Leanne Chen

Prof. Leanne Chen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Guelph, leading the Computational Electrochemistry Lab. She holds a PhD in Computational Chemistry from Stanford University and completed postdoctoral research at the California Institute of Technology under Thomas F. Miller III. Her research focuses on developing computational methods to model electrochemical interfaces for energy storage systems, aiming to reduce fossil fuel dependence through renewable energy integration. Key areas include electrode-electrolyte double-layer dynamics and electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction.

Education: PhD in Computational Chemistry (Stanford University, 201?), Postdoctoral Scholarship at Caltech (201?–2020).

Research interests emphasize ab initio modeling of energy transformation systems, particularly in batteries, fuel cells, and electrocatalytic processes. Her work bridges theoretical insights with practical applications, such as optimizing alloy catalysts for ammonia oxidation and designing materials for CO₂ reduction. Notable awards include the 2018 Gordon Research Seminar Presentation Award and the 2017 North American Catalysis Society Kokes Award.

Awards and recognitions: Editorial Advisory Board member of Electrochemical Science Advances (2020), NSERC Alexander Graham Bell CGS-D3 (2013).

Labs/Teams: Computational Electrochemistry Lab at the University of Guelph, leveraging advanced computational tools like Vienna Ab initio Simulation Package and Compute Canada systems. Research outputs span over 30 peer-reviewed articles, with recent trends focusing on alloy catalysts, CO₂ electroreduction, and reaction mechanisms in heterogeneous systems.