Alumni Panel: Getting and Being Successful in Postdoc and Academic Positions
Panelists
Amy Metlay (’24, Tom Mallouk)
Postdoctoral Fellow, Chemical Engineering
Columbia University in the City of New York
Amy Metlay is a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University in Prof. Lauren Marbella's Chemical Engineering lab. In her current position, Amy works on formulating fluorine-free Li metal battery electrolytes probed using nuclear magnetic resonance and electrochemical methodologies. Amy earned her PhD in chemistry in the summer of 2024 from the University of Pennsylvania while working in Prof. Tom Mallouk's research group where she was a 2021-2022 VIEST Fellow. While at Penn, Amy researched the fundamental electrochemistry of acid-base redox flow battery systems.
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Benjamin A. Paren (’21, Karen Winey)
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Stevens Institute of Technology
Dr. Benjamin (Ben) Paren is an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at Stevens Institute of Technology, since September 2023. Paren’s research seeks solutions to challenges in electrochemical energy storage and conversion through the design and characterization of new polymer electrolytes, in particular correlating nanoscale structure and dynamics with bulk properties. A focus is on electrolytes for battery and fuel cell technologies that utilize resource-abundant or low-cost materials. Paren received a BS and MS in Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) from Carnegie Mellon University in 2016, with a double major in Engineering and Public Policy. Paren completed his PhD in MSE at the University of Pennsylvania in 2021, working with Prof. Karen Winey, where he was a graduate fellow for the NSF-PIRE “REACT” program, as well as an inaugural graduate fellow of the Vagelos Institute for Energy Science and Technology. He was a postdoctoral researcher in the Electrochemical Energy Lab at MIT, working with Prof. Yang Shao-Horn. From his doctoral work, Paren has been acknowledged as an emerging researcher in polymer research through his recognition as a finalist for the APS Frank J. Padden Award, and a finalist for the ACS DSM Bright Science Award, both in 2021.
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Abhinav Raman (’21, Aleks Vojvodic)
Postdoctoral Fellow, Princeton University
Incoming Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras
Abhinav Raman is an incoming Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. His research strives to understand chemical transformations in the condensed phase using various computational tools, with applications ranging from catalysis to environmental geochemistry. Presently, he is a postdoctoral research associate working with Prof. Annabella Selloni in the Department of Chemistry at Princeton University, where his research focuses on developing deep neural network potentials to describe aqueous-oxide interfaces and aqueous solutions. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, working with Prof. Aleksandra Vojvodic on the surface electronic structure of transition metal oxides. Prior to that, he obtained his Master’s in Chemical Engineering from Rutgers University, working with Prof. Yee Chiew on the molecular thermodynamics of complex fluids. Beyond research, Abhinav is also passionate about accessible education and is a contributor to the Textbook Companion initiative of the Free and Open-Source Software for Education project by the Government of India.