黑料社区

April 11, 2022

, Ph.D. ’21, is an alumnus of the mechanical engineering program at Cornell from Kong Zhuang, a small village in the northwest part of Jiangsu Province, China. After earning bachelor’s degrees in energy and power engineering and English literature from Xi’an Jiaotong University in China, a master’s degree in materials engineering from McGill University in Canada, and a Ph.D. at Cornell, he is now a postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and an Impact Fellow at the MIT Climate & Sustainability Consortium. Cao is a 2022 Bouchet Scholar.

What was your research focus at Cornell?

in the centered around optofluidics, a research field that bridges 鈥渙ptics鈥� and 鈥渕icrofluidics.鈥� My Ph.D. thesis is titled 鈥淟ight, Fluidics, and Their Applications in Global Sustainability and Health.鈥� On the one hand, I developed a solar reactor technology called 鈥溾�� to convert CO₂ emissions into sustainable fuels and feedstocks to reimagine waste CO₂ as a resource. On the other hand, I developed a microfluidic biosensor platform called 鈥溾�� to differentially diagnose febrile illnesses with overlapping symptoms (e.g., malaria and typhoid fever). Having the opportunity to work across disciplines was really a unique and rewarding experience.

What are the larger implications of this research and what is its impact?

My reactor work was featured as an by the World Economic Forum. The commercial partner in this effort was named a finalist in the (one of 10 globally) and the (one of six globally).

The diagnostic platform I developed was featured by , and it was recently expanded to the . The rapid, portable, and low-cost nature of the platform offered potential for deployment in low-resource settings at the point-of-care.

Tell us about your current position and what you find rewarding about it.

I am currently an (one of eight globally) at the MIT Climate & Sustainability Consortium (MCSC) and a at the Hatton Research Group in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I am interested in upscaling various carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technologies, at the intersection of the Hatton Research Group, the MCSC, and the MCSC industrial members. The most rewarding aspect of my current position is the opportunity to to enable near-term change for a more sustainable future.

What does it mean to you to be a Bouchet Scholar?

It has been a great honor for me to be selected as a Bouchet Scholar. As a first-generation, low-income (FGLI) student myself, I recognized that : economic and social barriers, limited guidance from mentors and family members, and lack of courage to explore new pathways and opportunities due to self-doubt. I consider my selection into the Bouchet Society not only a recognition for my past advocacy and service in promoting the success of FGLI students, but also an opportunity for me to collaborate with like-minded scholars in this community to serve more minority groups in academia.

How do you exemplify the five pillars of the Bouchet Society 鈥� character, leadership, advocacy, scholarship and service?

The first person in my family to finish high school, I went on to land on for North America. This experience motivated me to advocate and support other FGLI students. I spoke about my experience 鈥溾�� in an interview by the China Current, published articles on and the , and created a of my story published by the American Chemical Society.

Most recently, I served as a mentor in the to support FGLI students in the U.S. and the for the 鈥淭omorrow iCAN鈥� plan to support 630 FGLI students from 23 high schools in China.

I would like kids who are growing up with similar backgrounds to see there鈥檚 someone like them out there so they know they can pursue seemingly impossible dreams as well.

What book is currently on your bedside table?

I found the book 鈥淭he 7 Habits of Highly Effective People鈥� by Stephen Covey very insightful, and I benefitted a lot by applying some habits from the book to my daily life. For example, as I described in my recent , I used the to prioritize multiple efforts based on urgency and importance. With this matrix, we can classify tasks into four quadrants and handle them based on priority levels. And the ideal outcome is, as Eisenhower puts it, 鈥淚 have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.鈥�

If you could go back in time to the beginning of your graduate career, what advice would you give yourself?

First, I would advise myself that even though graduate school is a perfect time to explore various career opportunities, I would probably benefit more by learning how to concentrate. During my Ph.D., I was involved in many activities outside of academic research: entrepreneurship, , science communication, and , but I would probably be able to grow more by focusing on one or two tracks. The other piece I would give to myself is simply enjoy the journey. Looking back, I pursued my Ph.D. at Cornell during the best five years in my 20s, and I never regretted the decision to be in Ithaca, which now has a soft spot in my heart.