Raghavendra Meena

Raghavendra Meena is a doctoral researcher in the Biobased Chemistry & Technology group at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands. His PhD work began in October 2020 under the supervision of Prof. Harry J. Bitter, Prof. Han Zuilhof, and Dr. Guanna Li, under the project "Multiscale Modelling of Supported Metal Catalysts for Carbohydrate Upgrading."

Research Focus

Meena's research focuses on computational and theoretical approaches to sustainable catalysis. His work involves first-principles simulations of complex solid materials—including carbides, zeolites, and oxides—carried out in close collaboration with experimental groups across the Netherlands.

Key themes include the design and characterization of transition metal carbides and oxy-carbides for biomass conversion, with special attention to hydrodeoxygenation reactions, where he has shown how surface oxy-domains affect catalytic activity and selectivity. He also explores mechano-catalytic methods for converting plastic waste under ambient conditions, including work on radical intermediates generated via mechanical activation of catalyst surfaces. Additionally, his research covers electrochemical transformations of bio-derived molecules, such as the regioselective bromination of methyl levulinate, where solvent effects lead to distinct product distributions.

Background & Training

Meena has developed a strong and sustained background in computational chemistry over nearly a decade, spanning DFT, molecular dynamics, quantum Monte Carlo, and first-principles modelling of solid-state systems and heterogeneous catalysts.

His formal training began in 2016 with a summer internship on classical chemical dynamics of the OCS molecule at the Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur. He systematically expanded his expertise through research internships in DFT of many-body systems at IISER Kolkata (2017) and computational studies of transition-metal-free isonitrile coupling at the Indian Institute of Science (2018) under Prof. E. D. Jemmis.

From 2018–2019, he undertook a year-long research project in computational materials science at IISER Pune under Prof. Prasenjit Ghosh, gaining a rigorous understanding of DFT's theoretical foundations and applying these methods to calculate ground-state energies, electronic band structures, and magnetic properties of solids.

In 2019, he initiated an Erasmus+ exchange collaboration between IISER Pune and Sorbonne University, working with Prof. Prasenjit Ghosh and Prof. Michele Casula. This project combined DFT and high-level quantum Monte Carlo methods to investigate the ground-state properties of zigzag graphene nanoribbons, resulting in a peer-reviewed publication (Meena et al., J. Chem. Phys. 158, 084112, 2022).

Education

Meena is currently pursuing his PhD (2020–present) at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands. He completed his BS-MS degree in Chemistry & Physics from IISER Pune, India, followed by a Master's thesis at Sorbonne Université, France, where he studied magnetic properties of narrow zigzag graphene nanoribbons using ab initio methods including quantum Monte Carlo, under the guidance of Prof. Michele Casula.

Interests

Outside of research, Meena is interested in using machine learning and AI to accelerate computational materials discovery. He also enjoys football, chess, trading, photography, and learning musical instruments.