Lab Partnering Service Discovery

Kris Pupek is the Group Leader for Process R&D and Scale Up in the Applied Materials Division of Argonne National Laboratory.

The group of over 20 scientists, engineers and supporting stuff evaluates emerging synthesis techniques and develops scalable processes for manufacturing of advanced materials including organic, inorganic, polymers, nano and bio-based materials to support basic research, prototyping and industrial evaluation. The group focuses on materials for energy storage and conversion, water purification and catalysis.

Kris earned his PhD in Organic Chemistry and Technology in 1993 from Institute of Organic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences. He gained his experience working for nearly 20 years for various contract research and manufacturing organizations leading efforts for developing new chemistry routes and feasible processes for manufacturing pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and specialty chemicals. In 2010 Kris joined Argonne National Laboratory as Principal Process R&D Chemist in Material Engineering Research Facility. He has co-authored over 20 publications, 15 issued patents, numerous invention disclosures, technical reports and presentations.

Yuepeng Zhang is a materials scientist at the Applied Materials Division of Argonne National Laboratory. She has expertise in thin film deposition, nanomaterials synthesis, and hybrid small-scale devices development. Her research interests include nanofibers and nanocomposites used for solid state batteries, high temperature fuel cells, bio and chemical sensors, and RF devices. Yuepeng leads the effort on electrospinning and printed electronic devices. 

Dr. Peterman is a distinguished staff scientist within the Aqueous Separations and Radiochemistry department at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). He has expertise in nuclear fuel cycle separations, radiation chemistry and f-element solution chemistry. At INL he has developed processes for the separation of fission products from acidic dissolved nuclear fuel, and developed and characterized fluorinated aromatic dithiophosphinic acid extractants. These unusual molecules exhibit remarkable selectivity for trivalent actinides over fission product lanthanides, which is a key unresolved challenge in developing closed nuclear fuel cycles. In the area of radiation chemistry, he designed and commissioned an irradiation test loop for the investigation of gamma radiolytic degradation of solvent extraction process flowsheets. He has numerous publications in the areas of separations chemistry and radiation chemistry, and holds seven US patents. His research teams have been recognized with an R&D 100 Award in 2011, a 2014 Secretary of Energy’s Honor Award for Salt Waste Disposal Technologies and a 2015 US-DOE Certificate of Appreciation for the INL Solvent Degradation and Radiation Chemistry Team.