Education:
BS, Chemical Engineering, UC San Diego '17
MS, Chemical Engineering, UC San Diego '18
MS, Chemical Engineering Practice, MIT (expected 2020)
PhD, Chemical Engineering, MIT (expected 2023)
Background:
Mohammad (Mo) graduated from UC San Diego (UCSD) in June of 2018 with both a BS and an MS in chemical engineering, after which he moved to Cambridge, MA, to begin his PhD at MIT in the same major. While at UCSD, Mo’s research focused on developing new and convenient approaches for measuring the glass transition and fracture behavior of semiconducting polymers. At MIT, however, he decided to shift his attention to the remediation of contaminated water using what we call “shock electrodialysis (SED),” a novel electrochemical technique discovered and developed by our group. As early projects, Mo chose to work on treatment of nuclear wastewater in collaboration with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries as well as on selective removal of toxic heavy metals such as lead and copper. These two projects have given him the opportunity to learn important experimental techniques and the fundamental physics that govern SED. After completing these projects, Mo plans on using SED to explore dielectrophoretic separations, which are based on the ability to exert electric forces on a dielectric (polarizable) particle by imposing nonuniform fields. The target contaminants in these studies will include macromolecules (e.g., polymers, nucleic acids, and viruses), nanoparticles, and nanoemulsions. Mo’s ultimate goal here is to establish a deep understanding and extensive body of work that will allow our team to commercialize this technology in hope of it impacting communities that need clean water. Outside of research, Mo lifts weights, plays squash, reads (and listens to) nonfiction books, and plays the piano. He also “plans on finding opportunities in the near future for outreach and broader impact to pay forward all the great services that have helped [him] become who [he is] today.”
Contact Info:
Email: alkhadra [at] mit.edu
Office: 66-465, 25 Ames Street, Cambridge, MA 02139
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/maalkhadra/
Academic webpage: www.mohammadalkhadra.com