PhD researchers

Education:

Andrea obtained his B.Sc. degree in Chemistry from Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, with a thesis project on a theoretical study of solvation properties of lanthanides ions in dimethyl sulfoxide.  Following his bachelor, he continued his studies at the same university achieving a Master’s degree in Physical Chemistry.  During the course of his master, he has been an Erasmus fellow twice. Firstly as a visiting student at the University of Amsterdam, and secondly as a visiting researcher at the University of Barcelona where he carried out his thesis project on the study of carbon nanoporous materials for biogas upgrading by means of ab initio and classical mechanics. He is currently a Ph.D. researcher at the Department of Materials Engineering, KU Leuven, studying the heterogeneous nucleation of ice on solid substrates within the Surfice project:’Smart surface design for efficient ice protection and control’. 

Education:

• Bachelor in Chemistry, La Sapienza University, Rome, Italy (2014-2017)
• Master of Science in Chemistry-Physical Chemistry, La Sapienza University, Rome, Italy (2017-2021)

Laurens obtained his BSc in Engineering science at KU Leuven majoring with a Major in Material Science and Minor in Chemical Engineering. Afterwards, he obtained his MSc degrees in Materials Science at KU Leuven as well. During his Master, he completed his thesis within the group of prof. Seveno on “Internal and interfacial microstructure characterization of ice droplets on surfaces by X-ray Computed Tomography”. His PhD started shortly after his master, now focusing on the interface between silica aerogel aggregates and cementitious matrices. This research is part of a bigger project in collaboration with multiple PhD and post-docs across KU Leuven and VUB, the project is funded by FWO.

Education:

• Bachelor in de ingenieurswetenschappen, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium (2016-2020)
• Master of Materials Engineering, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium (2019-2021)

Mrinal obtained his BTech in Mechanical Engineering from VIT Vellore in India. Afterwards, he obtained his MSc degrees in Materials Engineering at KU Leuven. During his Master, he completed his thesis within the group of Prof. Annabel Braem on “Development of smart drug-releasing materials for dental implants”. During his thesis, he also had a 3 month research stay at Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini’s research group in University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. Mrinal started his PhD shortly after his Master and focuses on developing smart materials for preventing re-surgeries of dental implant due to  infections arising after implantation. 

Education:

• BTech in Mechanical Engineering, VIT Vellore, India, 2015-2019
• Master of Materials Engineering, KU Leuven, Belgium, 2019-2021
• PhD in Engineering Science-Materials Engineering, KU Leuven, Belgium, 2021-present

Navid studied his BSc in Polymer Engineering (majoring in coatings technology) at Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Iran, from 2012 to 2016. He graduated from the same university with an MSc in Polymer Engineering-Coatings in June 2019. During performing his MSc project, he was granted an Erasmus+ exchange scholarship for research at Middle East Technical University, Turkey (2018-2019).

Education:

• Bachelor of Science in Polymer Engineering-Coating Technology, Tehran Polytechnic, Tehran, Iran (2012-2016)
• Master of Science in Polymer Engineering-Coating Technology, Tehran Polytechnic, Tehran, Iran (2016-2019)

Susana obtained her BSc in Chemistry and MSc in Materials Chemistry at Stockholm University. She later obtained a MSc in Energy Systems at University of Gävle. Simultaneously, she worked as a research engineer and later as a process engineer for Exeger Sweden AB for 5 years. 

Education:

• BSc in Chemistry, Stockholm University, Sweden, 2016
• MSc (Naturvetenskaplig) in Materials Chemistry, Stockholm University, 2022
• MSc (Teknologie) in Energy Systems, University of Gävle, Belgium, 2022

Education:

• 5 Year program, 300 ECTS (BSc and MSC integrated together), University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece (2012-2017)

Rémy Fauche is a chemical engineer and researcher at KU Leuven, Belgium. His work lies at the intersection of engineering, physics, and chemistry. In particular, his current research explores the use of new materials for producing sensors capable of detecting reliably the ingress of water within engineering structures. Prior to joining the Doctoral Program, Rémy obtained a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering and Chemistry from the National College of Chemical Engineering of Mulhouse, France in 2020. His research interests include humidity sensors, chemiresistors, structural health monitoring, conductive nanocomposites, and electrical percolation.

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry, University of Haute-Alsace (UHA), Mulhouse, France (2016-2017)
• Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering and Chemistry – Materials Science and Polymers, National College of Chemical Engineering of Mulhouse (ENSCMu), Mulhouse, France (2016-2020)

Yuheng Shang obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Energy and Power Engineering from Central South University and was awarded Graduate with Honor, China in 2018. Three years later, she earned a Master’s degree in  Power Engineering and Engineering Thermophysics at Xi’an Jiaotong University. During her master period, she was actively involved in a research project of Droplet spreading dynamics and freezing characteristics under subcooled conditions. Her work was focused in particular on analyzing the dynamics and freezing process of impacting water droplets onto a supercooled surface. Currently, she is a first-year Ph.D student in Mechanical Engineering at KU Leuven. Her work focuses on droplet impacting dynamics and freezing patterns on the cold textured surfaces in order to provide novel strategies for manipulating the solidified profiles and developing de-icing technologies. Her PhD study is funded by CSC schlorship.

Education:

• Bachelor of Engineering, Energy and Power Engineering, Central South University, Xi’an, China (2014-2018)
• Master of Engineering, Power Engineering and Engineering Thermophysics, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China (2018-2021)