About
I'm a chemical engineer who likes figuring out how things work and testing that understanding by building models and comparing them to real data. It's especially rewarding to see a model end up in a tool that someone else finds useful, and that means staying in close contact with the people actually using it.
Currently I work at Midrex Technologies in Charlotte, NC. Midrex is the world leader in direct reduction technology, responsible for producing most of the world's DRI and one of the most proven pathways toward decarbonizing steelmaking. One of my favorite parts of this role is collaborating with a team of software developers to build tools for engineers at the company.
Before that I did my Ph.D. at Northwestern, where I spent most of my time trying to understand what happens to plastics at the molecular level as you try to break them down and make them into something new. My main tools were kinetic Monte Carlo simulations and quantum chemical calculations, a combination that lets you connect the microscopic physics to things you can actually measure in the lab.
Outside of work I like to run, backpack, and bike. Recently I've been trying to complete the North Carolina section of the Appalachian Trail.
Experience
Process Modeling Engineer · Midrex Technologies
Charlotte, NC
Collaborating with software engineers to build cool tools that aid design of DRI shaft furnaces and related upstream/downstream systems.
Process Modeling Intern · GSK
Comparing different Multivariable Statistical Process Monitoring methods for fault detection using data from industrial bioreactors.
Ph.D. Chemical Engineering · Northwestern University
Evanston, IL
Building kinetic models to connect experimental data with quantum chemical calculations using a special technique known as kinetic Monte Carlo. GPA 3.9/4.0. Electives in chemical engineering computational methods, polymer chemistry, and data science. Performed part-time consulting work for the European Kinetics Consortium (EUROKIN).
B.S. Chemical Engineering · University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY
Played with high-powered laser to deposit thin films. Synthesized metal oxide targets. Minors in Math and Physics.
Projects
Activity Map
An interactive map of my runs, bike rides, and hikes, built to track my progress section hiking the Appalachian Trail. Syncs GPS data from my watch and plots it with Leaflet.js.
Maillard Reaction Kinetic Model
Collaboration with ADM to maximize yield of a flavor compound from glucose — the same reaction responsible for the golden-brown color and taste when you cook. Used quantum chemical calculations to estimate energy barriers for key reactions, converted those to rate constants via transition state theory, then built a kinetic model that matched ADM's experimental measurements. Achieved some of the highest reported yields of the target compound.
Favorite GIFs
A curated collection spanning fluid dynamics, molecular chemistry, 4D geometry, and combinatorics — things I find beautiful enough to save.