If you’re a Hope College student in engineering, chemistry, or physics, email Dr. Christians and learn how you be part of the group!
Dr. Jeffrey Christians
Associate Professor of Engineering
A. Paul Schaap Science Center, Room 2106
Email me: christians@hope.edu
EERE Postdoctoral Fellow, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Chemistry and Nanoscience Center
Ph.D. University of Notre Dame, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
B.S. in Engineering with a Chemical Concentration, Chemistry (ACS Accredited), Calvin University
Jeff joined the Hope College faculty in 2018 following work as a postdoctoral researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and his PhD work at the University of Notre Dame. He primarily teaches chemical engineering courses and has a diverse educational background in chemical engineering and chemistry.
Rory Campagna
Rory is a senior at Hope with a dual major in Engineering with a Chemical concentration and in Chemistry. He is working to understand the phase transitions which can occur between perovskite and nonperovskite crystal phases.
Bryce Grover
Bryce is a senior at Hope majoring in Engineering with a Chemical concentration. His work has centered around the role that halide compositions plays in the cesium lead halide phase transition.
Laurel Wasiniak
Laurel is a junior at Hope majoring in engineering with a chemical concentration and chemistry and mathematics minors. She is also a 2x All-MIAA and 4x second-team All-American as a swimmer who specializes in freestyle. She is working to understand the role that surface vacancies have in the shift between the perovskite and nonperovskite crystal phases. She is working with Peter to target ion migration by applying voltage differentials to perovskite solar cells and viewing phase change patterns.
Peter Lillich
Laurel is a senior at Hope majoring in engineering with a mechanical concentration and economics. He is working investigate combined stresses of voltage and temperature in halide perovskites along with Laurel.
Brian Tran
Brian is a junior at Hope with a dual major in Engineering with a Chemical concentration and in Chemistry. He is working to understand the effects of surface ligand passivation on perovskite cells. He tutors intro-level engineering and chemistry courses for the Academic Success Center and is involved with the Hope FSAE team.
Avery Almy
Avery is a sophomore with a major in Engineering with a Chemical concentration. He is from Oxford, Michigan, and has been enjoying his time at Hope making friends and connections. He is currently working on constructing an apparatus to analyze the absorption of halide perovskites as they degrade over longer periods of time.
Group Alumni
Claire Hallock (’20) – Ph.D. Student in Chemistry at UT Austin
Zachery Wylie (’21) – Ph.D. Student in Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington
Cederic Porter (’21) – analyst at Deloitte
Josephine Surel (’22) – Ph.D. Student in Applied Physics at Oxford University
Elizabeth Cutlip (’22) – engineer at Consumers Energy
James Mandeville (’22) – Ph.D. Student in Chemical Engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Jonathan Outen (’22) – engineer at Cardinal Glass
Peter Ruffolo (’23)
Rory Campagna (’24) – M.S. Student in Food Science at Penn. State
Dirk Visser
Riley Nelson
Samuel Smith
Photo credit: Steven Herppich Hope College
Christians Research Lab 