People | APEX

Yanfei Xu joined the Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Department at University of Massachusetts Amherst as an assistant professor in 2019. She became an adjunct assistant professor in the Chemical Engineering Department in 2020 fall.

Before joining UMASS, from 2013-2018, she was a postdoctoral researcher in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was active in pursuit of turning polymer insulators into heat conductors. Before joining MIT, from 2011-2013, she passionately pursued GENIUS research funded by European Commission — printable organic electronics, and secured Marie-Curie Fellowships with major European institutions and companies, including the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Humboldt University, University of Cambridge, Italian National Research Council, Université de Strasbourg, and the headquarters of BASF SE. From 2013 to 2015, she has been appointed an associate professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. She received Ph.D. in Chemistry from Nankai University, where she was awarded “Top 100 Most Influential Scientific Researchers in P. R. China (among all fields)”. UMass Amherst MIE Faculty link. CV

Doctoral Candidate

Yu Guo

Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Department

Yu Guo received his B.E. in Materials Science and Engineering at Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) in 2016, and M.S. in Chemistry at University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 2019.

His research interests include thermally conductive polymers and polymer-based composites.

yuguo@umass.edu

Doctoral Candidate

Yijie Zhou

Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Department

Yijie Zhou received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering at Central South University, and M.S. in Chemical Engineering at South China University of Technology in 2020.

His research interest is engineered polymers with controlled thermal conductivity.

yijiezhou@umass.edu

Doctoral Candidate

Mihir Chandra

Material Science and Engineering Department

Mihir Chandra received his B.S and M.S in Physics from National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneswar, India in 2024.

His research focuses on polymers, with particular emphasis on understanding thermal transport mechanisms at the fundamental level.

mchandra@umass.edu

Brendan Scott

bmscott@umass.edu

Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Department

Robert Ciarla

rciarla@umass.edu

Chemical Engineering Department

Master Candidate

Ian Goodine

Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Department

Ian Goodine received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Commonwealth Honors College at UMass Amherst in 2021.

His research interest is sustainable applications for recycled polymers. This includes a particular concentration on polymers for thermal management and energy storage.

igoodine@umass.edu

Master Candidate

Ethan Walko

Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Department

Ethan Walko received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UMass Amherst in 2021.

His research focuses on investigating ways in which waste polymers can be made into useful materials for manufacturing new products. This research is enabled by the characterization of commonly recycled polymers as well as mechanical and thermal analysis.

ewalko@umass.edu

Master Candidate

Deanna Conti

Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Department

Deanna Conti graduated Cum Laude with a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from UMass Amherst in 2021.

Her research concentrates on the strategies for increasing thermal conductivity in polymers. This involves employing top-down approaches such as gel stretching, solid-state stretching, extrusion, electrospinning and template-assisted strategies to develop polymers with high thermal conductivity.

dconti@umass.edu

APEX Alumni

Nattavipa (Cindy) Chongvimansin

Commonwealth Honors College at UMass Amherst

Nattavipa Chongvimansin’s research interest is degradable polymers for advanced thermal and electrical applications

nchongvimans@umass.edu

Michael Hershelman

Chemical Engineering Department

Michael Hershelman’s research interest includes supercapacitors and polymer engineering. “I have a wide range of interests but hope to use my degree upon graduating to work in an energy storage or renewable energy field.”