Nawaraj Karki (Oscar) completed his M.S. in Chemistry in 2020 from the Department of Chemistry at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), where he conducted research on biosensors under the supervision of Prof. Charles C. Chusuei. He earned his Ph.D. in 2025 from the University of Louisville, where his research focused on controlling the mass transport of charged species near electrode surfaces using external magnetic fields through Lorentz force (FL) induced convection, under Prof. Andrew J. Wilson. In 2026, Oscar joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa as a postdoctoral researcher in the group of  Prof. Yingwei (Joanna) Li. His current research focuses on advancing heterogeneous catalysis for CO2 reduction reactions (CO2RR), with an emphasis on the selective production of high-value chemicals such as methane, ethane, and ethanol.

Frank Liang is a graduate student in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. He comes from New York City. He earned his B.A. in Chemistry from Boston University. His current research focuses on the design and synthesis of nanoclusters for electrochemical CO2 reduction. He is broadly interested in developing nanocluster catalysts capable of not only CO2 reduction, but also more complex transformations such as nitrogen reduction and carbon-carbon bond formation toward multi-carbon products like ethanol. He is currently investigating the role of nitrogen-containing ligands such as pyridine in enhancing catalytic activity and selectivity. Outside the lab, Frank enjoys skateboarding, hiking, and just being outdoors.