Our team
Our team is built upon our shared values of intellectual curiosity to create a mutually-supportive environment that encourages all members to be better scientists.
Background: Mim Rahimi is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Engineering at the Cullen College of Engineering of the University of Houston (UH). Before joining UH, Mim was a postdoctoral associate at the Department of Chemical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) between 2018 and 2021 under the supervision of Prof. Alan Hatton. Mim obtained his Ph.D. in chemical engineering (2014-2017) from Pennsylvania State University, working with Prof. Bruce Logan. Mim holds a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering (2009-2014) from Sharif University of Technology in Iran.
Fun fact: Mim is a big fan of sports. He was a former member of the Penn State Handball team, competing in the U.S. National Championship. He is also a registered soccer referee, officiated more than 50 games at different levels. Mim also enjoys photography and cinematography in his spare time.
Yuanyuan Fang
postdoctoral associate
Background: Dr. Yuanyuan Fang obtained her Ph.D. degree in chemistry (2010-2014) and worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Chemistry at University of Houston under the supervision of Prof. Karl M. Kadish (2019-2021). Dr. Fang also got her Bachelor (2007) and Master (2011) degrees from Jiangsu University in China. She also worked as an associate professor at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Jiangsu University from 2015-2021.
Fun fact: Yuanyuan likes to do bakery and cooking in her spare time.
Elmira Kalantari
postdoctoral associate
Background: Dr. Elmira Kalantari obtained her Ph.D. degree in Organic chemistry (2015-2020) and worked as a visiting scholar at the Department of Forest Biomaterial at North Carolina State University under the supervision of Prof. Lucian Lucia (2021). Elmira also got her Bachelor of Science in applied chemistry (2009) and Master of Science in Organic Chemistry (2013) from Azad University in Iran. She also worked as a Lab Supervisor and Lab Analyst at Forensic Medicine Laboratory in Iran (2013-2018).
Fun fact: Elmira likes to go hiking in her spare time. She also enjoys baking and cooking.
Ahmad Hassan
Ph.D. Student
Background: Ahmad Hassan is a Ph.D. student of Environmental Engineering at the University of Houston (UH). He previously earned a master’s and bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore (UET) in Pakistan. His master dissertation (2016-2019) under the supervision of Dr. Usman Ali was primarily concerned with process simulation of carbon capture and storage techniques with the goal of reducing the carbon footprint in the fossil fuel-based power generation industry. Ahmad is a recipient of The Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan scholarship to pursue his graduate program.
Fun fact: Ahmad is passionate about soccer, movies, and politics.
Mohsen Afshari
Ph.D. Student
Background: Mohsen Afshari is working towards his Ph.D. in environmental engineering at the University of Houston. He holds a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Arkansas (2022) and a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Tehran in Iran.
Fun fact: Mohsen likes to go hiking and running in his spare time. He also enjoys soccer, volleyball, and ping-pong.
Prince Aleta
Ph.D. Student
Background: Prince is a Ph.D. student in the Environmental Engineering program at the University of Houston. Prior to this, he worked as an assistant professor for the Dept. of Chemical Engineering (ChE) at De La Salle University, Manila, and an instructor for the ChE Dept. at the University of Santo Tomas, Manila (2020–2021) in the Philippines. He holds a Master of Environmental Engineering from Korea University in South Korea, where he did research on resource recovery from wastes, biological treatment of wastes, and emerging contaminants in water and wastewater under the supervision of Dr. Sungpyo Kim (2016–2019). He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Santo Tomas, Manila in the Philippines in 2015.
Fun fact: Prince enjoys the outdoors, and occasionally likes to go hiking and biking. He likes to play the guitar and wishes to learn the harmonica. He is also an amateur karaoke enthusiast on very special occasions.
Abdelrahman Refaie
Ph.D. Student
Background: Abdelrahman is pursuing his Ph.D. degree in environmental engineering at the University of Houston. He has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Kuwait University. His master’s in chemical engineering utilized artificial neural networks (ANN) to estimate the viscosity of lithium-ion electrolytes. He received the Kuwait Excellence Scholarship to pursue his master’s degree. Abdelrahman also worked as a research assistant with Dr. Abdulrahman Alsulaili in his environmental research projects.
Fun fact: Abdelrahman likes traveling and going on road trips. In his spare time, he enjoys fishing and hiking.
Vanessa Tapia
Visiting Researcher
Background: Vanessa is pursuing an Earth and Environmental Engineering degree at Columbia University in the City of New York in which she is part of the robotics team, space initiative, and community outreach tutoring 4th-grade math. During high school, she was president of both the Senior Class and the Blanson CTE Robotics Club. She hopes to make a difference in her community and the environment.
Fun fact: Vanessa loves two things: plants and crafts! She loves gardening and creating things through crocheting, scrapbooking, sculpting, drawing, painting, sowing, and anything that looks cool with the help of her hot glue gun.
Krish Dhanuka
High school Student
Background: Krish is currently a student at Cy-Fair High School. Throughout his high school career, Krish has taken a variety of college-level courses and maintained a record of academic excellence. Growing up, Krish had always been passionate about the outdoors, which led him to want to pursue a career in climate change mitigation, specifically working with CO2 capture technology.
Fun fact: Krish loves listening to music and is very involved with community service. He is currently Co-Director of the Houston Food Bank Student Heroes program, in which he has directed numerous volunteer-based projects to help fight food insecurity and food waste in his community.
Cyndi Liang
High school Student
Background: Cyndi is a student at Dulles High School. As a member of the Fort Bend ISD Math and Science Academy, she has focused extensively on STEM topics and has maintained a consistent record of Academic Excellence. She hopes to later pursue a career in the engineering field.
Fun fact: Cyndi is a student violinist and enjoys participating in orchestral performances and solo competitions. She also likes making pastries.
More team members will be updated soon!
