Lea R. Winter

• Electrified processes at the food, energy, water, and climate nexus
• Sustainable and circularized conversion of CO2 into chemicals and fuels
• Green nitrogen fixation to fertilizers and nitrogen-based fuels
• Transformation of wastewater into useful products and fit-for-purpose water
• Plasma chemistry, electrochemistry, heterogeneous catalysis

• Beckman Young Investigator Award (2024)
• Department of Energy Early Career Award (2024)
• Caltech Young Investigators Lecture Series Award (2022)
• Nanotechnology-Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT) Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship (2020)
• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (2015)
• AIChE Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division Travel Award (2019)
• North American Catalysis Society NAM26 Kokes Award (2019)
• TA Excellence Award in Chemical Engineering, Columbia University (2018) 
• NSF Participant Award, Gordon Research Conference: Plasma Processing Science (2018) 
• Catalysis Society of Metropolitan New York Annual Symposium First Place Poster Award (2018)
• Fu Foundation SEAS Grossman Scholar, Columbia University (2018)
• Pesco Award, Columbia University (2015)
• Journal of International Affairs Andrew Wellington Cordier Essay Winner, Columbia University (2015) 

For a full list, visit Prof. Winter's Google Scholar profile.
 

• Yingzheng Fan, Yu Yan, Obinna Nwokonkwo, Daniel J. Rivera, Weiyi Pan, Eric Chen, Ji-Yong Kim, Julia Simon, Max Saffer-Meng, Xiaoxiong Wang, Christopher Muhich, Lea R. Winter*. “Tuning nitrate reduction reaction selectivity via selective adsorption in electrified membranes.” Nature Chemical Engineering 2: 379–390 (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s44286-025-00237-3.
   

• Julia Simon, Lea R. Winter*. “Plasma-activated co-conversion of N₂ and C₁ gases towards value-added products.” Current Opinion in Green & Sustainable Chemistry 51: 100985 (2025).
   

• Yingzheng Fan, Xiaoxiong Wang, Claire Butler, Amma Kankam, Abdessamad Belgada, Julia Simon, Yuanzuo Gao, Eric Chen, Lea R. Winter*. “Highly efficient metal-free nitrate reduction enabled by electrified membrane filtration.” Nature Water 2: 684–696 (2024).
   

• Lea R. Winter*, Jingguang G. Chen*. “Challenges and opportunities in plasma-activated reactions of CO₂ with light alkanes.” Journal of Energy Chemistry 84: 424–427 (2023).
   

• Claire Butler ^a, Yingzheng Fan ^a, Saachi Grewal ^a, Lea R. Winter*. “At-field and on-demand nitrogenous fertilizer synthesis.” ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 11 (15): 5803–5818 (2023).
   

• Xiaoxiong Wang, Xuanhao Wu, Wen Ma, Xuechen Zhou, Shuo Zhang, Dahong Huang, Lea R. Winter*, Jae-Hong Kim*, Menachem Elimelech*. “Free-standing membrane incorporating single-atom catalysts for ultrafast electro-reduction of low-concentration nitrate.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 120 (11): e2217703120 (2023).
   

• Akash N. Biswas ^a, Lea R. Winter ^a, Zhenhua Xie ^a, and Jingguang G. Chen*. “Utilizing CO₂ as a reactant for C₃ oxygenate production via tandem reactions.” Journal of the American Chemical Society Au 3 (2): 293–305 (2023).
   

• Boreum Lee, Lea R. Winter, Hyunjun Lee, Dongjun Lim, Menachem Elimelech*, Hankwon Lim*. “Pathways to a green ammonia future.” ACS Energy Letters 7: 3032–3038 (2022).
   

• Lea R. Winter ^a,*, Nathanial J. Cooper ^a, Boreum Lee, Sohum K. Patel, Li Wang, Menachem Elimelech. “Mining nontraditional water sources for a distributed hydrogen economy.” Environmental Science & Technology 56 (15): 10577–10585 (2022).
   

• Akash Neal Biswas ^a, Lea R. Winter ^a,*, Björn Loenders, Zhenhua Xie, Annemie Bogaerts*, Jingguang G. Chen*. “Oxygenate production from plasma-activated reaction of CO₂ and ethane.” ACS Energy Letters 7: 236–241 (2022).
   

• Meng Sun ^a, Xiaoxiong Wang ^a, Lea R. Winter, Yumeng Zhao, Wen Ma, Tayler Hedtke, Jae-Hong Kim, Menachem Elimelech*. “Electrified membranes for water treatment applications.” ACS Environmental Science & Technology: Engineering 1: 725–752 (2021).
   

• Lea R. Winter, Jingguang G. Chen*. “N₂ fixation by plasma-activated processes.” Joule 5: 300–315 (2021).