People

Renkun Chen

Professor, UC San Diego
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Materials Science and Engineering Program
Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, UC Berkeley, 2008
B.S. in Engineering Thermo-Physics, Tsinghua University, China, 2004

Prof. Renkun Chen joined the UCSD faculty in November 2009. Prior to joining UCSD, Chen did his doctoral work in Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley from 2004-2008 and was a Postdoctoral Researcher at Lawrence Berkeley Lab, both working with Prof. Arun Majumdar

Office: Room 261, EBU-II
Tel: 858-822-7980 (O)
Email:rkchen@ucsd.edu

Yu Pei

Postdoctoral Scholar, Office: Room 262, EBU-II
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, UCSD
Yu is currently a postdoctoral scholar in the group, after obtaining her PhD degree in summer 2024. Yu joined the group in Fall 2019 as a PhD student. She obtained a B.S. in Thermal Engineering at Northeastern University (China) in 2016 and a M.S. in Engineering Thermo-physics at University of Since and Technology of China in 2019.

Kwangsoo Cho

Ph.D. Student, Office: Room 263, EBU-II
Materials Science Engineering Program, UCSD
Kwangsoo joined the group in Fall 2025 as a Ph.D. student. He received his B.S. in 2022 and his M.S. in 2024 in Fiber System Engineering from Dankook University (South Korea). His research focuses on evaporation-driven cooling.

Yuki Akura

Visiting Ph.D. Student, Office: Room 263, EBU-II
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, UCSD
Yuki is a visiting Ph.D. student from Kyoto University, Japan. He joined the group in June 2025. He received his B.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering in 2022 and his M.Eng. in Thermal Engineering in 2024, both from Kyoto University. His research background is in nanoscale thermal transport, and he is currently working on evaporation-based cooling systems at UCSD.

Natalia Ruiz

Ph.D. Student, Office: Room 262, EBU-II
Materials Science and Engineering Program, UCSD.
Natalia Joined the group in Winter 2026. Before joining UCSD, Natalia obtained her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Guanajuato (Guanajuato, Mexico) and M.S. in Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering from the National Polytechnic Institute (Mexico City, Mexico). Her research focuses on the development of materials and systems for energy applications.

Nicholas Lam

Ph.D. Student, Office: Room 263, EBU-II
Chemical Engineering Program, UCSD.
Nicholas joined the group in Spring 2026 as a PhD student. He received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 2024 from UC San Diego. His research interests are in energy conversion materials and applications, and his current research focuses on evaporative cooling and thermophotovolatics.

Duy Cao

MS Student
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, UCSD
Duy joined the group in Winter 2025 as an undergraduate student. He is currently a Master's student after receiving his BS in Spring 2025.

Ayman Abdullah

Undergraduate Student
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, UCSD
Ayman joined the group in Spring 2025. He is currently a third-year student.

Orod Shad

Undergraduate Student
Department of Chemical and Nano Engineering, UCSD
Orod joined the group in Sping 2025. He is currently a second-year student.

Andrew Balbuena

Undergraduate Student
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, UCSD
Andrew joined the group in Fall 2025. He is currently a second-year student.

Truman You

Undergraduate Student
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, UCSD
Truman joined the group in Winter 2025. He is currently a first-year student.

Rosie Liu

Undergraduate Student
Department of Physics, UCSD
Rosie joined the group in Winter 2025. She is currently a first-year student.