2025 Workshop Chairs

2025 Participants

• Allannah Duffy (aduffy36@gatech.edu), PhD Student, School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Sustainable Thermal Systems
• Allison McCrady (alllie.mccrady@gmail.com), Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Military Performance Division, United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Biomedical image analysis
• Arpita Shome (arpita.shome@uga.edu), Post-Doctoral Associate, School of Chemical, Materials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Georgia, Bio-Inspired Anti-Wetting
• Ava Lakmazaheri (avalak@stanford.edu), Postdoctoral Fellow, Mechanical Engineering, Stanford, Human-exoskeleton interaction
• Dahae Jeong (dmj5600@psu.edu), Graduate Student, Mechanical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, Machine learning fluid
• Demitria Poulos (dpoulos@vols.utk.edu), PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Stent evaluation
• Disha Kamale (dkamale@umich.edu), Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Robotics, University of Michigan, Multi-robot planning
• Ekta Samani (esamani@andrew.cmu.edu), Postdoctoral Fellow, Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Additive manufacturing systems
• Elnaz Nikoumanesh (elnaznm@uri.edu), PhD Candidate, Chemical Engineering, University of Rhode Island, Nonlinear rheology
• Giada Risso (grisso@seas.harvard.edu), Postdoctoral Fellow, SEAS, Harvard University, Intelligent structures design
• Hong Han (honghan@caltech.edu), PhD Candidate, Engineering and Applied Science (Medical Engineering Department), California Institute of Technology, Medical microrobot, Neuromorphic devices and Flexible electronics
• Jennifer Leestma (jleestma@seas.harvard.edu), Postdoctoral Fellow, Mechanical Engineering, Harvard University, Robotic hip exoskeleton
• Jiabin Liu (liujiab1@msu.edu), PhD Student, Mechanical Engineering, Michigan State University, Underwater adhesives
• Jiaen Wu (jiaenwu@stanford.edu), Postdoctoral Researcher, Mechanical Engineering, Stanford, Wearable robots
• Jiaqiong Li (Jiaqiong.Li@uga.edu), Postdoctoral Associate, School of Environmental, Civil, Agricultural, and Mechanical Engineering, University of Georgia, 3D optical imaging
• Jingyi Liu (liu027@usc.edu), Research Assistant, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern California, Fluid dynamics
• Jiwon Kim (jiwon_kim1@brown.edu), Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Engineering, Brown University, Cancer models
• Madeleine Yuh (myuh@purdue.edu), PhD Student, Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, Systems control
• Maha Alafeef (mma6860@psu.edu), Postdoctoral Fellow, Biomedical Engineering Department, The Pennsylvania State University, Bioengineering
• Marwa Yacouti (marwa.yacouti@colorado.edu), PhD Student, Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Computational mechanics
• Maulee Sheth (Maulee.Sheth@tufts.edu), Postdoctoral Fellow, Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cancer matrix
• Milan Wilborn (atalayawilborn@g.harvard.edu), Postdoctoral Researcher, School of Engineering & Applied Sciences (Material Sciences), Harvard University, Liquid crystal elastomers
• Paula Hohoff (hohoff@wisc.edu), PhD Student, Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Fiber modeling
• Qi Jiang (qijiang@stanford.edu), PhD Student, Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, Microfluidic structure
• Qingqing He (qhe7906@sdsu.edu), PhD Candidate, Mechanical Engineering, San Diego State University, Bioinspired design
• Qiong Joann Wang (qiong.wang@northwestern.edu), Postdoctoral Researcher, Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, Artificial muscles
• Rawan Omar (rawan.omar@yale.edu), Postdoctoral Fellow, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Yale University, Soft robotics
• Ruiting Wang (rtwang@berkeley.edu), Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Optimization methods
• Soha Niroumandi (snirouma@usc.edu), PhD Student, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern California, Biofluid mechanics
• Soohyeon Kang (sk92@illinois.edu), PhD Student, Mechanical Science & Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Fluid-particle interactions
• Srilakshmi Premachandran (sri01@mit.edu), Postdoctoral Associate, Mechanical Engineering, MIT, Spectroscopy AI
• Wanqing Zhang (wqz5203@psu.edu), PhD Student, Engineering Science and Mechanics, The Pennsylvania State University, Hydrogel sensors
• Wenjun Wang (wjwang@seas.harvard.edu), Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Tumor microenvironment
• Yifan Rao (yifan.rao@princeton.edu), Postdoctoral Fellow, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment & Civil and Env. Eng., Princeton University, Origami robots
• Yitong Lu (ylu6@bu.edu), Postdoctoral Associate, Mechanical Engineering, Boston University, Robotic planning
• Yujie Quan (yquan@ucsb.edu), Research Scientist, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California Santa Barbara, Surgical robotics
• Zhe (Monica) Zhong (zzhong47@gatech.edu), PhD Student, Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 3D bioprinting
• Zihan Wang (zihan.wang5@northwestern.edu), Postdoctoral Scholar, Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, Metamaterial design

2021 Workshop Chairs

2021 Participants

• Aleksandra Kalinowska, Graduate Student, Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, Area: Robotic Control
• Arina Korneva, Postdoctoral Fellow, Ophthalmology, Johns Hopkins University, Area: Biomedical engineering, biomechanics
• Ashley Hartwell, PhD Candidate, Mechanical Engineering, MIT, Area: Design optimization for sustainable construction
• Binyang Song, Postdoctoral Researcher, School of Engineering Design, Technology, and Professional Programs, The Pennsylvania State University, Area: Data driven design
• Catie Cuan, Ph.D. Student / Graduate Research Assistant, Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, Area: Robotics and Autonomous Systems
• Cecile Chazot, Ph.D. Student, Materials Science and Engineering, MIT, Area: Manufacturing polymers & composites
• Cheng Zheng, Graduate Student, ME, MIT, Area: Computational microscopy and lithography. Optical system inverse design
• Claudia Brunner, PhD student, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Area: Airfoil design for wind turbines
• Claudia Varela, Graduate Student, HST, MIT, Area: Medical Engineering, Medical Physics
• Cristina Martin-Linares, Graduate Student, Mechanical Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University, Area: Physics Informed Machine learning, Mechanistic modeling, Reduced order modeling, Dynamical systems
• Cynthia Hajal, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Oncologic Pathology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Area: Engineered microvascular brain-on-a-chip model for the study of tumor progression
• Drithi Shetty, Graduate Research Assistant (PhD), Engineering Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Area: Engineering Physics Computation
• Gina Olson, Post doc, Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Area: Robotics, actuation, haptics
• Janelle Clark, Graduate Student, Mechanical Engineering, Rice University, Area: Haptics and robotic control
• Khanh Tan, Graduate Student, Mechanical Engineering, University of Connecticut, Area: Bioengineering, microneedles for transdermal drug and vaccine delivery
• Manisha Singh, Post doc, Mechanical Engineering and IMES, MIT, Area: Biomedical engineering
• Melissa Boswell, Doctoral Student, Bioengineering, Stanford University, Area: Biomechanics
• Neda Karami Mohammadi, Graduate Student, Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin Madison, Area: Wave Propagation in Soft Metamaterials, Applied Solid Mechanics, Dynamics, Vibrations and Control, Autonomous Mobile Robots and State Estimation
• Parinaz Fathi, Postdoctoral Fellow, National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Institutes of Health, Area: Bioengineering
• Qing Zhang, Graduate student, MechE, MIT, Area: Thermal Fluids
• Samantha Webster, Graduate Student, Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Northwestern University, Area: Additive manufacturing, deposition
• Sarah Shelton, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Area: Biomedical engineering
• Si Xu, Graduate Student, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Area: Microrobotics, Sensing, actuation, and control of soft fluid-driven robots by liquid-elastomer composite sensors and dielectric elastomer actuators
• Stephanie Valencia-Valencia, PhD Student, Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Area: Biomedical Engineering, Human Computer Interaction
• Susmita Sarkar, Graduate Student, School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, Area: Batteries, electrochemistry
• Vani Sundaram, Graduate Student, Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado, Area: Biomechanics, Exoskeletons and Prostheses, System Dynamics, Controls, Soft Robotics, Bio-Inspired Robotics, Human-Robot Interaction, Embedded Sensing
• Verda Saygin, Graduate Student, Mechanical Engineering, Boston University, Area: Controls, autonomy
• Xiao Ge, PhD Candidate, Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, Area: Design research/theory
• Xiaojia Wang, Graduate Student (Candidate), Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, Area: Ocean/Naval fluids
• Xinyue Liu, Graduate Student, Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Area: Soft machines
• Yilin Liu, Graduate Student, Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Area: solve biomedical problems in diagnostics, cryopreservation, and nanomedicine
• Yiwei Xia, Postdoctoral Fellow, Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Area: Dynamics and Topology of Nonlinear and Aperiodic Metastructures
• Yixiang Deng, Graduate Student, School of Engineering, Brown University, Area: biomedical engineering

2018 Workshop Chairs

2018 Participants

• 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