Kyle Disselkoen is a Ph.D. student in the chemistry department at Stanford University. He was awarded the Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowship to work with Matt Kanan in chemistry and Ali Mani in mechanical engineering on a project that spans those disciplines. His current research combines computational modeling with the fundamentals of electrochemistry to optimize and understand CO reduction performance in electrolysis cells. This promising technology has the potential to address a difficult aspect of the global challenge of climate change.

Prior to coming to Stanford, Kyle received a B.S.E. in chemical engineering with a double major in chemistry from Calvin College in 2017. He worked on a variety of research projects in inorganic and physical chemistry and was named the outstanding senior undergraduate in chemistry. His senior design project resulted in a detailed design for a large-scale process to produce medical grade polycaprolactone for use in joint replacement procedures. Kyle is currently leading a team that was awarded both a Mel Lane grant from the Woods Institute and a seed grant from the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society. The team aims to bring together leaders – in technology, business, and policy – across the fossil fuel industry to engage in open and honest roundtable discussion about the future of the industry, create a strategic blueprint and commit to technology investments that not only mitigate carbon emissions, but eventually reverse them.