Dhong Lab, 2022 “Plaid Edition”
Top Row: Qurat, Nishtha, Abi, Shalini, Tianzheng, Maryanne, Charles
Bottom Row: Kayla
Graduate Students
Abigail Nolin
Materials Science and Engineering
2016-2019: Dow Chemical and DuPont
2016: B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, Drexel University
Abigail’s research interests include material development and surface interactions at the molecular level for functional and specialty materials in businesses such as molecular diagnostics, biomaterials, arts and entertainment, and consumer care.
Tianzheng Guo
Materials Science and Engineering
2019: B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, China
Tianzheng’s research interest is measuring mechanical properties of biological systems by using microfluidic device.
Shalini Sundar
Biomedical Engineering
2020: B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
B.S. in Electrical Engineering
University of Delaware
Shalini’s research interests are in developing platforms that measure cellular and tissue level mechanical properties to better understand biological systems.
Kayla Hepler
Materials Science and Engineering
2021 B.S. in Material Science & Engineering, The Ohio State University
Kayla’s research interests include developing computational approaches to classifying mesoscale friction traces and creating next generation tactile aids.
Nishtha Pant
Materials Science and Engineering
2017: B.Tech in Chemical Technology, Institute of Chemical Technology, India
2019: M.S in Polymer Science, University of Akron, Ohio
Nishtha’s work involves identifying and quantifying fundamental tactile sensations.
Maryanne Derkaloustian
2022: B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering
University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign
Maryanne’s research works at identifying new routes to create tactile sensations.
Qurat-Ul-Ain Bhatti
2022: B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering
Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad
Qurat’s work involves extracting mechanical biomarkers for fibrosis and osteoarthritis.
Truc Ngo
2022: M.S. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
2022: B.S. in Mechanical Engineering
Oklahoma State University
Joint-Advised with Dr. Joshua Cashaback (UD BME)
Truc’s research interests include understanding the interplay of human movement and decision-making to improve healthcare paradigms such as in neurorehabilitation and tactile designs for visual impairment aids.
Zachary Swain
2019: B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Delaware
Zach’s research interests include polymer physics at surfaces and interfaces, and resultant structure and material properties
Undergraduate Students
Sindhu Narayan
2025: B.S. in Biomedical Engineering
Sindhu’s research looks into molecular surface interactions for future applications in haptics.
Leanne Ton
2025: B.S. in Biomedical Engineering
Leanne’s research looks into controlling haptic devices with surface chemistry.
Postdoctoral Researchers
None at the moment!
P.I.
Assistant Professor in Materials Science and Engineering
Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering
Affiliated Faculty in Mechanical Engineering
2018: Postdoc, UC San Diego
(with Prof. Darren Lipomi)
2016: Ph.D., Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University
(with Prof. Joelle Frechette)
2012: B.S., Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UC Berkeley
(with Prof. Roya Maboudian & Prof. Danielle Tullman-Ercek)
Alumni
Rainer Hlibock (2022 B.S)
Irene Mesa (2022 B.S.)
Kelly Pierson (2022 B.S)
Amanda Licht (2022 B.S)
Dr. Ghodeejah Higgins
Avery Boyer (M.S. 2022, Chemours)
Lisa Ta (2022)
Dhong Lab 