Postdoctoral Fellow in Chemical and Biological Engineering at Northwestern University, and former President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at Georgia Tech.
She engineers electrochemical interfaces for critical minerals recovery and biomaterials, and builds techno-economic and life cycle models of battery recycling.
Northwestern University
Georgia Tech
University of Alberta
Her research, as covered by
Georgia TechSeparations and critical minerals recovery lead her program. Antimicrobial surfaces and biosensors grew from the same electrochemical toolkit.
Every project she has led turns on the same question: how ions move to a surface and react there. Etching and electrodeposition gave her antibacterial steel, and electrocatalytic thin films gave her enzyme-free sensors. That same control over surface reactions now drives selective rare earth separation.
Her training also spans both halves of the path from lab to plant. At Georgia Tech she developed an acid-free electrochemical process that separates rare earths from coal ash. At Northwestern, in a separate study, she builds techno-economic and life cycle models that test whether battery recycling routes can compete with virgin production.
Four projects in two groups. The first pair addresses critical minerals and sustainability, and the second applies the same surface electrochemistry to biomaterials and biosensing.
Georgia Tech
Separating one rare earth from another is the hardest step in recovery. Her acid-free process uses a reusable ionic liquid as both extractant and electrolyte, then tunes the applied voltage to electrodeposit neodymium on its own or a broader mix of rare earths. Reusing the solvent avoids the strong acids used in conventional leaching.
Environmental Science & Technology, 2026. Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Northwestern University
Techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment of direct recycling for lithium iron phosphate batteries. Her process models, built with GREET and EverBatt, compare the cost, energy use and emissions of regenerating cathode material against virgin production for the wave of EV batteries now reaching end of life.
Manuscript in preparation. Advised by Jennifer Dunn and Jeffrey Lopez.
Georgia Tech
An electrochemical etch grows needle-like nanostructures on stainless steel, which are then coated with copper. The surface ruptures bacteria physically and attacks them chemically, with no antibiotics. It also resists fungi and supports bone-cell growth for implants.
Small, 2024. Patent application filed.
University of Alberta and NRC Canada
Her doctoral work developed nanostructured nickel oxide films, grown by glancing angle deposition, that behave like natural enzymes. They power inexpensive colorimetric and electrochemical sensors for uric acid and xanthine, including a test for fish freshness.
Published in ACS Omega and PLoS ONE, among others.
More than $300,000 raised in personal fellowships, and a contributor to proposals worth $3M over two years.
President’s Postdoctoral FellowshipThirteen peer-reviewed papers, nine as first author, spanning environmental engineering, biomaterials, materials chemistry and analytical sensing.
Tripathi A., Liu T., Bozeman J., Huang C.H., Xie X. Environmental Science & Technology
Drinking water disinfection using nutritional level zinc assisted with electric field treatment
Wang W., Jarin M., Khan F., Mo F., Wang S., Bian K., Tripathi A., Pinto A.J., Xie X. Environmental Science & Technology
Tripathi A., Champion J. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research A
Li Z., Tripathi A., Tian Y., Gao J., Zhou J., Xie X. Environmental Science: Nano
Yadava S., Tripathi A., Kabilan M., Champion J., Cicerone M. Journal of Controlled Release
Enhancing bacterial adhesion with hydro-softened chitosan filmsMentee first author
Seo H., Yu X., Tripathi A., Champion J., Harris T. ACS Macro Letters
Tripathi A., Dosso C., Champion J. ACS Omega
Copper nanocubes as low-cost enzyme mimics in a sarcosine-sensing reaction cascade
Tripathi A.*, Styczynski M. Analyst (corresponding author)
Dual antibacterial properties of copper-coated nanotextured stainless steelWiley Top Viewed Article 2025
Tripathi A., Park J., Pho T., Champion J. Small, 2311546
Tripathi A., Elias A.L., Jemere A.B., Harris K.D. ACS Food Science & Technology 2(8), 1307-1317
Tripathi A., Harris K.D., Elias A.L. PLoS ONE 16(10): e0257777
Tripathi A., Harris K.D., Elias A.L. ACS Omega 5(16), 9123-9130
Parametric studies for in-house resins for hardness removal
Tripathi A.. Emerging Trends in Chemical Engineering 1(3), 34-39
Her rare earth process and her antibacterial steel drew coverage from science and industry outlets across North America and Europe.
Her copper-coated nanotextured steel was picked up by New Atlas, Phys.org, Interesting Engineering and the British Stainless Steel Association, among others. In 30 minutes the surface cut E. coli by 97% and Staphylococcus by 99%, as reported by New Atlas. It offers a drug-free answer to antimicrobial resistance, which directly killed 1.27 million people in 2019.
An E. coli outbreak linked to grocery stores in Calgary, Canada, helped drive her to target bacteria that cling to surfaces, as she told Interesting Engineering.
The U.S. stores about 2 billion tons of coal fly ash. Her reusable ionic-liquid process recovered nearly half of the available neodymium in lab tests, without corrosive acids, pointing to a domestic source of the magnets inside EV motors and wind turbines.
“The beauty of this system is that it works beyond the limits of water.”
She grew up in Kanpur, India, where fly ash from a nearby power plant settled on her family’s rooftop.
Also covered by Fast Company, Technology Networks, Tech Xplore, Healthcare-in-Europe, Lenta.ru, Gazeta.ru and Mirage News.
More than 20 awards and competitive fellowships, earned in India and North America.
Invited by chemical engineering departments in the U.S. and India, and a regular speaker at AIChE, ACS, MRS and the Society for Biomaterials.
Her mentees have gone on to graduate study at Columbia and careers at Samsung.
STEM Week speaker at Shallowford Elementary, K-12 InVenture Prize judge, WISEST mentor for women in science, Let’s Talk Science volunteer, and career mentor to undergraduates since 2020.
Training on two continents, from atomic energy research in Mumbai to battery economics outside Chicago.
Anuja is looking for faculty positions in separations and critical minerals recovery, where her work on antimicrobial and sensing surfaces adds a second strength. She welcomes conversations about collaborations and open positions.
anuja.tripathi@northwestern.edu
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois