Fall-2020


Group Picture October 2024
From left to right: (back row) Parker, Maggie, Joey, Jiaxing; (middle row) Rebecca, Nanqing, Nasrin, Benjamin, Dominique; (front row) Prof Aristilde, Kelly, Pandeeswari, Aurore, Nanqing, Norah, Cara.

Follow these links for details on Principal Investigator and alumni.

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Ludmilla Aristilde, Ph.D.

Faculty Profile at Northwestern University
2019–Present, (Tenured) Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, (by courtesy) Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, and (by courtesy) Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Northwestern University
2024–Present, REU Co-Director, Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University
2023–Present, Faculty Affiliate, Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy, Northwestern University
2021–Present, Faculty Affiliate, International Institute of Nanotechnology, Northwestern University
2020–Present, Core faculty, Center for Synthetic Biology, Northwestern University

Faculty Profile at Cornell University
2019–2023, Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University
2018–2019, (Tenured) Associate Professor, Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University
2012–2018, Assistant Professor, Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University
2017, Invited Professor by the Université Grenoble-Alpes, Institut des Sciences de la Terre, Grenoble, France
2015, Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future Faculty Fellow

Contact Information:
Northwestern University
McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

E-mail: ludmilla.aristilde@northwestern.edu

POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHERS

Nanqing Zhou, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, 2022-Present

Ph.D. Marine Biosciences, University of Delaware, 2022
M.Sc. Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, 2017
B.S. Environmental Science, University of Science and Technology of China, 2014

Research Interests: Understanding how microbes use different carbon sources and applying this metabolic knowledge for sustainable energy solutions.
Research Topics: Use isotope tracers and multi-omics techniques to elucidate carbon fluxes in biotechnologically relevant soil bacteria.

Nasrin Naderi Beni, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, 2023-Present

Ph.D. Civil Engineering with Environmental Engineering Specialization, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023
M.S. Civil Engineering with Environmental Engineering Specialization, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2019
B.S. AmirKabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, 2016

Research Interests: Molecular-scale reactivity of micro and nanoplastics; Interactions of plastics with contaminants.
Research Topics: Surface reactivity of native and transformed plastics.

Benjamin Barrios Cerda, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, 2024-Present

Ph.D. Environmental Engineering, Michigan Technological University, 2023
M.S. Materials Center, Advanced Materials Research Center, 2019
B.S. Chemistry, Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Mexico, 2016

Research Interests: Reaction Mechanisms of Environmental Processes.
Research Topics: Catalysis and transformation of Biomolecules at Mineral Interfaces.

RESEARCH ASSISTANTS AND TECHNICIANS