The 2018 Rising Stars in Mechanical Engineering Workshop was a great success! Please read about it in the MIT News.

2018 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING RISING STARS

  • Gizem Acar, Postdoctoral Researcher, Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, gizem@umd.edu. Area: dynamics and vibrations with applications to robotic locomotion on granular media and wind turbines
  • Surl-Hee (Shirley) Ahn, Postdoctoral Researcher, Chemistry & Biochemistry, UC San Diego, s3ahn@ucsd.edu. Area: molecular dynamics, proteins, drugs
  • Qifang Bao, PhD student, Mechanical Engineering, MIT, qfbao@mit.edu. Area: product design for environmental impact
  • Lili Cai, Postdoctoral Researcher, Material Science, Stanford University, lilicai@stanford.edu. Area: thermal / nanotech / energy
  • Elizabeth DeBenedictis, PhD student, Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, elizabethdebenedictis2014@u.northwestern.edu. Area: biomaterials 
  • Rebecca Fenton Friesen, PhD student, Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, RebeccaFentonFriesen2014@u.northwestern.edu. Area: haptics
  • Zahra Ghasemi, PhD student, Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, zghasemi@umd.edu. Area: mathematical modeling for CV monitoring
  • Maha Haji, Project Engineer, Mechanical Engineering, ATA Engineering, mhaji@mit.edu. Area: Design in water-energy-food nexus, renewable energy, sustainability
  • Feng He, PhD student, Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, feng.he@utexas.edu. Area: phonon interactions, heat conversion
  • Courtney Hollar, PhD student, Mechanical Engineering, University of Idaho, holl0770@vandals.uidaho.edu. Area: nuclear fuel, thermoelectrics
  • Meghan E. Huber, Postdoctoral Researcher, Mechanical Engineering, MIT, mehuber@mit.edu. Area: robot aided locomotion
  • Hyun Jin Kim, PhD student, Mechanical Engineering and Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, hkim257@illinois.edu. Area: clean energy / thermal science
  • Jocelyn Kluger , Physical Modeling Library Developer, MathWorks, jociek@alum.mit.edu. Area: wind turbines, wave energy, physical modeling
  • Annie Dian-Ru Li, PhD student, Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, drli@umich.edu. Area: Design and manufacturing of medical device
  • Allison Mahvi, Postdoctoral Researcher, Mechanical Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, mahvi@illinois.edu. Area: energy – organic thermoelectric
  • Akanksha Menon, ITRI-Rosenfeld Postdoctoral Fellow, Mechanical Engineering, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory akmenon@lbl.gov. Area: thermal systems/heat transfer (solar desalination, thermoelectrics, conducting polymers)
  • Min-yeong Moon, Postdoctoral Researcher, Mechanical Engineering, The University of Iowa, minyeong-moon@uiowa.edu. Area: design optimization, uncertainty quantification, and reliability analysis
  • Aishwarya Pawar, PhD student, Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, arpawar@andrew.cmu.edu. Area: medical image analysis
  • Andrea Pickel, PhD student, Mechanical Engineering, UC Berkeley, apickel@berkeley.edu. Area: nanoscale heat transfer
  • Yatian Qu, Scientist, Mechanical Engineering, Purigen Biosystems, yatianqu@alumni.stanford.edu. Area: microfluidics – medical and water treatment
  • Shabnam Raayai-Ardakani, Postdoctoral Researcher, Civil and Environmental Engineering, MIT, shraayai@mit.edu. Area: fluid & solid mechanics / Biomimetics
  • Reshma R. Rao, PhD student, Mechanical Engineering, MIT, reshmar@mit.edu. Area: sustainable energy
  • Olivia Scheidler, PhD student, Bioengineering, UC Berkeley, olivia.scheideler@gmail.com. Area: biomedical
  • Samira Shiri, PhD Student, Mechanical Engineering, Boston University, sshiri@bu.edu. Area: Interfacial fluid dynamics , heat and mass transfer , bioinspired materials
  • Megan Tomko, PhD student, Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, megan.e.tomko@gmail.com. Area: makerspaces
  • Valerie Troutman, PhD student, Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, vtrout@stanford.edu. Area: fluid mechanics, diver-operated imaging system
  • Ana Villanueva, PhD student, Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, villana@purdue.edu. Area: augmented reality / biomechanics
  • Julie Walker, PhD student, Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, juliewalker@stanford.edu. Area: haptics / human-robot interaction
  • Guanjin Wang, PhD student, Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, gjwang@umd.edu. Area:leg locomotion on granular surfaces
  • Katrina Wisdom, Postdoctoral Researcher, Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, kmwisdom@seas.upenn.edu. Area: Mechanobiology, Biomechanics, Biomaterials, 3D Cell Culture
  • Kirby Witte, PhD student, Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, kwitte@andrew.cmu.edu. Area: biomechanics, mechatronics and human-robot interaction
  • Kelilah Wolkowicz, Postdoctoral Fellow, SEAS (Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering), Harvard University, kwolkowicz@seas.harvard.edu. Area: Robotic wheelchair design and development; Artificial Pancreas control and estimation algorithm development
  • Xining Zang, Postdoctoral Researcher, Materials Science, MIT, xzang@mit.edu. Area: Enery MEMS/Nano and natural carbonaceous materials
  • Yangying Zhu, Postdoctoral Researcher, Materials Science, Stanford University, zhuyy@stanford.edu. Area: thermal management of electronic devices