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) in Japan and the Centro Conjunto de Investigación en Química Sustentable (CCIQS) in Mexico. In 2025, she joined our group first as a visiting student and then continued with her MS/PhD studies at KAUST. Her current research focuses on electrospinning biomass-derived membranes and the integration of machine learning for process optimization.
Paula Alvarez Hernandez
Paula received her BS in Nanotechnology and Molecular Engineering at Universidad de las Ámericas Puebla (UDLAP). Her interest lies in the intersection between chemistry and environmental impact. Her previous research was focused on computational chemistry, synthesis of metallic nanoparticles, as well as polymeric blends with nanopolymers. She was a VSRP student in the group in 2024, and started to focus on the synthesis and purification of catalysts. Paula is expected to graduate with an MS degree in 2027.
Nouf Alzaid
Nouf earned her BSc degree in Pharmaceutical Science from King Saud University in 2018. She is currently pursuing her MS degree in Bioscience at KAUST. Her research focuses on sustainable and green chemistry strategies for the membrane-assisted synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients. LinkedIn profile.
Dr. Martin Gede
Martin received his BEng and MEng degrees in Chemical Engineering from Budapest University of Technology and Economics, and he was a visiting student in the group during the summer of 2019. He joined the group as a PhD student in 2020 to develop nanocomposite membranes and intrinsically microporous polymers for various separation challenges. He graduated in 2024 and remained in our group as a postdoc. ORCiD profile.
Dr. Hakkim Vovusha
Hakkim received his PhD in 2013 from University of Madras, Tamil Nadu, India. Before joining the group, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Uppsala University, Sweden, KAUST, Saudi Arabia, and Seoul National University, South Korea. His research interests mainly focus on DFT and MD simulation of reaction mechanism pathways, polymeric materials for separation, and two-dimensional materials for sensing. He is currently working as a Computational Specialist in our group since 2024. ORCiD and LinkedIn profiles.
Dr. Rifan Hardian
Rifan received his PhD in Materials Science from Aix-Marseille University, France, within the European Commission’s Marie Curie Actions under the supervision of Philip Llewellyn and Marie-Vanessa Coulet. He worked as an Early Stage Researcher at MADIREL Laboratory to investigate the interplay between texture, structure, and reactivity in Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), particularly in the case of defective, amorphous, and metal-encapsulated MOFs. His research interest encompasses separation materials, membranes and machine learning. He joined the group as a postdoc in 2020 and got promoted to research scientist in 2023. Read more about Rifan at his Blog, LinkedIn and GoogleScholar profiles.
Andres Duarte Espinoza
Andres completed his Bachelor’s in Nanotechnology and Molecular Engineering at Universidad de las Américas Puebla in 2024. His previous experience includes research on graphene synthesis, extraction of bioactive compounds, and modified electrodes based on titanium dioxide nanotubes, with applications in the degradation of emerging contaminants. In 2024, he joined our group as a visiting student, and in 2025, he began his MS/PhD studies in the Environmental Science & Engineering program at KAUST. His research focuses on green extraction and separation technologies.
Zsofia Horvath
Zsofia received her BS degree in Chemical Engineering from the Budapest University of Science & Technology in 2024, with a specialization in pharmaceutical chemistry and technology. During her previous research, she focused on the development of rhodamine-based voltage sensitive dyes. She joined our group as a visiting student in June 2024, and started her MS/PhD studies at KAUST in 2025. Her research focuses on organic chemistry and process technology.
Kenia Moreno Martínez
Kenia received her BSc degree in Chemical Engineering from the Instituto Tecnológico de Ciudad Madero in 2019, specializing in chemical processes. She worked for two years in SABIC Innovative Plastics as a Production Engineer back in Mexico before deciding to study for her MSc degree at KAUST. Her previous research work focused on the upgrading of bio-oils to obtain biofuels through the hydrodeoxygenation of lignocellulosic pyrolysis bio-oil and the characterization of complex mixtures. She continued her PhD studies in KAUST and joined the group in March 2024. ORCiD profile.
Lana Bader
Lana earned her BEng degree from the University of Surrey, UK where she continued to further her education and completed an MSc degree in Chemical Engineering from University College London, UK. Lana worked for three years in industry in a membrane filtration company after which she decided to pursue a PhD degree. She has now joined the group as a PhD student to investigate organic solvent nanofiltration membranes using machine learning. PhD graduation: 2026. ORCiD and LinkedIn profiles.
Viktor Toth
Viktor received his BSc and MSc in Chemistry from the Comenius University in Bratislava at the Faculty of Natural Sciences, where he focused on enantioselective organocatalytic Diels-Alder reactions, and hydantoin precursors for SARS-CoV-2 Mpro protease inhibitors. He joined our group as a visiting student in July 2022, followed by PhD studies from 2023. Viktor’s research now focuses on the synthesis of polymers of intrinsic microporosity for the development of organic solvent nanofiltration membranes. PhD graduation: 2026. ORCiD and Twitter profiles.
Claudia Iluhi Oviedo Osornio
Claudia earned her bachelor’s degree in Medicinal Chemistry at UAQ in Mexico, which provided her with a broad knowledge in chemistry, pharmacy, and biology. Throughout the degree, she was selected for an international placement in Spain and another one within Mexico’s top universities, UNAM in Mexico City. At UNAM, she completed her dissertation, which centered on complementing computational tools, statistics, and laboratory results to drastically reduce the time required for drug discovery. Nowadays, she is working towards her MS-PhD degree focused on the effect of deacetylation on cellulose acetate membranes for liquid separations. Expected MS graduation: 2022, PhD graduation: 2025. ORCiD and LinkedIn profiles.
Aron Beke
Aron received his Chemical Engineering BSc degree from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, with a specialization in pharmaceutical chemistry and technology. By combining the pharmaceutical sciences with process engineering and machine learning, Aron worked on modeling continuous pharmaceutical technologies before joining the group as an MS/PhD student in 2021 to extend his work to membrane processes. Expected MS graduation: 2022, PhD graduation: 2025. ORCiD profile, LinkedIn profile.
Diana Gulyas Oldal
Diana received her BS degree in Chemical Engineering from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, and she joined the group as a visiting student in January 2020. She continued her work in the group as an MS student from August 2020. She developed green electrospun nanofibrous membranes. Diana defended her MS Thesis focused on electrospinning biodegradable polymers using green solvents in April 2022, and she will continue her studies as a PhD student in our group. PhD graduation: 2025. ORCiD profile, LinkedIn profile.
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