Meet our team!

Principal Investigator

Dr. Ning Wang Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, UT Tyler Editorial Board Member, Journal of Ionic Liquids MolSSI ACT-CMS Faculty Fellow Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, University of Notre Dame M.S.E. in Materials Science and Engineering, University of Pennsylvania B.E. in Polymer Materials and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology Expertise: Molecular modeling and simulations, free energy calculations, AI/ML techniques, and force field development

Postdoctoral Researcher

Sudip Kumar Das Dr. Sudip Das is a postdoctoral research associate at CoMMA Lab. He is a Ph.D. graduate from the School of Chemical Engineering at Oklahoma State University. His research focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms of ionic liquid biodegradation using molecular dynamics simulations, density functional theory, and enhanced sampling techniques. He also served as an NSF intern at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Prior to his doctoral studies, he worked in the lead-acid battery industry in Bangladesh. He holds a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering and Polymer Science from Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Bangladesh. His research interests include multiscale modeling approaches combined with data-driven decision-making for property prediction in sustainable materials design.

Graduate Researcher

Rabeya Khan Rabeya Khan is joining the CoMMA Lab as a Graduate Research Assistant. She is a graduate in Electrical and Electronic Engineering with experience in Materials Science, Computational Modeling, Machine Learning, and Autonomous Systems. In the CoMMA lab, Rabeya will carry out DFT calculations and machine learning-enhanced simulations to develop accurate force fields and enable the computational characterization of advanced materials and fluid systems by studying electronic structures, intermolecular forces, and thermal properties. Rabeya is also interested in utilizing artificial intelligence to explore chemical and physical properties of materials.

Undergraduate Researcher

David Mancilla David is a sophomore majoring in Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at Tyler. His research interests lie at the intersection of computational and applied science, with a focus on molecular simulations and machine learning techniques-especially as they relate to organic synthesis. His goal is to help translate these advanced computational tools into practical solutions for pharmaceutical and medical applications. By leveraging molecular modeling to design novel compounds and applying Al to accelerate discovery, he's excited to contribute to the lab's mission of advancing sustainable and impactful chemical engineering research.

Zainab Tairu Zainab is an undergraduate Chemical Engineering student at Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria, and an NLP engineer with experience applying machine learning to real-world problems. Her research interests span protein engineering, molecular simulation, and sustainable materials. At the CoMMA Lab, she is eager to explore AI-guided modeling techniques to accelerate discovery and deepen her computational research skills.