Group photo 06 Feb. 2024. Left to Right: Valeria Telles, UoG MSc Mathematics-AI specialization; Tom Seeger, UoG Biophysics MSc student; Prof. Mihai Nica; Prof. William R. Smith; William Rutherford, UoG MSc Biophysics student; Dr. Tasneem Kausar, Postdoctoral Scholar.
Principal Investigator
Co-grantee
Dr. Mihai Nica is a professor at the University of Guelph, having earned his PhD in mathematics from the Courant Institute in New York City and previously worked as a postdoc at the University of Toronto. His research focuses on applying mathematical analysis to enhance machine learning systems. In a carbon capture project, he connects chemistry and machine learning by supervising students who develop models to predict properties of potential carbon capture solvents using large datasets and advanced data science techniques, aiming to identify promising candidates for experimental testing.
Postdoctoral Scholar
- Dr. Tasneem Kausar, Postdoctoral Scholar
Dr. Tasneem Kausar is a Postdoctoral Fellow, who received her PhD degree in Computational Chemistry at Aligarh Muslim University in Aligarh India. She worked at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the US before joining the University of Guelph. She develops and implements advanced computer algorithms involving the use of quantum mechanics and atomistic molecular modeling aimed at predicting the properties of potential CO2 capture solvents.
Current Students
- William Rutherford, MSc Biophysics program, Un. of Guelph, 2022-present. He is building thermodynamic models to predict dependence of CO2 speciation as function of CO2 concentration in the flue-gas stream
- Tom Seeger, MSc Biophysics program, Un. of Guelph, 2023-present. He is developing computer algorithms to use atomistic simulation to predict solvation free energies of speciation compounds in the CO2-loaded solution.
- Kamal Aslam, MSc Mathematics-AI specialization, Un. of Guelph, 2024-present. He is developing machine learning algorithms to relate the CO2 solubility of a solvent to its molecular structure.
- Sean Geddes, 4th year Physics Co-Op Program, Un. of Guelph. He is developing Python-based algorithms on high-performance computing systems to implement an efficient workflow for the complex quantum mechanical and atomistic simulation calculations of the project.
Recent Graduates and their Current Positions:
- Valeria Telles, MSc Mathematics-AI specialization, Un. of Guelph 2022-2024 (Data Analyst)
- Meghana Munipalle, MSc Biophysics, Un. of Guelph 2020-2022 (PhD Biomedical Engineering program, McGill Un., Montreal QC, Canada )
- Dr. Javad Noroozi, PhD Chemical Engineering, Un. of Waterloo, 2017-2021 (Senior Process Engineer, Atlantic Packaging, Scarborough ON, Canada)
- Hamdah Tahir, MSc. Mathematics, Un. of Guelph, 2020-2021 (Data Scientist, GeologicAI, Calgary AB, Canada)
- Dr. Jiri Skvara, Postdoctoral Fellow, Un. of Guelph, 2019-2020 (Assistant Professor of Informatics, University of Jan Evangelista Purkyne, Usti nad Labem, Czechia)
- Dr. Braden Kelly, PhD Biophysics, Un. of Guelph, 2015-2020 (Engineering Instructor, Northwest Polytech, Grande Prairie AB, Canada)
- Nayyereh Hatefi, MSc Biophysics, Un. of Guelph, 2017-2019 (Application Scientist, Computer Modelling Group, Montreal QC, Canada)
- Ryan Wilkins, MSc Biophysics, Un. of Guelph, 2017-2019 (PhD Chemistry program, Arctic Un. of Norway, Tromso, Norway)
- Dr. Weikai Qi, Postdoctoral Scholar, Un. of Guelph, 2016-2018 (Data Scientist, Future Fertility, Toronto ON, Canada)