Makenna Parkinson

Makenna is a third-year Ph.D. student co-advised by Professor Menachem Elimelech and Professor John Fortner. Her research focuses on the synthesis, characterization, and testing of covalent organic framework membranes for selective separations. Her work spans fundamental studies of the impact of membrane morphology on performance to applications of COF materials for various environmental challenges, including ionic resource recovery and lithium-ion batteries.

Makenna received her B.S. in engineering with an emphasis in environmental analysis from Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California. While pursuing her undergraduate degree, Makenna worked in Professor Albert Dato’s Energy and Nanomaterials Lab at Harvey Mudd, where she conducted research on the wettability properties of gas-phase-synthesized graphene. Her work with superhydrophobic graphene, which has potential applications from water treatment to drag and wear reduction, sparked her interest in the use of novel materials for environmental applications.

Outside of the lab, Makenna enjoys springboard diving and taking barre, pilates, and yoga classes. She also loves taking her two dogs to the beach when she’s back home in San Luis Obispo, California.