People

Current PhD  Students (Under construction, June, 2026)

Daniel Gonzalez

Yanyu Zhang

Yanyu Zhang received her B.S. in Atmospheric Science (Atmospheric Physics) from Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, China, in 2018, and M.S. in Earth and Environmental Engineering from Columbia University, in 2020. Her research focuses on estimating SOA formation under controlled atmospheric conditions through chamber experiments and modeling.

Kyah Gracia

Hovanness Dingilian

Maryam Ghadimi

Joule Parker

Joshua Scheel

Allison Cocker

Kainoa Koffman

Current MS Students

Current UG Students

Andrew Murakami

Jason Herrera

Danna Gomez

Sydney Flamm

Jaiden Tan

August Marquez

Antonio Terziysky

Guy Delgadillo

Principal Investigators

Thomas Eckel

Thomas Eckel received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of California, Riverside in 2019. His research is in maritime emissions studying primary emissions from large scale commercial ocean-going vessels in-use.  He also serves as a Science to Policy Fellow for Congressman Calvert, of the 41st District in California, where he evaluates technology for narcotics detection, destruction, and protection.  He has also done some research and consulting for tech startups in the carbon capture industry and ambient pollution control industry.

David Cocker

PhD Alumni

Huawei Li (Ph.D completed 6/2026)

Ryan Drover (Ph.D completed 5/2024, currently at Ramboll)

Tianbo Tang (Ph.D completed 4/2024, currently at California Air Resources Board)

Thomas Eckel (Ph.D completed 10/2023, currently at UC Riverside)

Chen Le (Ph.D completed 3/2023, currently lecturer at UC Riverside)

Sahar Ghadimi (Ph.D completed 3/2023, currently at South Coast Air Quality Management District)

Hanwei Zhu (Ph.D completed 12/2022, currently at California Air Resources Board)

Qi Li (Ph.D completed 3/2022, currently at Spectrum Dynamic Research)

Ayla Moretti (Ph.D completed 8/2021, currently at California Air Resources Board)

Weihan Peng (Ph.D completed 8/2020, currently at Google)

Paul Van Rooy (Ph.D completed 7/2020, currently at Environmental Protection Agency)

Brandon Feenstra (Ph.D completed 6/2020, currently at South Coast Air Quality Management District)

Xinze Peng (Ph.D completed 2/2019, currently VP, ESG & Climate Risk Consulting at Marsh)

Jiachang Yang (Ph.D completed 9/2018, currently at California Air Resources Board)

Yu Jiang (Jade)  (Ph.D completed 6/2018, currently at Cummins)

Weihua Li (Ph.D completed 6/2018, currently at Cummins)

Lijie Li (Sara) (Ph.D completed 6/2017, currently at Glaukos)

Mary Kacarab (Ph.D completed 6/2016, currently researcher, GeorgiaTech)

Chia-Li Chen (Candace) (Ph.D completed 6/2016, currently at California Air Resources Board)

Ji Luo (Jill) (Ph.D completed 6/2016, research engineer, UCR)

Nick Gysel (Ph.D completed 6/2015, engineer, Yorke Engineering)

Tanfeng Cao (Sam) (Ph.D completed 6/2015, engineer, Cummins)

Derek Price (Ph.D completed 6/2014, currently Colorado Department of Public Health)

Poornima Dixit (Ph.D completed 6/2013, consultant, Trinity Consultants)

Miriam Hajbajai (Ph.D completed 6/2012, engineer, California Air Resources Board)

Mohammed Yusof Khan (Ph.D completed 6/2012, engineer, Cummins)

Xiaochen Tang (Esther) (Ph.D completed 6/2012, researcher, LLNL)

Ping Tang (Annie) (Ph.D completed 6/2011, currently researcher, Proud MOM, previously AQMD)

Christopher Clark (Ph.D completed 6/2011, currently engineer, Naval Sea Warfare Center, Corona)

Seyed Hosseni (Ehsan) (Ph.D completed 6/2011, engineer, California Air Resources Board)

Shunsuke Nakao (Ph.D completed 6/2011, currently at California Air Resources Board)

Kent Johnson (Ph.D completed 6/2010, currently Research Engineer, CE-CERT/UCR)

Varalakshmi Jayaram (Lakshmi) (Ph.D completed 6/2010, currently Principal, Ramboll)

Qi Li (Ph.D completed 6/2010, analytical chemist, China)

Harshit Agrawal (Ph.D completed 6/2009, manager, Shell Global Solutions)

Ajay Chaudhary (Ph.D completed 6/2009, independent contractor, India)

Quentin Malloy (Ph.D completed 6/2008, manager,  BAAQMD)

Bethany Warren (Ph.D completed 6/2008,  Pacific Air & Environment in Brisbane, Australia)

Abhilash Nigam (Ph.D completed 10/2007, pharmaceuticals)

Ph.D Dissertation Title “Emissions Assessment of Selected Diesel Sources at Ports: Baseline Conditions and Benefits Through Use of Control Technologies”

Aniket Sawant (Ph.D. completed 6/2006, currently at Johnson-Matthey)

Ph.D. Dissertation Title “Analyses and Impacts of Selected Emission Sources”

M.S. Dissertation Title “Characterization of Indoor and Outdoor Gas- and Particle-Phase Compounds in Western Riverside County, California”

Chen Song (Ph.D. completed 6/2006, currently at RJR)

Ph.D. Dissertation Title “Secondary Organic Aerosol Formation from Aromatic Hydrocarbons”

Sandip Shah (Ph.D. completed 6/2005, currently at Drexel)

Ph.D. Dissertation Title “A Study of the Physical and Chemical Properties of Exhaust Emissions from Heavy-Duty Diesel Engines”

Assistant Research Engineer and visiting scientists Alumni

Kwangsam Na (ARB)

Hiroyuki Hagino (JARI)

Kei Sato (NIES)

Masters, Undergraduates, and High School (Alumni, in alphabetical order)

Masters: Aniket Sawant, Jinwei Zhang, Miles Simkins, Yuehua Gu

Undergraduate: Lorelai Adams, Danh Alkurdi, Jose Alvarez, Greg Aniol, Brandon Aparacio, Julien Araiza, Rebecca Austin, Sarah Bates, Damini Bhana, Brenda Blanco, Phillip Brendecke, Sheraz Butt, Tanfeng (Sam) Cao, Yesenia Cardenas, Guadalupe Castro, Joanna Collado, Juyhun Do, Heather Donley, Doug Duchon, Jesus Duran, Matthew Ealy, Thomas Eckel, Charles Elliot, Nicholas Elliot, Robert Espinoza, Nolan Fan, Richard Findlay, Shannon Flor, Viviana Gallegos, Rina Gohil, Sergio Gomez, Laura Grigoryan, James Guiterrez, Christina Hall, Samantha Hanson, Melissa Henrich, Katrina Hess, Norman Ho, Alexis Illich, Igor Irrianto, Karel Jansen, Daisy Jimenez, Jordan Jones, Joon Jung, Mary Kacarab, Daisy Kim, Ravi Kumar, Dustin Kwon, Michelle Lau, Mai Le, Michelle Le (H), Marqel Armani Lee, Kevin Lim, Shunhua Lin (H), Raymond Logan (H), Eber Lopez, Shannon Lopez, Amy Lu, Wendy Lucero, Beatriz Maldo, Dana Maxie, Sean McClanahan, Kelly McCoy, Jesse Mendoza, Faith Morel, Alejandra Moreno, Berenice Munoz, Jamie Nel, Carlton Nguyen, Dennis Nguyen, Duc Nguyen, Hanphuc Nguyen, Kevin Nguyen, Matthew Nogales, Temitope Ogunyoku, Jonathan Parker, Elizabeth Gonzalez Parra, Luis Perez, Bao Pham (H), Paul Phartho, Shaddai Phillips, Karla Pimentel, Shrey Prajapati, Kaitlyn Prostitis, Adam Rodriguez, Edwin Rodriguez, Richard Rojas, Zachary Ross, Jesus Sahaguran, Kyle Schaefer, Eric Seo, Mary Sheppe, Letia Solomon, Luke Song, Stephanie Stasiuk, Clayton Stothers, Wenfu Sun, Christian Surdilla, Cameron Switzer, Dylan Switzer, Shimkiri Syiem, Israel Tamiru, Sampson Tang, Justin Tao, Ryan Thomas, David Torres, Marisol Torres, Marisol Trujillo, Yun (Geoffrey) Tsai, Anthony Turgman, Nicholas Valencia, Fabian Villalabos, Tiffany Virgiano, Christian Walker, Josiah Wallis, Jean Wang, Charles Wardle, Nathaniel Wilde (H), John Williams, Jianyu Xu, Henry Yang, Jing Yang, Ran Ye, Lindsay Yee, Christina Zapata, Melanie Zecca               (H) designates Honors Capstone Student Completed

GPP: Qi Li, Chen Le, Weihan Peng, Xinze (Eric) Peng

non-UCR: Lou Dingjun, Valeria Cristal, Rachel Durant, DeAngelo Wooley, Aaron Aguirre, Micah Mekbib, Zhihua Liu (Dash), Keng (Austyn) Low, Nicolette Ramirez, Carlotta Schudeler, 12 community college students (2009), Arturo Ayala, Lara Miguel, Enrique Rivera, Tracey Bailey, Billie Lance, Mark Ruiz, Arturo Ramirez, Manuel Barrios, Taylor Malone, Katherine Gobales, Erik Thomas, Alma De Haro, Arlene Chandar, Isaac Lino, Nancy Alvarado, Gustavo Barraran, John Rojas, Juan Pablo, Ethan Amezcua, Richard Rojas, Nathaly Hasbon, Arthur Retana

HS: Alex Ethell, Sasha Itkis, Daniel Na, Yunji Oh, Hanna Shon