People

Aurelia Honerkamp-Smith, Associate Professor

Aurelia earned her Ph.D. from the University of Washington in Seattle, where she investigated static and critical dynamics in lipid membranes with Sarah Keller in the Department of Chemistry. Her discoveries were recognized by the national 2010 Anna Louise Hoffman Award for Outstanding Achievement in Graduate Research. As an Oppenheimer Fellow at the University of Cambridge, she imaged the flow of fluid, lipid membranes, and cell sheets by conventional fluorescence microscopy techniques and by building a light sheet microscope in the laboratory of Ray Goldstein in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. She joined the faculty of Lehigh University in 2016, where she is an associate professor.

Dr. Sreeja Sasidharan, postdoctoral researcher. 

Sreeja earned her PhD in Soft Condensed Matter Physics in 2020, studying the influence of bioactive molecules on the structure and phase behavior of lipid membranes with Prof. V. A. Raghunathan at the Raman Research Institute in Bangalore, India. She was awarded an Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship at IIT Bombay, where she worked with Prof. Anirban Banerjee before joining the Honerkamp-Smith lab in 2022.  Her expertise lies in microscopy, x-ray scattering, and biochemistry and she is interested in protein-lipid interactions and mechanical contributions to lipid phase behavior. 

Quinn Reed, graduate student. 

Quinn is a Physics graduate student with a background in mechanical engineering. He enjoys using mathematics to understand the natural world and sharing this understanding with others through teaching.  

Michael Ojewale, graduate student. 

Michael is a Physics graduate student who is interested in computational biophysics and medical physics. 

Reed Kennell, graduate student. 

Reed is a Physics graduate student interested in experimental and computational biophysics. In addition to biochemistry and membrane biophysics, he can play guitar. 

Azadeh Amadi, graduate student. 

Azi is a Physics graduate student with experience in the pharmaceutical industry. She is using microfluidics to measure inter-leaflet friction in membranes. Her interests include protein/peptide-drug conjugates (PDCs), polymer and lipid-based systems, and nanodrug delivery to cancer and immune cell receptors. 

Suman Bhandari, graduate student. 

Suman is a graduate student and biophysicist in the lab, soccer fan and nature lover beyond it. He thrives at the intersection of proteins, forces, and fresh air.

Kelly Douglas, graduate student. 

Kelly is a Physics graduate student, who enjoys hands-on experimental biophysics, microscopy, nature, and crochet. 

Yujin Kim, graduate student. 

Yujin is a graduate student in Physics, who is interested in mathematical aspects of physics and loves microscopy.

Akila Polwatte, graduate student. 

Akila is completing her Masters' degree in Physics. She is interested in exploring how biological systems behave at the microscopic level.