John Swierk
Biography
John received a B.A. in Chemistry and a B.S.E. Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 2008. Following his time at UPenn he joined the research group of Professor Thomas Mallouk, studying the electron transfer reactions in Water-Splitting Dye-Senstized Photochemical Cells. He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry in May 2014 and began a postdoc at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab as part of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis with the Molecular Catalysis Group. There he worked under the supervision of Professor T. Don Tilley and explored the electrochemistry heterogenous first-row transition metal oxygen evolution catalysts. In 2015, he joined the Yale Energy Sciences Institute as a postdoctoral chemist working with Professor Charles Schmuttenmaer to explore new materials for dye-sensitized energy conversion with a focus on using terahertz spectroscopy to characterize ultrafast carrier dynamics. In 2016, he was promoted to associate research scientist at Yale University in the Chemistry Department and Yale Energy Sciences Institute.