Alumni

Gabriel Adams ([email protected])
Barrett the Honors College
Undergraduate Student in Electrical Engineering
School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering (ECEE)

Gabe joined the Rolston Lab in Fall 2022 as part of the Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative (FURI) program. His work involves testing new materials to be used as solid state electrolytes for batteries. Outside of the lab, Gabe loves being outdoors and is a member of the ASU triathlon club.

Adianne Alamban ([email protected])
Undergraduate Student in Materials Science and Engineering
School for Engineering of Matter, Transport, and Energy (SEMTE)

Adianne’s research focuses on bandgap tuning in semi-transparent perovskite materials for use in building-integrated PVs. She is excited to work toward creating a more equitable and sustainable future through accessible, renewable energy. In her spare time, she enjoys trying new recipes, listening to music, and watching nature documentaries.

Kayshavi (Kay) Bakshi ([email protected])
Barrett the Honors College
Undergraduate Student in Mechanical Engineering, Spanish Linguistics
School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy (SEMTE)

Kay joined the Rolston Lab in Fall 2022 as part of the Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative (FURI) program. Her work involves testing perovskite films to find its mechanical properties. Outside of the lab, Kay loves being creative, whether that’s in the kitchen, on canvas, or anywhere in between.

Bella Bozzo ([email protected])
Barrett the Honors College
Undergraduate Student in Mechanical Engineering
School for Engineering of Matter, Transport, and Energy (SEMTE)

Bella joined the Rolston Lab in Summer 2023 as part of the Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative (FURI) program. She researches the mechanical and optoelectronic properties of perovskite films with the aim of broadening the use of renewable energy. She has worked in various labs on campus and enjoys exploring different science topics. Outside the lab, Bella enjoys sports, being outside, and watching sketch comedy.

Erin Burgard ([email protected])
Undergraduate Student in Environmental Engineering
School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment (SEBE)

Erin joined the Rolston Lab in Fall 2022 after looking for an opportunity to address her curiosity in solar energy. She researches aspects of thin film stress under operational conditions in order to further develop the understanding, and therefore reliability, of perovskite material. Outside of the lab, Erin enjoys staying busy with music, yoga, keeping up her Spanish, and running a business where she paints and sells handmade cards.

Jacob Burrows ([email protected])
Undergraduate Student in Electrical Engineering
School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering (ECEE)

Jacob joined the Rolston Lab in Spring 2023. He is working on scalable plasma-assisted spray-coating processes of polymer and ceramic materials to improve the interface stability and ionic conductivity of thin-film solid-state electrolytes. Outside of the lab in his spare time, he enjoys scuba diving, computers, and watching sci-fi and adventure movies.

Founder/CEO, Molten Industries and Co-founder, Swift Solar ([email protected])

Ph.D. Stanford University, Materials Science and Engineering (2018)
B.E. Vanderbilt University, Mechanical Engineering (2014)

Kevin is extremely bright in many ways except for his decision to be a Seattle sports fan. In addition to founding multiple companies, Kevin designed and built biogas digestion systems, a remote-controlled amphibious vehicle, a biodiesel-powered ramjet engine, and a 10-foot rocket. As an NSF PhD Fellow, he led the development of record-efficiency perovskite-on-silicon tandems and assisted in the fabrication of the first all-perovskite tandems. He was recently named a Forbes 30 Under 30 Fellow in Energy and spends his free time split among listening to metal, reading textbooks, coming up with creative ab workouts, cooking sous vide style, and thinking about how to catalyze the energy revolution to combat climate change.

Carsen Cartledge ([email protected])
Barrett the Honors College
Undergraduate Student in Materials Science and Engineering
School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy (SEMTE)

Carsen joined the Rolston Lab in Summer of 2022 through ASU’s Summer Undergraduate Research Initiative (SURI). Her work focuses on understanding novel additives’ roles in improving the processing and scalability of perovskite thin films used in solar cells. Outside of the lab Carsen loves hiking and is involved in the SAE Formula 1 Aero Manufacturing Team on campus.

Caetano Chequer ([email protected])
Barrett the Honors College
Undergraduate Student in Electrical Engineering
School of  Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering (ECEE)

Caetano joined the Rolston Lab in Fall 2024 to pursue a project for his Honors Thesis. His research involves applying pressure on perovskite thin films and examining its impacts on the stress experienced by the films through X-ray diffraction characterization. Outside of the lab, Caetano enjoys working out, playing tennis, watching TV shows, and hanging out with friends.

Madi Dodd ([email protected])
Undergraduate Student in Electrical Engineering
Brown University School of Engineering

Madi joined the Rolston Lab in Summer of 2023 as an opportunity to gain research experience in solar energy devices and materials. She researches various perovskite compounds with the goal of improving the operational stability and processing of mixed metal halide perovskite solar cells, with hopes to upscale these solar cells. At Brown, Madi works in the Pennel Lab for Environmental Engineering where she assists with research projects pertaining to environmental health and chemical remediation in order to quantify a variety of PFOS chemicals and phthalates in household dust samples. Outside of the lab, Madi enjoys hiking, traveling, reading, and participates in the Brown University chapter of the Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers.

Rodrigo Estrada Torrejon ([email protected])
Undergraduate Student in Electrical Engineering
School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering (ECEE)

Rodrigo joined the Rolston Lab in Fall 2022 as part of the Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative (FURI) program, to explore his interest in energy production and semiconductor materials. His work will focus on understanding the change in optical and electrical properties of different types of perovskite cells under thermal cycling. Outside of the lab, Rodrigo enjoys calisthenics, skiing, and reading sci-fi and classic literature.

Berrak Gokce ([email protected])
Undergraduate Student in Mechanical Engineering
School for Engineering of Matter, Transport, and Energy (SEMTE)

Berrak Joined the Rolston Lab in Spring 2023 as a volunteer and is going to continue as a part of the Grand Challenges Scholar Program (GCSP) and the SURI Program. She is working to understand the effects of film stress/strain in perovskites and how it influences ionic and mechanical properties through working with the PAIOS and fracture testing systems. Outside of lab and school she likes spending time outside, snowboarding, and playing instruments.

Po-Heng Ho (Peter) ([email protected])
Undergraduate Student in Electrical Engineering
School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering (ECEE)

Peter joined the Rolston Lab in Summer 2023 as part of the Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative (FURI) program, to explore his interest in Solid state battery and semiconductor materials. His work focuses on Open Air Plasma sintering of Lithium Lanthanum Titanate (LLTO) Solid Electrolytes to improve ionic conductivity. Outside of the lab, Peter enjoys music, photography, and reading history, politics and aesthetic literature.

Avijit Jutla ([email protected])
Undergraduate Student in Electrical Engineering
School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering (ECEE)

Avijit joined the Rolston lab in Summer 2024 as part of the Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative (FURI) and the Grand Challenges Scholars Program (GCSP). His research focuses on improving solid-state electrolytes to catalyze the development of safer and better batteries, and he aspires to one day contribute to a major scientific breakthrough that positively impacts the world. Outside the lab, Avijit enjoys being involved in EPICS at ASU, nerding out about math and physics, and playing video games.

David Machbitz ([email protected])
Barrett the Honors College
Undergraduate Student in Mechanical Engineering
School for Engineering of Matter, Transport, and Energy (SEMTE)

David joined the Rolston Lab in the spring of 2023 on a project that will culminate in an Honors Thesis. His research is focused on characterizing the thermomechanical properties of perovskite thin film materials for solar energy applications through theoretical ANSYS simulations and experimental validation. Outside of the lab, David is a member of the ASU Taekwondo team and spends his time reading and hiking.

Alexandra (Alex) McWatters ([email protected])
Undergraduate Student in Mechanical Engineering
School for Engineering of Matter, Transport, and Energy (SEMTE)

Alex joined the Rolston Lab in Fall 2023 as part of the Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative (FURI) program. Her research focuses on understanding how the chemomechanics (the mechanical, electrical and material properties) of solid-state battery thin film energy devices react under stresses in order to better understand their future manufacturing capabilities. Her interest for this lab stems from her passion for sustainability and its connection to renewable energy and the built environment. Outside of the lab, Alex enjoys listening to music, watching videos about space and traveling with friends and family.

Suyog Misra ([email protected])
Undergraduate Student in Electrical Engineering
School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering (ECEE)

Suyog joined the Rolston Lab in Summer 2023 as a volunteer to explore his interest in data analysis in the field of Electrical Engineering. He is currently working on predicting the State of Health and Remaining Useful Life for second life batteries using ML. Outside the lab, Suyog is a travel-buff, loves to hike, enjoys photography, rock climbing, playing badminton and playing instruments.

Hanson Nguyen ([email protected])
Barrett the Honors College
Undergraduate Student in Electrical Engineering
School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering (ECEE)

Hanson joined the Rolston Lab in the Spring 2023 as a volunteer and will continue through the FURI program and GCSP. He is working to understand various processing techniques and their optical and electrical effects on high bandgap inorganic perovskites with the hopes that his work makes an impact by pushing solar applications for a more sustainable future. In his free time, he enjoys his hobby in electronics, listening to absurd records, and speedrunning Sudokus.

Keven Sepulveda ([email protected])
Graduate Student in Biomedical Engineering
School of Biological and Health Solutions (SBHSE)

BSE Biomedical Engineering, Arizona State University (2023)

Keven joined the Rolston Lab in the Summer of 2023 as part of ASU’s Summer Undergraduate Research Initiative (SURI) program. Despite his major and background, he loves to step outside of his comfort zone to learn and pick up new skills from vast walks of life. His work in the lab focuses on understanding and analyzing the ionic conductivity for thin film renewable batteries and solid state electrolytes. Whenever he has free time, Keven tends to be an avid reader, a music enthusiast, enjoys experimenting in the kitchen, and is a casual photographer.

Truman Fellow, Sandia National Laboratory ([email protected])

Ph.D. Stanford University, Applied Physics (2020)
B.S. Rice University, Applied Physics (2014)

Aaron is not your average physicist. As an NSF and Ford PhD Fellow, Aaron made a monumental discovery of ferromagnetic behavior in twisted bilayer graphene, a result which has been cited over 1,000 times since publication in 2019. He also earned the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship and the Stanford EDGE-STEM Fellowship. However, more than any of this, Aaron is a builder. He has developed unique tools for manipulating and controlling 2D materials at the atomic scale and has taken an affinity for 3D printing. He has helped multiple groups at Stanford and ASU in addressing research problems by designing and building custom parts for experimental setups. In his free time, he developed a practical lab skills class at Stanford, reached Global Elite status in CounterStrike Go, and became a wonderful dog parent to his adorable Australian shepherd, Roxy.

Personal homepage: https://www.aaronsharpe.science/

Chanese Smith ([email protected])
Barrett the Honors College
Undergraduate Student in Electrical Engineering
School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering (ECEE)

Chanese joined the Rolston Lab in Summer 2023 as a participant in the Nanotechnology Collaborative Infrastructure Southwest Research Experience for Undergraduates. Her research involves perovskite characterization, observing its degradation and validation of stress responses under in situ testing conditions. In her free time she enjoys reading, riding her bike and gardening.

Sanskar Srivastava ([email protected])
Undergraduate Student in Computer Science
School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence (SCAI)

Sanskar began volunteering in the Rolston lab in the fall of 2023 and will remain a part of the Grand Challenges Scholar Program (GCSP) and the FURI program. He is using machine vision to assess perovskite faults and to assist his colleagues in determining how to enhance the perovskite. He likes spending time outside, playing video games, and traveling to new places with family and friends when he is not in the lab or at school. He is also vice of a TEDx club at ASU.

Seth Storino ([email protected])
Undergraduate Student in Electrical Engineering
School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering (ECEE)

Seth joined the Rolston Lab in Spring 2023. He researches the adverse effects of lithium carbonate in LLZTO solid-state electrolytes to improve interfacial mechanical and ionic properties for high performance solid-state batteries. Outside of the lab, Seth enjoys playing tennis, cooking, hiking, and going to 70s/90s rock concerts as well as country music festivals.

Isak Tang ([email protected])
Undergraduate Student in Materials Science and Engineering
School for Engineering of Matter, Transport, and Energy (SEMTE)

Bachelor’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering (graduating in 2025)

Isak investigates potential materials of thin-film solid-state electrolytes, in hopes of developing material for next-generation lithium-ion batteries. His long-standing interest in materials science and chemistry stems from inspiration from his science teachers and early laboratory experiences. His hobbies include biking, humanities reading, and stamp collecting.

Favian Tippin ([email protected])
Undergraduate Student in Aerospace Engineering, Applied Mathematics
Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering

Favian researches the effect of temperature on the ion concentration, mobility, and conductivity in perovskite PV cells. The goal is to further characterize the behavior of the emerging solar cell technology for a more safe and sustainable future. In his free time, he enjoys working out and playing basketball at his local gym while spending time with family and friends.

Benjamin Tung ([email protected])
Undergraduate Student in Electrical Engineering
School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering (ECEE)

After joining the lab in Summer 2023, Benjamin is looking to perform research in improving the operational stability of Formamidinium-based perovskites through the use of different additives and processing methods. In his spare time, he enjoys writing stories (that he’s too embarrassed to show), playing geography trivia quizzes (seriously, who does that?) and destroying people at Mario Kart (at least, he would like to).

Adam Westmoreland ([email protected])
Barrett the Honors College
Undergraduate Student in Chemical Engineering
School for Engineering of Matter, Transport, and Energy (SEMTE)

Adam joined the Rolston Lab in Fall 2023 to complete an honors thesis on the topic of flexible perovskite solar module characterization for lunar applications. He has passion for advancements in renewable energy capabilities and aspires to have a role in scaling these technologies across the globe and beyond. Outside of the lab, he enjoys adventuring while practicing outdoor photography, learning how to drum, and recreationally sporting with friends.

Mason Mahaffey ([email protected])
PhD Student in Electrical Engineering
School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering (ECEE)

B.S. Georgia Institute of Technology, Honors Program – Electrical Engineering (2019)

Mason is a PhD student in the Holman Group (and close friend of the Rolston Group), where he focuses on improving and understanding solar cells using the quantified photoluminescence tool he co-developed. A jack-of-all-trades, you can find him making perovskite solar cells, acting as the resident coding expert, and using his tool on Si, CdTe, PVK, and III-V technologies. He’s been intent on working on renewables since high school and throughout his time at Georgia Tech, where he was a part of Georgia Tech Solar Racing. Outside of the lab, you can find him playing tennis, making baked goods, or on-stage as part of “The Callback” improv team.

Selva Seelan Margoschis ([email protected])
Graduate Student in Electrical Engineering
School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering (ECEE)

B.E. Electronics and Communication Engineering, Anna University-Chennai (2020)

Selva’s research focuses on the electrical characterization of battery and conductivity materials with the goal of developing high-efficiency batteries and power electronics for electric vehicles. He wants to fulfill his duty in the movement towards a more sustainable world through electrical engineering. Outside of the lab, he enjoys listening to music, traveling and MMA.

Vishnu Sooraj ([email protected])
Graduate Student in Industrial Engineering
School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence (SCAI)
B-Tech, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Mechatronics Engineering (2019)

Vishnu joined the Rolston Lab in Spring 2023- his work involves creating, and identifying optimal laser etching patters for scalable perovskite solar cells. Outside of the lab, he enjoys playing sports, cooking and photography. He aspires to one day become part of a team that focuses on ADAS Systems and Self Driving Cars.

Zachary White ([email protected])
Undergraduate Student in Electrical Engineering and Physics
School for Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering (ECEE)

Zach joined the Rolston Lab in Fall 2022 as part of the Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative (FURI) program. His work involves developing and characterizing laser etching patterns for scalable perovskite solar cells. Outside of the lab, Zach enjoys competing in Olympic-Weightlifting and spending time in nature.

Abdallah Yousef M. Ali ([email protected])
Postdoctoral Researcher (Google Scholar)
School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering (ECEE)
Ph.D., Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology, Chemical Engineering (2022)
M.Sc., Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology, Chemical Engineering (2019)
B.S., Aswan University, Mechanical Engineering (2013)

Abdallah’s research work in Rolston Lab focuses on thermomechanical and durability analyses of PV solar modules and emerging perovskite solar cells for solar energy applications by means of numerical ANSYS simulations. Outside of work, Abdallah finds enjoyment in playing and watching soccer and tennis, as well as spending quality time with friends and family.