Cailin Buchanan

Cailin Buchanan is a Chemical Engineering (ChE) PhD candidate at the University of Michigan. She expects to defend her PhD in August 2022. Her work focuses on studying the cerium chemistry for use in redox flow batteries. She uses spectroscopy to study the ionic structures of cerium and electrochemistry techniques to better understand cerium electron transfer kinetics. In addition to her ChE background, Cailin has a Master of Science in Sustainable Systems from U-M, during which she developed a life cycle assessment (LCA) model of shipping container transportation. She is drawing upon this experience now as she develops a combined LCA-Technoeconomic Assessment model that determines the environmental and economic impact of using a cerium battery for electricity grid storage applications.