Zenith Acosta Torres was born and raised in Barranquilla, Colombia and moved to the USA five years ago. She is a biomedical engineering major and is planning to do a Ph.D. in the same field. She attends Florida International University and will be starting her senior year in the fall. She likes to dance, travel, read, and spend time with her family. 

Project: Analysis of human tumors to decipher developmental and regenerative cues for tissue engineering

Mentors: David Mooney, Praveen Arany

Funding: NSF REU Site - Biomaterials Research Initiative Dedicated to Gateway Experiences | NSF DMR-0649199

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Suhare Adam is a senior double majoring in Physics and Chemistry. She is originally from Ethiopia but currently living in Houston, Texas. She loves talking to people, exploring new places, good music, and good food.

Project: Building chiral colloidal clusters

Mentors: David Weitz, James Wilking

Funding: NSF REU Site - Biomaterials Research Initiative Dedicated to Gateway Experiences | NSF DMR-0649199

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David Barton grew up in Idaho Falls, Idaho and is the second of four children. He is currently attending the University of Utah pursuing a degree in biomedical engineering and has completed his sophomore year.

Project: Guidance of cell growth on microposts with variable stiffness

Mentors: Joanna Aizenberg, Mike Bucaro

Funding: NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center - Science of Nanoscale Systems and their Device Applications (NSEC) | NSF PHY-0646094

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Rebecca Belisle is a rising senior at Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering concentrating in materials science. She is a passionate traveler and researcher with interests in biomimicry, sustainability, and design. When not in the lab she enjoys backpacking, biking, and beekeeping.

Project: Mechanical design of deformable robots

Mentors: Radhika Nagpal, Chih-Han Yu

Funding: NSF REU Site - Biomaterials Research Initiative Dedicated to Gateway Experiences | NSF DMR-0649199

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Yakov Berenshteyn is a rising senior at Harvard University concentrating in mechanical and materials engineering. He is particularly interested in an interdisciplinary approach to engineering and hopes to investigate and develop biomimetic materials. In his free time, he enjoys running, hiking, and listening to music.

Project: Nanostructured surfaces

Mentors: Joanna Aizenberg, Mike Bucaro

Funding: Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering

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Anjali Bhatt is a rising sophomore at Harvard College.

Project: Modeling an amorphous-crystal interface using colloids

Mentors: Frans Spaepen, Kate Jensen, Maria Persson Gulda

Funding: NSF Materials Research Science & Engineering Center at Harvard (MRSEC) | NSF DMR-082048; Harvard College Research Program

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Ingrid Bonde Akerlind is a rising senior at Harvard University concentrating in Chemistry. She is from Stockholm, Sweden where she also spent the past fall studying abroad. She loves playing Ultimate Frisbee, planning social events, and exploring new places.

Project: Templated growth of TIO2 nanocrystals

Mentors: Cynthia Friend, Anne Co

Funding: NSF Materials Research Science & Engineering Center at Harvard (MRSEC) | NSF DMR-082048; Harvard Faculty Aide Program

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Benjamin Burns is a rising senior concentrating in physics at Harvard University.

Project: Failure analysis for high-performance piezoelectric materials in microrobotics applications

Mentors: Rob Wood, Leia Stirling, Chih-Han Yu

Funding: Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering

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Tyler Cain is a rising senior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His major is materials science and engineering with a minor in physics. He is interested in researching and implementing energy technologies. Tyler's hobbies include playing intramural sports, making biodiesel, and watching football.

Project: Materials studies on (La, Sr)(Co, Fe)O3 for solid oxide fuel cells

Mentors: Shriram Ramanathan, Bo-Kuai Lai

Funding: NSF National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN) |  NSF ECCS-0335765

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Daniel Cheng is a rising senior at Brown University majoring in biomedical engineering. In his free time, he enjoys surfing and snowboarding, as well as various other activities.

Project: High precision sorting of microspheres for single-molecule studies

Mentor: Wesley Wong

Funding: The Rowland Institute at Harvard

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Kyle Crichton is a rising sophomore at Harvard.

Project: Vesicles composed of charged polymers

Mentors: David Weitz, Anderson Ho-Chung Shum

Funding: NSF Materials Research Science & Engineering Center at Harvard (MRSEC) | NSF DMR-082048

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Arolyn Conwill is a rising senior at Pomona College where she is studying physics. She will be working with the Lončar group this summer. Outside the lab, she also enjoys running, hiking, and traveling.

Project: Fabrication and characterization of nanobeam resonators with waveguides

Mentors: Marko Lončar, Ian Frank

Funding: NSF National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN) |  NSF ECCS-0335765

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Rohit Dasgupta is majoring in biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins University. In his spare time, he works at the Digital Media Center, serves as secretary of the Hopkins Bengali Organization, and rows on the Men’s Crew Team. He is looking forward to working with Dr. Meital Reches at the Whitesides Lab this summer.

Project: Developing new platforms for biomedical assays

Mentors: George Whitesides, Meital Reches

Funding: NSF REU Site - Biomaterials Research Initiative Dedicated to Gateway Experiences | NSF DMR-0649199

Gidley Dorlus is a rising sophomore at Northeastern University where he is majoring in mechanical engineering. He was born in the Boston area and lived in Milton, a town just outside of Boston, a good portion of his life. He loves sports of all kinds, being with family and friends, writing poetry, and listening to music.

Project: The fabrication of devices that create double emulsion droplets

Mentors: David Weitz, Adam Abate, Simone Bachtler 

Funding: NSF REU Site - Biomaterials Research Initiative Dedicated to Gateway Experiences | NSF DMR-0649199

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Jennifer Ehrich is from Fair Lawn, NJ, and is a rising senior at the University of Pennsylvania. She is majoring in materials science and engineering and minoring in mathematics and economics. She also enjoys sports, movies, shopping, and hanging out with her friends.

Project: Pattern formation during convective assembly of colloidal suspensions 

Mentors: Joanna Aizenberg, Ning Wu

Funding: NSF Materials Research Science & Engineering Center at Harvard (MRSEC) | NSF DMR-082048

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Vanessa Eriacho currently attends the University of New Mexico where she is a chemical engineering major. In her free time, she enjoys listening to music, watching concerts, going to museums, and spending time with family and friends.

Project: Mono dispersion library by using a parallel emulsion technique 

Mentors: David Weitz, Adam Abate, Tony Hung

Funding: NSF University of New Mexico/Harvard PREM: Leadership in Biomaterials | NSF DMR-0611616

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Erin Fenton is a rising senior majoring in biology at the University of New Mexico. She loves dancing, especially African and swing. She also enjoys hiking, camping, and playing tennis and volleyball.

Project: CuS deposition on nanograss 

Mentors: Joanna Aizenberg, Yolanda Vasquez

Funding: NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center - Science of Nanoscale Systems and their Device Applications (NSEC) | NSF PHY-0646094

Pauline Gassman is a rising senior majoring in biomedical engineering at the University of Iowa. Upon graduation, she hopes to attend medical school in pursuit of a degree in ophthalmology. She enjoys all outdoor activities and looks forward to a great summer in Boston!

Project: Measuring saccadic eye movements in rats via a self-calibrating eye tracker 

Mentor: David Cox

Funding: The Rowland Institute at Harvard

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Dominik Gothe was born in Mainz, Germany. His father was offered a position at the University of South Carolina, to teach physics. The family moved to the United States in 2002. In 2006 he went to the Honors College at the University of South Carolina to major in physics, math, and German literature. For summers 2006 and 2007, he worked on a detector upgrade for Jefferson Laboratory in Virginia. In summer 2008 he worked on superconducting radiofrequency cavities at the Jefferson Laboratory in Virginia.

Project: Making tasks embarrassingly parallel 

Mentors: Lincoln Greenhill, Richard Edgar

Funding: NSF CDI Type II: Scientific Computation for Astronomy, Neurobiology and Chemistry using Graphics Processing Units and Solid-State Storage| NSF PHY-0835713

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Jacqueline Gressett is an electrical engineering student at Eastern Nazarene College with an interest in electronics and robotics. She enjoys traveling, photography, and playing the piano.

Project: Thermal model of a transistor 

Mentor: Winfield Hill

Funding: The Rowland Institute at Harvard

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Sarah Griesse-Nascimento is a rising sophomore in electrical engineering at Boston University. A Brazilian American, she was raised in Brazil and Germany, but now lives in Washington State. She is interested in nanotechnology and programming and plans to pursue a Ph.D. in electrical engineering after graduating. In her spare time, she enjoys singing and playing the piano, dancing, reading and going to the movies.

Project: Developing a simulation-based curriculum for teaching nuclear magnetic resonance to a general sudience 

Mentors: Robert M. Westervelt, Keith Brown, Joshua Bridger

Funding: NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center - Science of Nanoscale Systems and their Device Applications (NSEC) | NSF PHY-0646094

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Lloyd Han is a rising sophomore at Harvard. He enjoys sailing, golf, basketball, and tennis.

Project: Measuring the Young’s modulus of gel particles 

Mentors: David Weitz, Adam Abate

Funding: SEAS

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Tumay Kanar is a rising senior at Cornell University, School of Electrical Engineering. He is going to be working with Dr. Ozgur Sahin over this summer.

Project: A method for auto-calibration of atomic force microscope

Mentor: Ozgur Sahin

Funding: The Rowland Institute at Harvard

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Teresa Kao is a rising sophomore at Columbia University where she will be majoring in applied physics.

Project: Cell biology in 1-D potential wells

Mentors: David Weitz, Tommy Angelini

Funding: SEAS

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Sarah Kostinski is a rising senior at the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor majoring in physics and music. In her spare time, she enjoys playing the violin and organ, reading, and being outdoors.

Project: Forces from coupled surface plasmon polaritons

Mentors: Federico Capasso, David Woolf

Funding: NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center - Science of Nanoscale Systems and their Device Applications (NSEC) | NSF PHY-0646094

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Laticia Lee is a rising junior majoring in biomedical engineering at Columbia University.

Project: Microfluidic isolation of diverse soil and water bacteria toward novel antibiotic and biofuel discovery

Mentors: David Weitz, Mira Guo

Funding: NSF REU Site - Biomaterials Research Initiative Dedicated to Gateway Experiences | NSF DMR-0649199

Matthias Lee is a student at Wentworth Institute of Technology.

Project: Utilizing massively multithreaded graphics processors to analyze highly dimensional databases

Mentors: Lincoln Greenhill, Pavlos Protopapas

Funding: NSF CDI Type II: Scientific Computation for Astronomy, Neurobiology and Chemistry using Graphics Processing Units and Solid-State Storage| NSF PHY-0835713

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Beth Ann Lopez just finished her freshman year in biochemistry at the University of New Mexico. She would like to pursue an MD/PhD after graduating. She likes to run, bike, skateboard, and play piano in her free time.

Project: The effect of synthetic extracellular matrices on dendritic cell behavior

Mentors: David Mooney, Gail Chan

Funding: NSF University of New Mexico/Harvard PREM: Leadership in Biomaterials | NSF DMR-0611616

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Danielle Lussier will be entering her senior year at Rowan University. She is majoring in chemical engineering, and plays club tennis, soccer, and also plays the drums.

Project: Assembly of bacteria at oil-water interfaces

Mentors: David Weitz, Connie Wilking, Anderson Ho-Chung Shum

Funding: NSF Materials Research Science & Engineering Center at Harvard (MRSEC) | NSF DMR-082048

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Kristopher Eric Martin is a rising senior at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Project: Holographic microscopy to characterize and trace self-assembled colloidal clusters

Mentors: Vinothan Manoharan, Jerome Fung

Funding: NSF REU Site - Biomaterials Research Initiative Dedicated to Gateway Experiences | NSF DMR-0649199

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Jason Miller is a recent graduate of Harvard with a degree in mechanical engineering. He enjoys sports and robotics research and plans to pursue a career in engineering design.

Project: Active soft orthotics

Mentors: Radhika Nagpal, Rob Wood, Leia Stirling, Chih-Han Yu

Funding: Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering

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Peyton Nesmith is a rising senior at Auburn University in chemical engineering. He intends to attend medical school after he completes his undergraduate degree.

Project: The role of cell geometry and multi-cellular organization in contractility output

Mentors: Kevin Kevin Kit Parker, Mark Brigham

Funding: Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering

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Athena Pan is a rising senior at Brandeis University, where she pursues a B.S. in physics. She plans to pursue a Ph.D. in physics or electrical engineering eventually. She is currently interested in alternative fuel research. Meanwhile, she is also a big fan of fantasy literature.

Project: Enhanced optical absorption of ion-implanted silicon stands a chance on advancing solar energy

Mentors: Michael Aziz, Daniel Recht

Funding: NSF National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN) |  NSF ECCS-0335765

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Daphne Paparis is a rising junior at Haverford College majoring in mathematics. She is from Bonaire in the Netherlands Antilles. After college, she plans to move back and teach math at her old high school, and also have a side job as an auto-mechanic.

Project: A continuous spatial model for a quantum NAND tree

Mentors: Alán Aspuru-Guzik, Mike Stopa

Funding: NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center - Science of Nanoscale Systems and their Device Applications (NSEC) | NSF PHY-0646094

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Beatrice Perez is a rising Junior in the Engineering department at the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez Campus. She loves to watch movies, go hiking and visit new places.

Project: GPUs in science

Mentors: Alán Aspuru-Guzik, Mark Watson

Funding: NSF CDI Type II: Scientific Computation for Astronomy, Neurobiology and Chemistry using Graphics Processing Units and Solid-State Storage| NSF PHY-0835713

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Brennan Pursley is currently attending the University of California, San Diego and will graduate in June 2010 with a B.A. in applied mathematics and a B.S. in physics. He recently completed an automation program to run reflection spectroscopy experiments and plans on attending graduate school to pursue a Ph.D. in applied/experimental condensed matter physics. He enjoys camping with his wife, coffee, the Colbert Report, and air-conditioned labs in the summertime.

Project: Optimizing generation of unipolar Terahertz using an interdigitated array

Mentors: Andrew Speck

Funding: The Rowland Institute at Harvard

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Paden Roder is a rising senior at Grinnell College majoring in physics and concentrating in technological studies. At Grinnell, he plays varsity baseball and plays guitar in a rock band. In his spare time, he enjoys working out, making friends and, most importantly, having fun.

Project: Fabrication of a stable tunable quantum Hall interferometer in the fractional quantum Hall regime

Mentors: Charles Marcus, Douglas McClure, Angela Kou

Funding: NSF National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN) |  NSF ECCS-0335765

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Michael Schulz is a chemistry major at the University of Iowa. He has worked in several labs on a wide range of projects involving materials science, organometallic catalysis, and biochemistry. When he's not in the lab, he also enjoys fencing and playing the organ.

Project: Chemical methods of minimizing defects in molecular electronic devices

Mentors: George Whitesides, Martin Mwangi

Funding: Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering

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Arthur Spector was born in Latvia and moved when he was a year old, but he still speaks Russian. He loves playing guitar, tennis, skiing, going to concerts. He is really easy going and always up for having a good time.

Project: Coupling light between nanowires & nanophotonic particles

Mentors: Federico Capasso, Kristen Sunter

Funding: NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center - Science of Nanoscale Systems and their Device Applications (NSEC) | NSF PHY-0646094

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Jose Umanzor Alvarez is a rising senior majoring in physics at Virginia Tech.

Project: How bisphosphonates and stretch are linked to osteonecrosis of the jaw

Mentors: David Mooney, Praveen Arany

Funding: NSF REU Site - Biomaterials Research Initiative Dedicated to Gateway Experiences | NSF DMR-0649199

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Voranaddha Vacharathit is a biology major at Harvard University.

Project: Optimizing biodegradable alginate platforms for angiogenesis

Mentors: David Mooney, Eduardo Silva

Funding: Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering

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Bo Wang is a rising senior studying biomedical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. He was born in China and spent most of his childhood in Belgium. In his spare time, Bo enjoys soccer, ultimate frisbee, reading, and video games.

Project: Segmenting the axons of the human brain

Mentors: Hanspeter Pfister, Won-Ki Jeong

Funding: NSF CDI Type II: Scientific Computation for Astronomy, Neurobiology and Chemistry using Graphics Processing Units and Solid-State Storage| NSF PHY-0835713

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Takia Wheat will be a graduating senior at Jackson State University majoring in chemistry. She has dreams of becoming a chemist and with the right training and effort, it is possible. She is from the Mississippi delta (Belzoni)...CATFISH CAPITAL OF THE WORLD!

Project: Fabrication of silicon nitride waveguides

Mentors: Marko Lončar, Parag Deotare

Funding: NSF National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN) |  NSF ECCS-0335765

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William (Will) Whitney is a rising senior at Cornell University and majors in physics and math. Aside from school, he enjoys traveling, biking, skateboarding, skiing, and pretty much anything else done outside.

Project: Flat black silicon

Mentors: Eric Mazur, Meng-Ju Renee Sher

Funding: NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center - Science of Nanoscale Systems and their Device Applications (NSEC) | NSF PHY-0646094

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Morgan Wilson is a rising sophomore majoring in biological engineering at Philander Smith College in Arkansas.

Project: Polymersomes from organic solvents based double emulsions in PDMS microfluidics

Mentors: David Weitz, Adam Abate, Julian Thiele

Funding: NSF REU Site - Biomaterials Research Initiative Dedicated to Gateway Experiences | NSF DMR-0649199

Bethany Zablotsky is a rising junior at Georgetown University currently majoring in biochemistry. She enjoys reading, playing basketball, and listening to country music in her free time.

Project: modeling atomic interactions for astrained vs. unstrained boundary

Mentor: Frans Spaepen, Maria Persson Gulda, Kate Jensen

Funding: NSF Materials Research Science & Engineering Center at Harvard (MRSEC) | NSF DMR-082048

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