Fellows are selected for their potential to make transformative contributions in engineering research and education. Each fellow works closely with a faculty mentor and participates in professional development opportunities designed to prepare them for academic and research leadership positions.
Meet the 2025 Fellows
Mingzhe Li
Ph.D., University of Utah
Advisor, Erin Chambers, Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Learn more about Mingzhe
Dr. Mingzhe Li’s research centers on turning large, complex datasets into interpretable structure, with broadly useful methods that support tasks like clustering, representative selection, and feature tracking. These techniques are designed to apply across domains; recently, he has used them in climate science to track cloud systems and detect atmospheric blocking events that influence regional weather.
In a separate line of work, Mingzhe advances high-performance computing for underlying algorithms, enabling analyses to run efficiently on modern supercomputers. Together, these threads aim to make rigorous, scalable data analysis more accessible to scientists and practitioners.
Claire Rubbelke
Ph.D., Syracuse University
Advisor, Melissa Berke, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
Learn more about Claire
Dr. Claire Rubbelke received her Ph.D. in earth sciences from Syracuse University in 2025. Her past research used leaf waxes extracted from marine sediment cores taken off the southwestern coast of Africa in order to learn about hydroclimate during the Plio-Pleistocene (5 million to ~12,500 years ago). Using a unique proxy-model approach, she compared proxy data to climate model output in order to understand the dynamic and thermodynamical mechanisms which influence Southern African rainfall over various timescales.
Dr. Rubbelke works with Dr. Melissa Berke in the Molecular Paleoclimatology and Organic biogeochemistry lab. Her proxy-model integration project will focus on the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (1.5 to 0.7 million years ago), a time when the planet abruptly transitioned from mild, 40,000 year Glacial-Interglacial cycles, to more intense, 100,000 year Glacial-Interglacial cycles.
Not only will her work add to the growing network of leaf wax isotope records from Africa, thereby improving representation of the Global South in the paleoclimate archive, but the proxy-model approach she utilizes will result in improved integration of empirical biogeochemistry and climate models through an improved understanding of water isotope systematics. The outcomes of this work will also provide much-needed environmental context for hominin evolution and migration in Southern Africa, as well as contextualize current and future climate and humanitarian disasters.
Vishal Sharma
Ph.D., Georgia Institute of Technology
Advisor, Karla Badillo-Urquiola, Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Learn more about Vishal
Dr. Vishal Sharma is a human–computer interaction (HCI) researcher examining how the design, development, and deployment of emerging technologies—including AI—can foster socio-ecologically responsible and sustainable futures, where innovation aligns with human dignity and planetary well-being. He has a Ph.D. in human-centered computing from Georgia Tech and a master’s in computer & information science from the University of California, Irvine. He has a BE in computer science and engineering from Chitkara University, India.
Specifically, his work focuses on: (a) how climate-vulnerable communities are marginalized in data-driven governance, (b) how automation erodes the agency of low-income and creative workers, and (c) how technology innovation intensifies environmental costs. By foregrounding justice and sustainability as core principles, Dr. Sharma’s research aims to contribute to developing human-centered and ethical technologies that are technically robust, socially accountable, and environmentally attuned.
He has published in premier HCI venues, including the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) CHI, CSCW, and TOCHI; the ACM Interactions and Crossroads magazines have covered his work. His research has introduced two new areas of inquiry: Post-Growth HCI to guide technology design beyond unsustainable economic growth and HCI for Sustainable Development to guide HCI scholarship on addressing issues of sustainable development. Dr. Sharma has received several honors for his work, including grants from Microsoft Research and the Office of Sustainability at Georgia Tech, as well as a fellowship from the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems. Beyond research, he has helped shape scholarly discourse by organizing panels and workshops and founding the Post-Growth HCI Collective, an international interdisciplinary network focused on reimagining technology for equitable and sustainable futures. He is the co-editor of the ACM Interactions, Climate for Change, featuring interdisciplinary research on sustainable and ethical computing. In a past life, he also worked as a software engineer.
Great Umenweke
Ph.D., University of Kentucky
Advisor, Jason Hicks, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Learn more about Great
Dr. Great Umenweke obtained his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Kentucky in 2025, where he carried out his research in the Sustainable and Alternative Fuels (SAF) group at the Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER). His doctoral research focused on the synthesis and application of heterogeneous catalysts for producing hydrocarbon biofuels, specifically through catalytic deoxygenation of oleaginous biomass to renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel via decarboxylation/decarbonylation.
He received his bachelor’s in chemical engineering from the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), Nigeria, in 2018. During his Ph.D., he also conducted a short-term summer research project at the Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Carnot de Bourgogne (ICB) in Dijon, France, where he applied in-situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to study metal oxides and zeolite-supported catalysts.
Beyond his research, Dr. Umenweke has received numerous awards and recognitions. He was named a 2025 CAS Future Leader and received the Richard J. Kokes Award from the North American Catalysis Society (2025). He was awarded the Young Talent label by the International Congress on Catalysis (2024), named a Southeastern Conference Emerging Scholar (2023), and received the ACS Student Exchange Award (2022). He was also a selected participant in the ACS Summer School on green chemistry and sustainable energy (2022) and the ELITECAT Summer School in Catalysis in Lyon, France (2024).
Joey Jiayao Wang
Ph.D., The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Advisor, Ahsan Kareem, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
Learn more about Joey
Dr. Joey Jiayao Wang’s research employs an interdisciplinary approach to investigate the impact of climate change on the destructive potential of typhoons and hurricanes, including changes in their intensity, frequency and tracks. She further assesses the lifecycle hazards and risks these extreme wind events pose to coastal high-rise buildings and urban clusters.
Dr. Wang’s work integrates climate science, structural engineering, and risk analysis to explore urban vulnerability and resilience, aiming to develop strategies for mitigating natural disaster risks.
Before joining Notre Dame, Dr. Wang served as a postdoctoral researcher at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She earned her Ph.D. from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Feng Xie
Ph.D., Rutgers University
Advisor, Ruilan Guo, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Learn more about Feng
Dr. Feng Xie received his B.S. degree from Jilin University and his M.S. degree in chemistry from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in 2019 under the mentorship of Prof. Yu Han. He earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from Rutgers University in 2025 under the guidance of Prof. Jing Li, where his research centered on the design and synthesis of functional porous materials for adsorption-based molecular separations.
Dr. Xie has authored 22 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals, including Nature Energy, Nature Communications, Angewandte Chemie, Matter, ACS Materials Letters, and Accounts of Chemical Research, with over 1,300 citations on Google Scholar. His research excellence has been recognized with multiple honors, including the Reid Award—the highest distinction for Rutgers chemistry graduates—along with the Zhou Family Fellowship and the Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad, the latter being the most prestigious national award for Chinese students studying overseas. He also received the Best Poster Award at the 2024 Annual Symposium of the Chinese American Chemical Society.
At the University of Notre Dame, Dr. Xie works with Prof. Ruilan Guo on the design and synthesis of advanced porous adsorbents and membranes for energy- and environmental-related applications, with a particular focus on hydrogen purification, carbon capture, and water treatment technologies. Outside the laboratory, Dr. Xie enjoys playing tennis and squash with friends, maintaining a healthy balance between research and recreation.