3 | Grad Students

Marina Potemkin earned a BSc in Biochemical Engineering from the Technion. Her research focuses on the development and optimization of Anion Exchange Membrane Water Electrolyzers via mathematical modeling as part of a proposal for MSc studies in the Grand Technion Energy Program at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.

Alma Yanay will receive her BSc from the department of Chemical Engineering, Technion – Israeli Institute of Technology in 2024. In the meantime, she joined the TEEM’s group to enrich her knowledge about Advanced Triple Phase Boundary for Electrochemical devices, and she will become MSc student under the joint supervision of prof. Dario Dekel.

Manman Zhang received her BSc in Chemical Engineering from Xinyang Normal University in 2018 (2014-2018). In November 2018, she joined Prof. Baozeng Ren’s group as a master student in Zhengzhou University, majoring in Chemical Engineering. Since July 2019, Manman joined her co-supervisor’s (Prof. Yi Nie) group and conducted her master’s research topic “Preparation of poly(ionic liquid) based bio-scaffolds using 3D printing technology”in Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhengzhou. After receiving her master’s degree from Zhengzhou university in 2021, she joined Prof Xuezhong He’s group as a PhD student in Guangdong Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and

Anna Suslonova has graduated from the KNRTU Institute of Polymers. During her studies, she participated in competitions such as case-in and polymer hackathon.  

Alexander Baranov graduated with a MSc degree in Chemistry from Lomonosov Moscow State University, faculty of Fundamental Physical and Chemical Engineering, in 2020. In 2020-2022, he was investigating solid-state ionic conductors at the Institute of Problems of Chemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In May 2023, Alexander joined TEEM’s group as a PhD student under supervision of Prof. Dario Dekel. The main focus of his research is the study of catalysts for anion exchange membrane fuel cells.

Jinliu Zhong received her BSc degree in Chemical Engineering from Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT) in 2022. In her junior year, she joined the Green Catalyst Laboratory, which is led by Prof. Ziyi Zhong, to explore structured polymer support with controlled pore architecture for photocatalyst immobilization and apply it to wastewater treatment. With a strong interest in fuel cells, she started her MSc supervised by Prof. Dario Dekel in the Wolfson Department of Chemical Engineering at the Technion, since 2022.

Nada received her B.Sc. in Energy Engineering and Environment from An-Najah National University, Palestine in August 2018, . In February 2019, she joined Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and worked under Dr Tareq Abu Hamed’s supervision; the current Executive Director of the institute, in his research which was based on the production of continuous hydrogen via metal hydrolysis processes, followed by receiving their diploma in Environmental Science. Immediately after, she pursued her M.Sc. studies with Professor Roni Kasher at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, majoring in Hydrology and Water Quality, more specifically, specializing in desalination and water treatment and

Syeda Mushrifa Zahan’s doctoral research broadly covers Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell. Prior to joining Technion, Mushrifa was a Project Assistant at the Center for Nanoscience and Engineering (CeNSE), IISc, Bangalore. Mushrifa has a M.Sc. in Nanoscience and Technology (Tezpur University) and a B.Sc. in Physics. She was also a Junior Research Fellow (2016-2018) at the Department of Energy, Tezpur University. Apart from her academic work, Mushrifa aspires to contribute to making STEM a more diverse and inclusive space, while in her free time she paints.  

Zihua Chen received his BSc in Pharmaceutical engineering from Guangdong University of Technology, China in 2016. Then, he studied his master's course at Shantou University, China, majoring in Organic chemistry. Since October 2021, he as a Ph.D. student join Prof. Dario Dekel’s group in the Wolfson Department of Chemical Engineering at the Technion.

John received his BSc in Chemical Engineering from Prairie View A&M University in Texas in 2003. It was a very applicative experience as he got the opportunity to do 3 engineering internships with various chemical and oil companies while obtaining his degree. After graduating, he began a career as a process engineer at the Brownwood, Texas location of 3M company. Throughout his 13.5 years of his employment there, he was internally recruited for and transitioned to many jobs with increasing responsibility; such as project engineer, Lean Six Sigma BB, factory project advisor and factory project leader for a new, globally