I am extremely proud of my former PhD students and post-docs with what they did while they were with us and also where they have gone afterwards (in reverse chronological order).
Rudy Torres. Background: Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. Mechanical Engineer actively invested in materials and energy research seeking to overcome the limits of current technology to improve the energy status quo to that of a renewable clean alternative.
Jennifer Bone. Background: Bachelor's degree in physics, Bachelor's degree in molecular cell biology with a focus in biochemistry, and Master's degree in biomedical engineering science. Her research focused on building a hierarchical machine learning model for high-fidelity 3D bioprinting and soft robotics.
Justin Bobo. Background: Bachelor of Science in Aerospace/Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Mathematics. His research focused on neuron response to various mechanical forces (brain on a chip) and also soft robotics/flexible sensors. Currently works as an Associate at McKinsey & Company.
Li Wan. Background: Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Physics. Interdisciplinary fields of mechanical engineering and cancer biology. He worked on applying micromachining techniques in fabrication of in vitro 3D cancer model system with vasculature for breast cancer research purposes. Currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center.
Adam Wood. Background: B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering. His research focuses on utilizing specialized plant materials and waste materials as the main component in various desalination technologies. Currently an Assistant Professor in Engineering Sciences at Saint Vincent College.
Ryan Yeh. Background: B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. He pursued research related to shape grammars and explainable AI in medical imaging. Currently works in the Environmental Restoration Crew Leader at EarthCorps.
Christian Ingham. Background: Meyerhoff Scholar with a Bachelor's of Science in Mechanical Engineering. His research interest includes rehabilitative technologies, robotics and autonomous systems.
Dan Clymer. Background: Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering. His research focused on improving pattern recognition and problem identification through computational and machine learning methods, particularly in the field of healthcare technology. Currently a Sr. Research Scientist at BAE Systems, Inc.
Jorge Salome. Background: Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Mechanical Engineering. Research experience in aerospace technology, exoskeleton systems, and flexible circuit techniques. Currently a Manager in Integration and Test Engineering at Northrop Grumman.
Jonelle Yu. Background: Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, and Controls. Her research focused on designing and devloping an extrusion-based 3D printing platform for tissue engineering applications. Currently an R&D Engineer III at Align Technology.
Ardon Shorr. Background: Biological Sciences. His research studied why astronauts come back with so many health problems, exploring cellular exposure to different gravity environments. Currently teaches academic writing and science communication at Princeton.
Mark Whiting. Background: Mechanical Engineer. He is currently a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University with Michael Bernstein in computer science. He completed his PhD in mechanical engineering at CMU entitled Anomaly classification through automated grammar representation. Currently a Postdoctoral scholar at University of Pennsylvania..
Kyle Justus. Background: Mechanical Engineer; Postdoc - Jim Spudich - Stanford. His research focused on the integration of genetically engineered cells as sensory components within soft robotic systems and the development of a magnetic tensile cytometry chip for magnetoliposomes. Currently a Research Scientist at TERA-print.
Naser Naserifar. Background: Mechanical Engineer. He studied material gradients in thin stretchable substrates for wearable electronics. Currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at K. N. Toosi University of Technology.
Kristin Warren. Background: Mechanical Engineer with Biomedical Engineering specialty. Her work was on passive mechanical lysis of bioinspired systems involving computational modeling and microfluidic experiments. Currently an Associate Engineer at the RAND Corporation.
Melis Hazar. Background: Mechanical Engineer. Her research was on probing collective migration of a 3-D embryonic tissue through microfluidics with 3-D bio-etching. Currently a Manager in Technology Development Engineering at Guardant Health.
Paul Egan. Background: Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering; Postdoc - Kristina Shea - ETH Zurich. His research was on cognitive and agent based design methodologies for engineering complex biological systems. Currently an Assistant Professor and Lab Director at Texas Tech University.
Lina Gonzalez. Background: Mechanical Engineer; Postdoc - Chris Voigt - MIT. Her research was on investigating magnetotactic bacteria through advanced custom developed physics approaches and developing genetic based approaches to magnetotactic bacteria. Currently a Co-founder and the CEO of SpadXTech.
Cheemeng Tan. Background: Biomedical Engineer. His research was on developing an interface between synthetic biology and artificial cells with a focus on the effects of molecular crowding on these systems. Currently an Associate Professor at University of California, Davis.
Yukai Zeng. Background: Mechanical Engineer; A* Star-Singapore. His research was on understanding dorsal ruffle structural relationships with mechanics of substrates along with developing a novel dynamic mechanical switchable cell substrate interface. Currently an Assistant Director (Data Science) at the Ministry of Defence of Singapore.
John Kang. Background: Computational Biology; MD part of the MD-PhD program. His research was on developing computational approaches to mechanotransduction including a novel structure and geometry based biochemical approach. Currently the lead of the Department of Radiation Oncology biomedical informatics and an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington.
Mary Beth Wilson. Background: Biomedical Engineer; Innovesca. Her research was on examining biological architectures in terms of 3D regenerative medicine platforms and developing plant cell mechanics approaches toward global nutrition. Founder of Innovesca, committed to creating maximum social impact.
Robert Steward. Background: Mechanical Engineer; Postdoc - Jeff Fredberg, Harvard School of Public Health. His research was on logic gate approaches to multiple mechanical input stimulation and on carbon fixation with microorganism based approaches. Currently an Assistant Professor at University of Central Florida.
Si Yen Chou. Background: Animal Studies and Engineering Sciences; Her research was on developing differential substrates with controlled stiffnesses to study fibroblast, neural, and motility responses.
YongTae Kim. Background: Mechanical Engineer; Postdoc - Bob Langer, MIT. His research was on developing control feedback microfluidic systems for 3D stimulation and Xenopuslaevis response. Work - Georgia Tech (top 5 department by USNWR) as an Assistant Professor. Currently an Associate Professor at Georgia Tech and Co-Founder and CEO at Mepsgen.
Warren Ruder. Background: Civil and Environmental Engineer; Postdoc - Jim Collins - HHMI, Boston University and Harvard University. His research was on developing 3D approaches to cell calcium mechanotransduction and understanding magnetotactic bacteria interfaced with synthetic systems. Currently an Associate Professor of Bioengineering and a William Kepler Whiteford Faculty Fellow in the Swanson School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh.
Jonathan Didier. Background: Chemical and Biomedical Engineer; Postdoc - Don Ingber/David Weitz, Harvard University. His research was on using molecular structures such as the cytoskeleton for templating and enhancing biochemical reactions through biologically inspired approaches. Currently a Field Applications Scientist at Berkeley Lights, Inc.
Chao-Min Cheng. Background: Mechanical Engineer; Postdoc - George Whitesides, Harvard University;. His research was on developing novel lithographic technology in cell and molecular interactions including mechanotransduction and neural response. Currently a Full Professor in the Institute of NanoEngineering and MicroSystems & Department of Power Mechanical Engineering at the National Tsing Hua University, and Assistant Research Fellow in the Institute of Cellular and Organismic Biology at Academia Sinica, Taiwan.
Theresa Cassino. Background: Chemical Engineering. Her research was on examining loading history and cell memory for repair of heart defects with stem cells. Currently a Senior Director Project Management at iBio, Inc.
Rachel Ying Zhang. - Background: Chemistry. Her research was on developing artificial cells with respect to controlled molecular reactions and mechanical properties. Currently a Senior Scientist at Toyota North America.
Lacramioara Trofin. Background: Chemistry; in MIT's Executive MBA program. Her research was on developing novel polymer interfaces with cells through biologically inspired approaches.
Bin Li. Background: Chemistry. His research was on developing polymeric based approaches for optical use with cells. Currently a Professor at Soochow University in Suzhou, China.
Adriana Antunez de Mayolo. Background: Genetics. Her research was on working with labeling Dictyostelium with novel nanoparticle probes for visualizing live intracellular responses related to cell structure. Currently a Teacher at DC Prep.
Brandon Kuczenski. Mechanical Engineer.His research was on controlled microfluidics approaches for understanding dynamic responses of single cells such as in calcium signaling. Currently the Principal in Scope 3 Consulting and Associate Researcher at University of California, Santa Barbara.
Ioanna Pagani. Background: Biomedical Engineer; Postdoc - Sanjay Kumar, University of California at Berkeley; Her research was on examining red blood cell mechanics and interfacing microtechnologies with cells. Currently a Senior Staff Scientist in Bioinformatics at Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Kathleen Puskar. Background: Mechanical Engineer; Postdoc - University of California at Santa Barbara. Her research was on developing computational approaches to cell structure and molecular crowding. Worked at Point Park University as an Associate Professor.
James Kubicek. Background: Mechanical Engineering. His research was on developing novel mechanical stimulation approaches for understanding mechanotransduction through syndecans. Currently a Data Engineering Manager at Stitch Fix.
