Sanzeeda Shuchi | Student Spotlight

Sanzeeda Shuchi

PhD Candidate
Chemical Engineering
Bent Lab

“17% of my motherland will be under water due to sea-level rise by 2050”—this was a lesson I learned in middle school, and have carried with me ever since. I was born and raised in Bangladesh, one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world. ‘Climate refugee’ is not just a textbook term in Bangladesh; over 10 million people have already been displaced. At Stanford, my PhD research focuses on batteries, a key technology to address the global climate crisis. I am deeply grateful to work in this area, where every day feels extremely meaningful.

My research training began during my undergraduate studies at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) under the guidance of Professor Md. Shahinoor Islam. I worked on advanced oxidation processes for textile wastewater treatment, which first sparked my deep interest in critical environmental and energy challenges. Coming from a resource-constrained research environment in those early days really shaped my perspective on making the most of the opportunities available to me. This mindset proved to be especially beneficial for me during my Ph.D.

I feel very fortunate to have joined Stanford’s Department of Chemical Engineering as the first Ph.D. student from my country. In the beginning, like many others, I initially had self-doubts, but the exceptionally supportive community within the ChemE department and across Stanford has always helped me overcome any hurdles. The department’s research rotation system was highly effective in helping me find the best-fit lab while also broadening my understanding of the different ongoing research areas. I am deeply thankful to have joined Professor Stacey F. Bent’s research group in March 2022, where I began investigating interfacial challenges in batteries. Soon after, with Professor Bent’s support, I was given the opportunity to work with Professor Yi Cui in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. I am incredibly grateful to both of my advisors for their continuous guidance and support. I am also very thankful to my lab mates in the Bent Research Group and Yi Cui Group for their welcoming environment and highly collaborative research culture.

Among my Ph.D. research projects working with Professors Bent and Cui, one I would like to highlight is our work on cryogenic X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (cryo-XPS) for battery interfaces. In this study, we showed that cryo-XPS can help avoid the sample evolution artifacts from regular room temperature (RT) chemical analysis. For example, the overestimation of stable compounds and reduction in interface thickness during RT-XPS have often led to misleading interpretations within the battery community. While RT-XPS fails to describe performance trends across various battery chemistry, cryo-XPS proves more effective, ensuring the identification of compounds that would otherwise remain undetected. To address the sample damage during analysis, we plunge-freeze the samples in liquid nitrogen before performing cryo-XPS. The low temperatures assist with slowing down the reaction rates and freezing volatile species. Our study redefines nearly half a century of existing interpretations in battery interface science and advances the design of lithium metal battery interfaces. Cumulatively, my contributions have led to multiple recognitions for which I am deeply grateful, including the AVS Nellie Yeoh Whetten Award, AIChE Gamry Award for Electrochemical Fundamentals, MIT Rising Stars in Chemical Engineering, TomKat Center Graduate Fellowship for Translational Research, Link Foundation Energy Fellowship, ACS CAS Future Leaders Top 100, MRS Graduate Student Silver Award, and the MRS Arthur Nowick Graduate Student Award.

Beyond research, I am deeply passionate about helping others access higher education opportunities that once seemed distant to me. At Stanford, I have served as an organizer and mentor for the Graduate Application Mentorship Program (GradAMP) at Stanford. As part of the GradAMP organizing committee over the past two years, I have supported approximately 180 graduate school applicants by helping pair them with around 130 Stanford Ph.D. student mentors. In addition to supporting Stanford undergraduates, one of my key contributions has been expanding GradAMP’s reach beyond Stanford. Many students from my undergraduate school, BUET, as well as other institutions within and outside the U.S., have now been supported through the program. I am most grateful to have contributed to this program that has made a tangible impact on the academic journeys of so many students.

Coming from a climate-vulnerable country, I understand that we do not have the luxury of time. In the future, I aim to establish my own research group to pursue next-generation technologies and accelerate their scale-up to address global energy and sustainability challenges. Through advancing impactful research, educating future leaders, and expanding inclusive education opportunities, I seek to contribute meaningfully to society.