Less than a year after graduating from Case Western Reserve University with a PhD in materials science and engineering, X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRD) data from one of Kevin Pachuta’s papers was accepted to the Powder Diffraction File.

Pachuta was contacted by owners of the database who had seen his work and wanted to include it in the file. “I spent my whole graduate career using their database when analyzing my XRD plots and it was great to hear they wanted to include my work,” he said. Having researched such data since receiving funding from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research in 2017, he had to include information about the composition and structure of each sample and was particularly intrigued by the complexity of the LiCO2 system. “Even though this material has been extensively studied for electrochemical applications, there is still quite a lot to learn and understand.”

Since graduating in January 2021, Pachuta has remained at CWRU as a postdoc scholar in Associate Professor Burcu Gurkan’s research group in the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering. His postdoctoral studies have primarily focused on breakthrough electrolytes for energy storage focused on utilizing deep eutectic solvents. “My time at CWRU not only gave me great professional and research skills, but also taught me to understand others' viewpoints and look at problems from many different directions,” he said, crediting his PhD advisors, Associate Professor Alp Sehirlioglu and Texas A&M’s Associate Professor Emily Pentzer.