EIL members celebrated a successful semester and holidays at EIL dinner!
December 9, 2025
Energy Innovation Lab’s Dr. Joseph Mooney Joins Forbes 30 Under 30 Class of 2026
December 2, 2025
The Energy Innovation Lab is delighted to share that our Research Engineer, Dr. Joseph Mooney, has been named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Class of 2026 in Energy & Green Tech, selected from over 10,000 nominations worldwide. This recognition highlights Joseph’s pioneering work at the intersection of water harvesting, dehumidification, and next-generation thermal management. Beyond his research achievements, the lab is continuously grateful for Joseph’s dedication to mentoring students, guiding projects, shaping experiments, and helping the next generation of engineers push the boundaries of sustainable energy and water technologies. This is a fantastic milestone for Joseph and a proud moment for the Energy Innovation Lab. Congrats!!
Congratulations, Fadi and Ibrahim, on passing their qualification exams!
November 8, 2025
Recently, our two Graduate students, Fadi S. Elias and Ibrahim Halil Sahin, defended their qualification exams and have progressed their graduate research careers. Congratulations, Fadi and Ibrahim!
Congratulations, Ibrahim & Prof. El Fil, on winning the best research presentation at AIChE!!
November 4, 2025
Prof. El Fil recently presented on the research led by Ibrahim entitled “Enhancing Sorption Kinetics Via Intracrystalline Diffusivity Tuning for High-Density Thermochemical Energy Storage”. This presentation entailed combining in situ infrared and interference microscopy with analytical diffusion modeling to directly visualize and quantify water transport inside individual MOF-303 and AQSOA Z02 crystals for thermochemical energy storage. It further entailed showing how isotherm shape governs distinct sorption-front behaviors, providing design rules to enhance both energy and power density in TCES systems.
EIL was just awarded a GRA grant!
October 28, 2025
EIL was awarded a Georgia Research Alliance grant to scale up low-cost water harvesting and dehumidification devices for real-world impact. This is an exhilarating time for the lab to see its lab-scale innovations make the field. Water scarcity is straining access to safe drinking water, irrigation, and sanitation, forcing many regions to overdraw aquifers or rely on expensive, energy-intensive sources like desalination. At the same time, buildings’ HVAC systems consume a large share of global electricity and emissions, especially for dehumidification in hot, humid climates, so coupling water production with more efficient HVAC offers a powerful lever to address both challenges together.
The DesicCats Take First Prize at 2025 Summer Capstone Mini-Expo
August 29, 2025
Energy Innovation Lab supported a winning Georgia Institute of Technology Final Year Capstone Research Group, “The Desicats”. Team Desicats was led by mechanical engineering students Zain Ali, Juliette Hartmann, Philip Juras, Wallis McCrea, Javier Vollmayer, and Rebecca Zack and sponsored by Assistant Professor Bachir El Fil. Their work dove into the aspects of desiccant dehumidification and the impacts on energy efficiency. Congrats Desicats!!
Carrier visits EIL!
July 23, 2025
Energy Innovation Lab (EIL) had the pleasure to host Alison Gotkin and Ravi Annapragada! We enjoyed showing them our work and having great and thoughtful discussions.
Ibrahim and Avery presented EIL’s work at ASME’s Summer Heat Transfer Conference (SHTC) 2025 in Westminster, CO.
July 8-10, 2025
Ibrahim and Avery did a great job presenting their research conducted at EIL at ASME’s Summer Heat Transfer Conference (SHTC) 2025! Check out their research that will be published soon!
Prof. El Fil and Avery presented their work at Micro Flow and Interfacial Phenomena (MiroFIP) 2025 in Santa Barbara, CA.
June 12-17, 2025
Prof. El Fil presented EIL’s work on developing novel material for high energy density and high-power density thermal energy storage. Avery presented a poster discussing the understanding of swelling physics in hydrogel during water vapor sorption.
Prof. El Fil presenting EIL’s work on hydrogel-based atmospheric water harvesting at the Second Atmospheric Water Harvesting Summit
February 21, 2025
Prof. Bachir El Fil presented the design of passive hydrogel-based atmospheric water harvesting that was tested in the Earth’s dryest place, Atacama Desert, Chile. To read more about this, take a look at our publication here.
Prof. El Fil and Dr. Joseph Mooney attending Gordan Research Conference (GRC): Micro and Nanoscale Phase Change Phenomena
January 12-17, 2025
Prof. Bachir El Fil and Dr. Joseph Mooney presented the design of passive hydrogel-based atmospheric water harvesting for green hydrogen production (Green H2). Stay tuned for the publication soon!
Prof. El Fil presenting EIL’s work at AIChE 2024 in San Deigo, CA.
October 30, 2024
Prof. Bachir El Fil presented EIL’s work at AIChE 2024 in the thermal energy storage track.
Prof. El Fil and Ibrahim presenting their work at Department of Energy (DOE): Building Technology Office (BTO) Peer Review Meeting
October 23, 2024
Prof. Bachir El Fil presented at DOE’S BTO Peer Review Meeting. The project is titled “High Energy Density Hydrogel-based Adsorptive Energy Storge”. This work is in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Rheem Manufacturing, and Heat Transfer Technology (HTT).
Prof. Bachir El Fil joins G.W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
August 1, 2024
Bachir El Fil, joined the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering as an assistant professor in August. Learn about the focus of his research, why he chose a career in academia, who has had an influence on him, and more in this Q&A. Read More
