Team Members

Principal Investigator

Dr. Chunmei Ban

Chunmei Ban is an Associate Professor in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, as well as a member of the Materials Science and Engineering Program at the University of Colorado Boulder in Boulder, CO. Prior to 2019, she served as a Senior Scientist (V) in the Chemistry and Nanoscience Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, CO. Ban earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Tianjin University in China, and she holds a PhD in Chemistry from the State University of New York at Binghamton. Her doctoral research was supervised by Professor M. Stanley Whittingham, a 2019 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry.


Her research focuses on surface and interface chemistry, specifically examining how interphase properties influence electrochemical processes in rechargeable batteries. This includes nonaqueous sodium batteries, lithium-ion batteries, and solid-state batteries. She aims to advance the development of electrode and electrolyte materials by improving our understanding of the electrolyte-electrode interphase. Ultimately, her goal is to design next-generation electrochemical materials for energy storage applications.

Postdoctoral Researchers

Chiminh Liang

Education

Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA
B.S. in Chemical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, SC, PRC
 

Research Focus

Charge transport in conjugated polymer and nanostructures, electronic structure of organic molecules, stability and reactivity of radicals, redox flow batteries, organic thermoelectrtrics and photovoltaics.

Nicholas Singstock

Education

Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder (2022)
B.E. in Chemical Engineering, Ohio State University (2017)
 

Research Focus

Rational design and discovery of advanced materials for energy storage and renewable conversions by leveraging computational, experimental and collaborative efforts. 

Graduate Students

Martin Nguyen

Ph.D student

 

Education

B.Sc Mechanical Engineering at University of Florida, Cum Laude (2019)
 

Research Area

Polymeric membrane manufacture for energy storage applications.

Charlotte Thomas

Ph.D student

 

Education

B.S.E. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor (2020)
 

Research Area

Surface engineering of ceramic solid state electrolytes for next generation batteries.

Jackson Pope

Ph.D student

 

Education

B.Sc Materials Science and Engineering at the Ohio State University Columbus (2017)
 

Research Area

Artificial Surface Electrolyte Interphase (SEI) development and SEI mitigation materials.

Kaitlin Garman

Ph.D student

 

Education

B.S. in Chemistry at Montana State University (2021)
 

Research Area

Synthesis of solid-state electrolytes for battery applications.

 

Evan Flitz

Ph.D student

 

Education

B.S. in Chemistry at Pomona College (2022)
 

Research Area

Engineering interfaces of battery materials.

Dakota Rodriguez

Ph.D student

 

Education

B.S. in Engineering from Fort Lewis College, Magna Cum Laude (2023)
 

Research Area

Surface engineering of current collectors for next generation Na-ion batteries 

Mohammad Sufiyan Nafis

Ph.D student

  mohammad.nafis@colorado.edu 

 

Education

B.Tech Mechanical Engineering from Aligarh Muslim University (2022)

 

Research Area

Surface modification of electrodes. Synthesis and optimization of solid electrolytes for next generation solid state batteries 

Cindy Wong

PhD Student 


   cindy.wong@colorado.edu 

Education


B.S. in Chemical Engineering, Oregon State University (2022)
M.S. in Chemical Engineering , Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2024)

Research Area


Characterization of liquid electrolytes for sodium-ion batteries. Co-advised with Michael Toney.

Caitlyn Komar

PhD Student 


   caitlyn.komar@colorado.edu 

Education


B.S in Chemical Engineering at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities (2024)

Research Area


Surface engineering of materials for battery applications. 

Kangmin Kim

Undergraduate Student 


   kangmin.kim-1@colorado.edu 

Education


B.S in Chemical Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder (2025)

Research Area


Next generation sodium electrolyte development and solid state electrolyte for lithium-ion battery systems

Alumni

Yikai Wang

Research Scientist at Albemarle Corp
 

Education

Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Colorado Boulder (August 2019- Jan 2020)

Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering, University of Kentucky (2019)

M.S.E. in Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University (2015)

B.E. in Chemistry of Materials, Central South University (2012)

Xuemin Li

Education:

Ph.D., Applied Chemistry, Colorado School of Mines, 2017

Master, Physical Chemistry, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2013

Bachelor, Materials Chemistry, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 2010

Professional experiences:

Battery Cell Engineer, Rivian, 2020-present

Cell design engineer, A123 Systems, 2019-2020

Postdoctoral researcher, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 2017 – 2019

Graduate researcher, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 2016 - 2017

 

Simon Hafner

SimonHafner - Class of 2019, BS-MS concurrent, Mechanical Engineering
 
Simon began working in Dr. Se-Hee Lee's Electrochemical Energy Lab in 2014 and joined NREL under the direction of Dr. Ban as a graduate student beginning in 2017. In his two years at NREL, he worked under the co-advisement of Dr. Lee and Dr. Ban on joint CU Boulder and NREL projects including anodes surface coatings, solid-state sulfide-based electrolytes, and fabrication methods for all-solid-state batteries. Simon received two Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program Grants as an undergraduate, and during his two years in graduate school, the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute funded his research. Simon was named Outstanding Graduate for Research in the College of Engineering and Applied Science and is currently working at Tesla in Palo Alto, CA. Outside of research, Simon was a Boettcher Scholar, member of the CU Club Taekwondo team, and remains an avid cyclist. 
Simon

Wei Zhang

Education:

  • Postdoctoral Research: Brown University,Providence, RI (2022)
  • Postdoctoral Research: Brown University,Providence, RI (2019)
  • Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering, Alfred University, Alfred, NY, GPA3.7 (2016)
  • MS, Materials Science and Engineering,HuazhongUniversity of Sci. & Tech.,P.R. China, (2012)
  • Bachelor, HuazhongUniversity of Sci. & Tech., P.R. China (2008)
Wei

Dr. Yangyang Wang

Education

Ph.D. in Material Science, Nankai University, China (2021)

M. E. in Material Engineering, Nankai University, China (2018)

B. E. in Polymer Material and Engineering, North China University of Science and Technology, China (2015)

yang photo