Group Members

Thomas P. Senftle

Associate Professor

William Marsh Rice Trustee Chair

Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Rice University

Email: tsenftle@rice.edu

Tom earned his BS in Chemical Engineering, with a supplemental major in Philosophy, from the University of Notre Dame in 2010, where he conducted undergraduate research under Prof. William Schneider. He completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering at Penn State University in 2015 under the guidance of Profs. Michael Janik and Adri van Duin. Following postdoctoral training at Princeton University with Prof. Emily Carter, he joined Rice in 2017 as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2024.

His research group develops computational and data-driven approaches to understand and design catalysts and functional materials for sustainable energy and environmental technologies. His accomplishments have been recognized with awards including the NSF CAREER Award and Rice University’s George R. Brown Teaching + Research Excellence Award.

Postdoctoral Scholars

Christian Sandoval-Pauker (PD 2024 – )

Christian received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from The University of Texas at El Paso in 2024, where he focused on computational investigations of transition metal photoredox catalysts. He earned his M.S. in Environment, Quality, and Prevention Management Systems from Universidad Internacional de la Rioja (2018) and his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Escuela Politécnica Nacional (2016). He joined Rice University as a J. Evans Attwell Welch Postdoctoral Fellow in August 2024, supported by the Smalley-Curl Institute. His research in our group employs electronic structure methods to advance the development of photo- and electrocatalysts for removing perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from water. He was recently named among the top 100 CAS 2025 Future Leaders by the American Chemical Society.

Yuxuan Huang (PD 2024 – )

Yuxuan received his Ph.D. in Earth and Environmental Engineering from Columbia University in 2024, where he worked on separation technologies and ion-exchange membranes, particularly interested in the fundamental understanding of membrane transport phenomena. Yuxuan earned his M.S. in Earth and Environmental Engineering from Columbia University and B.E. in Energy Science and Engineering from City University of Hong Kong in 2019 and 2017, respectively. He joined Rice as a Rice WaTER Institute Postdoctoral Associate in August 2024, co-advised by Prof. Qilin Li, Prof. Thomas Senftle, and Prof. Rafael Verduzco. Yuxuan currently works on boosting the advancement of bipolar membranes using an integrated approach of experiment, molecular simulation, and machine learning. His research is supported by Rice WaTER Institute.

Graduate Students

Joshua Honnekeri (PhD 2025 – )

Josh earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University in 2023 where he did worked on nitride MXene synthesis. He joined Rice in 2023 pursuing a PhD in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. His research focuses on PFAS degradation using photocatalysis (supported by DoD: SERDP).

Varshith Vijayan Nithya (PhD 2024 – )

Varshith received his B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from Alagappa College of Technology, Anna University, Chennai, in 2024. For his undergraduate thesis, he applied density functional theory (DFT) to investigate the extraction of cardanol from cashew nut shell liquid using deep eutectic solvents, sparking his passion for computational research. Varshith joined the ChBE PhD program at Rice University in Fall 2024.

Thanh Nguyen (PhD 2023 – )

Thanh Nguyen stands out as an expert in reservoir simulation, with an illustrious 20-year tenure in the oil and gas industry. He earned his BS in Civil Engineering from VN National University (HCM City), graduating as Valedictorian in 1999. He went on to complete two Master of Science degrees—one in Petroleum Engineering from Tulsa University and another in Reservoir Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines—demonstrating a consistent record of academic excellence. His journey continued at Rice University, where he was a visiting graduate student in 2021 before joining the CHBE PhD program in 2022. His research focuses on machine learning–driven approaches to advance low-temperature hydrocarbon conversion via heterolytic H-H, C–H activation. By integrating experimental and computational methods, Nguyen aims to design catalysts for efficient and sustainable hydrocarbon utilization, supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Paschal Anele (PhD 2023 – )

Paschal Anele is a Ph.D. student in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Rice University. He earned his B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Lagos, Nigeria, in 2020 and worked in the pharmaceutical industry as an Operations Manager before starting his graduate studies at Rice in 2023. His research, supported by the NSF, focuses on using computational modeling to design better silicon-based anodes for lithium-ion batteries, contributing to the development of next-generation energy storage technologies. Outside of research, Paschal enjoys playing pickleball.

Tafadzwa Mutepaire (PhD 2022 – )

Tafadzwa hails from Zimbabwe. He received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cape Town in 2021. For his undergraduate thesis he worked on microkinetic modeling to compare CO and CO2 hydrogenation over Fe (100), which is when he developed a keen interest to pursue computational catalysis research. Tafadzwa joined the ChBE PhD program at Rice University in Fall 2022 and is working on understanding catalytic mechanisms governing the degradation of per-fluoroalkyl substances (“forever chemicals”) for water treatment. His work is supported by the NSF ERC: Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT) Center.

Chase Sellers (PhD 2021 – )

Chase earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University in 2021, where he developed a machine learning program for the classification of Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) data. Currently, he’s pursuing a Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. His research involves controlling the phase transformations of metal-oxide catalysts to enhance stability and selectivity, with a specific focus on electrochemical water splitting. Through this work, Chase aims to contribute to the advancement of sustainable technologies related to hydrogenation and energy storage. His work is supported by an NSF CAREER award from the CBET division.

Peixuan (Lexie) Jin (PhD 2021 – )

Peixuan (Lexie) obtained her B.S. degree in Chemical and Molecular Engineering from Stony Brook University in 2020. Following her undergraduate studies, she gained valuable experience working in the pharmaceutical industry, where she focused on drug synthesis. In 2021, Peixuan joined the CHBE PhD program at Rice University. Her current research is centered around utilizing statistical learning tools to gain insight into metal/support interactions. Her work is supported by an NSF CAREER award from the CBET division.

Ai-Shi Wang (MS 2021 – 2023; PhD 2023 – )

Ai-Shi received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) in 2021. After graduation, she joined Rice University as a master student in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Her current research focuses on simulating PFAS degradation reactions via thermal catalysts with density functional theory (DFT). She completed her MS degree in 2023. She joined Daxin Materials Corp as a summer intern and then returned to Rice as a PhD student in the fall of 2023.

Undergraduate Students

Ashlee Glover (BS 2025 – )

Daniel Medeiros (BS 2025 – )

Eitan Feldman (BS 2023 – )

Eitan is a junior studying computer science and chemistry. He is particularly interested in using computational chemistry to understand catalytic trends. In his free time, he plays board games, plays tennis, or reads fantasy.

Group Alumni

Yu Chen (PhD 2019 – 2023)

Yu received her B.S. in Chemistry from East China Normal University (ECNU) in 2019 and her previous research focused on molecular dynamics (MD) simulation of G-quadruplex DNA. After graduation, she joined Rice University as a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. degree in the department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Her research interest lies in simulating photo-electrochemical process at semiconductor/electrolyte interfaces. This work combines atomistic modeling and electronic structure theory to understand how solar energy can be used to efficiently to drive multiple chemical reactions. Her work at Rice was supported by the NSF ERC: Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT) Center. She earned her PhD in 2023 and currently works at AspenTech, Inc.

Peng Wang (PhD 2018 – 2023)

Peng received his B. S. in Chemical Engineering from Tianjin University (TJU) in 2018 and joined the ChBE PhD program at Rice University the same year. His undergraduate research focused on biomass catalytic conversion. That work won the Grand Prize in the Challenge Cup at Tianjin University. He also finished a graduation project on modeling biomass pyrolysis while at NC State University. At Rice, he worked on iron-based catalysis for propane dehydrogenation (PDH), which was supported by the ACS Petroleum Research Fund. He earned his PhD in 2023 and currently works at OpenEye Scientific, Cadence Molecular Science.

Ben Walls (BS 2020 – 2023)

Ben matriculated to Rice University as an undergraduate in 2019 and is currently pursuing a B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering along with a B.A. in Philosophy. He is broadly interested in solving problems related to environmental sustainability, particularly with regard to renewable energy. At Rice, he investigated the relationship between the structure of toxic perfluoroalkyl substances and their readiness to degrade in the presence of wide bandgap semiconductors, which has key implications for novel photocatalyst development. This work has been sponsored by a fellowship from the Rice Office of Undergraduate Research and Inquiry, as well as an education grant from Omnova Solutions. Ben was awarded an NSF GRFP fellowship in 2023 and is now pursuing a PhD at the University of Michigan.

Chun-Yen (Mark) Liu (PhD 2017 – 2022)

Chun-Yen (Mark) received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from National Taiwan University (NTU) in 2016. His previous research experiences focused on direct ethanol conversion over modified ZSM-5 catalyst in Catalyst Laboratory in National Taiwan University. During his undergraduate research, he developed his interest in catalysis and earned Second Prize in Student English Oral Presentation Competition in the 34th Taiwan Symposium on Catalysis and Reaction Engineering in 2016. His research at Rice focused on understanding metal/oxide interaction in electronic scale which is critical for tuning, designing and predicting the reactivity of catalysts. He earned his PhD in 2022 and currently works at Meta, Inc.

Manav Bhati (PhD 2017 – 2022)

Manav received his B. S. in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee in 2014 and worked as a process engineer before joining Rice in 2017, where he is a graduate student currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in the department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. He is interested in renewable energy conversion and storage technologies. He has experience of working on the electrochemical modeling of vanadium redox flow batteries. His work at Rice focused on the computational modeling of porous silicon electrodes in Li-ion batteries. He earned his PhD in 2022 and currently works at Schrodinger, Inc.

Prakash Reddy Chintakunta (MS, Applied Physics 2017 – 2020)

Prakash joined Applied Physics program at Rice University in the Fall of 2016. He received his bachelor’s degree in technology majoring in Nanotechnology from the SRM Institute of Science and Technology. His undergraduate research was focused on first principles investigation of carbon dioxide conversion to methanol with copper iodide catalysts. His project employed density functional theory to investigate noble metal catalysts for water purification. He graduated in 2020 and currently works at Hythane Labs.

Undergraduate Alumni

  • Dylan McKee – UG 2025
  • Xinling Wang – UG 2024
  • Dione Ebong – UG 2024
  • Jenna Parrot – UG 2023
  • Vania Ding – UG 2020
  • Daniel Martinez – UG 2019
  • Jonathan Chapman – UG 2019
  • Burke Garza – UG 2019