
It has long been my conviction that climate change is the greatest threat that humanity currently faces. Although I am now working to combat this threat by making critical mineral supply chains for the clean energy transition more secure, efficient, sustainable, and equitable as a member of Mineral-X and a RAISE fellow, it was a bit of a journey to get to where I am today.
As an undergraduate at Cornell University, I majored in Applied & Engineering Physics and researched various energy storage devices—I constructed mathematical models for supercapacitors and studied fuel cell membranes under electron microscopes. At the time, I believed that I could make the greatest impact in combating climate change by contributing to the research and development of renewable energy technologies such as lithium-ion batteries.
Instead of proceeding directly to Stanford where I hoped to pursue lithium-ion battery materials research in my PhD, I decided to defer my offer to study for an MPhil in Nanotechnology at the University of Cambridge. Although I didn’t know it at the time, this decision set in motion the trajectory I am now on. For an assignment during my time there, I chose to write about the ethical sourcing of materials for Li-ion batteries. Researching the topic one day, I became disturbed by and fixated on the history of exploitation of vulnerable communities for mineral sourcing, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo. My heart plummeted into a pit of cynicism and despair—I felt like my years-long dedication to renewable energy was pointless if advancing these technologies had such drastic, harmful consequences. Eventually, I renewed my resolve with the added commitment to ensuring that my research would facilitate the sustainable development of vulnerable communities, rather than their exploitation as “necessary” sacrifices for the improvement of the rest of the world.
After starting my PhD at Stanford, I joined the Stanford Science Policy Group (SSPG), which was the launch point for understanding how I as a scientist could influence policy to combat climate change. On a group trip to visit the State Capitol in Sacramento, we serendipitously ran into the Chief of Staff for California District 36. Chatting with him, we quickly learned that one of the recent major issues concerning the district was the intense activity surrounding the high concentration of lithium discovered in the area’s geothermal brine. Reminded of my essay on the ethical sourcing of battery materials, I ended up having a one-on-one conversation with him for half an hour. After I went home, I did some reading up on the Salton Sea. I wished that there was some way I could help with ensuring that these lithium extraction facilities would benefit the local community and not end up ruining the (already damaged) local environment, economy, and society as lithium extraction has done to the Atacama Salt Flat in Chile. This experience pushed me to apply for (and eventually receive) the Stanford RAISE fellowship, through which I am now planning to do just that.
As I was applying to RAISE, I was also struggling to find a research group where I could do the Li-ion battery research that I had long wanted to do. During this time, I attended a talk given by Jef titled “My Personal Journey out of Fossil-Fuel Funded Research” and a talk by an ARPA-E Program Director about the importance of improving and scaling up mining of critical minerals for renewable energy applications. After much reflection (and some great advice from Eric McShane, co-founder and CEO of Electroflow Technologies), I became convinced that improving the critical minerals supply chain was where I needed to be for advancing sustainable development and the clean energy transition. The first-ever Mineral-X Symposium in June was the tipping point, and since then, I have been working on using AI to aid in the design of a more efficient and sustainable phosphate supply chain.
Specifically, I am working on addressing the issue of phosphogypsum (PG) waste, which is generated as a byproduct of the phosphate mining industry. Phosphate is a critical mineral used in fertilizer and increasingly, other applications like lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. Contaminants in the PG waste necessitate the management and monitoring of the vast quantities that are produced, which is costly and poses an environmental hazard. For my research, I use data science and AI tools to aid in the scaling and optimization of PG waste treatment and reutilization processes, with the eventual goal of redesigning phosphate mineral processing with circularity and greater efficiency in mind, for example, by reframing PG and other wastes as potential products alongside phosphoric acid.
My path here has been winding, but I truly feel that I have found a home in Mineral-X. I’ve learned now that trying to combat climate change isn’t as simple as just making a better battery: it requires tying together the threads of science and technological development, community engagement and social impact, and policy and governance. Working together across disciplines, we can build a better future for society and the world.