CURRENT POSTDOC RESEARCHERS
Current project: Hydrothermal liquefaction of mixed plastic waste in the presence of supercritical water and superheated steam.
PhD, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil
MS, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil
BS, Universidad Nacional Pedro Ruíz Gallo, Peru
ACS Bridge Fellow
Dr. Antara Sharma 
Current projects: Durable flame retardant and textile finishes for nylon-cotton polymer blend (co-advised with Prof. Ram Nagarajan).
PhD, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
MS, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
BS, University of Delhi, India
Kalsoom Jan 
Current project: Deconstruction of post-consumer packaging waste using safer solvents and supercritical water.
PhD Candidate in Polymer Chemistry
MS Plastics Engineering, UMass Lowell
MS Computational Chemistry, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Pakistan
Kerry Candlen
Current project: Investigating weathering and biodegradation behavior of plastic packaging materials in the environment for guiding the design of more sustainable packaging
PhD Candidate in Plastics Engineering
MS Plastics Engineering, UMass Lowell
BS Plastics Engineering, UMass Lowell
ORISE Fellow
Evan M. Yu
Current project: 1) Removing colorants from e-waste plastics using safer solvents, and 2) In-situ observing hydrothermal liquefaction of plastic waste in sub-/super-critical water.
PhD Candidate in Plastics Engineering
MS Material Science & Engineering, Nanyang Technological University Singapore, Singapore
BS Plastics Engineering, UMass Lowell
David T. Nguyen
Current projects: Sorting and characterizing municipal solid waste plastics in the U.S. to enable effective thermochemical recycling
BS Plastics Engineering, UMass Lowell
Olivia Hosterman, Class 2025
Current projects: 1) Interfacial interactions between biofilm and plastics in marine and estuarine environment, 2) Setting up hydrothermal diamond anvil cell for in-situ hydrothermal liquefaction of polyolefin waste, and 3) Sorting and characterizing municipal solid waste plastics in the U.S. to enable effective thermochemical recycling
BS Plastics Engineering, UMass Lowell
Rachel LaLumiere, Class 2025
Current projects: Sorting and characterizing municipal solid waste plastics in the U.S. to enable effective thermochemical recycling
BS Plastics Engineering, UMass Lowell
Caralyn Conrad, Class 2025
Current project: 1) Characterize the degradability of biodegradable mulch film made of soy waste biomass and PBAT/PLA blends, 2) Investigate the plant adaptability of biodegradable mulch film made of soy waste biomass and PBAT/PLA blends (co-advised with Prof. Yanfen Li).
BS Mechanical Engineering, UMass Lowell
Andrew Halloran, Class 2025
Current project: Hydrothermal liquefaction of polyethylene-based waste plastic mixtures in supercritical water.
BS Chemistry, UMass Lowell
Logan Lavallee, Class 2026
Current project: Formulating pumpable feedstocks made of plastics and biomass to enable continuous hydrothermal liquefaction
BS Mechanical Engineering, UMass Lowell
