David Castellanos

Undergraduate Researcher, co-advised with Prof. Steven Crossley (joined the Gunasooriya Lab, Spring 2026)
B.Sc. Chemical Engineering, Universidad industrial de Santander, Bucaramanga, Expected-2026

David was born in Bucaramanga, Colombia. At 16, inspired by his cousins who became successful engineers thanks to OU, he decided to pursue chemical engineering. Along the way, he fell in love with the kinetics phenomena that occur in industrial processes - he found it natural to understand the world from the perspective of atoms and how they move, which sparked his passion for experimentation and DFT modeling. Thanks to the unconditional love and upbringing provided by his mother Luz Elena Cortés and his father Nelson Castellanos, David grew into a person of strong character and purpose. He dreams of one day becoming someone who can give back to his community and inspire his people to conquer the world. In the Gunasooriya Lab, David research on spillover effects.