Asmaa Jrad

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Asmaa joined Professor Trabolsi’s research group at NYUAD on November 1, 2021, as a Postdoctoral Associate in the Water Research Center. Her work currently focuses on the optimization of water desalination technologies using Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs). Her current research interests are focused on introducing COFs as active materials in (i) electrodes for capacitive deionization water desalination (ii) solar adsorbents for solar thermal water evaporation desalination, and (iii) membranes for Nanofiltration and Reverse Osmosis water desalination.

Asmaa graduated with a BE in Chemical Engineering from the Lebanese University. She then received a full scholarship to continue her MEng studies in Mechanical Engineering, Thermal Fluids Track at the American University of Beirut (AUB). Afterward, she received a fellowship to do her PhD at AUB where she worked on an interdisciplinary project co-supervised by the Mechanical and Chemical engineering and Chemistry Departments. During her PhD, Asmaa worked on the synthesis and structural engineering of Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) and their use as catalysts for the production of novel biofuels. After her graduation from the PhD program, she worked as a postdoc at AUB where she supervised and worked on three projects on the application of functional porous materials in (i) the synthesis of antibacterial membranes for face masks, (ii) the synthesis of adsorbents for heavy metal ions removal from water, and (iii) the introduction of nanoparticles for efficient CO2 adsorption from recycled air in HVAC systems.