PDS Winners of Spring 2023
Kinnari Shah
Kinnari Shah is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Yip Lab at Columbia University’s Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering. Her research focuses on emerging technologies at the energy-water-environment nexus, particularly for high-salinity desalination and zero-liquid discharge applications. Kinnari’s experimental work seeks to elucidate the fundamental mechanisms governing Temperature Swing Solvent Extraction, an emerging green technology in the field of hypersaline desalination. Outside of the lab, Kinnari enjoys bike riding through New York City, seeing Broadway shows, and scuba diving.
Xi Chen
Xi (Leslie) Chen is a Ph.D. candidate in the Computer Science department at Columbia. She received B.A. degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from Carleton College, MN, and is now focusing on computational social science and social network analysis. Before joining Columbia, she worked as a research assistant at the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics at UCLA. During her doctoral study, she worked as a research intern at Meta Core Data Science three times.
Alexia Yun
Alexia is a Chemical Engineering M.S./Ph.D. student and an NSF fellow in Professor Oleg Gang’s Group, and she received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering with Highest Honors from UC Berkeley in 2022. Alexia conducted research ranging from batteries to neurotransmitter nanosensors in academia, at Cuberg (acquired by Northvolt), and Merck. Her current research focus is engineering reconfigurable/stimuli-responsive nanomaterials (e.g., nano emitter) via incorporations of DNA origami, nanoparticles, and photoswitching chemicals.
Lennart Schulze
My name is Lennart and I am a second-semester master's student in computer science, focusing on deep learning, computer vision, and robotics. Originally from Berlin, Germany, I was fortunate to live, study and work in four countries before coming to the US last fall with an undergraduate degree in business informatics. These stations led me to become involved in NGOs, intergovernmental organizations, as well as the tech sector, working between business, policy, and R&D. My academic interest lies in research at the intersection of emerging technologies, which I am pursuing as a research assistant in Columbia’s unique engineering community.
Harshit Harpaldas
Harshit Harpaldas is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. He is an NSF GRFP fellow and a graduate research assistant in the Molecular and Microscale Bioengineering for Diagnostics and Therapeutics lab, supervised by Professor Samuel K. Sia. He is passionate about developing next-generation, integrated point-of-care testing solutions for real-world impact. His work involves automating and decentralizing the detection of viruses in wastewater to monitor community spread and developing mobile health solutions to complement and increase the adoption of rapid testing.
Yuxuan Huang
Yuxuan Huang is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia University, under the supervision of Dr. Ngai Yin Yip. Yuxuan received his Master of Science degree in Environmental Engineering at Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Energy Science and Engineering at City University of Hong Kong. He is interested in ion-exchange membranes (IEMs) and focuses on the fundamental understanding of IEM transport phenomena. Yuxuan aims to leverage the knowledge generated to advance two frontiers of the IEM field: the conductivity-permselectivity tradeoff and limitations on specific ion selectivity.
Xiang Ji
Xiang (pronounced "see-AWE-n") Ji is a Barnard 4+1 student in Biomedical Engineering. With a background in biochemistry and engineering, she will support biomedical research as a research veterinarian. Through Columbia, Xiang got to work with guinea pigs, cats, marmosets, goats, snakes, and many more! Xiang investigates cochlear mechanics as a SEAS engineer with her fantastic mentor and colleagues in the Olson lab. She is both a researcher and a disability advocate and has hosted workshops and panels through Columbia Student Disability Network and CU Sign Language Club. Xiang is also an avid audiobook listener and dancer, studying ballet, tap, and flamenco alongside her science courses.
Gaurav Jain
Gaurav Jain is a Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science at Columbia University, working with Professor Brian A. Smith in the Computer-Enabled Abilities Lab (CEAL). His primary research interest lies in the field of Human-Computer Interaction, with a specific focus on developing Human-AI systems. His work aims to embed AI technologies, such as computer vision, into human interactions to enhance the lives of blind and low-vision people, enabling them to experience the world around them with more agency. Gaurav received a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Delhi Technological University, India in 2020 and is a recipient of the Columbia University's Greenwoods Fellowship in 2020, and the Indian Academy of Sciences’ Summer Research Fellowship in 2019.