Rob Usiskin
Profile
Alumni Resnick Graduate Research Fellow
Rob graduated from Caltech with a PhD in materials science. He studied catalysis in solid oxide fuel cells, which are the most efficient devices yet invented for converting fuel into electricity or electricity into fuel. He has a BA in public policy and an MS in mechanical engineering from Stanford University. Before coming to Caltech, he worked as a mechanical engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he led a 6-person team to mechanically design and space-qualify the primary antenna and several other components of the Mars rover. As a Resnick fellow, he developed a new instrument for robotic characterization of catalyst performance, and used that instrument to better understand existing fuel cell catalysts and to develop new catalysts aimed at helping fuel cells achieve commercial success. Rob also had a strong interest in science outreach. At the 2013 Caltech TEDx Youth event, he wowed the young audience with a hands-on atmospheric science presentation, and he hoped to expand his outreach efforts.
Rob is currently an R&D engineer/scientist at Honeywell UOP
RSI Research: Robotic Characterization of Fuel Cell Materials for Sustainable Electricity Generation
Faculty Advisers: Sossina M. Haile and Konstantinos P. Giapis
PhD Thesis: Surface Activity and Bulk Defect Chemistry of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Cathodes