People
Meet our Principal Investigator
David Fenning
Francine Berman Professor
Chemical and Nano Engineering Department at UC San Diego
David is the Francine Berman Chair Professor in the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California, San Diego. His research and teaching in the Chemical and Nano Engineering department focuses on understanding energy conversion materials and their interfaces, often working at the frontiers of synchrotron X-ray science to understand microscopic mechanisms of functional performance. He completed his Ph.D. at MIT with Tonio Buonassisi in 2013, and after a Battelle postdoctoral fellowship in photoelectrochemistry with Yang Shao-Horn at MIT, joined the NanoEngineering department at UC San Diego in 2015. He has authored over 100 manuscripts on materials and devices for solar and electrochemical energy conversion. He enjoys running after his kids for calm, followed by trail runs for sanity. Whenever he can, he gets rocked pretending to surf, for humility.
Postdoctoral Researchers
Maimur Hossain
From perovskite films to flavorful curries, my life is a blend of science and spice.
Guillermo Esparza
Beyond research, Guillermo loves to go backpacking, practicing various forms of art, and playing games.
Yuhan Zhang
Yuhan enjoys reading, thrifting, shopping groceries, and putting Tabasco on just about everything.
Jongbeom Kim
Jongbeom (JayB) completed his Ph.D. at UNIST in South Korea in 2026. Outside of research, Jongbeom enjoys staying active through basketball and swimming.
Jiachen Li
Jiachen enjoys hiking through the forests and along the coast, soaking up the natural beauty of SoCal.
Ph.D. Students
Kelly Vences
Kelly loves to hike, dance, and try different boba cafes around San Diego.
Ayush Tiwary
Ayush actively participates in local soccer tournaments and also loves playing tennis.
Tejas Nivarty
Outside of the lab, Tejas enjoys music, hiking, cooking, playing GeoGuessr, and catching either vibes or strays.
Guang-Yu Lee
Guang-Yu had a little lamb, whose fleece was white as snow and everywhere Guang-Yu went, the lamb was sure to go.
Rania Ahmed
Rania received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from UC Berkeley in 2025. Her previous projects were on atomic layer etching at JPL and electrolyte degradation in lithium-ion batteries in the McCloskey Lab at UC Berkeley. Her current research interests are exploring materials and methods for dynamic catalysis.
Eric Oberholtz
When away from lab, Eric can be found playing the saxophone, cooking new recipes, and hiking.
Annie Lai
Annie likes travel, exercise, photography, and fluffy animals!
M.S. Students
Lucas Mar
Shawn Kohl
Research Staff
Daniel Abdoue
When he isn't tinkering with lab equipment, Daniel likes cooking, playing soccer, playing the drums, and finding other stuff to tinker with in between.
We typically host 10+ undergraduate students at any time for volunteer research projects. Reach out to dfenning@ucsd.edu with your Resume/CV if you think you'd be a good fit for our science or engineering applications.