Describe your project:
Carbon containment aims to sequester atmospheric carbon so that excess carbon does not get released into the atmosphere. It has been a hot topic in Energy Science and various disciplines within Environmental Engineering. Through this fellowship, I have formed a collaboration between the Yale Center for Green Chemistry & Green Engineering and the newly established Carbon Containment Lab (CC Lab). The CC Lab mainly comprises field-based scientists interested in upscaling their carbon sequestration strategies. As a chemist and engineer, I have evaluated some of their carbon sequestration approaches using laboratory techniques. My work consisted of developing protocols to assess carbon sequestration and implementing life-cycle thinking of the process workflows.
What are the main skills that you acquired and biggest challenges you faced?
Since I did this fellowship as a first-year PhD student, I had the opportunity to acquire various hands-on analytical skills in advanced synchrotron techniques, including ones that are not traditionally used in academia. Due to COVID policies in labs, it was challenging to access certain instruments and materials needed for the experiments. We made it work by connecting with collaborators who generously donated resources and access to instruments.
