The Urban Gruppo

yfan[at]lbl.gov

Peter received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley in 2014. His Ph.D. work involves understanding phonon mean free path spectroscopy of solids in both length and time scales and thermal transport in nanostructures. His current research interests include photo-thermoelectrics and thermoelectrics in hybrid materials.  Outside of lab, Peter is an avid cyclist. He once rode from SF all the way to LA along highway 1.

woochullee[at]lbl.gov

Woochul joined Urban group in September 2014. He is collaborating with Prof. Peidong Yang and Prof. Chris Dames to fundamentally understand unique thermal and thermoelectric transport at the nanoscale. 

B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Yonsei University (2008)

M.S. Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2010)

Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2014)

fqiu[at]lbl.gov 

Fen Qiu received her Ph.D. in Chemistry at University of Rochester in January 2015, and joined the group in March 2015. Her current research interests include understanding photochemical processes of encapsulant materials for photovoltaics and development of hybrid nanocomposites for energy storage and conversion.

Youngsangkim[at]lbl.gov

Youngsang joined Urban group in November 2015 and is working on a joint project with Prof. Bryan McCloskey and Dr. Robert Kostecki as a member of Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP). His research interest includes photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide as well as charge transport and thermoelectric energy conversions at nanoscales.

Postdoc. Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2015)

Ph.D. Physics, University of Konstanz, Germany (2012)

M.S. Applied Physics, Hanyang University (2009)

B.S. Applied Physics, Hanyang University (2007)

hengwang[at]lbl.gov

Heng received his PhD in Materials Science at California Institute of Technology 2014 and joined the group in 2015. His research at Caltech was on doping and band engineering of inorganic semiconductors for their application in thermoelectrics, which still remains one of his research interests. His current research involves understanding the material chemistry and structure-property relationships in inorganic-organic composites as well as hybrids.

soheejeong[at]lbl.gov

Sohee received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Yonsei University in February 2016 and joined the group in April
2016. Her research interests include development and design of nanomaterials for high-capacity hydrogen
storages and understanding hydrogenation/dehydration processes.

chsu[at]lbl.gov

2014 Ph.D. Polymer science, The University of Akron, OH

Previous research interests: soft materials self-assembly and supramolecular structure characterization.

Current research interest: water desalination via forward osmosis

Christian Selene joined the Urban group in October 2016. Her research interests include the synthesis and characterization of perovskites for photovoltaic applications, as well as the synthesis of lead-free perovskites with reduced toxicity. She also has interest in understanding the optical, electrical and photovoltaic phenomena within perovskites and at the interfaces with the goal of increasing stability. Christian Selene received her PhD in Science and Engineering of Materials at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in 2015. Her PhD research focused on core/shell CdSe/CdS for hybrid solar cells with P3HT, at the Institute of Renewable Energies (IER), UNAM.

cma[at]lbl.gov

Canghai joined Urban group in June 2017. He received his PhD degree in Chemical Engineering at Georgia Tech in 2012 and his thesis involved next-generation ester-crosslinkable hollow fiber gas separation membranes. Upon graduation, he joined Air Liquide as a Research Scientist working on advanced membrane technology and commercialization. His current research interests include novel forward osmosis water treatment and gas separation membranes. Besides research, he enjoys watching NBA and playing basketball. 

Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (2012)

M.S. Mechanical & Electronic Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China (2008)

B.S. Applied Chemistry, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China (2006)