Group Members

Postdoctoral Associates

Dr. Ananthanarasimhan Jayanarasimhan

Ananth is a mechanical engineer by training. He received his Master’s degree in Energy Engineering from Anna University, and his Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore where he worked with Prof. Lakshminarayana Rao on rotating gliding arc reactors for hydrocarbon conversion. Ananth joined UIUC in Dec. 2022 and is working on multiscale modeling of non-equilibrium plasma chemistry and designing plasma reactors for nitrogen fixation. 
Email: ananthj@illinois.edu

Dr. Mohammad Ali Eslamisaray

Ali obtained his B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology, followed by his M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology. In 2016, he joined the High Temperature and Plasma Laboratory (HTPL) at the University of Minnesota and worked with Professor Uwe Kortshagen on the design of non-thermal plasma reactors, leveraging their potential for the synthesis of nanoparticles and thin films with novel optical, electrical, and thermal properties. After receiving his Ph.D. in 2023, Ali joined Professor Mohan Sankaran’s lab at UIUC, where he now focuses on scaling up plasma-liquid systems aimed at sustainable synthesis of ammonia via a catalyst-free nitrogen fixation process at ambient conditions.
Email: maeslami@illinois.edu

Dr. Vivek Pachchigar

Vivek received his bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Gujarat Technological University in 2014 and his master’s degree in Nuclear Engineering from Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University in 2017. He pursued his Ph.D. at the Institute for Plasma Research (IPR) in Gandhinagar, India where he worked with Prof. Mukesh Ranjan and focused on the development of hydrophobic and superhydrophobic surfaces using plasma processing for self-cleaning and water harvesting applications. After receiving his Ph.D. in 2023, Vivek joined UIUC in November 2023 where he is currently conducting experimental investigations using the IGNIS facility, exploring Ti-H plasma material interactions for nuclear fusion applications.
Email: vivekp22@illinois.edu

Dr. Jian Wang

Jian was born in Meihekou, a small city in Jilin Province, China. He received his B.Sc. in Chemistry from Jilin University in 2012 and his Master’s in Chemistry from Renmin University where he worked with Prof. Yapei Wang. In 2015, he joined Professor Harm-Anton Klok’s group at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland to pursue his Ph.D. and studied radical polymerization to prepare functional and responsive polymers at interfaces and in solution. His thesis was granted an 8% Distinction award in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (EDMX), EPFL. Upon completing his Ph.D. in 2020, he received an “Early Postdoc Mobility” fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) to work as a visiting scholar in Professor Jeffrey S. Moore’s group and has been studied polymer mechanochemistry for biological applications. In addition, in collaboration with Prof. Mohan Sankaran, he has been studying applications of plasma-based electrochemical processes for organic synthesis and polymer deconstruction. In 2022, he received another SNSF fellowship to support this collaborative work.
Email: jw777@illinois.edu

Graduate Students

Souvik Bhattacharya

Souvik received his B.Tech and M.Tech in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur in 2019. His Master’s thesis was on the synthesis of aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by chemical vapor deposition. His Ph.D. research is focused on the non-equilibrium conversion of layered materials from solution-printed molecular precursors.
Email: souvikb2@illinois.edu

Daniel Ellis

Danny earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Brigham Young University in 2021 with an emphasis in Aerospace Engineering. In collaboration with Prof. David Ruzic, his Ph.D. research is focused on using atmospheric pressure plasmas to clean or prevent rust, oil, and salt corrosion on steel surfaces. He is also interested in space technology, including using plasmas to mine celestial bodies.
Email: dsellis3@illinois.edu

Brandon Kamiyama

Brandon received his B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from Oregon State University in 2021. During his undergraduate studies, he worked on numerous projects with national laboratories and industry involving thermal-fluid sciences, advanced reactor design, material degradation in extreme environments, nuclear core design, and the future energy portfolio. He also spent two years in Dr. Wade Marcum’s group working on experimental thermal hydraulics. His Ph.D. research is focused on plasma-liquid processes for nitrogen fixation.
Email: bek3@illinois.edu

Robert Pierrard

Robert graduated from Georgia Tech in 2022 with a B.S. in Physics and a minor in Computing and Artificial Intelligence. As an undergrad, he worked on simulating high-energy particle collisions with data from the CMS collaboration, and silicon photomultiplier detector development for the EUSO-SPB2 telescope. His Ph.D. research focuses on the optical and chemical characterization of plasma-based nitrogen fixation processes. 
Email: robertp7@illinois.edu

Sean Peyres

Sean received his B.S. in Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering, with a minor in Physics, from UIUC in 2022. As an undergrad, he worked with Prof. Mohan Sankaran and Prof. Davide Curreli on modeling and experiments of reaction-diffusion in atmospheric-pressure plasmas. His Ph.D. research focuses on studying reaction-diffusion in plasma-liquid systems with non-aqueous solvents.
Email: speyres2@illinois.edu

Angie Tomita

Angie received her B.S. and M.S. in Biomedical Engineering with a graduate minor in Computational Engineering from Drexel University in 2019. Her Ph.D. research focuses on the application of plasma-based nitrogen fixation processes to microbial utilization, and optimization of microbial biosynthesis.
Email: atomita@illinois.edu

Branden Bodner

Branden received his B.S in Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering, as well as a minor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, from UIUC. As an undergrad, he worked on the synthesis of layered materials such as molybdenum disulfide by atmospheric-pressure plasma conversion. He is now pursuing a Master in Plasma Engineering and working on developing semiconductor applications for a large-area, low-temperature atmospheric-pressure plasma tool.
Email: bbodner2@illinois.edu

Undergraduate Students

Nitika Purohit

Nitika is currently pursuing a B.S in Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering, with a minor in Mathematics. Her research is focused on synthesizing ammonia for fertilizer production using low-temperature plasmas. 
Email: nitikap2@illinois.edu

Harrison Brosius

Harrison is currently pursuing a B.S in Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering. His research is focused on reducing iron oxides using an atmospheric-pressure microwave-powered plasma torch.
Email: brosius4@illinois.edu

Krishna Nimmalagadda

Krishna is currently pursuing a B.S in Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering, with minors in Electrical Engineering and Italian. His research is focused on plasma-assisted conversion of graphite to diamond.
Email: kcn2@illinois.edu

Piper Fernau

Piper is currently pursuing a B.S. in Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering. Her research is focused PFAS degradation by plasma and electrochemical methods. 
Email: pfernau2@illinois.edu