John V
- Research Program Mentor
PhD candidate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Expertise
Engineering, Materials Chemistry, Renewable Energy, Batteries
Bio
Hi! My name is John. I am a Chemical Engineering PhD student at MIT conducting research on energy storage for the electrical grid. I am a big supporter of sustainability and developing/implementing green technologies and practices. My main passions are chemistry and physics! Outside of research, I enjoy rock climbing, playing piano and reading!Project ideas
A Look into Intentional Native Plant Ecosystems
Biodiversity is the term used to describe ALL the life (plant/animal/etc.) you may find within a particular ecosystem. In recent years, there has been a dangerous decrease in the biodiversity around the world with animal and plant populations dying off. One way to save this biodiversity is to maintain native plants in your community! This project would involve researching and learning about the native plants and animals in a community (could be your own or a friends or halfway across the globe!). A final deliverable could be a research paper sharing your findings on the ecosystem web of animals and plants within the community. How do they connect? And how can members of the community use this knowledge to help biodiversity? A different deliverable could be an experimental portion in which native plants are placed within your community to analyze if there is an increase in the number of native animals within your area! This project would teach about the intricacies of solving climate change and helping endangered species in the environment!
A Look into Microplastics
Microplastics are small pieces of plastic (less than 5 millimeters in size) that pollute our oceans, aquatic life, and harm many ecosystems globally. They are so widespread that it is estimated that 77% of people have microplastics in their bloodstream (Leslie et. al). With this, it is imperative that microplastics be eliminated from our environments. This project looks into how these plastics can be separated from our environment, taking a deeper dive on the chemistry of microplastics and how we might design a system that can effectively separate out the plastic materials. Topics such as the size distribution of microplastics and their composition will be explored. The final design will take into account the overall effectiveness of removing the microplastics with the smallest disturbance in natural habitats. Discussions as to the pros and cons of different separation methods will be presented. The final deliverable could be a final design for a separation system or even a prototype of it!