Principal Investigator

headshot of adam holewinski

Adam Holewinski

Principal Investigator
Adam joined CU in fall 2015 as Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Colorado–Boulder. He is also a Fellow of the CU-NREL Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI), as well as an affiliated faculty member of the CU Materials Science Engineering Program. He obtained a Ph.D. at the University of Michigan, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Georgia Tech. His research interests lie in heterogeneous catalysis and electrochemistry for sustainable production of energy and chemicals, with emphasis in characterization through kinetics, spectroscopy, and computational modeling.

Post-Doctoral Researchers

headshot of Haoran Ding

Haoran Ding

Haoran’s research focuses on in-situ investigation of surface composition of Cu and Cu-M alloy electrodes in electrochemical CO2 reduction using Low Energy Ion Scattering (LEIS).
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Taylor Spivey

Graduated May 2024
Taylor’s research involves the tuning of supported metal nanoparticles with shape, size, and composition control to modulate the selectivity of electrochemical reductions of model biomass compounds. Analytical, electroanalytical, and spectroscopic (FTIR, XAS) methods are used to probe the reaction mechanisms of interest alongside electrocatalyst electronic structure.

Graduate Students

headshot of Varun Awasthi

Varun Awasthi

1st Year PhD Student • Co-advised with Charles Musgrave
Varun's research is focused on experimental and theoretical characterization of the effect of cathodic corrosion on the mechanism of reduction of biomass-derived compounds like levulinic acid, and the electrochemical reduction of carboxylic acids in strongly acidic, non-aqueous media.

Em Hollis

1st Year PhD Student

Marc Manye Ibanez

2nd Year PhD Student • Co-advised with Will Medlin
headshot of Nathanael Ramos

Nathanael Ramos

4th Year PhD Student • Co-advised with Will Medlin
Nathanael's research investigates the reaction kinetics and selectivity of aldehyde electrooxidation to anodic hydrogen and carboxylates in alkaline media using rotating disk electrode. He also is investigating the influence of surface pretreatment on the surface composition of electrocatalysts using low energy ion scattering (LEIS).
headshot of Todd Whittaker

Todd Whittaker

4th Year PhD Student • Co-advised with Charles Musgrave
Todd's research goal is to use experimental reaction kinetics and self-consistent constant potential quantum chemical simulations to identify reaction mechanisms and design next generation electrocatalytic materials.
headshot of Yiqi Xu

Yiqi Xu

3rd Year PhD Student • Co-advised with Will Medlin
Yiqi’s research focuses on one-pot upcycling of plastic and kinetic studying of lignin depolymerization. He is also interested in selective hydrogenation reaction.