New energy postdocs seek interdisciplinary solutions collectively

Rare earth mineral recovery from spent batteries. AI-driven decision-making for sustainable energy systems. Engineered proteins that extract valuable minerals from wastewater. Safer, less expensive batteries using sulfur. These are among the pursuits of the third cohort of the Stanford Energy Postdoctoral Fellowship. 

This summer, the Precourt Institute for Energy will welcome 10 early-career researchers to Stanford University. Over the coming three years, these investigators are poised to tackle global energy challenges with creative, interdisciplinary approaches. 

“The 2025 group of fellows continues the tradition of imaginative science that’s the foundation of our energy postdoc program. Their ideas are just the sort of high-risk, high-reward investigations that are so important to a successful energy transition,” said Yi Cui, faculty director of the fellowship. “These researchers will address real-world energy problems with fresh ideas, technical expertise, and a commitment to improving our lives.”

The Stanford Energy Postdoctoral Fellowship supports recently degreed energy scholars in extending their skills, especially by working across disciplines. Fellows receive three years of funding, professional development support, and mentorship from at least two Stanford faculty members and staff scientists from different departments at Stanford, as well as from SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Carnegie Science’s two departments on the Stanford campus. The program is run by the Precourt Institute for Energy, which is part of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. Stanford’s TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy, Bits & Watts Initiative, StorageX Initiative, and sustainability-focused private philanthropists support the fellowship.

“The energy postdoc program continues to exceed my high expectations,” said William Chueh, director of the Precourt Institute for Energy. “These researchers work on some of the most pressing energy issues but with new and exciting approaches. Their ideas are scientifically intriguing and could provide some breakthroughs necessary for a sustainable energy future. I look forward to seeing where these fellows – and their ideas – will take us.”

A spectrum of ideas

The 10 fellows earned their PhD degrees at nine different universities, including the University of California, Berkeley; Tsinghua University; Harvard University; Rice University; and the University of Washington. Faculty members at the School of Engineering, the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, and the School of Humanities & Sciences will mentor them and guide their research.

“These are some of the most promising young minds working to realize a future of sustainable, affordable, secure energy for all people,” said Audrey Yau, director of the Stanford Energy Postdoctoral Fellowship. “This program is unique in the world for bringing together dozens of postdoctoral scholars working on energy across the spectrum of science and engineering to policy and economics. In just a couple years, they have formed a community that learns from and enriches each other’s work. I look forward to our new fellows building on that culture.”

Aspiring scholars interested in becoming 2026 Stanford energy postdoctoral fellows are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the application process. The 2026 application period will open on July 1 with a strict deadline for complete applications of October 1. The fourth class of fellows will begin their terms between July 1 and Sept 1, 2026. 

Meet the 2025 Fellows

Lithium batteries could drive the transition to renewable energy, but obtaining the materials needed to make them – so-called battery precursors – can worsen geopolitical, humanitarian, and environmental crises. Reclaiming these materials from used batteries could ease that tension, but the processes are energy and chemical intensive. Electrolytic membrane reactors offer a scalable, low-energy approach for metal refining from battery waste, but the membranes are not yet optimized. In his fellowship, Michael “Mike” Baird will explore new polymer-based membranes that can be custom-tuned to effectively distinguish and filter out sought-after metal ions from recycled batteries. Mike earned his PhD in chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, where he developed a related class of membranes for extracting lithium from natural feedstocks, additionally investigating electrolytes for next-gen batteries. He will be advised by chemical engineer Will Tarpeh and chemist Yan Xia.

Feng-Yang Chen studies aqueous batteries that are a promising, environmentally safe, cost-effective solution for grid-scale renewable energy storage. In particular, Feng-Yang studies how to optimize the interface where solid materials and liquid electrolytes come in contact by designing advanced electrolytes, probing interface dynamics in real time, and simulating molecular dynamics to improve charge storage and ion transport. Originally from Taiwan, Feng-Yang earned his PhD at Rice University studying renewable energy conversion to decarbonize chemical manufacturing, focusing on electrocatalysis for green hydrogen production via water splitting and green ammonia synthesis. He will be advised by William Chueh in materials science and engineering and Jian Qin in chemical engineering.

Artificial intelligence could help the world decarbonize through better planning and operation of energy systems, but current AI tools lack the necessary safety and reliability guarantees for real-world use. In his energy fellowship, Nicolas “Nico” Christianson will work to develop new approaches for reliable AI-driven decision-making in energy systems, focusing on the themes of large-scale power grid optimization, risk management, and integrating emerging sustainability metrics into operations. Nico is currently completing his PhD in computing and mathematical sciences at Caltech. He will be advised by Ellen Vitercik in management science and engineering and computer science and Ram Rajagopal in civil and environmental engineering.

Carlos Diaz-Marin studies new ways to mine rare earth elements that are critical to energy technologies, like the magnets used in wind turbines and electric vehicles. He engineers proteins that can extract these important materials from dilute waste streams, such as the drainage from acid mining. In his energy fellowship, Carlos will employ protein engineering, spectroscopy, and modeling to explore the physical interactions of proteins and rare earth elements and to optimize new materials for recovery of these elements. Born and raised in Costa Rica, Carlos received his PhD in mechanical engineering at MIT studying freshwater production and energy storage from moisture in the air. He will be advised by Danielle Mai in chemical engineering and Xiaolin Zheng in mechanical engineering.

With heating responsible for 40% of global CO2 emissions, Jacqueline “Jackie” Dowling studies net-zero emissions heating. She estimates costs to avoid heat-related carbon emissions in buildings and industrial processes. For example, fossil fuels may be difficult to displace for high-temperature heat in industry and for the space heating of buildings in cold climates where the electricity distribution capacity for new heat pumps is limited. In her energy fellowship, Jackie will identify the most and least promising methods to decarbonize heating, establish priorities for energy infrastructure upgrades, and recommend clean-heat technology investments. Jackie earned her PhD at Caltech in chemistry with a minor in environmental engineering. Her dissertation combined techno-economic analysis and materials chemistry to assess the value of different energy storage technologies in renewable energy systems. She will be advised by Steve Davis in Earth system science, Adam Brandt in energy science and engineering, and Inês Azevedo in energy science and engineering.

Lithium-sulfur batteries, with their high energy densities and nontoxic, inexpensive electrodes, are a promising alternative to lithium-ion batteries. But they have an Achilles heel. Their performance declines rapidly with frequent charge and discharge cycles. In his energy fellowship, David Juergens will develop an atomically detailed understanding of these detrimental reactions and engineer ways to prevent them using quantum chemistry calculations and modern machine learning techniques. David’s insights will allow researchers to manipulate these chemistries on the computer and design longer-lasting lithium-sulfur batteries. David received his PhD in molecular engineering from the University of Washington developing deep-learning-based methods for computational protein design. He will be advised by chemist Todd Martinez and computer scientist Stefano Ermon.

The data centers that have fueled artificial intelligence’s rise account for a remarkable 6% of all electricity consumed in the United States, half of which is used to cool their many racks of processors churning through the data. Optical interconnects could help, but they are expensive, prone to data loss, and sensitive to high temperature. Jaekwon Lee’s energy fellowship will explore the use of low-power light sources including micro-LEDs as alternative light sources to cut cost, provide better photonic coupling and modulation schemes, and thermally stabilize AI data centers. Jaekwon is completing his PhD in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where his research interests include identifying and exploring energy-efficient electronic and photonic platforms for net-zero carbon emission applications. He will be advised by electrical engineer Olav Solgaard and mechanical engineer Kenneth Goodson.

One approach to greenhouse gas mitigation is to remove CO2 from the skies and use it to make other commercially viable products with the help of a catalyst. Most current approaches convert CO2 into marketable single-carbon products like methanol, but Kang Rui Garrick Lim is looking to make even higher-value products with two or more carbon atoms. In his energy fellowship, Garrick will develop catalysts that enable carbon-carbon bond formation to create multi-carbon, energy-dense fuels from CO2. Originally from Singapore, Garrick earned his PhD in chemistry at Harvard, where he explored nanoparticle chemistry and catalyst design to manipulate catalytic outcomes. His advisors are chemical engineers Matteo Cargnello and Thomas Jaramillo.

Air pollution disproportionately affects marginalized racial-ethnic groups and disadvantaged communities. Wilson “Will” McNeil will use his energy fellowship to investigate the health, climate, and equity benefits of electrifying vehicle fleets on a national scale, how these efforts align with equity goals, and how power plant decommissioning can be optimized to reduce geographic disparities in air pollution outcomes. Raised in West Virginia, Will received his PhD in civil and environmental engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, where his research focused on the life-cycle health, climate, and equity impacts of heavy-duty vehicle electrification. His advisors are Inês Azevedo in energy science and engineering and Steve Davis in Earth system science.

Most existing studies on energy transitions focus on broad impacts, overlooking how those impacts are distributed geographically. In her energy fellowship, Chenfei Qu will develop advanced energy-economic simulation models that incorporate additional spatial detail to provide clearer insights into the trade-offs between equity and efficiency inherent in these energy transitions to support better, fairer, and more effective energy policymaking. Chenfei is completing her PhD in energy and climate change economics at Tsinghua University, where she is developing energy-environment-economic models to support energy and climate policymaking. Qu will be advised by Solomon Hsiang in environmental social sciences and economist Lawrence Goulder.

Cui is also faculty director of the Sustainability Accelerator at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, co-director of the Precourt Institute's StorageX Initiative, past director of the Precourt Institute for Energy, and senior fellow at the Precourt Institute and the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, and a professor in the departments of Materials Science & Engineering in the School of Engineering, of Energy Science & Engineering in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, and of Photon Science at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Chueh is also co-director of the StorageX Initiative, an associate professor in the departments of Materials Science & Engineering, of Energy Science & Engineering, and of Photon Science. Yau is also director of the Sustainability Accelerator Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Doerr School.