People
Director
Professor Aimy Bazylak
Email: aimy (dot) bazylak (at) utoronto (dot) ca
Google Scholar: Aimy Bazylak
Prof. Aimy Bazylak is the Canada Research Chair in Clean Energy and Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the U of T. In 2011, she was awarded the I.W. Smith Award from the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering, and she received the Ontario Early Researcher Award in 2012. From 2015-2018, she served as the Director of the U of T Institute for Sustainable Energy. In 2015 she was named an Alexander Von Humboldt Fellow (Germany), and in 2019 she was named a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. In 2020, she was named a Helmholtz International Fellow (Germany), was awarded the U of T McLean Award, and was elected to the Royal Society of Canada College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists. She was also recently elected as a 2022 Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC) for excellence in engineering and services to the profession and to society.
Research Associate
Najme Kishani Farahni
Email: najme (dot) kishanifarahani (at) utoronto (dot) ca
Najme Kishani Farahani is a Research Associate at the University of Toronto focused on advancing gender analysis and women’s equity in engineering. Najme did her PhD at OISE. Her research interests in her PhD and Postdoctoral fellowship involved the role of education in enhancing young people’s hope, motivation, and capability to transform social conflicts and build peace, with the focus on non-democratic and conflict-affected settings. In her careers in international development at UNICEF and Education Development Center, in the Middle East and East Africa, Najme had been working to strengthen institutional capacity to promote equity and justice for minoritized populations and women. Before switching into education, Najme was a civil engineer for eight years. Her passion for education and development led her to shift from engineering to the social sciences. Her current role, as a Research Associate with the TEAM Lab, bridges her engineering background to her passion and endeavors for social justice and gender equity.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Aida Farsi
Postdoctoral Fellow
Email: aida (dot) farsi (at) utoronto (dot) ca
Aida graduated from the Ontario Tech University in 2020 with a PhD in Mechanical Engineering. During her PhD program, she worked on developing and modeling a lab-scale integrated copper-chlorine thermochemical cycle for clean hydrogen production. Aida started her postdoc in the Clean Energy Research Laboratory at the Ontario Tech University where she focused her research on sustainable energy and energy storage technologies. She wrote two research books on thermal behavior and management of battery systems and sustainable energy technologies for seawater desalination. Aida joined the TEAM lab to engage in a collaboration with Ayrton Energy Inc.
Alexandre Tugirumubano
Postdoctoral Fellow
Email: alexandre (dot) tugirumubano (at) utoronto (dot) ca
Alexandre graduated from Ecole National Supérieur d’Eléctricité et de Mécanique (ENSEM) – Université Hassan II- Ain Chock (Morocco) with an Engineer’s Degree (Diplôme d’Ingénieur d’État) in Mechanical Engineering in 2013. He earned an MASc in Mechanical Engineering from Jeonju University in 2016, where he modelled and analyzed the electrochemical performance of PEM water electrolyzer. He then abtained his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Jeonju University in 2020, where he focused on the development of composite materials for electromagnetic Applications. Alexandre joined the TEAM lab to focus his research on advancing PEM electrolyzer technologies.
Graduate Students
Abdulla Arham
MASc Student
Email: abdulla (dot) arham (at) mail (dot) utoronto (dot) ca
Arham graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Nanotechnology Engineering. His fourth-year capstone project was based on the design and synthesis of Nanocomposite Compostable Chip Bags. During his undergraduate degree, Arham also conducted research in the fields of fuel cell systems and water treatment. Arham’s interest lies in the field of clean energy, and he will be investigating carbon-dioxide electrolyzers within the Bazylak group (TEAM).
Vasant Batta
MASc Student
Email: vasant (dot) batta (at) mail (dot) utoronto (dot) ca
Vasant graduated from the University of Toronto with a BASc in 2021. As an undergraduate student he focused on energy systems and mechatronics. In his final year, for capstone, Vasant worked with a team to design a multi-patient ventilator in response to the recent Covid-19 pandemic. Vasant has an interest in clean energy and with the TEAM lab, he is exploring carbon-dioxide electrolyzers.
Eric Chadwick
PhD Student
Email: chadwick (at) mie (dot) utoronto (dot) ca
Eric graduated from the University of Guelph (Guelph, Ontario) in 2017 with a B.Eng in Mechanical Engineering (Sustainable Energy option). Eric worked with his capstone team on developing an automated system of thermal batteries that capture and release waste heat energy using a phase change material and conductive porous media. Eric graduated from the TEAM lab at University of Toronto in 2019 with an MASc in Mechanical Engineering where he developed image processing methods for studying the morphological impact of lung regeneration on pulmonary vasculature. Eric is now pursuing his PhD in Mechanical Engineering in partnership if Duale-Hoschule Baden-Württemberg (DHBW) Mannheim in Mannheim, Germany. Eric’s PhD will focus on using laser deposition metal 3D printing to produce optimized PEM fuel cell components.
Jason Chan
Ph.D. Candidate
Email: jchan (at) mie (dot) utoronto (dot) ca
Jason Chan graduated from the University of Alberta in 2018 with a BSc. in Mechanical Engineering (Biomedical Option). During his undergraduate studies, Jason studied the biomechanical responses of the lumbar spine, and also the mechanical dislodgement of kidney stones. With the TEAM Lab, Jason is studying the mechanisms underlying the recellularization of the lung.
Chaeyoung Ham
MASc Student
Email: tina (dot) ham (at) mail (dot) utoronto (dot) ca
Chaeyoung (Tina) Ham graduated from the University of Calgary in 2021 with a BSc. in Mechanical Engineering. Her final year capstone project involved the design of a CFD numerical framework for a supersonic unmanned aerial vehicle with the integration of a novel intake system. As an undergraduate student, she assisted in developing a pipeline leak detection system using real-time transient modelling. With a sparked interest in clean energy technologies, she is exploring temperature effects on the two-phase flow behaviour of PEM water electrolyzers in the TEAM lab.
Ashley Henry
MASc Student
Email: ashley (dot) henry (at) mail (dot) utoronto (dot) ca
Ashley Henry graduated from the University of Toronto with a BASc. in Chemical Engineering. During her undergraduate studies, Ashley studied cogenerating systems in fast fission nuclear reactors, specifically for supporting thermochemical hydrogen generating facilities. With the TEAM Lab, Ashley is studying the chemical state changes of polyelectrolytes in PEM fuel cells.
Leya Kober
MASc Student
Email: leya (dot) kober (at) mail (dot) utoronto (dot) ca
Leya Kober completed her undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from Ryerson University, and in 2021 joined the TEAM lab to advance PEM fuel cell performance through the techniques of advanced X-ray radiography and tomography to elucidate interfacial multiphase transport phenomena.
Spencer Lytle
MASc Student
Email: spencer (dot) lytle (at) mail (dot) utoronto (dot) ca
Spencer graduated from Ontario Tech University in 2022 with a B.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering with an Energy Engineering specialization. His passion for vehicle design and environmental sustainability incited his interest in hydrogen and fuel cell engineering for vehicular applications. Spencer previously conducted research on the production of hydrogen gas via the plasmolysis of water vapor in his undergraduate program funded by NSERC’s USRA in 2019. Prior to starting his MASc in the Bazylak Group, he was awarded NSERC’s USRA a second time for the summer of 2022, where he commenced his clean electrochemical gas-to-power research in the TEAM lab exploring and designing custom catalyst coated membranes through electrochemical characterizations to ultimately enhance the performance of PEM fuel cells.
Dhruvi Parekh
MASc Student
Email: d (dot) parekh (at) mail (dot) utoronto (dot) ca
Dhruvi graduated in 2022 from the University of Western Ontario with a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering. Her undergraduate thesis project focused on microfluidic simulations, fluid mechanics and applied machine learning to optimization problems. She also previously worked on a novel flowable electrode Li-Ion battery design for the MARB-L lab. Dhruvi joined the TEAM lab to study flow through porous transport layers.
Harsharaj Parmar
PhD Student
Email: harsharaj (dot) parmar (at) mail (dot) utoronto (dot) ca
Harsharaj graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (India) in 2019 with a B.Tech. degree in Mechanical Engineering. During his undergraduate years he formulated high accuracy Chebyshev spectral codes for fluid flow and heat transfer. In 2021, he received his M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University where he developed energy efficient thermal desalination systems in the Warsinger Water Lab. Presently, he is a first year PhD student in the TEAM lab and works towards optimizing the multiphase transport phenomena through gas diffusion layers in fuel cells.
Salvatore Ranieri
PhD Student
Email: sal (dot) ranieri (at) mail (dot) utoronto (dot) ca
Salvatore (Sal) Ranieri graduated from Ontario Tech University in 2016 with a B.Eng. and in 2019 with a M.ASc. in Mechanical Engineering. His final year capstone team project focused on high-efficiency hybrid cycle (HEHC) engine analysis, design, and demonstration of a miniature rotary engine. During his master’s program, he developed thermodynamic models to investigate and optimize Stirling cycle engines. Sal has spent the past four years working in the PEM Fuel Cell industry as a system performance and flow field engineer, developing turbocharged fuel cell engine maps and bipolar plates for both graphitic and metallic substrates. Sal joined the Bazylak Group to further pursue his passion for clean energy and is working towards advancing PEM fuel cell components by optimizing the symbiotic multiphase mass transport phenomena between the gas diffusion layers and bipolar plates.
Tess Seip
PhD Student
Email: tess (dot) seip (at) mail (dot) utoronto (dot) ca
Tess graduated from McGill University in 2020 with a B.Eng. in Chemical Engineering. Her undergraduate capstone project focused on the development of an emission-free process for the production of green ammonia and hydrogen, fueling her interest in sustainable energy and power to gas technologies. Within the TEAM lab, she is focused on developing numerical models for PEM water electrolyzer materials.
Arash Zargar
PhD Student
Email: a (dot) zargar (at) mail (dot) utoronto (dot) ca
Arash holds a BSc degree from Amirkabir University of Technology and a MSc degree from the University of Alberta. During his master’s program, Arash conducted a comprehensive study about the flow dynamics of sharp-edged bluff bodies, employing numerical methods. Arash’s PhD research will focus on creating new numerical models for lung tissue disease modeling. Long-term aims of his project include evaluating the accuracy of different cell deposition models. His research goal is to simulate a complete cell delivery process and validate the results with experimental data. This study will lead to developing targeted cell delivery and recellularization protocols.
Lijun Zhu
PhD Student
Email: lijun (dot) zhu (at) mail (dot) utoronto (dot) ca
Lijun graduated from the Wuhan University of Technology with a Bachelor and a Masters in Mechanical Engineering in 2018 and 2021. He was also a visiting scholar of Cluster of Excellence SE2A at the TU Braunschweig (Germany) in 2020. His previous studies were focused on the structure and transport in porous media, which encouraged his further interests in porous transport and modeling for PEM fuel cells and water electrolyzers.
Postdoctoral Alumni
Ali Kalantarian (2012)
Hanif Montazeri (2014)
Jon S. Ellis (2014)
Ronnie Yip (2014)
Prof. Mostafa Sharqawy (University of Guelph) (2015) (Former Research Associate)
James Hinebaugh (2016)
Prof. Stéphane Chevalier (Arts et Métiers) (2016)
Rupak Banerjee (2017)
David Ouellette (2018)
Prof. Benzhong (Robin) Zhao (McMaster University) (2018)
Prof. ChungHyuk Lee (Toronto Metropolitan University) (2020) (TMU FEEL Lab)
Kieran Fahy (2020)
Prof. Jason Keonhag Lee (University of Victoria) (2021) (EGGs Lab)
Ahmed Hasan (2022)
Pranay Shrestha (2023)
Graduate Alumni
Zachary Fishman, M.A.Sc. (2010)
Meaghan Miller, M.A.Sc. (2010)
Jingwen Wang, M.A.Sc. (2011)
Jessica Yablecki, M.A.Sc. (2012)
Dillon Fuerth, M.A.Sc. (2012)
Pradyumna Challa, M.A.Sc. (2012)
Katie Pelletier, M.Eng. (2013)
Prof. Marina Freire-Gormaly (York University), M.A.Sc. (2013)
Steven Botelho, M.A.Sc. (2014)
Roshanak Banan, Ph.D. (2015)
James Hinebaugh, Ph.D. (2015)
Ali Ebrahimi, Ph.D. (2015)
Mohammadreza Fazeli, M.A.Sc. (2015)
Patrick Antonacci, M.A.Sc. (2015)
Nan Ge, M.A.Sc. (2015)
Michael G. George, M.A.Sc. (2016)
Nico Bevilacqua, M.A.Sc. (2017) University of Ulm
Daniel Muirhead, M.A.Sc. (2017)
Jongmin Lee, Ph.D. (2017)
Faraz Arbabi, Ph.D. (2017)
Pranay Shrestha, M.A.Sc. (2017)
Hang Liu, Ph.D. (2018)
Andrew Wong, M.A.Sc. (2018)
Nan Ge, Ph.D. (2019)
Prof. ChungHyuk Lee (Toronto Metropolitan University), Ph.D. (2019) (TMU FEEL Lab)
Eric Chadwick, M.A.Sc. (2019)
Manojkumar Balakrishnan, M.A.Sc. (2019)
Prof. Jason Keonhag Lee (University of Victoria), Ph.D. (2020) (EGG Lab)
Pascal Kim, M.A.Sc. (2020)
Kevin Krause, M.A.Sc. (2020)
Hisan Shafaque, M.A.Sc. (2020)
Jason Chan, M.A.Sc. (2021)
Taylr Cawte, M.A.Sc. (2022)
Raymond Guan, M.A.Sc. (2022)
Joshua Paciocco, M.A.Sc. (2022)
Pranay Shrestha, Ph.D. (2023)