The Group

Welcome to the website of The Szekely Group! We are a team of curious minds from diverse backgrounds, dedicated to fostering a collaborative and inclusive environment where we creatively solve complex engineering problems together. We are based at the Advanced Membranes & Porous Materials Center at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), and previously at the School of Chemical Engineering & Analytical Science at The University of Manchester. Browse through the menu to find information about the current and alumni group members, and learn about the research areas we cover. For more information about our research, industrial projects and PhD/postdoc opportunities, use the contact form to get in touch!

Featured Content: Best Paper Award!

Our paper just received the Advanced Membranes Best Paper Award! 🏆 Congratulations to Gergo and Nawader for the nice article, which you can read here. Download the dataset from the OSN Database. We identified the most important solvent parameters affecting solute rejection in membranes. 🚀  We reported a dataset with 407 solutes in 11 solvents, and… Continue reading Featured Content: Best Paper Award!

Featured Content: Congratulations to Martin for passing his PhD defense and best thesis nomination!

Congratulations to Martin Gede on completing an excellent PhD thesis titled Advancing Sustainable Photoredox Catalysis with Polymers of Intrinsic Microporosity: from Catalyst Design to Continuous–Flow Process!  Many thanks to their committee members, namely Profs Javier Ruiz-Martinez and Monika Chodasiewicz from KAUST and Prof Timothy Noël from the University of Amsterdam. 🙏  It has been a… Continue reading Featured Content: Congratulations to Martin for passing his PhD defense and best thesis nomination!

Featured Content: Revolutionizing energy efficiency in chemical separations!

🚨 Revolutionizing Energy Efficiency in Chemical Separations! We’re thrilled to share our latest open access research 🔓, just out in Nature Energy! Our paradigm-shifting hybrid modeling approach combines cutting-edge machine learning with mechanistic insights, unlocking the potential to… 🔋 slash energy use and CO₂ emissions by up to 90% in pharmaceutical purifications; 🌎 achieve 40%… Continue reading Featured Content: Revolutionizing energy efficiency in chemical separations!

Featured Content: Congratulations to Nawader for passing her PhD defense!

Congratulations to Nawader Alqadhi for passing her PhD defense at KAUST in July 2024. Many thanks to their committee members, namely Profs Pascal Saikaly and NorEddine Ghaffour from KAUST and Prof Christopher Fellows from the University of New England in Australia and the Saudi Water Authority. Hard work always pays off. You nailed your thesis… Continue reading Featured Content: Congratulations to Nawader for passing her PhD defense!

Group members

  Current Group Members Diana Katherine Condor Katherine received her BS degree in Chemistry from Yachay Tech University in Ecuador. Her previous experience includes research on nanomaterials and the use of electrochemical and microscopic techniques for material characterization. Before joining the group, she completed research internships at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST)… Continue reading Group members

Research

Research Interests Sustainable manufacturing is one of the engineering grand challenges of the 21st century. The Szekely Group focuses on sustainable separations through the synergistic combination of materials science and chemical engineering. Sustainable production of chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and clean water is largely impacted by the efficiency of separation processes in product supply chains. The conventional… Continue reading Research