Katarzyna (Kasia)
Młodzikowska-Pieńko

Katarzyna Młodzikowska-Pieńko is an Azrieli International Postdoctoral Fellow in the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology under the supervision of Prof. Renana Gershoni-Poranne and Azrieli alum, Prof. Graham de Ruiter.

Her research focuses on the design of new organometallic catalysts by employing computational chemistry to obtain an understanding of their fundamental electronic properties.

Modern catalysts based on noble metals are extremely efficient but are also rare, expensive, and toxic. The continuous push toward sustainability has led to a renaissance in the use of earth-abundant metals in catalysis. Katarzyna is probing the relationship between the aromatic character that evolves during the catalytic cycle and the performance of the catalyst in the hopes that this research will enable the design of new sustainable and environment-friendly catalysts.

Katarzyna was born in Poland and obtained an MSc in pharmacy from the Medical University of Warsaw. After working briefly as a pharmacist, she pursued her PhD under the supervision of Prof. Bartosz Trzaskowski in the Centre of New Technologies and the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Warsaw. During her PhD, she applied computational chemistry tools to investigate the properties of ruthenium catalysts. When not researching, Katarzyna is a plant- lover and enjoys reading. She is also a sports enthusiast and regularly practices yoga, running, and swimming.