Congratulations to Arny Leroy for successfully defending his PhD on Subambient Passive Cooling Enabled by Polyethylene Aerogels.

During his PhD, Arny worked on the development, characterization, and optimization of polyethylene aerogels to achieve a low thermal conductivity material with high solar reflectance and infrared transmittance. Theoretically and experimentally, he investigated the benefits of using polyethylene aerogel covers in outdoor devices exposed to direct sunlight and demonstrated significant passive cooling below the ambient temperature and high subambient cooling power. His contributions show potentials of applications to food produce storage, building cooling, and reduction of CO2 emissions.