Dr. Shang Zhai (LinkedIn page, zhai.218@osu.edu) has joined the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE profile link), with joint appointment in the School of Earth Sciences (SES profile link), at The Ohio State University as an Assistant Professor since 2022. He also holds a courtesy appointment with the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.
Dr. Zhai earned B.Eng. in Building Technology from Tsinghua University, China in 2014. Then in 2020, he obtained his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (advisor: Pr. Arun Majumdar) and a Ph.D. Minor in Materials Science and Engineering (co-advisor: Pr. William Chueh) from Stanford University, partly supported by the Enlight Foundation Graduate Fellowship. Dr. Zhai’s doctoral dissertation focused on materials and technoeconomics of thermochemical splitting of water and CO2. From 2020 to 2022, Dr. Zhai was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford working with Pr. Arun Majumdar, Pr. Matteo Cargnello, and Dr. Raghubir Gupta, and he aimed to address the carbon deposition problem in methane pyrolysis for hydrogen and carbon nanotube production. He was also working on direct air capture of CO2.
Dr. Zhai is passionate about applying thermal sciences, materials chemistry, and reaction engineering to revolutionary energy technologies for a sustainable future.
Graduate Students
Minjung Kim (LinkedIn page, kim.6716@buckeyemail.osu.edu) is a PhD student in Zhai Research Group. He earned his Bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University in 2021. Minjung is interested in methane conversion for sustainable energy applications such as hydrogen production.
Amir Arjomand Kermani (LinkedIn page, arjomandkermani.1@buckeyemail.osu.edu) is a Ph.D. student at Zhai Research Group. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Tehran in 2022. After graduation from Ohio State, he plans to pursue a career in sustainable energy conversion and utilization.
Kyle Shank (LinkedIn page, shank.178@buckeyemail.osu.edu) is a PhD student in Zhai Research Group. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical and Mechanical Engineering from Gannon University in 2023. Kyle is interested in renewable and sustainable energy technologies, as well as energy storage. He has been awarded the 2-year Distinguished University Fellowship and 1-year ENGIE-Axium Fellowship at Ohio State.
Undergraduate Students
Michael Tomechko (LinkedIn page, tomechko.7@buckeyemail.osu.edu) is currently completing his B.S. in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Computer Information Science. In collaboration with Ashin Sunny, and Pinak Mohapatra, he is working on an undergraduate thesis project on using ferrites for splitting CO2 and H2O by thermochemical looping. After graduating, he plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering/Chemistry and to go into industry.
Hefei Xu (xu.4444@buckeyemail.osu.edu) is currently completing his B.S in Aerospace Engineering. Hefei works on methane conversion reaction system in the lab with Michael Tomechko. After graduating, he plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering / Physics.
Kyle Nitzsche (nitzsche.11@buckeyemail.osu.edu) is currently completing his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. Kyle is working on building a membrane reactor with Amir Arjomand for chemical conversion applications. After graduating, he plans on utilizing his engineering skills to make a positive impact in the environmental field.
Group Alumni
Michael Young, Undergraduate researcher 2022 – 2023; now CUBRC (Calspan University of Buffalo Research Center)
Michael Salvucci, Undergraduate researcher 2022 – 2023
