Graduate Students

David Cai

Email:      david.cai@emory.edu
Advisor:  Connie Roth

Research Interests:  "I'm interested in experimental soft matter physics. I'm currently studying polymer interfaces by using quartz crystal microbalance to measure viscoelastic properties." 

Chung Hao Chen

Email:      chung.hao.chen@emory.edu
Advisor: 

Research Interests:

Alex Couturier

Email:      alexander.couturier@emory.edu
Advisor:  Connie Roth

Research Interests:  "Studying novel material properties which could be useful in industrial applications.  I joined Connie Roth's lab in which I can explore this through research in nanoscale dynamics of multilayered polymer thin films."

Ketevan Danelia

Email:      ketevan.danelia@emory.edu
Advisor:  Ilya Nemenman

Research Interests: "I want to master Biophysics due to a vast amount of undisclosed topics about living organisms. Since we live in the era of big data I do believe that in purpose to discover long-standing and fascinating problems such as consciousness, cognition, microbial organization and so on we should analyze these data using the physics main approach: finding and describing the basic underlying reasons for events. I want to be one of those contributors who will find the golden margin between the “complexity of life and the simplicity of physical laws” and solve its knotty problems with fundamental principles."

Emma Dawson

Email:      emma.dawson@emory.edu
Advisor:  Minsu Kim

Research Interests:  "I'm interested in understanding how physics drives complex collective behavior and pattern formation in bacterial colonies."

Matthew Day

Email:      matthew.day@emory.edu
Advisor: 

Research Interests:  

Pedro de Castro

Email:      pedro.de.castro@emory.edu
Advisor:  Wladimir Benalcazar

  Research Interests:  "My area of research is condensed matter theory.  I am particularly interesteds in how the presence of symmetries, interactions and notrivial topology produces emergent collective behavior in quantum many-body system." 

Luka Mate Devenica

Email:     luka.matej.devenica@emory.edu
Advisor:  Ajit Srivastava

Research Interests: "My research involves studying the optoelectronics of two-dimensional van-der-Waals materials. This field is exciting because we build devices from materials in the extreme limit - just one atom thick - and because these materials may find interesting applications in nanotechnology some day."

Cordell Donofrio

Email:      cjdonof@emory.edu
Advisor:  Eric Weeks

Research Interests: "Main focus of research has been in simulations of glassy systems and crowd dynamics. Additional work has been conducted through the use of laser tweezers to manipulate colloidal glass formers."

Sahand Emamian

Email:      sahand.emamian@emory.edu
Advisor:   Katherine Davis

Research Interests: "My research interest is in using X-ray spectroscopic and crystallographic methods to better understand the structure and function health-relevant metalloenzymes."

Shaady Fouad

Email:      shaady.fouad@emory.edu
Advisor:   Kurt Warncke

Research Interests:  “I am studying protein dynamics with a current focus on intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs). My research is particularly centered on disease-modifying proteins such as α-synuclein (α-syn), which plays multiple roles in the nervous system, with its misfolding implicated as a primary cause of Parkinson's disease. Utilizing Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, I investigate the kinetic properties of α-syn, aiming to understand how thermodynamic factors such as entropy and enthalpy contribute to its stability and misfolding.”

Aishwarya Ganesh

Email:       aishwarya.ganesh@emory.edu
Advisor:   Minsu Kim

Research Interests:  "I'm interested in evolution in expanding populations is observed for a myriad of organisms ranging from human to plants to microbes. Proteus mirabilis, a bacteria that exhibits cooperation-driven motility, is a model organisms for researching evolution in the context of cooperating expanding populations. While the connection between cooperativity and spatial evolution is not yet fully understood, Proteus mirabilis provides us an opportunity to study the driving mechanisms because of its unique ability to move collectively."  

Haylen Gerhard

Email:      haylen.gerhard@emory.edu
Advisor:   Wladimir Benalcazar

Research Interests:  “I'm interested in using symmetry and topology to study the behavior of condensed matter systems.” 

Zachariah Germain

Email:       zachariah.germain@emory.edu
Advisor:   Jennifer Rieser

Research Interests: “My interest lies in biophysics, especially related to animal behavior.”

Sabid Hossain

Email:      sabid.hossain@emory.edu
Advisor:   Hayk Harutyunyan

Research Interests: "I am interested in experimental and theoretical Condensed Matter Physics."

Henry Howell

Email:      henry.howell@emory.edu
Advisor:   Hayk Harutyunyan

Research Interests:  "I am interested in experimental condensed matter physics, specifically optics and nanophotonics." 

Pablo Illing

Email:      pablo.eduardo.illing@emory.edu
Advisor:  Eric Weeks

Research Interests: "My research of interest is currently highly polydisperse materials. I'm currently running simulations of compressed bubble arrays of varying polydispersity, and experiments of sheared polydisperse disks."

Sergei Ivanov

Email:       sergei.vladimirovich.ivanov@emory.edu
Advisor:  Sergei Urazhdin

Research Interests: "My research interest is in complex magnetic systems and magneto-optical effects in thin films."

Lakshmi Iyer

Email:       lpullas@emory.edu
Advisor:   Luiz Santos

Research Interests: "I'm interested in studying the topological phases of matter that are characterized by the existence of non-trivial boundary states. My research focuses on studying the symmetry-protected surface states of topological insulators." 

Kanishk Jain

Email:       kanishk.jain@emory.edu
Advisor:   Gordon Berman

Research Interests: "I use tools from Physics, Mathematics and Deep Learning to measure and model the behavioral and neural dynamics of freely moving animals."

Tao Jin

Email:       tao.jin2@emory.edu
Advisor:   Tianquan (Tim) Lian

Research Interests: "I'm interested in studying light matter interaction, chirality induced spin-selective charge transfer using Ultrafast Spectroscopy."

Alphin Joshy

Email:       alphin.joseph.maliyekkal.joshy@emory.edu
Advisor:   Connie Roth

Research Interests:   "I am interested in studying the mechanical properties of polymer films upon nano-confinement."

Erekle Kalichava

 Email:       erekle.kalichava@emory.edu
Advisor:  

Research Interests: 

Rajpreet Kaur

Email:       rajpreet.kaur@emory.edu
Advisor:   Gordon Berman

Research Interests: "I'm interested in studying animal behavior over long timescales using machine learning algorithms to construct dynamical models."  

Cagdas Kilic

Email:      cagdas.kilic@emory.edu
Advisor: 

Research Interests: 

Juhyeong (Kelly) Kim

Email:      juhyeong.kim@emory.edu
Advisor: 

Research Interests:

Chengling Li

Email:      chengling.li@emory.edu
Advisor:  Daniel Sussman

Research Interests:  “I’m interested in computational biophysics.”

Wei-Chih Li

Email:      wei-chih.li@emory.edu
Advisor:  Justin Burton

Research Interests:  “My research focuses on micro-sized particles suspended in a plasma environment, also known as dusty plasma. This non-equilibrium system involves both particle-particle and particle-environment interactions, resulting in non-conservation of total energy. Through our 3D scanning system, we can explore kinetic energy and particle-particle interactions within the experiment. I aim to bridge the gap between interactions of a few particles and the statistical properties of thousands of particles by using coarse-graining techniques.” 

Tianhong Lu

Email:      tianhong.lu@emory.edu
Advisor:  Luiz Santos

Research Interests: "I am interested in condensed matter physics, such as the interacting many-body systems." 

Zhouhang (Jordan) Ma

Email:      zhouhang.ma@emory.edu
Advisor: 

Research Interests:

Lauren Massaro

Email:      lauren.massaro@emory.edu
Advisor:

Research Interests:

David Meer

Email:      david.meer@emory.edu
Advisor:  Eric Weeks

Research Interests:  "I am interested in nonlinear dynamics, soft matter, and fluid mechanics. I am currently investigating Schlieren Imaging of an Acoustic Levitator."

James Merrill

Email:      james.haley.merrill@emory.edu
Advisor:  Connie Roth

Research Interests:  "James is interested in the physics of polymer glasses near interfaces, including how chain structure and morphology at these interfaces affect material properties like the glass transition temperature."

Tomilola Obadiya

Email:       tomilola.medetin.obadiya@emory.edu
Advisor:   Daniel Sussman

Research Interests: “Dynamics in disordered solids (e.g. biological and particulate glass, gels etc.) are known to be spatially and temporally heterogenous. Understanding the correlation between a particle's local structure and its dynamics in such systems, through machine learning tools, is my major research focus."

Charles Packard

Email:      charles.robert.packard@emory.edu
Advisor:  Daniel Sussman

Research Interests:  "I study active (living) matter frequently used to model biological systems. These systems exist far from equilibrium and exhibit novel physics in the collective motion of the  constituent active agents."

Waad Paliwal

Email:      waad.paliwal@emory.edu
Advisor:  Eric Weeks

Research Interests:  "I am interested in everything soft matter. I am currently studying colloidal gels which are solids suspended in a fluid. The intertwined phases results in very cool properties that have many applications."

Tharindu Rajasooriya

Email:      tharindu.rajasooriya@emory.edu
Advisor:  Khalid Salaita

Research Interests:  "My research interest is in material science. Particularly in utilizing the unique properties of biological materials such as nucleic acids and Cas-enzymes to synthesize novel polymeric materials."

Leon Palacio Rangel

Email:       jlpalac@emory.edu
Advisor:    Justin Burton

Research Interests:  "I am interested in experimental soft matter physics, focusing on fluids involving granular materials and liquids. My current research explores the bulk properties of glass particles, similar to sand, to better understand their interactions with liquids." 

Calvin Riiska

Email:       calvin.riiska@emory.edu
Advisor:   Jennifer Rieser

Research Interests:  "My research interests involve the biomechanics of snakes during locomotor behaviors particularly when climbing trees. I investigate the interactions that occur between snakes and their environment both on the macroscale and the microscale." 

Katrianna Sarkar

Email:       katrianna.sarkar@emory.edu
Advisor:  

Research Interests: 

 Drisha Sehgal

Email:       drisha.sehgal@emory.edu
Advisor:   Katherine Davis

Research Interests:  "Biophysics, Metalloenzymes, Single Molecule techniques." 

Zhicheng Shu

Email:       zhicheng.shu@emory.edu
Advisor:   Justin Burton

Research Interests:  "I am interested in applying machine learning to study dusty plasma." 

Yuying Sun

Email:       yuying.sun@emory.edu
Advisor:  

Research Interests: 

Enes Suyabatmaz

Email:       enes.suyabatmaz@emory.edu
Advisor:   Raphael Ribeiro

Research Interests: "My current focus is on strong light-matter interactions and cavity quantum electrodynamics.  We develop mathematical models and computer simulations to elucidate the chemical and physical phenomena such as energy transport and reaction kinetics inside an optical microcavity."

Arabind Swain

Email:       arabind.swain@emory.edu
Advisor:   Ilya Nemenman

Research Interests:  "I am interested in understanding when can Machine Leaning be used to find out relevant physical qualities in a problem especially those related a with lot of data and dimensions. Currently I am working on when can we find the relevant quantities of glassy dynamics using Support Vector Machine(SVM)."

Mateusz Szurek

 Email:      mateusz.szurek@emory.edu
Advisor:  Sergei Urazhdin

Research Interests:  "I am mostly focused on condensed matter research and finding new physical phenomena in small systems. I focus on the use of nano-scale methods to observe extremely small systems."

Yuankai Tang

Email:       yuankai.tang@emory.edu
Advisor:   Hayk Harutyunyan

Research Interests:  "My research interest is about the light-and-matter interactions, especially the nonlinear generation of light based on plasmonic structures."

Gauge Thacker

Email:      zachary.thacker@emory.edu
Advisor:  Jennifer Rieser

Research Interests:  "Biophysics and soft matter, with a focus on how life interacts with the physical world." 

Xinyu Tian

Email:       xinyu.tian@emory.edu
Advisor:   Hayk Harutyunyan

Research Interests:  “My research interest lies in the area of nanophotonics, especially the nonlinear properties and ultrafast dynamics of photonic systems.”

Ekramuddin Towsif

Email:       ekramuddin.towsif@emory.edu
Advisor:   Shashank Shekhar

Research Interests:  "I'm interested in exploring phase transitions and critical points in materials/matter. Currently, I am working on nonconventional superconductors and developing a new theory to provide some insight on developing standard temperature pressure superconducting materials."

Alex Vargas

Email:      alex.vargas@emory.edu
Advisor:  Justin Burton

Research Interests: "Climate change has significantly impacted various regions of our planet, with drastic changes observed at the poles where most of Earth's glaciers are located. I aim to build laboratory-scale glacial systems using an ice analog to experimentally investigate glaciological problems using my physics background." 

Jing Michelle Wang

Email:      jing.wang@emory.edu
Advisor:  Justin Burton

Research Interests:  "I've been working on hydrogels dynamic time-dependent frictional behavior as well as their interesting rheological properties by using a custom-built tribometer." 

Xinrui Wang

Email:      xinrui.wang@emory.edu
Advisor: 

Research Interests: 

Ishraquddin Wasif

Email:      ishraquddin.wasif@emory.edu
Advisor: 

Research Interests:

Toler Webb

Email:      toler.webb@emory.edu
Advisor:  Daniel Sussman

Research Interests:  "I’m interested in connecting my interest in complex, often chaotic, systems to the study of soft active matter. My hope is, through that connection, I can elucidate the patterns and mathematical structures underlying the natural world such that new predictions can be made."

Katie Whitcomb

Email:      katie.lynn.whitcomb@emory.edu
Advisor:  Kurt Warncke

Research Interests:  "I am using EPR to study the dynamics of proteins identified as hallmarks neurodegenerative diseases."

Yue Wu

Email:      yue.wu@emory.edu
Advisor: 

Research Interests:

Weishi Xing

Email:      weishi.xing@emory.edu
Advisor:  Eric Weeks

Research Interests:  “I'm interested in experimental soft matter physics, such as the flow of polydisperse emulsions.” 

Sarita Yadav

Email:      sarita.yadav@emory.edu
Advisor:  Connie Roth

Research Interests:  "I am interested in studying the dynamic glass transition temperature in polymers and how perturbations, such as those from interfaces, can affect it in thin polymer films." 

Wentao Yu

Email:      wentao.yu@emory.edu
Advisor:  Justin Burton

Research Interests:  "Applying machine learning to study the dynamics in Dusty Plasma."  

Zehui Zhao

Email:      zehui.zhao@emory.edu
Advisor:  Ilya Nemenman

Research Interests:  My research interest is theoretical biophysics. 

Bangda (Aether) Zhou

Email:      aether.zhou@emory.edu
Advisor: 

Research Interests: