our goal is to engineer bottom-up solutions to complicated separation problems.
 
Applications of interest include, but are not limited to, water purification and reuse, recovery of critical energy minerals, organic solvent nanofiltration, electrochemical energy generation/storage, and plant nanobionics.