Research Bio
My research is focused on characterizing electrocatalytic mechanisms with a combined experimental and theoretical approach. I work on a number of different reactions, including selective oxidation of biomass-derived compounds like furfural and hydroxymethyl furfural, electrochemical alkene hydroformylation, CO2听reduction, CO oxidation and hydrogen evolution reaction. Within听the Musgrave group, I use Grand Canonical Density Functional Theory (GC-DFT) to probe elementary reaction energetics at solvated and electrified interfaces. The group has recently shown that GC-DFT is more able to rationalize experimental observations than conventional DFT calculations, so GC-DFT is key to accurately predicting reaction mechanisms and engineering next-generation electrocatalysts for the chemical and energy industries.
Personal Bio
Hometown: Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia
Education: Bachelor of Science (Chemistry), Trinity University (San Antonio), 2017
In my free time I mostly like to exercise. I enjoy long-distnce and trail running, especially with my dog Rusty. I also do Pilates almost every day and play soccer with other Chemical Engineering students in a local indoor soccer league every week.听I try to make time to听read non-scietific literature as much as possible, and mostly enjoy science fiction and non-fiction. I also enjoy听watching听television (favorite TV shows are Breaking Bad, Ozark, Survivor and The Simpsons). I also love to听hang out at local Colorado breweries, some of my favorite locations are Twisted Pine, Sanitas, Industrial Revolution and Uhl's.I also love live music. I mostly listen to heavy metal, but also enjoy rock, alternative, punk, country and classical music. My favorite artists are Metallica, Trivium, Tremonti, Sturgill Simpson and听The Living End. I am well-known for catching a lot of guitar picks at concerts because of my height (6'9").
Selected Publications
Sravan Kumar, K. B.; Whittaker, T. N.; Peterson, C.; Grabow, L. C.; Chandler, B. D. . J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142 (12), 5760鈥�5772.
Whittaker, T.; Kumar, K. B. S.; Peterson, C.; Pollock, M. N.; Grabow, L. C.; Chandler, B. D. . J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140 (48), 16469鈥�16487.
Awards and Service
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering Graduate Leadership Committee Recruiting Co-Chair, 2021-Present
Northop Grumman Graduate Education Scholarship, American Australian Association, 2021
Outstanding Research Assistant Award, Graduate and Professional Student Government, 2021
Dean's Graduate Assistantship, 精品SM在线影片 College of Engineering and Applied Science, 2020
Kokes Award Recipient, North American Catalysis Society, 2017
Phi Beta Kappa Inductee, 2017
Academic All-American, CoSIDA, 2016
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