Samuel Castro Pardo is a Ph.D. student in the Chemistry Department.

Sam was born in Monterrey, Mexico. He received his Bachelor's degree in Nanotechnology engineering and chemistry from Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) in 2015. As an undergraduate, Sam worked on the development and characterization of amorphous pharmaceutical formulations.

After graduating, he was hired to teach undergraduate courses and laboratories for one and a half years. During his time there, he worked for 8 months in an electrochemistry research group at the same university. His project was focused on the evaluation of the electrochemical performance of the lead oxide-carbon nanotubes composites in a lead-acid battery for a Mexican company (Gonher-Enerya).

In the summer of 2017, Sam started his graduate studies in the Chemistry Department at Rice University. He joined Dr. Ajayan’s group in the Fall of 2017 semester as a Ph.D. student where he is currently working on the synthesis and characterization of new materials for batteries and supercapacitors. 

If you have questions about graduate programs at Rice, please feel free to reach out to me (in Spanish or English). I'm happy to answer any questions!