Fellowship Projects
The following graduate research was supported by Materials Science and Engineering fellowships.
2026-2027
Project: Investigations of solution combustion synthesis for nuclear target preparation and thin-film manufacturing
Student: Chris Ballew, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Advisor: Ani Aprahamian, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Peter Burns, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
Project: Probing bulk photovoltaic effects in twisted MoTe2 superlattices probed using crystalline gold nanomirrors
Student: Aleksei Karaborchev, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Advisor: Petr Stepanov, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Svetlana Neretina, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Project: Reprogramming stromal cells in the breast cancer peritumoral microenvironment
Student: Monica Leal Palma, Bioengineering Graduate Program
Advisor: Meenal Datta, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Ryan Roeder, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Project: Bioinspired protein micro/nanofiber-based yarns for multimodal wearable sensing at soft interfaces
Student: Longwen Li, Bioengineering Graduate Program
Advisor: Huibin Chang, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Tingyu Cheng, Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Project: Application of piezoelectric PLLA-calcium silicate composite nanofibers to enhance HEK293-derived sEV production for tuberculosis vaccine development
Student: Patrick McKenzie, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Advisor: Yichun Wang, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Jeff Schorey, Department of Biological Sciences
Project: Understanding the effects of glass properties on digital glass forming and its effects on the properties
Student: Nudrat Nawal, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Ed Kinzel, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Anthony Hoffman, Department of Electrical Engineering
Innovation Fellowship: Synthesis and study of exotic antiferromagnets
Student: Resham Regmi, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Advisor: Nirmal Ghimire, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Igor Mazin, George Mason University
Project: Synthesis of CrSb for altermagnetic GMR and TMR devices grown by MBE
Student: Sharanya Renjit, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Advisor: Badih Assaf, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Steven Bennett, Naval Research Lab
Innovation Fellowship: Atomic-scale visualization and control of intertwined orders in
actinide and kagome superconductors
Student: Nileema Sharma, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Advisor: Xiaolong Liu, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Stephen Wilson, UC-Santa Barbara
2025-2026
Project: Ultrafast studies of materials under pressure
Student: Kareem Asham, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Advisors: Greg Hartland and Adam Jaffe, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Petr Stepanov, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Project: Near-infrared II N-doped graphene quantum dot apta-sensor for spatially resolved dopamine monitoring
Student: Yao Huo, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Advisor: Yichun Wang, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Kaiyu Fu, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Project: Automated optimization of molecular alignment and materials properties in mixed conducting thin films
Student: Xingyu Liu, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Advisor: Bryan Paulsen, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Interdisciplinary Mentors:
Yanliang Zhang, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Alex Dowling, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Project: Multi-objective active learning for discovering thermally conductive and mechanically compliant polymers
Student: Yuhan Liu, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Advisor: Tengfei Luo, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Meng Jiang, Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Project: Biomaterial screening platform that integrates 3D-structured electrodes and microfabrication techniques for high-throughput electrochemistry
Student: Zongqi Vito Liu, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Advisor: Kaiyu Fu, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Interdisciplinary Mentors:
Pinar Zorlutuna, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Jon Camden, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Project: Fundamental insights into magnetoelectric nanoparticles properties at the nano-bio interface for enhanced chemotherapeutic delivery and equitable treatment outcomes in metastatic cancer variants
Student: Aurelie Brownsberger, Bioengineering Graduate Program
Advisor: Prakash Nallathamby, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Interdisciplinary Mentors:
Ryan Roeder, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Sharon Stack, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Laszlo Forro, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Project: Reconstructing amorphous lattices via RHEED for the discovery of topological amorphous metals in next-generation interconnects
Student: Eibar Ortiz Ortega, Department of Electrical Engineering
Advisor: Chris Hinkle, Department of Electrical Engineering
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Yi-Ting Hsu, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Project: Structure-property relationships of soft porous coordination polymers
Student: Yan Saltar, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Advisor: Yamil Colon, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Interdisciplinary Mentors:
William Phillip, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Kyle Doudrick, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
Project: New materials and fabrication methods for extraterrestrial structures
Student: Capra Williams, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
Advisor: Ashley Thrall, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Clive Neal, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
Project: Hybridized plasmon phonon polaritons in magic angle twisted bilayer graphene/ perovskite heterostructures
Student: Xuanpu Zhang, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Advisor: Petr Stepanov, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Masaru Kuno, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
2024-2025
Project: Harnessing strong light-matter interactions in organic semiconductor materials
Student: Wei-Kuo Li, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Advisor: Hsing-Ta Chen, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Yi-Ting Hsu, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Project: Machine-learning assisted material search and design of topological crystalline superconductors
Student: Shih-Chuan Lien, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Advisor: Yi-Ting Hsu, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Meng Jiang, Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Project: Engineering biomaterial-based scaffolds for high-content high-throughput 3D bone metastasis prostate cancer model
Student: Tiago Migliati Zanon, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Advisor: Yichun Wang, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Xin Lu, Department of Biological Sciences
Project: Tuning charge orders in Kagome metals Cs1-xKxV3Sb5 via alkali substitution
Student: Nileema Sharma, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Advisor: Xiaolong Liu, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Stephen Wilson, University of California Santa Barbara
Project: Machine-learning-enhanced quantum materials visualization and discovery
Student: Matt Toole, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Advisor: Xiaolong Liu, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Xiangliang Zhang, Department of Computer Science and Engineering
2023-2024
Project: Photoswitchable ionic liquids: Light mediated directional solvent extraction
Student: Greg Durling, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Advisor: Brandon Ashfeld, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Tengfei Luo, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Project: Controlling oxidation during nanomaterial synthesis using plasma electrolysis
Student: Chiedozie Ogueri, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: David Go, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Interdisciplinary Mentor: David Bartels, Notre Dame Radiation Laboratory
Project: Isolation of catalytically relevant sites in 2D extended solids through atom-transfer/exchange reactions
Student: Joshua Morales Campos, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Advisor: Professor Adam Jaffe, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Jason Hicks, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Project: Nanoscale characterization and control of strain and defects in two-dimensional materials for optimized quantum emitters
Student: Yucheng Yang, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Matthew Rosenberger, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Anthony Hoffman, Department of Electrical Engineering
2022-2023
Project: Three-dimensional chalcogenide materials for next-generation electronic devices
Student: Sara Bey, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Advisor: Badih Assaf, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Christopher Hinkle, Department of Electrical Engineering
Project: A.I. for predictive modeling of therapeutically useful biomimetic nanostructure followed by scalable synthesis of predicted nanostructure using modular assembly approach
Student: Johanna Olesk, Bioengineering Graduate Program
Advisor: Nosang Myung, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Interdisciplinary Mentors:
Prakash Nallathamby, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Jian-Xun Wang, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Project: Molecular spatial control over one-dimensional chalcogen polymers
Student: Muhammad Sohail, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Advisor: Emily Tsui, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Jennifer Schaefer, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
2021-2022
Project: Rational design of catalytic polymeric membranes for treating nitrate in drinking water
Student: Angela Abarca-Perez, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
Advisor: Kyle Doudrick, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
Interdisciplinary Mentor: William Phillip, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Project: High-throughput combinatorial printing for materials integration and scalable manufacturing of perovskite solar cells
Student: Yang Ding, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Advisor: Masaru Kuno, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Interdisciplinary Mentors:
Prashant Kamat, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Yanliang Zhang, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Project: Tunable ionic organic networks fabricated by molecular layer-by-layer
Student: Jizhou Jiang, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Advisor: Jennifer Schaefer, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Bryan Paulsen, Northwestern University
Project: Photoactive surfaces reliant on nanostructure asymmetry, chirality, and plasmonic hot spots
Student: Walker Tuff, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Svetlana Neretina, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Jon Camden, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Project: Materials informatics of liquidous materials for water desalination applications
Student: Hanfeng Zhang, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Tengfei Luo, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Interdisciplinary Mentors:
Brandon Ashfeld, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Ed Maginn, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
2020-2021
Project: Dispersing perovskite quantum dots in water: Enhancing stability by encapsulation in nanoparticles
Student: Xiuyu Jin, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Advisor: Haifeng Gao, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Na Wei, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign
Project: Methacrylate modified nanoparticles for imaging photopolymerized hydrogels and scaffolds
Student: Lan Li, Bioengineering Graduate Program
Advisor: Ryan Roeder, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Interdisciplinary Mentor: Vahid Serpooshan, Georgia Institute of Technology