{"id":5168,"date":"2026-05-13T15:07:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/?post_type=profiles&#038;p=5168"},"modified":"2026-08-11T17:29:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T21:29:42","slug":"hailah-sessions","status":"publish","type":"profiles","link":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/profiles\/hailah-sessions\/","title":{"rendered":"Hailah Sessions"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"599\" src=\"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/Sessions-Hailah.jpg\" alt=\"by Corban Swain\" class=\"wp-image-5635\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1;object-fit:cover;width:200px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/Sessions-Hailah.jpg 400w, https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/Sessions-Hailah-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>North Carolina A&amp;T State University<\/strong><br>Faculty Advisor: Prof. Jongyoon Han<br>Research Supervisor: Eric Wynne<br>Department: Biological Engineering<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:0px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Biography<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hailah Sessions is an Honors sophomore in Chemical Engineering at North Carolina<br>Agricultural and Technical State University from Charlotte, North Carolina. Inspired by<br>recent study-abroad experiences in Rome and Athens, she has developed an even greater<br>appreciation for how science, culture, and history intersect to shape innovation and society. As<br>an avid reader and lifelong learner, she values the transformative power of scientific inquiry<br>and continuous education. Hailah is committed to pursuing a career in cosmetic research,<br>development, and manufacturing, with interests in polymers, colloids, and cationic and<br>anionic surfactants, particularly their influence on the health of low-porosity hair. She hopes to<br>contribute meaningful research that advances formulation science while fostering innovation,<br>inclusivity, and evidence-based product development for historically underserved populations<br>through collaborative, interdisciplinary engineering research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><br><strong>Finite Element Analysis of Cylindrical Concentric Ion Concentration Polarization<br>for Desalination<\/strong><br>Hailah Sessions\u00b9, Eric Wynne\u00b2, Jongyoon Han\u00b2<br>\u00b9Department of Chemical &amp; Biological Engineering, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical<br>State University<br>\u00b2Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><br>Ion concentration polarization (ICP) is an emerging electrokinetic phenomenon with potential<br>for energy-efficient water desalination and ionic separations. Although most ICP devices<br>use planar microchannel geometries, alternative configurations may improve device design<br>and performance. This project investigates the feasibility of a concentric cylindrical ICP<br>system through multiphysics simulations in COMSOL Multiphysics. A two-dimensional<br>axisymmetric model coupling fluid flow, ion transport, and electric fields was developed to<br>evaluate how channel geometry, operating conditions, and transport properties influence ion<br>transport and salt removal. Parametric studies were performed by systematically varying<br>key design parameters while monitoring solution convergence and numerical stability.<br>Preliminary simulations produced characteristic ion depletion and enrichment regions<br>consistent with ICP behavior and demonstrated that desalination performance is highly<br>sensitive to geometric and operating conditions. These early findings have guided continued<br>refinement of the computational model, including mesh optimization and parameter selection<br>to improve solution accuracy and stability. This work establishes a computational framework<br>for evaluating concentric ICP devices and provides a foundation for future investigations of<br>alternative electrokinetic desalination systems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5422,"template":"","profile_category":[25],"class_list":["post-5168","profiles","type-profiles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","profile_category-2026-interns"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/5168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/profiles"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/5168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5754,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/5168\/revisions\/5754"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"profile_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_category?post=5168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}