SmithLabMIT

Industrial processes that use heat to purify a mixture’s components account for roughly 10 percent of the energy use in the U.S. Zachary Smith is developing filters that do the job at room temperature, reducing costs and environmental impact. mitsha.re/VwVg50UFr9O

Congratulations to Smith Lab graduate student Brandon Tapia on being selected for a MathWorks Fellowship! Brandon is leading various computational efforts for the group, and we are proud of this recognition of his work.

Congratulations to our first-year graduate student, Brandon Tapia, for passing his qualifying exam for the Program in Polymers and Soft Matter (PPSM)!

Perspective in @ScienceMagazine on thin-film composite membranes for organic solvent reverse osmosis doi.org/10.1126/scienc…

MIT researchers have developed a new way to separate crude oil components using much less energy than traditional methods. This could revolutionize how fuels and chemicals are made. news.mit.edu/2025/new-appro…

Check out our most recent publication in @J_Membrane_Sci in collaboration with the Vasenkov Group at Univ. of Florida: “Macroscopic and Microscopic Gas Diffusivity Measurements for PIM-COOH/UiO-66-NH2 Composite Membranes" sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

Check out our most recent publication in Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research @ACSPublications: “MOF Instability and Polymer Infiltration in Amine-Functionalized UiO MOFs/PIM-COOH-Based MMMs for Solvent-Based Separations” pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.10…

Congratulations to Dr. Jing Ying Yeo, who successfully defended her thesis “Understanding the Role of Free Volume in Microporous Polymers for Membrane-based Gas Separations” earlier this month! Jing Ying will begin work as a Senior Research Specialist at Dow later this year.

Congratulations to Dr. Pablo Dean, who successfully defended his thesis “Leveraging Competitive Sorption in Microporous Polymer Membranes to Enhance Gas Separation Performance” at the end of April. We cannot wait to see what he accomplishes next!

Check out our most recent publication in @J_Membrane_Sci: “Physical aging of defect-free asymmetric functionalized PIM hollow fiber membranes” doi.org/10.1016/j.mems…

Check out our recent publication in collaboration with @SwagerGroup in Journal of Materials Chemistry A: “Enhancing acid-gas separations using free volume manipulation for microporous poly(arylene ether)s” doi.org/10.1039/D4TA07…

Congratulations to Dr. Taehoon Lee on being named a 2025 NAMS Young Membrane Scientist recipient! As a postdoc, Taehoon has made significant contributions to the Smith Lab. He will soon start his faculty career at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) in Korea.

Check out our most recent publication in @MacroJrnls_ACS #Macromolecules with Prof. Park’s group at Hanyang University: “Anomalous Structural Changes and Gas Transport Properties in Ultrathin Films of Polymers of Intrinsic Microporosity” pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.10…