Presidents
Abhiram Devata (he/him/his)
Department: Materials Science & Engineering
Abhi is a 3rd year PhD student in the Barton lab, researching the effects of processing and fabrication on semiconductor materials for energy efficient photonic integrated circuits. He is originally from Northern California and attended UC Santa Barbara for his B.S. in Chemical Engineering. In his free time, he enjoys baking, birdwatching, and photography.
Xi Wan (she/her/hers)
Department: Chemical & Biological Engineering
Xi is a 3rd year PhD student advised by Professor Jeff Richards. Her research focuses on the synthesis of mixed ionic-electronic conducting materials for neuromorphic computing applications, coupled with the use of scattering methodologies to investigate the structure-property relationships in ionogels. She received her B.S. and M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology and Northwestern University. In her spare time, she enjoys exploring new restaurants, cooking, and traveling.
Secretary
Ali Najjar Amiri (he/him/his)
Department: Electrical & Computer Engineering
Ali is a third-year Ph.D. student under the mentorship of Professor Mahdi Hosseini, specializing in the design, fabrication, and characterization of photonic structures for quantum applications, with a particular focus on quantum memory. He holds a B.S. in Computer Hardware Engineering from Isfahan University of Technology in Iran and an M.S. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Koç University in Turkey. Outside of academia, Ali enjoys participating in sports, watching movies, and discovering new places to eat.
Treasurer
Lauren Oleksy (she/her/hers)
Department: Chemical & Biological Engineering
Lauren is a 3rd year PhD student advised by Professor Dayne Swearer. Her research focuses on developing dielectric-based metasurfaces and structures for sustainable photochemistry. She received her B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Clarkson University in 2023. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, snowboarding, and experimenting in the kitchen.
Event Coordinator
Komal Prasad (she/her/hers)
Department: Materials Science & Engineering
Komal is a 3rd year PhD student in the group of Prof. David Barton. Her research focuses on lithium niobate based optical devices for integrated photonics. She received her B.Tech. degree in Chemical Technology and her M.S. from Stanford University in Materials Science and Engineering. In her spare time, she loves to read, dance, and make art.
Ramin Yazdaanpanah(he/him/his)
Department: Electrical & Computer Engineering
Ramin is a 3rd year PhD student in the ECE department. He is working with Prof. Koray Aydin and his research focuses on photonic materials and optical metasurfaces.
Qintong (Rong) Wu (she/her/hers)
Department: Applied Physics
Rong is a 2nd year Ph.D. student advised by Dayne Swearer. Her research focuses on the fundamental mechanisms of plasmonic photocatalysts, specifically hot carrier transfer. She received his B.A. in chemical physics from Wellesley College in 2024. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, board games, and playing the flute.
Social Media & Publicity Chair
Weijia (Vera) Fan (she/her/hers)
Department: Biomedical Engineering
Vera (Weijia) Fan is a fifth year PhD student in Biomedical Engineering. Her research is about developing an optical system called optical coherence tomography (OCT) for retina imaging and ophthalmological disease diagnosis. She is originally from Nanjing, China, and received a B.S. degree from UC Los Angeles in Biophysics. In her spare time, she likes traveling, photo shooting, exploring nice food.
Outreach Chair
Hanwen Zhang (she/her/hers)
Department: Biomedical Engineering
Hanwen is a 2nd year PhD student advised by Professor Chad Mirkin. Her research focuses on elucidating the structure–function relationships of spherical nucleic acids (SNAs) by deconvoluting chemically synthesized oligonucleotides to determine which regions of the DNA influence cellular uptake and biodistribution in nanomedicine applications. She received her B.S. in Bioengineering from Case Western Reserve University and her M.S. in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania. In her spare time, she enjoys taking care of her cats and exploring local coffee shops.
General Board Members
Gerrit Chrsitenson