Matthew Rivera

Matthew Rivera is a Department of Chemical Engineering Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow whose research aims to decarbonize the chemical industry with advanced separation technologies by reducing the energy intensity of high-value chemical purification. His doctoral research investigated the solvent transport properties of molecularly mixed composite membranes (MMCMs), in which soluble additives are dispersed in polymeric membranes to make “one-phase composites.” The project represented a comprehensive molecular-to-modular design process exploring the potential impact of MMCMs on organic solvent separation processes. As a postdoctoral fellow, Matthew will leverage insights from data science and computational techniques to create designer materials for improving hydrocarbon separations. His goal is to develop machine learning architectures to understand the complex relationships between molecular structure and separation performance and identify ideal material properties for separation applications. By integrating materials informatics with separations research, Matthew’s research has the potential to advance both fields and address industrial challenges with greater speed and efficiency while dramatically reducing energy use.