Dr. Valery Okatenko received his B.S degree from Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia, in Materials Science. Later, he received his M.S degree in Materials Science from Skoltech, Russia, which included the academic mobility stay in College de France, Paris to prepare his M.S. thesis. Over these years, his research was devoted to synthesis, characterization and electrochemical testing of oxide microparticles as bifunctional catalysts for oxygen reduction and evolution reactions.

Dr. Okatenko has completed his PhD in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne), where his research was devoted to the study of metallic nanoparticles as electrochemical CO2 reduction catalysts with extended stability. The materials of primary research interest were colloidally synthesized liquid metal nanoparticles, which are novel materials offering unique opportunities for a broad range of potential applications.

At Rice University, Dr. Okatenko is working with Professor Haotian Wang in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, where he continues research in the field of carbon dioxide recycling with advanced electrochemical reactors.