Faculty
Prof. Sili Deng (邓斯理)
Doherty Professorship in Ocean Utilization | Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Ave., Building 3-336, Cambridge, MA 02139
Email: silideng at mit dot edu
Phone: +1-617-452-3064
Curriculum Vitae
Google Scholar
Dr. Sili Deng joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT as an assistant professor in January 2019. She received her bachelor’s degree in Thermal Engineering from Tsinghua University in 2010 and her master’s and doctoral degrees in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University in 2012 and 2016, respectively. From 2016 to 2018, Dr. Deng was a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. Dr. Deng received the Princeton Energy and Climate Scholarship in 2013 and the Gordon Wu Prize for Excellence in 2014, both from Princeton University. She also received the Excellence in Teaching Award in 2014 from Princeton University and was one of the five recipients of the Bernard Lewis Fellowship at the biennial International Symposium on Combustion in 2016. She was appointed to the d'Arbeloff Career Development Chair in 2019, the Class of 1954 Career Development Chair in 2022, and the Doherty Professorship in Ocean Utilization. She is also a recipient of the Frontiers of Engineering from National Academy of Engineering (2021), NSF CAREER Award (2022), Kavli Exploration Award (2023), Scialog Fellow by Research Corporation for Science Advancement (2024), Irvin Glassman Young Investigator Award by Eastern States Section of Combustion Institute (2024), US Early Career Combustion Investigator (2025), and Hiroshi Tsuji Early Career Award by the Combustion Institute (2025).
Research Scientists
Jianan Zhang
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2020-present
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, The University of Iowa, 2017
M.E., Engineering Thermophysics, Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2011
B.E., Thermal Energy and Power Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), 2008
Research Area: Flame spray pyrolysis for manufacturing energy storage materials
Email: jiananz at mit dot edu
Postdoctoral Scholars
Linzheng Wang
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2023-Present
Ph.D., Thermal Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 2023
B.E., Resource and Enviromental Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 2018
Research Area: Multi-modal digital twin; Multi-phase CFD modeling; Biomass energy
Email: wanglz at mit dot edu
Linkedin, Scholar
Suyong Kim
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2018-present
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2024
M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Seoul National University, 2017
B.S., Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, 2015
Research Area: Energetic Materials, AI for Science
Active Projects: Physics of energetic nanomaterials, Metal-based clean energy conversion, Interpretable model discovery
Email: suyong at mit dot edu
Personal webpage, Scholar
David Keisar
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2023-present
Ph.D., Energy Engineering, Technion, 2023
B.Sc., Mechanical Engineering, Technion, 2019
B.A., Economics, The Open University, 2011
Research Area: Battery Deactivation and Energy System Analysis
Active projects: Battery deactivation through mechanical abuse, Coupling of thermodynamic and technoeconomic modeling in energy storage, Carbon capture and storage pathway analysis, Inverse modeling of energy storage materials
Email: keisar at mit dot edu
Linkedin, Scholar
Graduate Students
Benjamin Koenig
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2021-present
M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2023
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2021
Research Area: Scientific Machine Learning in Energy Applications
Active Projects: CRNNs for battery thermal runaway modeling, KAN-ODEs for physics modeling and combustion system inference
Email: bckoenig at mit dot edu
Linkedin, Scholar
Emily Lin (co-advised with Prof. Evelyn Wang)
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2021-present
M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2023
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2021
Research Area: Hydrogen generation and CO2 storage
Email: elin49 at mit dot edu
Chuwei Zhang
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2022-present
B.S., Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Southern University of Science and Technology, 2022
Research Area: Combustion-based Materials Synthesis
Email: chuwei17 at mit dot edu
Stefan Borjan
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2022-present
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2022
Research Area: Modeling of Diesel Engine After-treatment
Email: sborjan at mit dot edu
Nicolas Tricard
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2023-present
M.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Connecticut, 2023
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Connecticut, 2021
Research Area: Energetic Materials and Scientific Machine Learning
Email: ntricard at mit dot edu
Zituo Chen
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2023-present
B.S., Energy and Power Engineering (Advanced Clean Energy), Tsinghua University, 2023
Research Area: AI for Science
Active projects: Generative PDE solution, AI for flame diagnostics, atomistic simulations of nanomaterials.
Email: zituo at mit dot edu
Linkedin, Scholar
Jakob Wegmueller
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2022-present
M.S, Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2024
B.S.E., Mechanical Engineering with Secondary Major in Music, Case Western Reserve University, 2022
Research Area: Battery Material Synthesis, Techno-Economic Analysis
Active Projects: Flame-assisted spray pyrolysis for oxide electrolyte manufacturing, Techno-economic and life cycle analysis of solid-state battery manufacturing.
Email: jmweg at mit dot edu
Linkedin
Hyein Choi
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2024-present
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of New Mexico, 2024
Research Area: Energetic Materials
Active Projects: Studying dominant mechanisms during self-propagating high temperature synthesis, modeling of multilayered energetic materials.
Email: hychoi at mit dot edu
Linkedin, Scholar
Natasha Stamler
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2023-present
B.S., Mechanical Engineering and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2022
Research Area: Synthesis of energy storage materials
Active Projects: Cathode recycling using flame-assisted spray pyrolysis, characterization of battery materials, commercial pathways for recycled batteries
Email: stamlern at mit dot edu
Linkedin, Scholar
Jason Chen
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2025-present
B.S., Mechanical Engineering and Literature, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2025
Research Area: Scientific Machine Learning, CFD, Multi-Modal Digital Twins
Active Projects: Global-Local-Uncertainty fusion for dynamic forecasting from sparse observations, Incomplete multi-modal generative learning for mutual inference and reconstruction, Digital twins for ammonia combustion
Email: jachen25 at mit dot edu
Linkedin
Allison Craig
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2025-present
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, 2024
Research Area: Synthesis of battery materials
Active Projects: Flame-assisted spray pyrolysis for cathode manufacturing
Email: allisc at mit dot edu
Linkedin
Undergraduate Students
Trent Lee
Super Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, 09/2024-present
Majoring in Mechanical Engineering with Sustainable Development, Class of 2026
Visiting Scholars
Postdoctoral Alumni
Weiqi Ji
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2019-2021
Ph.D., Center for Combustion Energy, Tsinghua University, 2019
B.E., Thermal Engineering, Tsinghua University, 2014
Research Area: Physics-informed Data-driven Modeling
Current: Data Scientist at Apple
Yuesen Wang
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2017-2022
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University, 2017
M.E., Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University, 2012
B.E., Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University of Technology, 2010
Research Area: Aftertreatment of engine exhaust
Current: Associate Consultant at Exponent
Qiaofeng Li
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2022-2023
Ph.D., Mechanics, Tsinghua University, 2018
B.E., Engineering Mechanics, Harbin Institute of Technology, 2013
Research Area: Physics-informed machine learning and uncertainty quantification
Current: Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering at Zhejiang University
Graduate Alumni
Valerie Muldoon
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2020-2022
M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2022
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2020
Research Area: Combustion-based Materials Synthesis
Current: Research Engineer at Quantumscape
Gwendolyn Tsai
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2022-2024
M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2024
B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 2022
Research Area: Energetic Materials
Current: Propulsion Engineer at SpaceX
Suyong Kim
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2018-present
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2024
M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Seoul National University, 2017
B.S., Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, 2015
Research Area: Carbon-neutral Energetic Materials
Current: Postdoc at DENG
Huaibo Chen
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2021-2024
M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2024
B.Eng., Automotive Engineering, Tongji University, 2021
Research Area: Scientific Machine Learning and Uncertainty Quantification
Curent: Ph.D. Student at MIT
Maanasa Bhat
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2019-2025
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2024
M.Tech., Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, 2019
B.Eng., Mechanical Engineering, R. V College of Engineering, 2016
Research Area: Combustion-based Materials Synthesis
Undergraduate Alumni
Alex Aguilar
Undergratuate Thesis, 09/2019-05/2020
Majoring in Mechanical Engineering, Class of 2020
Sophie Longawa
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, 01/2020
Class of 2023
Matthew Morris
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, 06/2020-08/2020
Majoring in Mathematics and Computer Science, Class of 2023
Ritaank Tiwari
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, 06/2020-08/2020
Majoring in Computer Science and Mathematics, Class of 2022
Barak Davidi
MIT Summer Research Program, 06/2020-08/2020
Majoring in Physics, Fairfield University, Class of 2021
Christian Belser
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, 06/2020-08/2020
Majoring in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science, Class of 2022
David Ologan
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, 06/2020-08/2020
Majoring in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science, Class of 2022
Meghana Vemulapalli
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, 06/2020-01/2021
Majoring in Mechanical Engineering, Class of 2022
William Zhao
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, 06/2020-12/2020
Majoring in Mathematics, Class of 2023
Benjamin Koenig
Super Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, 09/2020-05/2021
Majoring in Mechanical Engineering, Class of 2021
Julian Zanders
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, 06/2020-05/2021
Majoring in Computer Science, Class of 2023
Lucia Vina Lopez
Summer Co-op, 06/2021-09/2021
Majoring in Physics, Drexel University, Class of 2022
Averitt Johns
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, 01/2020-05/2022
Majoring in Mechanical Engineering, Class of 2022
Pedro Alonso Hernandez
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, 02/2022-05/2022
Majoring in Mathematics and Physics, Class of 2025
Ian Rivera
MIT Summer Research Program, 06/2022-08/2022
Majoring in Mechanical Engineering, Penn State University, Class of 2024
Jason Chen
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, 09/2021-12/2022
Majoring in Physics, Class of 2025
Evan Bell
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, 02/2022-12/2022
Majoring in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Class of 2025
Tsolmon Bazarragchaa
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, 02/2023-05/2023
Majoring in Mechanical Engineering, Class of 2024
Lucy Young
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, 02/2023-05/2023
Majoring in Mechanical Engineering, Class of 2024
Nine Morch
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, 02/2023-05/2023
Majoring in Mechanical Engineering, Class of 2023
Arthur Chen
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, 02/2023-08/2023
Major in Mechanical Engineering, Class of 2026
George Chang
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, 06/2023-08/2023
Majoring in Mechanical Engineering, Class of 2026
Jake Li
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, 06/2023-12/2023
Majoring in Electrical Engineering, Class of 2026
Connor Hickey
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, 06/2023-05/2024
Undergraduate Thesis
Majoring in Mechanical Engineering, Class of 2024
Johan Maysonet Pena
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, 02/2023-05/2025
Majoring in Mechanical Engineering, Class of 2025
Estefano Reyes Madriz
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, 06/2023-05/2025
Majoring in Artificial Intelligence and Decision Making, class of 2025
Veloria Pannell
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, 06/2023-05/2025
Majoring in Electrical Engineering, Class of 2026
Henry Smith
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, 09/2024-05/2025
Majoring in Mechanical Engineering, Class of 2025
Visiting Alumni
John Wen
Visiting Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 10/2021-10/2022
Professor, Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Waterloo
Bowen Ge
Undergraduate Visiting Student
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 08/2019
Department of Physics, Peking University, Class of 2020
Edoardo Ramalli
Progetto Roberto Rocca Visiting Student
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 02/2023-08/2023
Ph.D. Student, Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano
Timothée Herbeau
MISTI Visiting Student
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 09/2023-01/2024
4th year Engineering Student, Mines de Paris
Yaojun Li
Undergraduate Visiting Student
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 08/2024-01/2025
Tsien Excellence in Education Program, Tsinghua University
