talks

Invited Talks & Conference Presentations

1. Discovering Thermoresponsive Ionic Liquids for Water Desalination

   GaTech Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition
   April 2026 Atlanta, GA
   2nd Place

2. PyMPFIT: Multipole moment–based partial atomic charge fitting

   ACS Spring 2026
   March 2026 Atlanta, GA
   Invited to COMP Sci-Mix

3. Molecular Thermodynamics of Thermoresponsive Ionic Liquid—Water Mixtures

   Center for Computational Molecular Science and Technology (CCMST) Seminar
   March 2026 Atlanta, GA

4. Understanding Ionic Liquids via Polarizable Molecular Dynamics

   Martin Bazant Group Meeting, MIT
   March 2026 Cambridge, MA

5. MMomenta: Multipole Moment-based Charge Assignment for Fast, Transferable Polarizable Force Fields

   Molecular Machine Learning Conference (MoML) @ MIT
   October 2025 Cambridge, MA

6. Understanding Lower Critical Solution Temperature (LCST) Ionic Liquid Behavior via Molecular Simulation

   2025 Chemistry and Physics of Liquids Conference Gordon Research Conference (GRC)
   August 2025 Plymouth, NH

7. Ionic Liquid Materials Discovery - Towards First Principles-based Design

   DOE CSGF Annual Program Review
   July 2025 Washington, D.C.

8. Understanding Lower Critical Solution Temperature (LCST) Ionic Liquid Behavior via Molecular Simulation

   2025 El-Sayed Spring Research Symposium
   May 2025 Atlanta, GA

9. Understanding Lower Critical Solution Temperature (LCST) Ionic Liquid (IL) Behavior via Molecular Simulation

   ACS Spring 2025
   March 2025 San Diego, CA
   Poster

10. Microscopic Behavior of Battery Electrolytes through Molecular Dynamics Simulations

    SIAM Conference on Computational Science and Engineering (CSE25)
    February 2025 Fort Worth, TX
    Slides

11. Discovering Ionic Liquid Materials for Low Temperature Water Desalination: A High-throughput Molecular Dynamics Approach

    GaTech Career, Research, and Innovation Development Conference (CRIDC)
    February 2025 Atlanta, GA

12. Molecular Simulation of Lower Critical Solution Temperature Ionic Liquids

    Ionic Liquids Gordon Research Conference (GRC)
    August 2024 Newry, ME

13. Multimode Propellant Discovery - A Computational High-throughput Screening Paradigm

    International Electric Propulsion Conference (IEPC)
    2024 Toulouse, France
    Best Paper Award

14. Ionic Liquids - Understanding Bulk and Interfacial Behavior

    52nd Annual meeting of the Southeastern Theoretical Chemistry Association (SETCA)
    May 2024 Blacksburg, VA

15. Ionic Liquids - Understanding Behavior at Electrochemical Interfaces

    GaTech Career, Research, and Innovation Development Conference (CRIDC)
    2024 Atlanta, GA
    Poster Competition Award Recipient ($1500)
    How it started :) Poster

16. Understanding the liquid structure of [N1888][TFSI] via polarizable molecular dynamics

    ACS Fall 2023 - Ionic Liquids Across Scales and Their Modern-Era Applications
    2023 San Francisco, CA
    Sponsored Poster by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
    DOI

17. Understanding Ionic Liquids via Polarizable Molecular Dynamics

    Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) Invited Seminar
    2023 Richland, WA
    Flyer

18. Understanding the liquid structure of [N1888][TFSI] via polarizable molecular dynamics

    Poster Session for GaTech College of Sciences Advisory Board Member Meeting
    2023 Atlanta, GA

19. Ionic Liquid Force Fields - Development and Applications

    Persson Research Group Final Summer Presentation, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)
    2023 Berkeley, CA

20. Understanding Ionic Liquid Structure via Polarizable Molecular Dynamics Simulations

    DOE CSGF Annual Program Review
    2023 Washington, DC
    Poster

21. A Bayesian Data-driven Model for Quantifying Electrospray Lifetime

    International Electric Propulsion Conference (IEPC)
    2022 Boston, MA
    Slides

22. Insights from Polarizable Molecular Dynamics Simulations of HAN- and HEHN-based Ionic Liquid Mixtures

    Joint Army Navy NASA Air Force (JANNAF)
    2022 Newport News, VA

23. Multi-Physics and Data-Driven Modeling for Electrospray Propulsion

    DOE CSGF Annual Program Review
    2022 Arlington, VA
    Poster

24. Structural, Thermophysical, and Dynamic Properties of Hydroxylammonium Nitrate (HAN) Water Mixtures at the Liquid-Vacuum Interface

    ACS Spring 2022 - Multiscale Chemistry and Dynamics at Surfaces and Interfaces
    2022 San Diego, CA
    Slides

25. Electrospray Plume Modeling for Rapid Life and Performance Analysis

    AIAA SciTech Forum and Exposition
    2022 San Diego, CA
    Slides

26. Multi-Scale Modeling of Ionic Liquids for In-space Propulsion

    UCLA PSPL Spring Quarter Presentation
    2022 Los Angeles, CA

27. Electrospray Plume Modeling for Performance and Lifetime Analysis

    UCLA PSPL Winter Quarter Presentation
    2021 Los Angeles, CA

28. Introduction to Molecular Dynamics

    UCLA PSPL Fall Quarter Presentation
    2020 Los Angeles, CA
    Slides

29. Particle Containment Assurance for Mars Sample Return Mission

    Senior Design Project Presentation at NASA JPL
    2019 Pasadena, CA
    Co-presented with K. Decker, J. Gaither, J. Swan
    Poster

30. Micro-Cold Trap Detection and Characterization on the Lunar Surface

    Caltech SURF Presentation
    2018 Pasadena, CA
    Advised by Sylvain Piqueux and Catherine Elder, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
    Abs

    Lunar micro-cold traps are putative centimeter-scale (or larger) regions cold enough for ice or other volatiles to be trapped and stable over long time periods on planetary bodies. The objective of this project was to demonstrate their existence on the Moon and characterize their properties. The southern hemisphere of the Moon, particularly at latitudes 85° and higher, exhibits partially or permanently shaded regions with sub-110 K temperatures as demonstrated by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Diviner reflected solar and emitted infrared radiances measured through nine spectral channels. Micro-cold traps, however, are sub-resolution and thus too small to be detected directly by Diviner. But near Noon, because they are surrounded by the otherwise warm (illuminated) regolith, multispectral observations should result in anisothermal behavior (i.e. variable brightness temperature as a function of wavelength due to the uniqueness of Planck curves associated with black or grey bodies). Deconvolving these Planck curves yields the properties of the end members (fractional area and brightness temperature), demonstrating that micro-cold traps could be present in the field of view, although not resolved. This approach has been successfully used to map sub-resolution rocks or Mars and the Moon, leveraging the fact that rocks are warmer at night than the surrounding terrains due to their high thermal inertias. Anisothermality has been indeed observed at various locations of the South Pole, with cold end-members consistent with water ice trapping temperatures (110 K or lower), and warm surrounding regolith. Areal fraction of micro-cold trap can mathematically can range from 40 to 100% to match the observations (depending on the temperature of the warm endmember) but should realistically remain closer to the lower bound. Future lunar sampling missions may want to consider sampling micro cold traps.

31. Reactive Molecular Dynamics Analysis of Spacecraft Monopropellants

    USC Undergraduate Research Symposium
    2018 Los Angeles, CA
    Poster