Aisulu Aitbekova

Aisulu completed an undergraduate degree at Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan and a master's in chemical engineering at MIT. She continued her studies at Stanford under the supervision of Matteo Cargnello, an assistant professor of chemical engineering. Her PhD work focused on the development of materials to convert harmful pollutant gases into useful fuels and chemicals. To perform these chemical transformations, Aisulu designed catalysts and studied their properties using X-ray absorption spectroscopy at Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. At Caltech, she'll expand her work of converting carbon dioxide into fuels by running these chemical transformations with solar energy.

Aisulu is actively involved in STEM outreach and mentoring to ignite young minds to pursue careers in science. Since her first summer research experience in the USA, during which she learned about graduate school, she's wanted to serve as a bridge to science and graduate school to those who, like her, didn't have access to such knowledge and resources. She will continue to act as a bridge in her next endeavor as a Kavli Nanoscience Institute Prize Postdoctoral Fellow at Caltech.