2011
Wilmer Adorno-Martinez
Wilmer Adorno-Martinez is a rising senior at the University of Puerto Rico - Río Piedras concentrating in chemistry. His particular interests are: biochemistry, developing biomimetic materials and material science in general. In his free time, he enjoys cycling, playing tennis and playing the piano.
Project: Bio-inspired design and fabrication of adaptive, dynamic, and self-reporting/self-regulating mesoscale architectures
Mentors: Joanna Aizenberg, Philseok Kim, Ximin He
Funding: NSF REU Site - Biomaterials Research Initiative Dedicated to Gateway Experiences | NSF DMR-1005022
Kyle Arean-Raines
Kyle Arean-Raines is a rising senior at the University of Rochester majoring in chemical engineering. He is particularly interested in environmental science and plans to go on to graduate school to study alternative energy.
Project: Development of solar cells made from earth-abundant materials
Mentors: Roy Gordon, Prasert Sinsermsuksakul
Funding: NSF National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN) | NSF ECCS-0335765
Jeffrey Atwood
Jeffrey Atwood is a rising junior at Harvard University majoring in computer science. He is from Bloomington, Indiana. Outside of class, he enjoys reading and traveling.
Project: Artificial pollination using RoboBees
Mentors: Radhika Nagpal, Bryan Kate, Karthik Dantu
Funding: Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
Joshua Begay
Joshua Begay is an Albuquerque native who enjoys green chile. He is currently studying mechanical engineering at the Southwestern Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, NM.
Project: Jamming gel particles in microfluidic channels
Mentors: David Weitz, Sorell Massenburg
Funding: NSF University of New Mexico/Harvard PREM: Leadership in Biomaterials | NSF DMR-0611616
Antanica Boneparte
Antanica Boneparte was raised in Orlando, Florida and is an only child. She is a rising sophomore at Howard University. She studies chemical engineering with a focus on biomedicine. She plans to become a successful OB/GYN and get her Ph.D. in chemical engineering.
Project : Growth of diamond and diamond-like films for electronic and photonic applications
Mentor: Gary Harris
Funding: NSF National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN) | NSF ECCS-0335765
Jamie Branch
Jamie Branch is a rising junior at the University of Kansas pursuing an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering with a concentration in biomechanics. Outside of academics, she plays on the KU Club Volleyball team and spends the majority of her free time helping those with physical and cognitive impairments.
Project: Soft robotics
Mentors: George Whitesides, Ramses Scot Martinez
Funding: Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
Rahul Brito
Rahul Brito is a rising sophomore from Bellevue, Washington. He is studying Bioengineering at the University of Washington in Seattle. He likes sports and just about anything else.
Project: Engineered calmodulin-based allosteric switches for sensing peptide toxins
Mentors: Neel Joshi, Glenna Meister
Funding: Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
Jessica Burton
Jessica Burton is a rising senior at the University of California, Berkeley, working to receive a B.S. in materials science and engineering in 2012. She is planning on attending graduate school immediately following her undergraduate career and hopes to become an astronaut. In her free time, she likes to read, rock climb, and run marathons.
Project: Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) investigation for bio-inspired flying micro-robots
Mentors: Robert Wood, Mirko Kovac, Gilles Roulet
Funding: NSF Materials Research Science & Engineering Center at Harvard (MRSEC) | NSF DMR-0820484
Kathleen Cavanagh
Katie Cavanagh is a rising sophomore at Princeton University majoring in chemical and biological engineering. She also plans to pursue certificates in information technology and society as well as materials science and engineering. She is from a small town in Connecticut about 10 minutes outside Hartford. In her free time, Katie loves to bake and takes part in Princeton's only tap-dancing company, TapCats.
Project: High-speed, high-throughput bacterial characterization
Mentors: Laurence Wilson, Rongjing Zhang
Funding: The Rowland Institute at Harvard
Alex Cho
Project: Fabrication and verification of muscular in vitro organ mimetic systems for high throughput microfluidic assays
Mentors: Kevin Kit Parker, Josué Goss, Ashutosh Agarwal
Funding: NSF REU Site - Biomaterials Research Initiative Dedicated to Gateway Experiences | NSF DMR-1005022
Ruth Choa
Ruth Choa is a rising sophomore at Harvard College. She plans to concentrate in biomedical engineering. In her spare time, she enjoys listening to music.
Project: Chemokine-based bone regeneration
Mentors: David Mooney, Kangwon Lee
Funding: NSF REU Site - Biomaterials Research Initiative Dedicated to Gateway Experiences | NSF DMR-1005022
Parker Clark
Parker Clark is a rising junior at Stanford University double majoring in materials science and electrical engineering. In his spare time, he designs and builds electrical circuits that he sells through a self-operated electronics company. His favorite things to do are surf and eat sushi.
Project: Research on nanoscale electrical interconnections for computers
Mentors: Roy Gordon, Yeung (Billy) Au
Funding: NSF National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN) | NSF ECCS-0335765
Christine Cuddemi
Christine Cuddemi is a rising junior at Emmanuel College in Boston. She is a biology major with a minor in information technology. In her free time, she enjoys singing, the beach, watching Boston sports, playing tennis and spending time with family and friends.
Project: Antibodies mimics based on carbonic anhydrase
Mentors: George Whitesides, Matthew Lockett
Funding: NSF REU Site - Biomaterials Research Initiative Dedicated to Gateway Experiences | NSF DMR-1005022
Michelle Del Rosario
Michelle Del Rosario is a computer science major specializing in human-computer interaction at Stanford University. She has been a member of the Virtual Human Interaction Lab since 2008, where she programs and models immersive virtual environments for experimental research. Michelle is passionate about Interaction Design and enjoys combining her artistic background, video game experiences, and empathetic understanding to improve communication and interfaces.
Project: Navigation using optic flow/accelerometers
Mentors: Greg Morissett, Bryan Kate, Karthik Dantu
Funding: NSF Collaborative Research: RoboBees: A Convergence of Body, Brain and Colony | NSF IIS-0926148
Mark Dong
Mark Dong is a rising senior at Cornell University and majors in applied physics and electrical engineering. He plans to pursue a Ph.D. in the field of optoelectronics or semiconductor physics. Mark's interests include playing classical piano and outdoor basketball.
Project: Characterization of optical devices using pigtailed optical fiber
Mentors: Marko Lončar, Parag Deotare
Funding: NSF National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN) | NSF ECCS-0335765
Nan Du
Nan Du, a native of Barrington, Rhode Island, is a rising senior at Harvard University studying biomedical engineering with a secondary in health policy. She enjoys traveling, reading and discussing random intriguing topics late into the night.
Project: Understanding angiogenesis
Mentors: David Mooney, Yev Brudno, Erin Anderson
Funding: NSF Materials Research Science & Engineering Center at Harvard (MRSEC) | NSF DMR-0820484
Chirantan Ekbote
Chirantan Ekbote just completed his junior year at The Ohio State University, where he is studying computer and information science with a minor in philosophy.
Project: GPU-accelerated texture compression
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
Thomas Elsey
Thomas Elsey will be a senior at the University of Iowa where he studies chemical engineering. This will be Tom's second summer at Harvard. In his free time, Tom enjoys playing disc golf and trying new foods.
Project: Cell separations by aqueous multiphase polymer systems
Mentors: George Whitesides, Charles Mace
Funding: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation | Grant #OPP1016360
Hilary Fabich
Hilary Fabich is currently attending Montana State University where she is working toward a degree in chemical engineering. When not in the lab she enjoys skiing, backpacking, playing music, and traveling.
Project: Tracking particles' motion approaching high- and low-frequency limit in living cells
Mentors: David Weitz, Ming Guo
Funding: NSF Materials Research Science & Engineering Center at Harvard (MRSEC) | NSF DMR-0820484
Jacob Freake
Jacob Freake is a rising sophomore studying mechanical engineering at Northeastern University. He is passionate about activism and the pursuit of engineering with a global focus. In his spare time he loves to cook, to talk, and of course, to play.
Project: Soft robotics – Traction control/internal combustion engine
Mentors: George Whitesides, Robert Shepherd
Funding: DARPA
Andre Gatorano
Andre Gatorano is a rising junior from the University of California San Diego from Chicago, Illinois. He is half Rwandan and loves to whistle. His major is bioengineering: bioinformatics. He loves to adventure in any way shape or form. He doesn’t particularly enjoy bread or cheese.
Project: Image analysis of microfluidic droplets
Mentors: David Weitz, Ralph Sperling
Funding: NSF REU Site - Biomaterials Research Initiative Dedicated to Gateway Experiences | NSF DMR-1005022
Dustin Gerrard
Dustin Gerrard is a senior at Brigham Young University double majoring in mechanical engineering and mathematics. Dustin plans to get a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and teach and do research at the university level.
Project: Shear-induced flow of emulsions
Mentors: David Weitz, Sujit Datta
Funding: NSF Synthesis and Properties of Deformable Biomaterials and Soft Matter Systems | NSF DMR-1006546
Amy Goodale
Amy Goodale was born and raised in Carlisle, MA and is currently a rising junior at Wellesley College in Wellesley, MA. She is majoring in biochemistry and loves music, movies, and high-quality food.
Project: Human mesenchymal stem cell growth and differentiation on micropillar substrates
Mentors: Joanna Aizenberg, Yolanda Vasquez
Funding: NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center - Science of Nanoscale Systems and their Device Applications (NSEC) | NSF PHY-0646094
Diana Gooding
Diana Gooding is double majoring in math and physics at Transylvania University and has just completed her freshman year. She likes magnets, knitting, cheese, and making cards with her identical twin sister Barbara, who is majoring in Illustration at Rhode Island School of Design.
Project: Atmospheric effects on EGain electrodes in molecular junctions
Mentors: George Whitesides, Jabulani Barber
Funding: NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center - Science of Nanoscale Systems and their Device Applications (NSEC) | NSF PHY-0646094
Richard Hampton
Richard Hampton is a mechanical engineering student from Northern California. He currently attends Los Medanos College and is working on transferring to a four-year university. He enjoys long distance running, snowboarding, and hiking.
Project: Annealing of laser-structured TiO2 for photocatalysis
Mentors: Eric Mazur, Kasey Phillips, Renée Sher, Yu-Ting Lin
Funding: NSF SOLAR Optical Hyperdoping: Transforming Semiconductor Band Structure for Solar Energy Harvesting | NSF DMR-0934480
Erin Hannen
Erin Hannen, originally from Cranford, NJ, is a rising senior at Brown University, concentrating in Biomedical Engineering. She enjoys running and anything outdoors.
Project: Neuronal path-finding and pattern formation
Mentors: David Weitz, Allen Ehrlicher, Ali Zaburdaev
Funding: NSF Synthesis and Properties of Deformable Biomaterials and Soft Matter Systems | NSF DMR-1006546
Nicole Hernandez
Nicole Hernandez is 21 years old and is currently in her third year as a chemistry undergraduate at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. Her extracurricular activities since she entered college include Member of the ACS, Member of the Golden Key Society, Member of the Dean’s Honor Roll of Natural Sciences and Organic Chemistry Mentor. At UPR she works in José Rivera's research laboratory since last summer. As a chemistry student, she understands that involving herself in investigation projects helps her become more familiar with the concepts and techniques to learn throughout her studies. Investigation experiences also contribute to her decision of whether to continue graduate studies or to advance towards medical school. She’s a very active and open-minded person who appreciates every opportunity to take the best from it and grow, both academically and individually.
Project: Using biomimetic surfaces to investigate larval settlement and marine biofouling
Mentors: Joanna Aizenberg, Elise Madonado, Ben Hatton
Funding: NSF REU Site - Biomaterials Research Initiative Dedicated to Gateway Experiences | NSF DMR-1005022
Karina Herrera
Karina Herrera is a rising junior at Harvard University concentrating in environmental engineering. She is currently interested in the filtration of potable water and its connection to sustainable development projects. Apart from her academic interests she also has a strong interest in photography and exploring new urban areas.
Mentors: Scot Martin, J. Carlos Mierzwa
Funding: Akatsuka Gift
Donggyoon Hong
Donggyoon Hong is a rising senior at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, where he is majoring in mechanical engineering. He was born in Busan, which is the second-largest city in S.Korea. He has traveled to 26 countries and loves to play the violin. He is interested in an interdisciplinary approach to bioengineering and nanotechnology.
Project: Biofilm: Learning from and targeting a unique bacterial material
Mentors: Joanna Aizenberg, Alex Epstein
Funding: NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center - Science of Nanoscale Systems and their Device Applications (NSEC) | NSF PHY-0646094
Jean-Vincent Hong
Jean-Vincent Hong was born and raised in Paris, France. He will graduate next year from ESIEE Paris (École Supérieure d'Ingénieurs en Électronique et Électrotechnique), majoring in embedded systems with a certificate from ESIEE management. He was a French exchange student at Harvey Mudd College, California in 2010-2011 studying engineering and computer science.
Project: Vision-based tracking of helicopters using Kinect from Microsoft
Mentors: Radhika Nagpal, Karthik Dantu, Bryan Kate
Funding: Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
George Huang
George Huang is a rising senior concentrating in biomedical engineering at Harvard College. He plans to attend medical school after college.
Project: Fabrication of local morphogens fields in scaffold systems to direct differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells
Mentors: David Mooney, Praveen Arany, Manav Mehta
Funding: NSF Materials Research Science & Engineering Center at Harvard (MRSEC) | NSF DMR-0820484
Anna Huynh
Anna Huynh is currently an incoming sophomore at Simmons College. Before attending Simmons College, she attended ASMSA (Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts) in Hot Springs, AR. She is very interested in the field of medicine especially drug delivery to tumor areas using targeted nanoparticles.
Project: Low-cost paper diagnostics and authentication of pharmaceuticals
Mentors: George Whitesides, David Bwambok
Funding: NSF REU Site - Biomaterials Research Initiative Dedicated to Gateway Experiences | NSF DMR-1005022
Sandra Jenkins
Sandra Jenkins is from Scituate MA on the coast. She has three sisters and her family owns three cats. She is studying electrical engineering at University of Massachusetts - Amherst and is looking to go onto graduate school. Her activities include archery, art, hiking, sailing, and kayaking.
Project: Video analysis of flow visualization experiments in the wind tunnel
Mentors: Robert Wood, Mirko Kovac, Gilles Roulet
Funding: NSF Collaborative Research: RoboBees: A Convergence of Body, Brain and Colony | NSF IIS-0926148
Teresa Kao
Project: Mechanical force in nanoscale biology: Development and application of techniques in single-molecule manipulation
Mentors: Wesley Wong, Ken Halvorsen
Funding: The Rowland Institute at Harvard
Christine Lee
Christine Lee just completed her freshman year at Duke University, where she intends to major in neuroscience with a secondary in computer science.
Project: Reverse-engineering the rat visual system
Mentors: David Cox, Brett Graham
Funding: The Rowland Institute at Harvard | NSF - A Novel Rodent Model for the Neurophysiology of Visual Object Recognition | NSF IOS-947777
Moon-Young (Liza) Lee
Moon-Young (Liza) Lee is a rising senior at Johns Hopkins University, doing a double major in chemical and biomolecular engineering and chemistry with a minor in math. She is especially interested in computer simulations in physical chemistry and biomimetics and plans to pursue a Ph.D. in chemical engineering after graduation. Her hobbies include drawing and painting and watching movies and late-night talk shows.
Project: Accelerating quantum chemistry calculations using GPUs
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
Christine Lin
Christine Lin is a rising senior majoring in bioengineering at Rice University in Houston, TX. After graduating, she plans to attend graduate school and eventually work in the biotech industry.
Project: High-sensitivity low-cost paper-based colorimetric immunoassay using gold nanoparticle-conjugated antibody and silver amplification/multiplex electrochemical biosensing on paper-based microdevices using a glucometer
Mentors: George Whitesides, James Li
Funding: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation | Grant #OPP1016360
Lisa Liu
Lisa Liu is a rising sophomore at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology studying electrical engineering and computer science. Her family moved approximately every three years and has most recently settled into the greater Boston area. In her free time, she enjoys reading a book or a good game of ultimate frisbee.
Project: Docking and recharging of micro air vehicles
Mentors: Robert Wood, Jason Waterman
Funding: NSF Collaborative Research: RoboBees: A Convergence of Body, Brain and Colony | NSF IIS-0926148
Beth Ann Lopez
Beth Ann Lopez will have just finished studying "abroad" in Puebla, Mexico for the academic year by the time she’s in Boston. She is very interested in public health and biomedical engineering and likes the idea of integrating the two. She will be applying to schools for her PhD and MPH in the upcoming fall.
Project: Microfluidics for smart particles
Mentor: David Weitz, Wynter Duncanson, Alireza Abbaspourrad
Funding: NSF University of New Mexico/Harvard PREM: Leadership in Biomaterials | NSF DMR-0611616
Aaron Macedonia
Aaron Macedonia is a rising sophomore at Ursinus College majoring in neuroscience. Born and raised in Bethesda Maryland in the DC area. Enjoys reading, cooking, and biking.
Project: Microengineering in vitro models of Alzheimer’s brain microenvironments
Mentors: Kevin Kit Parker, Leila Deravi
Funding: NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center - Science of Nanoscale Systems and their Device Applications (NSEC) | NSF PHY-0646094
Alena McNamara
Alena McNamara has just completed her sophomore year at Mount Holyoke College, where she is a Physics major. She also works with rare books at her college's Archives and Special Collections, writes fiction and is an associate editor at Ideomancer Speculative Fiction Magazine.
Project: Nanowire alignment
Mentors: David Clarke, Samuel Shian
Funding: NSF Materials Research Science & Engineering Center at Harvard (MRSEC) | NSF DMR-0820484
Kevin Murphy
Kevin Murphy is a rising senior studying bioengineering at Harvard University. He is from San Clemente, CA, and plays football for the Harvard Crimson. He enjoys outdoor activities and sports, as well as playing guitar.
Project: Optimizing extracellular matrix patterns for guiding single axon growth
Mentors: Kevin Kit Parker, Matthew Hemphill, Borna Dabiri
Funding: Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
Haley Nesmith
Haley Nesmith is a rising junior at Vanderbilt University majoring in mechanical engineering and mathematics. In her spare time, she enjoys backpacking, climbing, and crafting.
Project: Combining attractive interactions to obtain complex self-assembly
Mentors: George Whitesides, Simon Tricard, Rebecca Cademartiri
Funding: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation | Grant #OPP1016360
Michael O'Brien
Michael O'Brien is a rising junior double majoring in physics and electrical engineering at Eastern Nazarene College. In his free time, he likes to run, read, mountain bike, and do anything else fun.
Project: Paper-based MEMS sensors for medical diagnostics
Mentors: George Whitesides, Xinyu Liu
Funding: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation | Grant #OPP1016360
Deborah Ohiani-Jegede
Deborah Ohiani-Jegede is a rising sophomore at Washington University in St. Louis where she is majoring in biomedical engineering. She was born in Nigeria and immigrated to the US as a child. She hopes to pursue, at a minimum, her master's degree in bioengineering with a focus on tissue engineering or biomechanics. In her spare time, she loves to travel, read, cook, and relax with family and friends.
Project: Peptide-facilitated growth of single-crystalline silver nanoplates on semiconductor substrates
Mentors: Evelyn Hu, Shanying Cui
Funding: NSF REU Site - Biomaterials Research Initiative Dedicated to Gateway Experiences | NSF DMR-1005022
Sergio Ortuno
Sergio Ortuno was born in Austin and raised in Houston, Texas. After graduating high school he served five years in the U.S. Navy as sonar technician onboard submarines and then went on to San Jacinto College. He will be transferring to Texas A&M University this fall. He will be pursuing a double major in biochemistry and chemical engineering (with a biomedical and biomolecular track).
Project: Building bio-artificial composite scaffolds
Mentors: Kevin Kit Parker, Mohammad Badrosammay
Funding: NSF REU Site - Biomaterials Research Initiative Dedicated to Gateway Experiences | NSF DMR-1005022
David Palmer
David Palmer is a rising sophomore at Harvard, possibly concentrating in mathematics, computer science, or physics. He was born in Chicago and grew up in Deerfield, IL. He is looking forward to working with Dr. Karthik Dantu on distributed robotic systems this summer.
Project: Navigation using the sun compass
Mentors: Robert Wood, Karthik Dantu
Funding: NSF Collaborative Research: RoboBees: A Convergence of Body, Brain and Colony | NSF IIS-092614
Daniel Pennachio
Daniel Pennachio is a junior enrolled in a Dual-Degree program. He is majoring in physics at Colby College and materials engineering at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth. Outside of school, he is an avid hiker, fisher, and skier.
Project: Structure and dynamics of colloidal crystals, glasses, and their interfaces
Mentors: Frans Spaepen, Katharine Jensen, Maria Persson Gulda
Funding: NSF Materials Research Science & Engineering Center at Harvard (MRSEC) | NSF DMR-0820484
Brandon Piercy
Brandon Piercy, a Seattle native, is a senior in the materials science and engineering department at Case Western Reserve University and is pursuing minors in polymer science and entrepreneurship. His research interests include green energy technologies, power storage, and nanostructured materials and fabrication. He is also closely involved with Intervarsity Christian Fellowship during the regular school year.
Project: Novel optoelectronic silicon-based alloys
Mentor: Michael Aziz, Dan Recht
Funding: NSF National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN) | NSF ECCS-0335765
Olive Rappoli
Olive Rappoli is from Brookline, Massachusetts. She is a rising sophomore at Worcester Polytechnic Institute majoring in mechanical engineering.
Project: Robot Locomotion on Complicated Terrain
Mentors: Radhika Nagpal, Nils Napp
Funding: NSF REU Site - Biomaterials Research Initiative Dedicated to Gateway Experiences | NSF DMR-1005022
Grisel Rivera Batista
Grisel Rivera Batista was born and lives in Puerto Rico. She’s a rising senior at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus concentrating in chemistry. When she has free time she enjoys playing volleyball, listening to music, watching movies, and spending time with family and friends.
Project: Organic particles
Mentors: Eric Mazur, Chris Evans, Jon Bradley
Funding: NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center - Science of Nanoscale Systems and their Device Applications (NSEC) | NSF PHY-0646094
Christopher Rondinelli
Chris Rondinelli is studying biomedical engineering at the Harvard Extension School. He is excited to continue his work on traumatic brain injury in the Disease Biophysics Group this summer.
Project: Characterizing the heterogeneous neuronal injury response in a model of blast traumatic brain injury
Mentors: Kevin Kit Parker, Matthew Hemphill
Funding: DoD-CDMRP
Sarah Rowlinson
Sarah Rowlinson was born and raised in Long Island, New York and moved to Palm Beach, Florida back in 2000. She is a rising senior studying biomedical engineering at the University of Miami and is planning on attaining at least an M.S. in BME as well. She enjoys music, sports, dancing, food and just hanging out. She also loves meeting new people, and can't wait to get to know everyone in this program.
Project: Fabrication of nanotopography on UV sensitive polymer via a CD-burner
Mentors: Debra Auguste, George Ye
Funding: NSF REU Site - Biomaterials Research Initiative Dedicated to Gateway Experiences | NSF DMR-1005022
Peter Schwalbenberg
Peter Schwalbenberg is entering his junior year at Rowan University, studying chemical engineering with a concentration in materials. He was born and raised in New Jersey, which is where he currently attends college. Along with studying engineering, he enjoys running, reading Harry Potter, listening to 60's music, having picnics, exploring cities, going to the movies, and writing poetry. He’s pretty much a hippie mixed with a scientist.
Project: Microfluidics for smart particles
Mentors: David Weitz, Wynter Duncanson, Alireza Abbaspourrad
Funding: NSF REU Site - Biomaterials Research Initiative Dedicated to Gateway Experiences | NSF DMR-1005022
Iris Sheu
Iris Sheu is a rising sophomore at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology majoring in chemical-biological engineering. She enjoys traveling, froyo, swimming, and the Boston Red Sox.
Project: High-index polymer optics
Mentors: Ethan Schonbrun
Funding: The Rowland Institute at Harvard
Erika Swartz
Erika Swartz is a rising senior at Olin College of Engineering, where she studies materials engineering. She loves experimental research and hopes to continue learning new things and solving exciting problems in grad school. In her free time, she likes running long distances, rock climbing anywhere it's warm enough to be outside, and dancing to blues.
Project: Effect of topological surface movement on bacterial attachment and growth
Mentors: Joanna Aizenberg, Benjamin Hatton
Funding: Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
San Theingi
San Theingi was born in Yangon (Rangoon), Myanmar (Burma) and came to the USA for her undergraduate studies in Fall 2008. She is a rising senior at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA. She is a physics major and mathematics minor. She enjoys traveling, spending time with her family and friends, and watching movies.
Project: Atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging of nanostructures
Mentors: Robert M. Westervelt, Sagar Bhandari, Caspar Floryan
Funding: NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center - Science of Nanoscale Systems and their Device Applications (NSEC) | NSF PHY-0646094
Kunal Tiwari
Kunal Tiwari is entering his senior year at the University of Toronto where he studies molecular biophysics and mathematics. He is excited to be working under Wade Hsu and Prof. Kaxiras building computational models of biomacromolecular systems. In his spare time, Kunal enjoys sailing, playing bass, and has recently taken up amateur photography.
Project: Simulations of the effect of chromatin structure on gene transcription
Mentors: Efthimios Kaxiras, Chia Wei (Wade) Hsu
Funding: Institute for Applied Computational Science at Harvard
Vivian Tran
Vivian Tran just finished her third year at the University of California, Berkeley, where she is majoring in materials science & engineering. One of her goals in life is to help make bionic limbs comparable to natural human limbs. She enjoys puns, tinkering, engineering, and product design, music, foreign languages and cultures, martial arts, and photography. She intends to spend the upcoming academic year abroad in Japan, conducting research at Osaka University.
Project: Electrostatic self-assembly of complex monomers
Mentors: George Whitesides, Rebecca Cademartiri
Funding: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation | Grant #OPP1016360
Qinxia Wang
Qinxia Wang is a sophomore double majoring in physics and mathematics at Mount Holyoke College. She was born and raised in China and went to high school in Singapore. She is interested in materials science research and applied physics.
Project: New methods for detection of biochemical reactions in pico-reactors.
Mentors: David Weitz, Assaf Rotem
Funding: NSF Synthesis and Properties of Deformable Biomaterials and Soft Matter Systems | NSF DMR-1006546
Harleigh Warner
Harleigh Warner is a rising junior at Clemson University majoring in bioengineering. She is from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. She enjoys good weather, dancing, and eating good food.
Project: Tissue origami
Mentors: Debra Auguste, George Ye
Funding: NSF REU Site - Biomaterials Research Initiative Dedicated to Gateway Experiences | NSF DMR-1005022
Abigail Washispack
Abigail Washispack grew up in Conway, Arkansas and is a rising senior at the University of Arkansas. She is majoring in biological engineering with an emphasis in biomedical engineering. She loves spending time with her family and friends, traveling, listening to music, Ultimate Frisbee and soccer.
Project: Cardiac regeneration in zebrafish
Mentors: Kevin Kit Parker, Borna Dabiri, Kartik Balachandran
Funding: NSF Materials Research Science & Engineering Center at Harvard (MRSEC) | NSF DMR-0820484
Cecillia Wong
Cecillia Wong is a rising junior studying chemical-biological engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, having transferred in 2010 from the University of Waterloo where she spent two years majoring in Honors nanotechnology engineering. Outside of the scientific world, she loves learning new languages, swimming, and baking.
Project: Mechanobiology of adult stem cell migration
Mentors: David Mooney, Manav Mehta, Kangwon Lee
Funding: Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
Bib Yang
Bib Yang is studying biochemistry at Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts. In between being a mother to a sassy four-year-old, studying and research she also enjoys rollerblading, kayaking, and snowboarding.
Project: Multi-porous 3D scaffolds for co-culturing ECs and SMCs
Mentors: Debra Auguste, Jin-Oh You
Funding: NSF REU Site - Biomaterials Research Initiative Dedicated to Gateway Experiences | NSF DMR-1005022
Anis Zaman
Anis Zaman is a rising Junior majoring in computer science and mathematics at Bard College, upstate New York. He is originally from Bangladesh. He loves doing math and enjoys coding. Last summer he did summer research in robotics and presented the project at AAAI Robotics conference at Atlanta. This summer he is working with the Robobees group at Harvard and is really enjoying the challenge of it.
Project: Pico quadcopter design
Mentors: Greg Morissett, Jason Waterman, Karthik Dantu
Funding: Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
Guangtao (Taotao) Zhang
Guangtao (Taotao) Zhang is a rising junior at Clarkson University double majoring in mechanical engineering and applied mathematics. She is a passionate researcher interested in aerosol formation and its impact on human health and the environment. Outside of school, she enjoys reading, Chinese dance, and various outdoor sports.
Project: Hygroscopic and volatile properties of secondary organic particles
Mentors: Scot Martin, Mackenzie Smith
Funding: NSF Hygroscopic Phase Transitions of Atmospheric Particles | NSF AGS-0925467
Jimmy Zhu
Jimmy Zhu is a rising sophomore currently majoring in mechanical engineering with a minor in computer science. He is interested in research in materials science and energy production. Outside of school he enjoys wushu – contemporary Chinese martial arts – and watching football and basketball.
Project: The Harvard Clean Energy Project
Mentors: Alán Aspuru-Guzik, Sule Atahan, Johannes Hachmann
Funding: NSF SOLAR Optical Hyperdoping: Transforming Semiconductor Band Structure for Solar Energy Harvesting | NSF DMR-0934480