ALUMNI
Dr. Pu Hu
Dr. Pu Hu is a full professor at the Wuhan Institute of Technology. He received his PH.D. in chemical engineering from Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in 2016. He develops high-capacity and long-life electrode materials for rechargeable batteries and demonstrate the mechanical effects of nano/micro-sized materials on the electrochemical cycling stability.
Dr. Bryan Kuhr
Dr. Bryan Kuhr is a visiting associate at Visiting Assistant Professor at Sweet Briar College. He started working with Dr. Aifantis in August 2017. He received his PH.D. in Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) from Virginia Tech in July of 2017. His research interests include mechanical properties of metals, grain boundary engineering, crystal plasticity and atomistic modelling.
Wenbo Peng
Wenbo graduated with a Master’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Florida in 2019. He works as a volunteer in Professor Aifantis’s Group. His work focuses on cathode materials for Na-ion battery. He is currently working towards his Ph.D. at University of Florida.
Martin Nguyen
Martin is pursuing his Ph.D. at University of Colorado Boulder.
POST-DOCTORAL ASSOCIATES
Dr. Bo Wang
Bo Wang got his bachelor’s degree from University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in 2013 and got his master’s degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2016. He started his PhD program in Missouri University of Science and Technology in 2016. He transferred to Aifantis’s group in 2017. Bo Wang works on finite element modeling and phase field modeling of chemo-mechanical coupled systems. Phase field method is employed to simulate the diffusion-induced fracture of silicon anode in batteries. His main focus is on understanding the damage process of electrode due to insertion and de-insertion and finding out the critical parameters which can influence its performance greatly.
Dr. Fei Shuang
Fei Shuang got his bachelor’s degree from Beijing Institute of Technology in China in 2013 and started his PhD program in Institute of Mechanics of Chinese Academy of Sciences. He transferred to Prof. Aifantis’s group in 2018 to continue his PhD. Fei Shuang works on nanomechanical modeling and simulations using classical molecular/atomistic dynamics and new battery modeling and simulations using reaxff and DFT. For nanomechanics, dislocation interactions with grain boundary and relevant interface yielding are considered. For new battery materials, he focuses on the fracture phenomenon induced by lithiation and delithiation in Si anode.
Graduate Students
Utkarsh Ahuja
Utkarsh got his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology, India in 2016. He graduated with a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Florida in 2018.
He works as a PhD student in Professor Aifantis’s Group. His work focuses on fabrication and testing of next generation Si anode for Li-ion battery.
Anthony Concepcion
Garrett Doty
Gianna Segnatelli