Link Foundation Energy Fellowship Recipients

Current Fellows

Name Year Institution Project
Samuel David Juárez Escamilla 2024-2026 Mississippi State University Dinitrogen reduction to ammonia with Group 6 CCC-NHC Pincer Complexes
Ryan Katherine McCord 2024-2026 Duke University Powering Progress: A Multidimensional Approach to Assessing and Improving Energy Access at Health Facilities
Candelaria Bergero 2023-2025 University of California, Irvine A Just Transition to a Net-Zero Energy System in the United States
Sabrina Marecos Ortiz 2023-2025 Cornell University Genetic Engineering for Biomining Rare Earth Elements for Sustainable Energy Technologies
Samuel Miles 2023-2025 University of California, Berkeley The Power of Health in Africa: Measuring the Impacts of Electricity Quality and Reliability on Health Facility Performance in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Amanda Whai Shin Ooi 2023-2025 Columbia University Developing Structured Ligands an CO2-based Hydrometallurgy: Recovery, Separation, and Purification of Energy-Relevant Elements from Secondary Resources

Past Fellows

Name Year Institution Project
Cristina Crespo Montañés 2022-2024 University of California, Berkeley Economics, Emissions and Equity: Evaluating the Potential for Urban Solar-Plus-Battery Hybrids to Replace Polluting Peaker Power Plants
Abhiroop Mishra 2022-2024 University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Assessing the Real-Time Surface Degradation in High-Voltage Cathodes: Toward Next Generation Batteries for Transport Electrification
Rachel Nixon 2022-2024 University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Ammonia Fuel Synthesis Through Plasmon-Assisted Electrocatalysis
Prince Ikenna Ochonma 2022-2024 Cornell University Integrated carbon-negative bio-hydrogen recovery with inherent carbon removal via mineralization
Taryn Fransen 2021-2023 University of California, Berkeley Decarbonizing the Energy Sector Assessing Policy, Innovation, and Investment Pathways Under Paris Agreement Pledges

Final Report

Xiaomeng Liu 2021-2023 University of Massachusetts, Amherst Harvesting Electricity form Ambient Humidity
Nora Schopp 2021-2023 University of California, Santa Barbara A Targeted Approach towards Efficient Semitransparent Organic Photovoltaics for Next-Generation Energy-Efficient Buildings

Final Report

Prajwal  Prakash Adiga 2020-2022 Oregon State University Selective Oxidation of Sea Water Using Earth Abundant Electrodes

Final Report

Will Gorman 2020-2022 University of California, Berkeley Electric Reliability, Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), and the Impact of Consumer Preferences in California

Final Report

Elizabeth Hann 2020-2022 University of California, Riverside

A Combined Electrochemical-Biological System for the Production of Liquid Fuel from CO2

Final Report

Saket Bhargava 2019-2021 University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign


Process Intensification of CO2 Electroreduction 

Final Report

Shawn Gregory 2019-2021 Georgia Institute of Technology

Thermoelectric Materials for Localized Cooling and Thermal Energy Harvesting

Final Report

Samantha Anne Lindgren 2018-2020 University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign


The Role of Namibian Youth in the Advancement of Sustainable Energy

Final Report

Darien Morrow 2018-2020 University of Wisconsin - Madison

Investigation of Coherent Charge Transfer in Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Heterostructures with Multiresonant Coherent Multidimensional Spectroscopy

Final Report

Yiren Zhong 2018-2020 Yale University

Developing High-Capacity Rechargeable Batteries Based on Lithium-Sulfur Chemistry

Final Report

Shuting Feng 2017-2019  MIT 

Computation-assisted Design of Stable and Ion-conducting Polymer Electrolytes for Li-O2 Batteries

Final Report

Shanyuan Niu 2017-2019 University of Southern California 

Transition metal perovskite chalcogenide, next generation versatile semiconductors for photovoltaics

Final Report

Philip (Nick) Turman-Bryant 2017-2019 Portland State University

Paid-To-Save: Using Dynamic Sensors and Cash Transfers to Improve Cookstove Use in Rwanda

Final Report

Amelie Nicolay 2016-2018 University of California, Berkeley

Synthesis, Structure and Reactivity of Heterobimetallic Complexes for Small Molecule Activation and Catalysis

Final Report

Firas Siala 2016-2018 Oregon State University

Enhanced kinetic energy harvesting based on oscillating flexible foils

Final Report

Duyen Cao 2015-2017 Northwestern University

Development of Non-toxic and Stable Perovskites for High Efficiency Solar Cells

Final Report

Mihai Duduta 2015-2017 Harvard University

Polyelectrolyte Materials for Dielectric Elastomer Energy Harvesting

Final Report

Diego Ponce de Leon Barido 2015-2017 University of California, Berkeley

Evaluating the Potential of Ubiquitous Flexible Energy Loads to Provide Grid-Scale Balancing in Resource Constrained Environments: A Case Study in Nicaragua 

Final Report

Ana Brown 2014-2016 California Institute of Technology Exploring the Plasmoelectric Effect – a Novel Mechanism for Solar Energy Conversion
Final Report
John Helveston 2014-2016 Carnegie Mellon University Environmental Implications of Consumer Preferences and Policy Incentives for Plug-in Vehicles in China and the U.S.
Final Report
Christopher W. Roske 2014-2016 California Institute of Technology Earth-Abundant Hydrobromic Acid Splitting Device
Final Report
Véronique Archanbault-Léger 2013-2015 Dartmouth College Countercurrent Flowthrough Pretreatment of Cellulosic Biomass
Final Report
Ranjit Amod Deshmukh 2013-2015 University of California, Berkeley High-Resolution, Stochastic Electricity System Models are Key to Driving Low Carbon Policies in India
Final Report
Letian Dou 2013-2015 University of California, Los Angeles Design and Synthesis of Low-bandgap Polymers for Organic Photovoltaic Applications
Final Report
Gairik Sachdeva 2012-2014 Harvard University Synthetic Metabolic Control for Biofuel Production
Final Report
Daniel Andrew Krest Schnitzer 2012-2014 Carnegie Mellon University Measuring and Modeling the Effects of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy on Microgrid Operational Performance and Community Welfare in Haiti
Final Report
Huiliang (Evan) Wang 2012-2014 Stanford University Semiconducting Polymer Assisted Separation of Semiconducting Carbon Nanotubes for High Efficiency Hybrid Photovoltaics
Final Report
Phillip K. Chiu 2011-2013 University of California, Los Angeles Next-Generation Wind Turbine Blades: Transformative Design of Inboard Cross-sections
Final Report
James Henry Nelson 2011-2013 University of California, Berkeley Deployment of an Inexpensive, Reliable, and Low Carbon Electric Power System Requires New Modeling Tools
PDF icon Final Report
Leslie Esther O'Leary 2011-2013 California Institute of Technology Interfaces for the Conversion of Solar Energy to Chemical Fuel: GaP Surface Functionalization
Can Bayram 2010-2012 Northwestern University III-Nitride Optoelectronic Devices: From Ultraviolet Detectors and Visible Emitters Towards Terahertz Intersubband Devices
PDF icon Final Report
Adam Straith Brewer 2010-2012 University of Wisconsin, Madison Organic-Copper Sulfide Heterojunctions for Economical Solar Energy Harvesting Absorbers for Economically Efficient Photovoltaics
PDF icon Final Report
Jayakanth Ravichandran 2010-2012 University of California, Berkeley Thermoelectric Oxides for Waste Heat Recovery
Timothy Paul Osedach 2009-2011 Harvard University Hybrid Organic/Quantum Dot Photovoltaics
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Pratap Mahesh Rao 2009-2011 Stanford University Flame Synthesis of Iron Oxide Nanowires for Direct Coal Chemical Looping Combustion, and Tungsten Oxide Nanowires for Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting
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Jonathan Servaites 2009-2011 Northwestern University Efficient and Cost Effective Solar Cells: New Materials for Improved Recombination and Charge Dissociation Losses in Organic Photovoltaics
PDF icon Final Report
Michael Thomas Colvin 2008-2010 Northwestern University PDF icon Final Report
Dong Rip Kim 2008-2010 Stanford University Semiconducting Nanowire Solar Cells for Enhanced Energy Harvesting
PDF icon Final Report
Vanessa Jine Schweizer 2008-2010 Carnegie Mellon University PDF icon Final Report
Samuel Coats Krevor 2007-2009 Columbia University Permanent Disposal of Greenhouse Gases through Mineral Carbon Dioxide Sequestration
Jonathan King Mapel 2007-2009 Massachusetts Institute of Technology  
Yiting Zhu 2007-2009 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Optimizing the Performance of White Light-emitting Diodes for Energy-efficient Lighting
PDF icon Final Report
Cullen Richard Buie 2006-2008 Stanford University  
Elisabeth Anne Gilmore 2006-2008 Carnegie Mellon University PDF icon Final Report
Arthur J. Shaw IV 2006-2008 Dartmouth College PDF icon Final Report
Kurt Zenz House 2005-2007 Harvard University Storage of Captured Anthropogenic CO2 in Ocean Sediment
PDF icon Final Report
Kamal Kapadia 2005-2007 University of California, Berkeley Electrification, Economic Development and Poverty Alleviation: Examining the Role of Macro-factors in Sri Lanka
PDF icon Final Report
Randall H. Goldsmith 2005-2006 Northwestern University Optimization of Long Range Electron Transfer for Solar Energy
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