Qing Zhao

Qing Zhao is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Northeastern University, joining in January 2022. She leads the Zhao Group, focused on computational catalyst design for sustainable energy applications. Her work integrates electronic structure theory, machine learning, and experimental insights to develop catalysts for CO₂ reduction, nitrogen conversion, methane activation, and plastic upcycling.

Education:

• BS: Shanghai Jiao Tong University & Purdue University (2012)
• MS: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2014)
• PhD: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2018)
• Postdoctoral Research: Princeton University (2018–2021)

Research Interests: Her interdisciplinary research bridges computational chemistry, catalysis, and sustainable energy. Key areas include:

• Designing single-atom alloys and heterogeneous catalysts
• Developing embedded correlated wavefunction theory for kinetic modeling
• High-throughput computational screening for energy materials

Grants & Awards:

• 2024 NSF CAREER Award ($618,100) for ammonia electrosynthesis
• 2024 ACS Petroleum Research Fund Award ($110,000) for methane conversion
• 2023 ARPA-E CREATE Grant ($500,000) for electrocatalyst modeling

Labs & Teams: The Zhao Group collaborates with industry and academia to advance catalyst design. Current projects include computational characterization of redox-mediated ammonia synthesis, coke-resistant single-atom alloys, and automated microkinetic modeling.