
Staff scientists

Andrei Khodakov
Director de recherche CNRS
Andrei Khodakov graduated from the Moscow State University in 1987, received his PhD degree in 1991 from the Russian Academy of Sciences and his Habilitation (Dr Sci.) degree in 2002 from the University of Lille. In 1992-1999, Dr. Andrei Y. Khodakov acquired experience in top academic and industrial institutions in the United States (UC Berkeley, LBNL, Sabic Technology Center), in France (IFP, ENSCP, LURE) and in the UK (University of Edinburgh, UMIST). Currently Dr Khodakov is a Senior CNRS Research Director and Head of Catalysis for Energy research group in the UCCS CNRS laboratory in the University of Lille. His research interests cover catalyst and reactor design aspects for conversion of fossil and renewable feedstocks, reaction mechanisms and kinetics, in situ and operando techniques. The most important scientific achievements are in the field of Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (synthesis of fuels, light olefins and oxygenates) as well as in the field of activation of paraffins.

Vitaly Ordomsky
Charge de recherche CNRS
Vitaly Ordomsky received his MSc (2006) and PhD (2009) degree from Moscow State University in the field of application of zeolite materials in catalysis. He was a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Eindhoven University in the Netherlands, working on biomass conversion using heterogeneous catalysts. Afterwards, he received a permanent position as a researcher in 2013 at the CNRS (France) in the Energy group of Lille University working in C1 chemistry. From 2016 to 2019 he was CNRS researcher in E2P2L laboratory in Shanghai. His main research field is development of new nano-materials for sustainable chemistry.
Mirella VIRGINIE
Associate Professor

phone: + 33 3 20 43 69 52
Office: C3 Lille University
Mirella VIRGINIE obtained her MSc in 2007 on the topic of ethanol steam reforming before to obtained her PhD degree in 2011 in the field of catalytic tar reforming produced during biomass gasification, in Laboratoire des Matériaux, Surfaces et Procédés pour la Catalyse from Strasbourg University. She acquired experience in the fields of catalytic membrane reactor during her postdoctoral research in Département des Sciences Analytiques of the Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien Strasbourg.
Currently Dr Virginie is an Associate Professor in the UCCS CNRS laboratory in the University of Lille. Her research interests cover designing of heterogeneous catalysts for Fischer-tropsch synthesis and Dry methane reforming, biogas valorization, kinetic modeling, and effect of H2S as impurities.
Postdocs

Yong Zhou
Postdoc
Yong comes from Xiangtan, China. He received his master degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Xiangtan University in 2016, working on resolving the salting effects on the hydrogen bonding of water by spectrometric methods. He continued his PhD study at Charles University in Prague and obtained his PhD in in Physical Chemistry in 2020 under supervision of Dr. Maksym Opanasenko and Professor Jiri Cejka. In Prague, his work mainly involved synthesis and catalytic applications of zeolites materials. From 2021, Yong joined the group of Prof. Andrei Khodakov group as a postdoc where his research work is focus on studying the promoting functionalities of liquid metals in catalysis under the supervision of Professor Vitaly Ordomsky.

Sergei Chernyak
Postdoc
Dr. Sergei Chernyak received his MS (2011) and Ph.D. (2017) degrees in physical chemistry at the Chemistry Department of Lomonosov Moscow State University. From 2018 to 2021 he worked as a senior researcher at the laboratory of Catalysis and Gas Electrochemistry (MSU) and in the beginning of 2021 he joined SusCat research group as a post-doc in the frame of the "Take-Off" project. His research interests involve development of new nanostructures for catalytic hydrogenation of CO and CO2 and carbon nanomaterials chemistry including synthesis and investigation of carbon nanotubes, graphene nanoflakes, carbon dots, and their composites.

Chunyang Dong
Postdoc
Dr. Chunyang Dong was born in Qufu, China, which is the hometown of Confucius. He received a Ph.D. degree in chemical engineering in 2018, under the supervision of Prof. Jinlong Zhang at East China University of Science and Technology. Thereafter, he joined Prof. Ding Ma’s group at Peking University as a Boya Postdoctoral fellow. From April 2021, Chunyang moved to Lille, France, as a CNRS Postdoc in Prof. Andrei Khodakov’s group. His research interest is photocatalysis and catalytic hydrogen storage/production. Herein, his main research is focusing on the solar-driven methane conversion project.
PhD students

Ana Katiuce Fellenberg
PhD student
Ana is originally from Iraí, BR and earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Universidade Comunitária da Região de Chapecó (UNOCHAPECÓ) in 2013. Ana performed master research in carbon membranes and gas separation at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). At the same time, she also was a student representative of the graduate program in chemical engineering (PPGEQ) at the university. Her current research is focused on the nanoconfinement for production of platform molecules from biosyngas with enhanced selectivity.

Di Hu
PhD student
Di Hu is from Wuhan, China. He received his master degree in Chemical Engineering from South-Central University for Nationalities in 2019. He did undergraduate research on methane dry reforming in the Key Laboratory of Catalysis and Energy Materials Chemistry of Ministry of Education & Hubei Key Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials Science, South-Central University for Nationalities. During his Ph.D., Di performs research in the supervision of Professor Andrei Khodakov and Professor Vitaly Ordomsky. His focus now at UCCS is new photocatalytic processes for methane selective chemical conversion.

Anoop Chakkingal
PhD student
Anoop Chakkingal obtained his master’s degree (Chemical engineering) from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras in June 2017. He is currently a joint PhD candidate ( Ghent university, University of Lille – joined-March 2019 ) working with Prof. Mirella Virginie, Prof. Joris Thybaut and Prof. Andrei Khodakov. His PhD research topic is on Kinetic/Machine learning modelling of Fischer Tropsch synthesis.

Massimo Corda
PhD student
Massimo Corda obtained his master's degree at Cagliari University (Italy) in September 2020. From October 2020 to April 2021 he worked at Humboldt University (Berlin, Germany) on the synthesis of metal oxides nanoparticles as heterogeneous catalysts for biomass valorization. In September 2021 he joined UCCS as a PhD Student. His current work focus on new nanostructured catalysts for CO2 hydrogenation to light olefines.

Mỹ Nghệ Trần
PhD student
My Nghe comes from Binh Dinh, Viet Nam, which is the hometown of Quang Trung Emperor. He obtained his bachelor degree of Chemistry from Quy Nhon University (2017) and diploma certificate of Biotechnology from Chisholm Institute (2019). Afterwards, he graduated from Gachon University, South Korea with his master degree of Nanophysics (2021). His master thesis focused on the 2D Titanium Carbide (Ti3C2Tx) MXene for photocatalysis and gas sensor applications. From September 2021, as a PhD student, he participated in the UCCS and IEMN groups, under the supervisions of Professor Vitaly Ordomsky and Professor Bruno Grandidier. His research centers catalytic reactions of water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) splitting to produce hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO), respectively.
Alumni
Deizi Vanessa Peron (PhD student in 2015-2019, postdoc 2019-2022) -research engineer in Total Energies
Alan Josue Barrios (PhD graduation in December 2021) -postdoctoral research position in VaalBio team of UCCS
Debora R. Strossi Pedrolo (PhD graduation in December 2021)- public officer, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Qiyan Wang (PhD graduation in September 2021)
Sara Navarro-Jaén (Postdoc in 2019-2020) -postdoctoral research position in the VaalBio group of UCCS
Melissa Rodrigues de la Rocha (PhD graduation in April 2021) -chemical engineer, Sinodos Chemistry consulting company
Dan Wu (PhD graduation in December 2020) -2021 Winner of Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-financed Students Abroad, professor-level researcher position at Zhengzhou University, China
Feng Niu (PhD graduation in 2019)- Post doctoral position, China
Bang Gu (PhD graduation in 2019) - Assistant Professor, Yunnan University, China
Xiang Yu (Max) (PhD graduation in 2019) - Postdoctoral Researcher in the Shenzhen University, Guangdong, China
Camila Gomes Flores (PhD graduation in 2019) -Co-Founder of ZeoFertil and Research Engineer in the Institut de chimie et procédés pour l'énergie, l'environnement et la santé (ICPEES), Strasbourg, France
Alexandre Antônio Bento Carvalho (PhD graduation in 2017) -Researcher at Calistair company, Paris, France
Cathy Brabant (PhD graduation in 2017) - Chemistry High School Teacher, France
Guanfeng Liang (Postdoc in 2017) - Associate Professor, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Yanping Chen (Postdoc in 2016-2017) - Staff Scientist, Micro-, Nanoreactor and Reaction Engineering Group, State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, CAS, Dalian, China
Tong Li (PhD defense in 2016) -Researcher, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, CAS, China
Marine Gaillard (PhD graduation in 2016) - Project Leader in S3D Engineering, France
Janice Botelho Souza (Sandwich PhD in 2016) - Full Professor, Universidade La Salle, Brazil
Charles Bonnin (PhD graduation in 2016) – Research Engineer, IFP-Energies Nouvelles, France
Yuan Luo (Postdoc 2014-2016) -Development Engineer at ILS, Berlin, Germany
Mengnan Lu (PhD graduation in 2015) -Researcher, China Energy Group Co. Ltd. Beijing Lucency Enviro-Tech Co. Ltd, China
Kang Cheng (PhD graduation in 2015) - Associate Professor, Xiamen University, China
Diego Alexander Pena Zapata (PhD graduation in 2013) - Catalyst technologist for heavy ends processing, Axens, France
Guilherme de Souza (Sandwich PhD in 2012-2013) -Coordinator of the Technical Advisory of the Secretariat for the Environment and Infrastructure of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Jie Zhang (Postdoc in 2012) - Associate Professor, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute,CAS, China
Majid Sadeqzadeh (PhD graduation in 2012)- Senior Process Engineer at Johnson Matthey, UK
Alan Jean-Marie (PhD graduation in 2010) - Senior Scientist, Matière & Energie, Altran Research, France
Jingping Hong (PhD graduation in 2009) - Full Professor of South-Central University for Nationalities, Wuhan, China
Jean Sebastien Giradon (PhD graduation in 2005) - Associate Professor, University of Lille, France