Current Students
Students currently in the Materials Science and Engineering PhD program are listed below, along with their advisor/co-advisor(s) and a brief description of their project, as it's confirmed.
Blessing Adjornor
- Project Title:
- Thermodynamic models for multivalent actinide solubility and speciation as a function of temperature and ionic strength
- Department:
- Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
- Advisor(s):
Amy Hixon, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Khachatur Manukyan, Physics and Astronomy
Kareem Asham
- Project Title:
- Ultrafast studies of materials under pressure
- Department:
- Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Advisor(s):
Greg Hartland, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Adam Jaffe, Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Prashant Kamat, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Christopher Ballew
- Project Title:
- Lanthanide and actinide oxide nanoscale materials and thin films for energy and nuclear physics applications
- Department:
- Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Advisor(s):
Ani Aprahamian, Physics and Astronomy
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Peter Burns, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
Sara Bey
- Project Title:
- Altermagnetism and the anomalous Hall effect in semiconducting MnTe thin films
- Department:
- Physics and Astronomy
- Advisor(s):
Badih Assaf, Physics and Astronomy
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Chris Hinkle, Electrical Engineering
Linda Biondelli
- Project Title:
- Widefield infrared photothermal heterodyne technique (wIR-PHI). A new limit of detection and signal optimization for different applications
- Department:
- Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Advisor(s):
Ken Kuno, Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Anthony Hoffman, Electrical Engineering
Aurelie Brownsberger
- Project Title:
- Fundamental insights into magnetoelectric nanoparticles properties at the nano-bio interface for enhanced chemotherapeutic delivery and equitable treatment outcomes in metastatic cancer variants
- Department:
- Bioengineering
- Advisor(s):
Prakash Nallathamby, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Ryan Roeder, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Sharon Stack, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Laszlo Forro, Physics and Astronomy
Raul Chavez Ramirez
- Department:
- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Advisor(s):
Jennifer Schaefer, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Hongchen Chen
- Project Title:
- Polymer-based non-enzymatic electrochemical glucose sensors for long-term diabetes monitoring
- Department:
- Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Advisor(s):
Kaiyu Fu, Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Matt Webber, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Brenda Cruz Gonzalez
Piyush Deshpande
- Project Title:
- Characterization of solid-state lithium-sulfur battery reaction intermediates
- Department:
- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Advisor(s):
Jennifer Schaefer, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Casey O'Brien, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Bikram Ghosh
- Project Title:
- Probing charge carrier dynamics in 2D perovskite-MoS2 heterostructure
- Department:
- Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Advisor(s):
- Greg Hartland, Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Prashant Kamat, Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Boldizsar Janko, Physics and Astronomy
Rajat Goyal
- Department:
- Electrical Engineering
- Advisor(s):
Sylvia Ptasinska, Physics and Astronomy
Som Guria
- Project Title:
- Steady-state and dynamic studies of plasmon-polaritons in two-dimensional semiconductor superlattices
- Department:
- Physics and Astronomy
- Advisor(s):
Petr Stepanov, Physics and Astronomy
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Greg Hartland, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Logan Hennes
- Project Title:
- Materials discovery and analysis using molecular simulations and advanced sampling techniques
- Department:
- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Advisor(s):
Jonathan Whitmer, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Hsing-Ta Chen, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Junming Huang
- Project Title:
- Scalable lithography-free microelectrode array platform for rapid screening and optimization of electrochemical biosensor interfaces
- Department:
- Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Advisor(s):
Kaiyu Fu, Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Jingcheng Ma, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Saurja DasGupta, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Yangyu Huang
- Department:
- Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
- Advisor(s):
Yanliang Zhang, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Yao Huo
- Project Title:
- Near-infrared II N-doped graphene quantum dot apta-sensor for spatially resolved dopamine monitoring
- Department:
- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Advisor(s):
Yichun Wang, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Kaiyu Fu, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Kristyna Hyblova
- Project Title:
- Strained indents in ML WSe2 for investigating the effects of strain and defects on localized photoluminescence emission phenomena
- Department:
- Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
- Advisor(s):
Matt Rosenberger, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Anthony Hoffman, Electrical Engineering
Jizhou Jiang
- Project Title:
- Monitoring and controlling the growth of molecular layer-by-layer assembled polyamide thin films
- Department:
- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Advisor(s):
Jennifer Schaefer, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Bryan Paulsen, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Yinke Jiang
- Project Title:
- AI-guided biointerface materials design for long-term electrochemical biosensors
- Department:
- Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Advisor(s):
Kaiyu Fu, Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Xiangliang Zhang, Computer Science and Engineering
Aleksei Karaborchev
- Project Title:
- Probing bulk photovoltaic effects in twisted MoTe2 superlattices probed using crystalline gold nanomirrors
- Department:
- Physics and Astronomy
- Advisor(s):
Petr Stepanov, Physics and Astronomy
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Svetlana Neretina, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Jessica Komla
- Project Title:
- Covalent organic framework membranes for selective ion separation
- Department:
- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Advisor(s):
Merlin Bruening, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Jennifer Schaefer, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Justin Krantz
- Project Title:
- Next generation capabilities for additive manufacturing: Ultrafast laser applications and process monitoring for laser powder bed fusion
- Department:
- Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
- Advisor(s):
Ed Kinzel, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Robert Landers, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Marissa Krukowski
- Project Title:
- Environmental aging of f-element nanoparticles with differing initial morphologies
- Department:
- Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
- Advisor(s):
Amy Hixon, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Juan Claudio Nino, University of Florida
Monica Leal Palma
- Project Title:
- Reprogramming carcinoma associated fibroblasts (CAFs) with nanoparticles (NPs) engineered to combat triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)
- Department:
- Bioengineering
- Advisor(s):
Meenal Datta, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Ryan Roeder, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Wei-Kuo Li
- Project Title:
- Disorder-Induced Spectral Splitting versus Rabi Splitting under Strong Light-Matter Coupling
- Department:
- Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Advisor(s):
Hsing-Ta Chen, Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Yi-Ting Hsu, Physics and Astronomy
Longwen Li
- Project Title:
- Bioinspired protein micro/nanofiber-based yarns for multimodal wearable sensing at soft interfaces
- Department:
- Bioengineering
- Advisor(s):
Huibin Chang, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Tingyu Cheng, Computer Science and Engineering
- Google Scholar Profile
Shih-Chuan Lien
- Project Title:
- Machine-learning assisted material search and design of topological crystalline superconductors
- Department:
- Physics and Astronomy
- Advisor(s):
Yi-Ting Hsu, Physics and Astronomy
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Meng Jiang, Computer Science and Engineering
Peter Lim
- Department:
- Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
- Advisor(s):
Yanliang Zhang, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Vito Liu
- Project Title:
- Full-stack development of high-throughput electrochemical platform
- Department:
- Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Advisor(s):
Kaiyu Fu, Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Pinar Zorlutuna, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Jon Camden, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Yuhan Liu
- Project Title:
- Multi-objective active learning for discovering thermally conductive and mechanically compliant polymers
- Department:
- Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Advisor(s):
Tengfei Luo, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Meng Jiang, Computer Science and Engineering
- Google Scholar
Xingyu Liu
- Project Title:
- Automated optimization of molecular alignment and materials properties in mixed conducting thin films
- Department:
- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Advisor(s):
Bryan Paulsen, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Yanliang Zhang, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Alex Dowling, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Patrick McKenzie
- Project Title:
- Application of piezoelectric PLLA-calcium silicate composite nanofibers to enhance HEK293-eerived sEV production for tuberculosis vaccine development
- Department:
- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Advisor(s):
Yichun Wang, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Jeff Shorey (Biological Sciences)
James McKenzie
- Project Title:
- Engineering and visualizing twisted bilayer density wave heterostructures at the atomic scale
- Department:
- Physics and Astronomy
- Advisor(s):
Xiaolong Liu, Physics and Astronomy
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Matt Rosenberger, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Tiago Migliati Zanon
- Project Title:
- Engineering biomaterial-based scaffolds for high-content high-throughput 3D bone metastasis prostate cancer model
- Department:
- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Advisor(s):
Yichun Wang, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Xin Lu, Biological Sciences
Nudrat Nawal
- Project Title:
- Understanding the effects of glass properties on digital glass forming and its effects on the properties
- Department:
- Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
- Advisor(s):
Ed Kinzel, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Anthony Hoffman, Electrical Engineering
Abhijeet Nayak
- Project Title:
- Synthesis and study of Kagome and 2D Van der Waals materials
- Department:
- Physics and Astronomy
- Advisor(s):
Nirmal Ghimire, Physics and Astronomy
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Allen Oliver, Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Google Scholar
Eibar Ortiz Ortega
- Project Title:
- Reconstructing amorphous lattices via RHEED for the discovery of topological amorphous metals in next-generation interconnects
- Department:
- Electrical Engineering
- Advisor(s):
Chris Hinkle, Electrical Engineering
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Yi-Ting Hsu, Physics and Astronomy
Alexander Padilla
- Project Title:
- Nitrogen atom transfer: A promising method for tuning metal oxyhalides
- Department:
- Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Advisor(s):
Adam Jaffe, Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Jason Hicks, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Debasish Panda
- Project Title:
- Fabrication of gold microplates for optical and biomedical applications
- Department:
- Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
- Advisor(s):
Svetlana Neretina, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Kaiyu Fu, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Victoria Pipinich
- Department:
- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Advisor(s):
Jennifer Schaefer, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Resham Regmi
- Project Title:
- Synthesis and investigation of altermagnetic materials
- Department:
- Physics and Astronomy
- Advisor(s):
Nirmal Ghimire, Physics and Astronomy
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Igor I. Mazin, George Mason University
- Google Scholar
Sharanya Renjit
- Project Title:
- Synthesis of CrSb for altermagnetic GMR and TMR devices grown by MBE
- Department:
- Physics and Astronomy
- Advisor(s):
Badih Assaf, Physics and Astronomy
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Steven P. Bennett, Naval Research Lab
Aleksandr Revenko
- Project Title:
- Thin gold nanoplates fabricated via seed etching for enhanced plasmonic and biosensing applications
- Department:
- Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Advisor(s):
Svetlana Neretina, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Jon Camden, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Yan Saltar
- Project Title:
- Structure-property relationships of soft porous coordination polymers
- Department:
- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Advisor(s):
Yamil Colon, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Bill Phillip, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Kyle Doudrick, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
Connor Schmidt
- Project Title:
- Supramolecular schema for controlled categorical change of material properties and function in hydrogels
- Department:
- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Advisor(s):
Matt Webber, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Donny Hanjaya-Putra, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Nileema Sharma
- Project Title:
- Exploring unconventional superconductivity with advanced atomic-scale probes
- Department:
- Physics and Astronomy
- Advisor(s):
Xiaolong Liu, Physics and Astronomy
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Stephen Wilson, UC Santa Barbara
Ajinkya Shingote
- Project Title:
- Probing strong exciton–plasmon coupling in individual semiconductor–metal nanostructures via optical microscopy
- Department:
- Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Advisor(s):
Greg Hartland, Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Svetlana Neretina, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
- Website
Muhammad Sohail
- Project Title:
- Molecular spatial control over 1D chalcogen polymers
- Department:
- Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Advisor(s):
Emily Tsui, Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Jennifer Schaefer, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Jacquelyn Sundstrom
- Project Title:
- Modulating photophysical properties of AgInS2 quantum dots through gallium incorporation and GaSx shelling
- Department:
- Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Advisor(s):
Prashant Kamat, Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Ian Lightcap, Materials Characterization Facility
Runze Tang
- Project Title:
- Controlled synthesis and assembly of gold nanostructures: Core-satellite architectures and gold nanoplates
- Department:
- Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
- Advisor(s):
Svetlana Neretina, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Sylwia Ptasinska, Physics and Astronomy
Jessica Terray
- Department:
- Bioengineering
- Advisor(s):
Adrienne Scott, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Matthew Toole
- Project Title:
- Machine-learning-enhanced quantum materials visualization and discovery
- Department:
- Physics and Astronomy
- Advisor(s):
Xiaolong Liu, Physics and Astronomy
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Xiangliang Zhang, Computer Science and Engineering
Vadim Trepalin
- Project Title:
- Ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy of heat dissipation from Au nanowires into the environment. Interface effects at the nanoscale
- Department:
- Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Advisor(s):
Ken Kuno, Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Tengfei Luo, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Kuixing Wang
- Project Title:
- Biodegradable insulin–dendrimer complex for glucose-responsive therapy
- Department:
- Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Advisor(s):
Matt Webber, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Brad Smith, Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Google Scholar
Capra Williams
- Project Title:
- 3D-printed concrete for buildings and extraterrestrial applications
- Department:
- Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
- Advisor(s):
Ashley Thrall, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Clive Neal, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
Hezekiah Williams
- Project Title:
- Effects of the ligand density of methacrylate-modified gold nanoparticles on photocrosslinked hydrogel degradation
- Department:
- Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
- Advisor(s):
Ryan Roeder, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Matt Webber, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Mujie Wu
- Department:
- Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
- Advisor(s):
Yanliang Zhang, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Caiyi Xiang
- Project Title:
- Electrostrictive control of phase transitions in ionic liquids for solid-state cooling
- Department:
- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Advisor(s):
Bryan Paulsen, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Yamil Colon, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Jon Camden, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Xuanpu Zhang
- Project Title:
- Hybridized plasmon phonon polaritons in magic angle twisted bilayer graphene/ perovskite heterostructures
- Department:
- Physics and Astronomy
- Advisor(s):
Petr Stepanov, Physics and Astronomy
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Masaru Kuno, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Sam Zhang
- Project Title:
- Toward laser cooling using lead halide perovskite nanocrystals
- Department:
- Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Advisor(s):
Masaru Kuno, Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Interdisciplinary Mentor(s):
Scott Howard, Electrical Engineering