Alex Bologna

Alex received his BS in Chemistry from the University of Chicago where he worked on self-assembling polymer micelles in the group of Matthew Tirrell. In 2021, after several years building high-end cabinetry, he joined the Chemistry Department at UC Santa Barbara, working as a PhD student under Professor Ram Seshadri. His research aims to better understand the complex and often dirty chemical transformations that occur during the recycling of modern technological waste, namely Li-ion batteries, waste electrical and electronic equipment, and Nd₂Fe₁₄B rare earth magnets. His work focuses on solid-state synthesis and characterization with X-ray crystallography and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy to unravel these multifarious mixtures.