Yevgeny Rakita, Ph.D | Lead PI
Background: I received my B.Sc. in Chemistry from Ben Gurion University, and an M.Sc. in Materials Engineering and Nano-Technology form the Tel Aviv University on the topic of complex charged surfaces in electrochemical systems. In 2018 I completed my Ph.D. at the Weizmann Institute of Science, where I was studying the role of structural defects on the opto-electronic properties of Halide Pb-based perovskites. I then moved to the USA as an EFRC (Energy Frontier Research Centers) fellow to pursue post-doctorate research at the Data Science Institute at Columbia University, New York City with Professor Simon Billinge. During my Postdoc I was involved in activities to integrate data-science with materials science for data-driven exploration and characterization of functional materials. After a short internship as a visiting scholar at the Materials Science and Engineering department at Johns Hopkins University with Prof. Mitra Taheri, I moved back to where I started my academic career - Ben Gurion University.
Scientific interests : My passion lies in finding material-based solutions for a more sustainable future, but also in the fundamental science where we understand every time a bit more how materials work and how we can design, from the macro-world, the micro (or nano-)-world of materials. Merge all my scientific background into a coherent research lab, I try to understand and develop methodologies that will help us to synthesize meta-stable and structurally-complex materials in a rational manner, rather than via the non-predictable "cook-and look" approach. More specifically, I focuses on the implementation of data-driven methodologies for structural
analysis of complex materials at the nano-scale. I have interest in functional covalent glasses, phase-change materials, multi-component
alloys, and other disordered systems. Some of the applications that I am passionate about is neuromorphic computation, thermal energy
recycling, photovoltaic energy harvesting, and electrochemical energy
storage.
Hobbies: improvisation games, theater, hiking