Dr. Babak Anasori is the Reilly Rising Star Associate Professor at Purdue University, with joint appointments in the Schools of Materials Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. He also serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Graphene and 2D Materials, a Springer-Nature journal. Dr. Anasori received his PhD from Drexel University in 2014 in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, the birthplace of MXenes. Dr. Anasori has authored over 200 refereed publications on MXenes and their precursors and has been recognized as a Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher since 2019. He has received several international awards, including the 2016 Materials Research Society (MRS) Postdoctoral Award, the 2021 Drexel University 40-under-40, the 2021 Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN) Rising Star Award in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, the 2024 Early Discovery Award by the American Ceramic Society (ACerS), and the 2024 Kavli Foundation Early Career Lectureship in Materials Science by MRS. Dr. Anasori’s research lab focuses on developing novel 2D carbide and carbonitride MXenes for various applications, including energy generation, electromagnetic interference shielding, and ultra-high temperature and extreme environments.
Dr. Michelle Browne is currently the head of the Helmholtz Young Investigator Electrocatalysis: Synthesis to Device group at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin. Her group focuses on developing novel catalysts (including MXenes) and membrane electrode assemblies for green H2 technologies including electrolysers, fuel cells and electrochemical H2 pumps. She holds a Ph.D in Chemistry from Trinity College Dublin (Ireland). She has received various awards for her research in Green H2, including, the Curious Minds Research Award, L’Oreal UNESCO Rising Talent UK & Ireland Fellowship, International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE) Elsevier Prize for Applied Electrochemistry award and the Clara Immerwahr Award from UniSysCat.
Prof. Zdenek Sofer is a tenured professor at the University of Chemistry and Technology Prague in the Czech Republic since 2019. He earned his PhD at the University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Czech Republic, in 2008. During his doctoral studies, he spent one year at Forschungszentrum Julich and completed a postdoctoral stay at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. Prof. Sofer’s research interests focus on 2D materials, including crystal growth, chemical modifications, and derivatization. His research spans various applications of 2D materials, such as energy storage and conversion, electronics, catalysis, and sensing devices. Prof. Sofer has received several awards. He has authored over 730 articles, which have garnered over 38 000 citations (with an h-index of 101).
Christina Birkel is an Associate Professor in the School of Molecular Sciences at Arizona State University (ASU) and holds a joint professorship position in the Institute of Materials Science at the Technische Universität (TU) Darmstadt. In 2024, she was appointed Navrotsky Professor of Materials Research at ASU. Prior to her independent career, she was a Junior Research group leader at TU Darmstadt (Habilitation in 2018), a Postdoctoral Researcher (group of Prof. Galen Stucky) at the University of California, Santa Barbara (Feodor Lynen Research Stipend, Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation) and completed her PhD thesis (group of Prof. Wolfgang Tremel) at the Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz holding a stipend of the Graduate School of Excellence (2010). Her group focuses on the synthesis and structural science of new types of layered solids and two-dimensional materials with a strong focus on carbides and (carbo)nitrides (MAX phases and MXenes), as well as the investigation of their properties including transport (electronic, magnetic), high-temperature and electrochemical behavior
Qing Huang, Professor, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Science. He pursued degrees in Tianjin University from 1995 to 2002; and obtained bachelor degree in inorganic non-metallics and master degree in materials science. From 2002 to 2005, he studied in Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, CAS; and obtained his PhD in materials physics and chemistry. During 2005 to 2010, he carried out post-doctoral research at National Institute for Materials Science, Japan and University of California Davis, USA. In 2010, he joined Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, and focused on the developments and applications of energy materials under extreme environments including the layered materials (MAX phases and MXenes) and silicon carbide composites for high-safety energy systems.
Dr. Christopher E. Shuck is currently an Assistant Professor in the Chemistry and Chemical Biology department at Rutgers University. He received his Ph.D. in 2018 from the University of Notre Dame in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and B.S.E. in 2013 from Princeton University in Chemical and Biological Engineering. He was a research assistant professor at the A.J. Drexel Nanomaterials Institute, Drexel University until 2023. He has published more than 70 articles on MXenes, including synthesis, characterization and applications. Notably, Dr. Shuck has written extensively on synthesis and characterization guidelines of MXenes, including how to effectively control intrinsic MXene chemistry/structure to tailor MXene properties. He is world-recognized as a leader in all aspects of MXene synthesis. Christopher’s work has led to a direct change in the definition of both MAX phases and MXenes (Discovery of M5AX4 and M5X4Tx MXene), he has pioneered work into solid-solution MXenes, and has applied MXene work into many fields, including electrochemical energy storage, electromagnetic interference shielding, and biomedicine.
He recieved his BS degree from Hanyang University in 1997 and his Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering from KAIST in 2003. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Minnesota (2003-2005) and worked at LG Chemicals (2005-2007), Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) (2007-2022), and Korea University (2017-2022). He is currently a professor in the School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University. He has received numerous awards, including LG Group Best Research and Development Award (2007), KIST Best Researcher Award (2016, 2017, 2020), Songgok Scientist Award (2017), Best Academic Award from Korea Polymer Society (2018), Young Scientist Award from the Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry (2017), Best Korean Scientist Award from KRF (2018), Korea President Award (2019), S-OIL Best Scientist Award (2020), and ACS Top Contributor Award (2024). His research interests focus on 2D nanomaterials—including transition metal carbides (MXene)—and their polymer nanocomposites for applications in Electromagnetic shielding, thermal management, energy storage, and optoelectronic devices.
Professor in the department of Physics and Engineering Physics at Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Prior to joining Tulane in 2018, he was a Wigner Fellow (2014-2017) and Research Staff (2017-2018) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He received his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at Drexel University in 2014 where he co-invented two-dimensional (2D) transition metal carbides/nitrides (MXenes) in 2011. He has published more than 130 papers (with more than 61,000 citations and h-index of 71) in international journals and presented many plenary, keynote and invited lectures and seminars at a number of international conferences and universities. He has been listed as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics six times and has received many awards and recognitions, such as Humboldt Research Award, NSF CAREER Award, Robert L. Coble Award, Kroto Award, Ross Coffin Purdy Award, designated as a Senior Member of National Academy of Inventors, Rising Star Award by Tulane University, InfoMat Junior Researcher Award, MRS Gold Graduate Student Award, Graduate Excellence in Materials Science Award, Young Alumni Emerging Leader Award and listed as Forty-Under-Forty by Drexel University. He is an Associate Editor of Energy Advances, a journal published by the Royal Society of Chemistry. His research group works on the synthesis and characterization of layered materials and novel nanomaterials with a focus on 2D materials for electrochemical energy storage and conversion, as well as environmental applications.
Dr. Ana Primo is a tenured scientist at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
working at the Instituto de Tecnología Química (UPV-CSIC). A pioneer in using emerging 2D MXenes as catalysts, her research focuses on the design, synthesis, and advanced characterization of 2D materials (graphene derivatives and MXenes) for catalysis, electrocatalysis, and photocatalysis aimed at sustainable chemical transformations and energy applications. She has authored 126 peer-reviewed publications, 6 book chapters and 8 patents, accumulating 8356 citations and an h-index of 46 (Google Scholar). She has supervised 9 completed PhD theses and is currently advising 6 more, fostering an inclusive, multidisciplinary environment.
As PI, she has led competitive regional and national projects, including three consecutive Ministry-funded projects, and was recently awarded with the group of excellence CIPROM/2024/71 PROMETEO (Generalitat Valenciana). She collaborates with industry (e.g., BASF, Abengoa Solar, Xilex) to bridge fundamental discoveries with technology transfer. Her work has been widely disseminated through international conferences, including invited lectures in Gold Coast (Australia), at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (Germany), and at Drexel University (Philadelphia), as well as a plenary lecture at the RomCat 2025 congress in Cluj-Napoca. She has also taken on leadership roles, most notably serving as the main organizer of EUROMXENE, the first European conference devoted to MXenes, held in Valencia in 2024 and co-organizing the symposium “The MXene frontier: Transformative nanomaterials shaping the future” at IEENAP-2025 (Bratislava). In parallel, she contributes to graduate education through invited teaching in master’s and doctoral programs at UPV, the University of Zaragoza, and the University of Bucharest, and she actively engages in science communication, from UPV features for the International Day of Women and Girls in Science to outreach talks for schoolchildren. Committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion, she serves on the Equality Committee of the Instituto de Tecnología Química (ITQ), advocating for equal opportunities and a workplace free from discrimination.
Dr. Maksym Pogorielov is a Senior Reserach and Head of Advanced Biomaterials and Biophysics Laboratory (University of Latvia) and Head of Biomedical Research Centre (Sumy State University). He received a Doctor of Science degree in Medical Sciences in Sumy State University with research focused on in vivo application of novel biomaterials. Currently he has led and partnered on numerous international research projects, including Horizon, M-Era.Net and Era4Health initiatives, securing multimillion-euro funding. Over the last decade Dr. Pogorielov have concentrated on two-dimensional MXenes, elucidating their toxicity mechanisms, genotoxicity, and immune interactions, and developing surface terminations and functionalisation strategies that improve biocompatibility and enable targeted delivery. With over 110 publications indexed in SCOPUS and a h-index of 25, he is also an experienced mentor, having supervised multiple PhD students.
