Hanna Porter

Background

I’m originally from southern Maryland but moved out to California when I started my undergrad at Harvey Mudd College and have been enjoying the sunny weather ever since! At Mudd, I studied chemistry and spent most of my free time playing DnD and video games with my friends, knitting, and playing viola in the Claremont Concert Orchestra. I’m excited to explore all Santa Barbara has to offer in the coming years!

Current Research

I am working on developing new chemistries for sodium ion battery (NIB) cathodes, with a particular focus on sodium metal fluorides (weberites). Using a combination of computational and experimental techniques (density functional theory (DFT), X-ray diffraction (XRD), solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, electrochemical techniques), I predict and synthesize NIB cathode materials and use them to make novel batteries!

Education

• 2022-Present – Graduate Student, Materials Department, UC Santa Barbara.
• 2018-2022 – B.S. in Chemistry, Harvey Mudd College.