Sohum Patel
Postdoctoral Associate
Sohum was born and raised in the Southwest suburbs of Chicago, IL. Owing to some pivotal mentors in high school, Sohum gained an early appreciation for chemistry and environmental science. He thus decided to pursue his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, while also taking coursework and conducting undergraduate research in the Environmental Engineering department. Following his undergraduate career, Sohum gained more research experience working on the development of battery materials at Argonne National Lab. Sohum then moved from the Midwest to the East Coast, as he began his Ph.D. at Yale University in the lab of Prof. Menachem Elimelech. Over the course of his Ph.D., Sohum worked on various projects involving electro-driven aqueous ion separations, including thermodynamic assessment of desalination processes and the development of novel electrochemical processes for the selective extraction of target species. In the Smith Lab, Sohum will continue to specialize in aqueous separations with focus on the design and synthesis of metal-organic-frameworks (MOF) and related thin film nanocomposite membranes (e.g., for water purification and ion-ion separation). Outside of research, Sohum enjoys spending time with loved ones and his pets, weightlifting, playing tennis and spikeball, hiking, and watching psychological thrillers.