Sawyer Palsen grew up across the US, living in the states of Missouri/ Connecticut/ Maryland. He completed his undergraduate degree at Carnegie Mellon University, where he received his B.S. in Chemistry. During his undergraduate career, Sawyer worked on synthesizing and testing alkaline fuel cell membranes and later examined different systems of iridium-based light-absorbing metal deposition batteries.

Currently, as a graduate student in the Mallouk group, Sawyer is examining novel interface assemblies as part of the bipolar membrane (BPM) section.

Outside of the research lab, Sawyer is enthusiastic about Dutch culture, board/card games, and hiking.

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