Meet The Team

PhD Students

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MS Students

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Alumni

Paulo Garcia (PhD BME, Fall 2010)
Founder, Kytopen, 18 – present
Research Scientist, MIT, 16 – 18
Post-doc, Harvard-MIT, Prof. Cullen Buie, 13 – 15
Virginia Tech KnowledgeWorks awards Tech Transfer Challenge prize, 12
Paul E. Torgersen Student Research Excellence Award: Best PhD Presentation, 10
26th Annual Research Symposium and Exposition Oral Competition: Second Place, 10
SBES 9th Annual Graduate Student Research Symposium: Best Presentation, 10
IEEE EMBS Student Paper Competition: North American Finalist, 09

Hadi Shafiee (PhD ESM, Fall 2010)
Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
Post-doctoral, Harvard-MIT, Prof. Utkan Demirci, 11 – 14
F32 NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship, 12
Paul E. Torgersen Student Research Excellence Award: PhD Finalist, 10
26th Annual Research Symposium and Exposition Poster Competition: First Place, 10
Liviu Librescu Memorial Scholarship, 09
GEM4 – Cellular and Molecular Mechanics: U Illinois – Urbana Champaign: Best Poster, 09

John Caldwell (MS EECS, Spring 2010)
Engineer, Leadership Development Program, Texas Instruments, 10-present
Texas Instruments National Design Competition: First Place, 09

Erin Henslee (MS BME, Spring 2010)
Associate Professor, BME, Wake Forest University, 2024 – present
Assistant Founding Professor, BME, Wake Forest University, 18 – 23
NSF CAREER recipient, 22
Whitaker International Foundation Fellowship, 10-11
Ph.D. University of Surrey, Biomedical Engineering
Advisor: Prof. Michael P. Hughes

Mike Sano (MS ESM, Spring 2009, PhD SBES, Summer 2012)
Assistant Professor, UNC – NC State, 17 – present
Post-doc, Stanford University, 14 – 17
DoD post-doctoral Fellowship, 15
Virginia Tech KnowledgeWorks awards Tech Transfer Challenge prize, 12
CEO, VoltMed LLC, Blacksburg, VA, 12-present
Paul E. Torgersen Graduate Student Research Excellence Award, 09

Andrea Rojas (MS MSE, Spring 2012)
Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity (IMSD) NIH Fellowship, 10-11
Product Development, Terumo Medical Corporation, Elkton, MD, 16-present
Engineer, W.L. Gore & Associates, Elkton, MD, 12-15
Robert Neal II (PhD SBES, Fall 2011)
Director of Research, Galaxy Medical, Menlo Park, CA 20 – present
Principal Engineer, Galaxy Therapeutics, Melno Park, CA 18 – 20
Principal Engineer, Angiodynamics, Marlborough, MA 13 – 18
Virginia Tech Outstanding Dissertation Award, 12
Whitaker International Foundation Fellowship, 11
Paul E. Torgersen Student Research Excellence Award: Best Poster, 11
Post-doctoral, The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne Australia, Dr. Ken Thomson, 11 – 13

Elizabeth Savage (MS BME, Spring 2013)
Program Lead, Adva-Tec, Poly-Med, Inc, Anderson, SC 16-present
Consultant, Poly-Med, Inc. Anderson, SC 13-present
MultiSTEPS IGEP Fellowship, 11-12
Interdisciplinary Research Symposium Poster Award, 12
Spotlight Speaker Chair, Interdisciplinary Research Honors Society, 12-13

Katherine Prokop (MS BME, Fall 2013)
Application Consultant, BrainLab Inc., 18 – present
MultiSTEPS IGERT Fellowship, 11-13

Chris Arena (PhD SBES, Spring 2013)
Collegiate Associate Professor, BME, Virginia Tech, 21 – present
Collegiate Assistant Professor, BME, Virginia Tech, 17 – 21
Assistant Professor, Elon University, 15 – 17
Post-doctoral Fellow, Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina, 13 – 15
Richard Skalak Award, ASME Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, 14
College of Engineering Graduate Student of the Year, 13
1st Place Podium Ph.D. Student Paper Competition, ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference, 12.
1st Place Virginia Tech KnowledgeWorks Tech Transfer Challenge, 12
Virginia Tech Graduate Student Assembly Travel Fund Program Award, 12
NSF John Chato Memorial Symposium Travel Award, 11
3rd Place Podium Ph.D. Student Paper Competition, ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference, 11

Alireza Salmanzadeh (PhD ESM, Spring 2013)
Director of Product Management and Strategy,Bruker, 23-present
Head of Business Dev and Strategy, Clear Labs, 22-23
Core Team Lead, 10x Genomics, 18-22
Product Lead, BD Biosciences, San Jose, 15-18
Post-doc, University of California, Berkeley (Luke Lee), 14-15
Paul E. Torgersen Student Research Excellence Award: Best PhD Presentation, 13
Amir Chand and Dewki Bai Batra Scholarship, 13
Virginia Tech Graduate Man of the Year, 12
Outstanding Graduate Student Leader Award, 12
American Electrophoresis Society: Poster Award, 12
American Electrophoresis Society: Poster Award, 11
Virginia Tech Cancer Symposium: Co-Chair, 11
Manual Stein Scholarship, 10

Lisa Anders (MS BME, Spring 2014)
BioMEMS Process and Integration Engineer, Tronics MEMS, Inc, 17-present
Manufacturing Rotation Engineer, Texas Instruments, 14-17
MultiSTEPS IGEP Fellowship, 12-13

Eduardo Latouche (MS ESM, Spring 2016)
Head of Product Development, BlastID, Boston, MA, 24 – present
Director of R&D, Kytopen, Boston, MA, 21-24
Senior Engineer, VoltMed, Blacksburg, VA, 16-17
Paul E. Torgersen Student Research Excellence Award: Best MS Presentation, 15
BMES-FDA Frontiers in Medical Devices Conference: First runner up podium, 16

Matt DeWitt (PhD SBES (Co-advisor), Summer 2016)
Senior R&D Engineer, Abbott, Charlottesville, VA, 17 -Present
Cunningham Doctoral Fellowship: 11-16
ASME Heat Transfer Conference: Invited Panelist on Thermal Medicine, 14
National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship(GRFP), 12-15

Suyashree Bhonsle (PhD ECE, 2017)
Device Analysis Engineer, Microsoft, San Francisco Bay Area, 21-Present
Senior Electrical Engineer, Abbott, San Francisco Bay Area, 18-21
David W. Francis and Lillian Francis Research Scholarship, Virginia Tech Graduate School, 16-17
Ellen E. Wade Graduate Studies Fellowship, Virginia Tech Graduate School, 15

Mohammad Bonakdar (PhD ME, Spring 2016)
Senior Engineer, Amgen, Cambridge MA, 18 – present
Paul E. Torgersen Student Research Excellence Award: Best PhD Presentation, 16

Elisa Wasson (PhD ME, Fall 2019)
Research scientist, Los Alamos National Laboratories, 24 – present
Research scientist, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, 22 – 24
Postdoctoral researcher, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, 20 – 22
Gold Poster Presentation, VT-GSA Symposium 18
NanoEngineering for Medicine and Biology Conference (NEMB), Honorable Mention (Poster), 15
Lawrence Livermore Graduate Scholar, 18
Lawrence Livermore Student Intern Symposium, 1st Place (Poster), 18
Walts Fellowship, 17-18
National Science Foundation (NSF) Fellowship, 13-18
GEM University Fellow, 13-18
New Horizon Graduate Scholar, 13-18
ICTAS Doctoral Scholarship, 13-15

Alexandra Hyler (PhD BME (Co-advisor), Spring 2018)
Head Research Scientist, CytoRecovery, Inc, Blacksburg, VA, 18-Present
Virginia Tech Graduate Student of the Year, 18
1st Place Talk Award, SBES Symposium, VT-WFU, 18
Gold Agent of Change Oral Presentation Award, GSA Symposium, 18
VT College of Engineering Diversity Fellow, 16-17
Fulbright Fellowship to Denmark, 15-16
Gold Poster Award, GSA Symposium, 15
NSF IGERT MultiSTEPS Program Trainee, 13-15

Andrea Rolong (PhD BME, Spring 2018)
Center for Molecular Biophysics, Université de Tours, France, 23 – present
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Vanderbilt University, 19 – 22
MultiSTEPS NSF IGERT Traineeship, 13-15

Dan Sweeney (PhD BME, Spring 2018)
R&D Associate Staff Member, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 20 – present
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 19-20
Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of North Carolina, NC 18-19
MultiSTEPS NSF IGERT Traineeship, 13-15

Melvin Lorenzo (PhD BME, Spring 2021)
Senior Preclinical Scientist, Arga MedTech, San Diego, CA, 22-present
NIH Postdoctoral Diversity Supplement, 21-22
SBES Symposium Graduate Student Poster Presentation Award, 20
Cunningham Fellowship, 16-20
AIMBE Public Policy Institute Travel Grant, 19
AngioDynamics Educational Travel Grant, 19
Doreen J. Putrah Cancer Research Foundation Travel Grant, 19
World Congress on Biomechanics 2018 Travel Grant, 18
2nd place NEMB ASME Student Poster Competition, 18
Pratt Fellow, 16

Temple Douglas (PhD BME, Fall 2018)
Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Pennsylvania, 20 – present
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Curie Institute, Paris, France, 19
College of Engineering New Horizons Graduate Scholar, 16-18
Herbert A Pohl Student Presentation Award, 16
MultiSTEPS NSF IGERT Traineeship, 14-16

Adwoa Baah-Dwomooh (PhD MSE (Co-advisor), Spring 2018)
Lead Engineer, W.L. Gore & Associates, Newark, DE, 18 – present
MultiSTEPS NSF IGERT Traineeship, 12-15
Edward A. Bouchet Graduate Honor Society Inductee, 18
Black Female Graduate Student of the Year, 18
Outstanding Student Leader of the Year, 18

Timothy O’Brien (PhD BME, Spring 2019)
Staff Research Scientist, Advanced Clinical Research, Intuitive Surgical, Sunnyvale, CA, 22 – present
Senior Research Engineer, Gala Therapeutics, Melo Park, CA, 19-22
PhD Paper Competition: 3rd Place Oral Presentation, World Congress of Biomechanics, 18
Paul E. Torgersen Student Research Excellence Award: Best MS Poster Presentation, 15
Paul E. Torgersen Student Research Excellence Award: 2nd Place Oral Presentation, 14

Philip Graybill (PhD ME, Fall 2021)
Senior Scientist, Vivodyne, Philadelphia, PA, 21 – present
2rd Place Oral Presentation, 3rd World Congress on Electroporation, 19
Best Scientific Image, 3rd World Congress on Electroporation, 19
Doreen J. Putrah Cancer Research Foundation Travel Grant, 19
Royal Society of Chemistry Poster Award, 26th International Symposium on Electroseparation and Liquid Phase-Separation Techniques (ITP), 19
MultiSTEPS IGEP Traineeship, 16-17

Natalie Beitel White (PhD EE, Spring 2021)
R&D Engineer, Boston Scientific, 21 – present
Paul E. Torgersen Student Research Excellence Award: 1st PhD Oral Presentation, 21
Bradley Graduate Fellow, 19-21
Paul E. Torgersen Student Research Excellence Award: 1st Place MS Oral Presentation, 18
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program Honorable Mention, 18
William E. Webber Graduate Fellow, 16-18

Nastaran Alinezhadbalalami (PhD BME, Spring 2022)
Senior Research Engineer, Pulse Biosciences, Redwood City, CA, 24
Senior Research Engineer, Galvanize Therapeutics, Redwood City, CA, 23
Postdoctoral Researcher, Virginia Tech 22 – 23
Doreen J. Putrah Cancer Research Foundation Travel Grant, 22
MS Chemical Engineering, Michigan Tech University, 18

Kenneth Aycock (PhD BME, Spring 2023)
Electromechanical Engineer, Intuitive Surgical, Sunnyvale, CA, 23 – present
1st Place Oral Presentation, 4th World Congress on Electroporation, 22
Travel Award, Wake Forest Comprehensive Cancer Center, 22
SBES 21st Annual Graduate Student Research Symposium: 1st Place Oral Presentation, 22
International Travel Grant, 22
SBES 19th Annual Graduate Student Research Symposium: 1st Place Presentation, 20
Doreen J. Putrah Cancer Research Foundation Travel Grant, 19
Pratt Fellow, 18

Sofie Saunier (MS BME, Spring 2023)
1st place Translational Cancer II Oral, SBES Annual Symposium, 23
Travel Award, Graduate Student Assembly, 22

Sabrina Campelo (PhD BME, Fall 2023)
2nd Place, International Bioelectrics Symposium, Portugal, 23
Award Recipient, Graduate Research Development Program, 23
1st place Translational Cancer I Oral, SBES Annual Symposium, 23
Travel Award, World Congress on Electroporation, 22
P.E.O Scholar Award, 22
Best Poster Presentation, SBES Annual Symposium, 22
MS Duke University (Medical Physics, 20)
ICTAS Doctoral Scholar 20 – present
New Horizon Graduate Scholar 20 – present
Phi Sigma Biological Honor Society 21 – present

Josie Duncan (PhD ME, Fall 2023)
Senior Research Scientist, Missouri State University
AES Elected Councilor, 24
SciX AES Early Career Invited Speaker, Reno, NV, 23
Proof-of -Concept Commercialization Grant Awardee, 23
Visiting Scholar, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, 23
National Science Foundation Regional Innovation Corps, Completion, 23
Student Poster Award, Outstanding Spectroscopic Research, SciX, 22
2nd Place, FACCS Student Poster Award, SciX, 22
Mary Virginia Jones Mechanical Engineering Graduate Fellowship, 21
Poster Honorable Mention, Dielectrophoresis, 21
Fralin Commercialization Fellow, 21
Doreen J. Putrah Cancer Research Foundation Travel Grant, 19
Davenport Leadership Scholar, 19
Outstanding Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education Fellow, 19

Olivia Gedra (MS BME, Spring 2024)

Vinay Desmukh (ME, Graduated Dec 2024)
Intern, Intuitive Surgical, 24
Research Scientist, Intuitive Surgical, 25 – present

Greg Hee Chang (MS BME, Spring 2025)