Visiting Researchers

• Frank Piedra Jimenez, Ph.D
• Wonho Jung, Ph.D: I received both my B.S. (2016) and Ph.D. (2020) in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering from Sogang University. I am currently a Research Professor at Sogang University, and my research focuses on advanced CO2 capture processes—including absorption, adsorption, and membrane technologies—as well as sustainable chemical production from C1 feedstocks, including pathways to ethylene, BTX, and hydrocarbons. Google Scholar

Alumni

• Victor Soria Alcaide (CMU MS): Víctor joined the group in Fall 2023. He holds a BEng in Industrial Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain. Co-advised by Valerie Karplus in the Engineering and Public Policy department, he did research in sustainable aviation fuels production routes and regulations. He was a Fulbright scholar sponsored by the Iberdrola Foundation. (email: vsoriaal@andrew.cmu.edu)
• Rishabh Mehta (CMU MS): Rishabh joined the Torres' Research Group in Fall 2023. He holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from VIT, Vellore, India. His work focused on Life Cycle Analysis and optimization of the forestry biomass to hydrocarbons supply chain. (email: rishabhm@andrew.cmu.edu)
• Valeria González (CMU MS): Valeria joined the Torres' research group as an undergraduate researcher in 2019 and as a MSc. student in 2021. As an undergraduate she worked on the design of processes for the conversion of triglycerides into green naphta, green diesel and sustainable aviation fuel. In her master studies, she developed a model for electrocatalytic reactors that convert CO2 into chemicals. (email: valeriag@fing.edu.uy)
• Jimena Ferreira (Udelar PhD): Jimena joined the Torres' research group in 2018. She holds a Diploma in Chemical Engineering from Udelar Uruguay and a MSc. in Chemical Engineering from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where she used Environment for Modeling, Simulation and Optimization (EMSO) to develop a dynamic model for a biorefinery evaporator. Her PhD thesis focused  on the development of surrogate models based on symbolic regression. She was co-advised with Professor Martín Pedemonte (Udelar, Uruguay). (email: jimenaf@fing.edu.uy)
• Mariana Corengia (Udelar PhD): Mariana joined the Torres' research group in 2017, after completing her MSc. in Chemical Engineering at Udelar, Uruguay in the area of fuel cells. Her PhD thesis was on the design and optimization of P2P and P2X systems, including storage in batteries and production of green hydrogen. (email: corengia@fing.edu.uy)
• Akhil Nair (CMU MS): Akhil joined the Torres' research group in 2021 after a 4-year stint as a Process Engineer at Bharat Petroleum Corporation. He holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Government College Thrissur. His work entailed developing a circular and data-driven superstructure optimization framework for the plastics recycling value chain. He was co-advised with Professor Carl D. Laird. (email: akhiln@andrew.cmu.edu)
• Samarth Palav (CMU MS): Samarth joined the group in 2021 after completing his Bachelors in Petroleum Engineering from Mahrashtra Institute of Technology, Pune. He worked on the design, modeling and optimization of recycling process for printed circuit boards. He was co-advised with Professor Lorenz T. Biegler. (email: akhiln@andrew.cmu.edu)
• Nicolás Estefan (UDelar MS)
• Keerthana Karthikeyan (CMU ChemE undergraduate): Keerthana joined the group in 2023 and graduated in 2025. Her project was on decarbonization of the oil industry 
• Samuel Chai (CMU ChemE undergraduate/MS): Samuel joined the group in 2023 and graduated in 2024. His project was on the recovery of minerals from end-of-life products. 
• Kevin Chang (CMU ChemE undergraduate): Kevin joined the group in 2022 as a summer ChESS scholar and graduated in 2023. He worked on the production of green hydrogen from renewable sources
• Melvin Ofosu-Koranteng (CMU ChemE undergraduate) : Melvin joined the group in 2022 as a summer ChESS scholar and graduated in 2023. He worked on modeling of triglyceride based feedstocks.