Leanna Schulte grew up in southeast Michigan. She completed her undergraduate degree at Washington University in St. Louis, where she majored in chemistry and minored in mathematics. During her undergraduate career, Leanna worked under Prof. Julio D’Arcy, formulating polymer blends and making custom 3D printer filaments. She then attended the University of California, Irvine where she obtained her Ph.D. in physical chemistry under Prof. Shane Ardo. Her graduate research focused on fabricating and using electrochemistry to characterize bipolar membrane-based solar cells and bipolar membranes containing custom molecular catalysts that exhibited enhanced rates of the water dissociation and water formation reactions.

As a postdoc in the Mallouk group, Leanna studies inorganic layered double hydroxide materials. She performs fundamental thermal and structural characterization and incorporates layered double hydroxides into new fuel cell and electrolyzer constructs which she evaluates with electrochemistry.

Outside of the lab, Leanna enjoys taking her dog to the park, cooking, baking, working out, and going flying.