Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, 2025
  • B.S., Chemical Engineering and Philosophy, Northeastern University, 2019
Professional Honors
  • Northwestern Chemical and Biological Engineering Distinguished trainee service award (2025)
  • Northwestern University Safety Leadership Award (2024)
  • Omega Chi Epsilon Chemical Engineering Honor Society - member
  • Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society - member
Professional Affiliations
  • American Institute of Chemical Engineers - member

Adrien (AJ) Deberghes has a background in chemical engineering and practices in Exponent's Thermal Sciences Practice specializing in process design, electrochemistry, and catalysis.

Dr. Deberghes has developed expertise in device and process development for reactions including cyclohexene electro-oxidation, water electrolysis, and carbon dioxide reduction. He also has significant experience in material characterization and gas/liquid sample analysis.

Through his PhD research in the Seitz lab at Northwestern University's Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Dr. Deberghes developed novel reactor and process designs for the selective upgrading and valorization of cyclohexene and other organic compounds. His work initially focused on the design of a liquid diffusion electrode reactor to facilitate the oxidation of concentrated organic reactants using water as an oxidant. Later research focused on enhancing the selectivity and rate of reactions through tuning catalyst and system variables.

Beyond organic electrocatalysis, Dr. Deberghes has also researched the synthesis and application of transition metal oxide catalysts for use in proton exchange membrane electrolysis, the development of quantitative methodologies for tracking catalyst and substrate degradation across electrochemical processes, the use of pulsed electrolysis to enhance the CO2 reduction reaction, and the application of differential electrochemical mass spectroscopy to understand electrocatalytic reaction dynamics.

Through his research, Dr. Deberghes has developed expertise in both fundamental electrochemistry and applied electrocatalytic process design. He also has a wealth of experience in material characterization using techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) along with sample analysis via gas chromatography (GC), liquid chromatography (LC), ion chromatography (IC), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR).