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Research Quick Takes

Graph of grain boundary complexion

Mar 12, 2026

New Design Strategy for Solid-State Batteries

PhD students Baiheng Li and Huilin Qing, Research Associate Peiyu Wang, and professors Ian Baker and Weiyang "Fiona" Li co-authored "Highly Stable Quasi-Solid-State Sodium Batteries via Facile Grain Boundary Engineering" published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. "This work improves the performance of solid-state batteries by employing a novel and scalable fabrication method for the electrolyte, and paves the way for safer and cheaper next-generation energy storage solutions," said Baiheng.

Headshots of Zequn Chen and Wesley Marrero

Mar 12, 2026

Fair AI and Optimization in Healthcare

PhD student Zequn "Vincent" Chen and Professor Wesley Marrero co-authored "A survey on optimization and machine learning-based fair decision making in healthcare" published in Health Care Management Science. The review examines how fair AI and mathematical optimization can improve areas like patient scheduling, disease diagnosis, and treatment recommendations. It identifies potential sources of bias in existing literature, classifies different bias mitigation strategies, and evaluates fairness metrics that help verify whether outcomes are equivalent for privileged and unprivileged groups. "By analyzing the trade-offs of each method, this research facilitates more informed and transparent decision-making in health care," said Marrero.

Jiahui "Gary" Luo standing with his research poster

Mar 05, 2026

Better Liver Transplant Decisions

PhD student Jiahui "Gary" Luo and Professor Wesley Marrero,  with researchers at U Michigan, developed a new simulation framework to analyze liver transplant decisions, which was published in IEEE's 2025 Winter Simulation Conference. The team created a continuous-time simulation that models patient health and organ arrivals while mimicking real-world, varied organ acceptance practices. "The study concludes that high selectivity is a major obstacle to saving lives. Because small quality differences have modest survival effects, accepting a broader range of medically suitable organs can significantly reduce waiting times and maximize the lifesaving potential of the donor pool," said Marrero.

Figure depicting reversible all-liquid conversion path

Feb 26, 2026

Next-Gen Batteries for Grid Storage

Research Associate Peiyu Wang Th'25, PhD students Huilin Qing, Baiheng Li, and Ruiwen Zhang, and Professor Weiyang (Fiona) Li co-authored "Semi-liquid lithium−sulfur batteries for large-scale energy storage" published in Nature Reviews Clean Technology. This review examines catholyte chemistry and design, static and redox flow configurations, and strategies to improve performance and scalability for large-scale energy storage. "Lithium–sulfur batteries offer high energy density and cost-effectiveness but are limited by the precipitation of solid sulfur species, which has driven interest in semi-liquid systems," said Li.

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