Group Alumni

Graduate Students:

Below is a list of our former graduate students, their graduation year, dissertation/thesis title if applicable, and where they went after graduation or current affiliation.

Jiahua Luo (MS)

Timofey Popov (MS 2026): IPG Photonics

Nithish Sharvirala (MS 2026): Ayar Labs

Nick Roberts (MS 2023): "FAIR Modeling for Perovskite Solar Cells: An Open Source Machine Learning Pipeline." SpaceX

Cheng Chang (PhD 2023): "Optically Pumped Perovskite DFB Lasers." Ayar Labs

Toshi Take (MS 2023): Meta

Matthew Yerich (MS 2022): Meta

Chen Zou (PhD 2020): "Metal halide perovskite light-emitting materials and devices." Faculty member at Zhejiang University

Mark Odendahl (MS 2020): Meta

Ethan Keeler (PhD 2018): "MEMS resonant mass sensor with enabled optical integration for cellular study." ANSYS

Peifeng Jing (PhD 2017): "Photonic crystal optical tweezers for live biological samples." Meta

Erin Sanehira (PhD 2017): "Efficient, stable perovskite solar cells enabled by electrode interface engineering and nanoscale phase stabilization." HEE Energy

Jingda Wu (PhD 2016): "Flexible photodetection on colloidal quantum dot-cellulose composite structures." Analog Photonics

Conner Ballew (MS 2016): "Design and fabrication of nanocavity lasers." Pursuing PhD in Cal Tech

Matthew Strathman (PhD 2014): "Dynamic focus-tracking MEMS scanning micromirror for an endoscopic, optical coherence tomography based imaging system." Maxim Integrated

Yunbo Liu (MS 2014): "Time-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) for MEMS-based endoscopic application." Pursuing PhD in U Michigan

Danling Wang (PhD 2013): "Trace explosive sensor devices based on semiconductor nanomaterials." (co-advised with Dr. Antao Chen) Faculty member at North Dakota State University Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Cameron Simmons (MS 2012): "Large infrared optical tweezer array." Coherent, Inc.

Katherine Lugo (2012)

Ludan Huang (PhD 2011): "Solution processed nanophotonic devices based on colloidal semiconductor quantum dots and plasmonic metal nanoparticles." Lam Research

Chang-Ching Tu (PhD 2011): "Colloidal quantum dot photovoltaics and photodetectors fabricated by electrostatic layer-by-layer self-assembly." Faculty member at National Yang-Ming Chiao-Tung University (NYCU), Taiwan

M. Hassan Arbab (PhD 2011): "Terahertz spectroscopy for chemical detection and burn characterization." (co-advised with Dr. Antao Chen) Faculty member at SUNY Stony Brook Department of Biomedical Engineering

Joseph Peach (PhD 2010): "Dielectrophoretic field-flow fractionation devices for DNA and microparticle characterization." (co-advised with Prof. Vikram Jandhyala) Intel

Matthew Horning (MS 2010): Intellectual Ventures Lab

Benjamin Wilson (MS 2007, PhD 2009): MS thesis "Polarization control via tunable form-birefringent PDMS nanostructures," PhD dissertation "Manipulation of nanoparticles and biological samples through enhanced optical forces." Meta (formerly Facebook) Reality Labs

Michael Hegg (PhD 2008): "Near-Field photodetection with high spatial resolution by nanocrystal quantum dots." Meta (formerly Facebook) Reality Labs

Xiaoyu Miao (MS 2006, PhD 2008): MS thesis "Opto-plasmonic tweezers for manipulation and rotation of micro/nano objects-design and fabrication," PhD dissertation "Plasmonics for micro/nano manipulation and optofluidics." Amazon

Nathaniel Burt (MS 2007): "Compact fiber-optic hydrophones for towed surveying arrays." Intel

Chia-Jean Wang (MS 2004, PhD 2007): MS thesis "Nanophotonic waveguides by self-assembled quantum dots," PhD dissertation "Sub-diffraction quantum dot nanophotonic waveguides." Amazon

Postdocs, Visitng Professors and Visiting Scientists:

Bufan Yu (2025-2026) Visiting PhD student from South China University of Technology, China 

Dr. Naresh Varnakavi (2024-2025) Visiting Scientist / Postdoc

Dr. Congyang Zhang (2019-2020) Postdoc, PhD from Shanghai Jiao Tung University, China, now a faculty member at Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications 

Prof. Ya-Ju Lee (2019 summer) Visiting Professor, Chair of Institute of Electro-Optical Science and Technology, National Taiwan Normal University, now with National Cheng-Kung University, Taiwan

Lin Wang (2018-2019) Vising PhD student from Harbin Institute of Technology, China

Dr. Chun-Ying Huang (2016-2017) Postdoc, PhD from National Taiwan University, now a faculty member at National Chi-Nan University, Taiwan

Dr. Chih-Cheng Cheng (2007-2008)  Postdoc, PhD from National Tsing-Hua University, Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Taiwan

Dr. Toshiyasu Kanetaka (2006-2007) Japan Patent Office

Undergraduate/High-school Researchers and Independent-Study Graduate Students:

We thank these undergraduate, high-school and graduate students (from UW ECE unless otherwise noted) who have contributed to our research.

Olivia Lee, U Notre Dame, NSF IMOD REU (2026 summer)

Sujith Kadagandla (2026)

Shivam Mujumdar (2025-2026)

Eric Chenzhong Shi  (2025-2026)

Luis Garcia (2025-2026)

Javed Mohideen (2025-2026)

Una Yen (MS 2025) Micron

Raymond Chinn (2024-2025)

Fred Han (2024-2025)

Eric Zeng Liu (2024-2025)

Grant Miller (2024-2025)

Yisen Tan (2024)

Aishwarya Choorakuzhiyil  (MS 2024)

Marcus Chen (2023)

Shashanth Gopalakrishna  (MS 2022-2023), Penn State University PhD program

Marcus Chen (2023)

John Gannon (2021-2022)

Jordan Hsu (2021-2022)

Alperen Cucioglu (2021-2022), UW ECE PhD program

Neilan Post, NSF REU (2021 summer)

John Gannon (2021-2022)

Jordan Hsu (2021-2022)

Shawn Fisher (2019-2020), UCSD PhD program

Leah Rosenberg, Rockland College Physics, NSF REU (2019 summer)

Maxwell Zhang, Interlake High School (2018-2019), UC Berkeley

Jesse Heidohrn, UW Physics (2018)

Ethan Solomon, Interlake High School (2017-2018), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Tianyu Feng, UW Physics (2017)

Shihao Zhu, UW Physics (2017)

Michael Choquer (2017), UCSB graduate program

Dylan Chase-Woods, UW MSE (2017)

Yannan Liu (2016-2017), UW ECE PhD program

Chuchuan Hong (MS 2016)

Kasia Gibson, Northestern University BioE/EE, NSF REU (2015 and 2017 summer)

Ian Guertin, UW Physics (MS 2015)

Sen Mau (2015), Founder of UncleCar.com

Xu Dong (2014-2015), Columbia University EE MS program

William Thing (2014)

Xin Dang (2014)

Michael Bathurst, UW EE/Math (2014), Amazon

Qiong Lin (2014)

Nan Jiang (2013-2014), Amazon

Sun Ming Kim (2013-2014), UW EE PhD program

Xiao (Alex) Tan (2013), Pure Storage

Wenjie Zheng (2012-2013), Tesla Motors

Chanwei (Denis) Chang (2011-2012), Boeing

Chih-Chi Chang (2010), Microsoft

Bertrand Duthiers (MS 2010)

Stephanie Bachar, MIT Bioengineering, Amgen Scholar (2009)

Danny Hinojosa (MS 2009)

Tim Mentele, UW Bioengineering, Amgen Scholar (2008-2009), Juno Therapeutics, Inc.

Hsiu-Yang Tseng, UW ME (2008)

Milad Hashemi (2007-2008), UT Austin ECE PhD program

Stanley Gu, UW Bioengineering, Amgen Scholar (2007), UW Bioengineering PhD program

Mei Liu (2004-2007)

Jason Harrigan, UW EE/Physics (2007), Intermec Technologies

Allen Yee (2006)

Jodi Sprague (2005), Intel

Haojie Liao (2004-2005)