Current KIC Fellowship Recipients
For information about past KIC Postdoctoral Fellows, Bethe/Wilkins/KIC Theory Postdoctoral Fellows, and KIC Graduate Fellows, see the Alumni section.
KIC Postdoctoral Fellows
Dr. Rohit Agarwal, PhD Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (Biophysics)
Rohit’s research is focused on the rates, mechanisms, and spatial extent of antibiotic resistance gene transfer in the human oral microbiome in response to antibiotic therapy at single-cell, single-molecule, and bacterial species-level resolution. Professor Iwijn De Vlaminck (BME) is his faculty sponsor.
Dr. Gaël Grissonnanche, PhD Université de Sherbrooke (Physics)
Gaël’s research will focus on the development of microstructures to probe the thermal properties of quantum materials at small scales and under extreme conditions. Professor Brad Ramshaw (LASSP/Physics) is his faculty sponsor.
Dr. Suman Gunasekaran, PhD Columbia University (Chemical Physics)
Suman is investigating the dynamics of molecules in the strong light-matter coupling regime using novel ultrafast spectroscopic techniques. Professor Andrew Musser (Chemistry) is his faculty sponsor.
Dr. Yaqiong Li, PhD Princeton University (Physics)
Yaqiong’s research focuses on probing the large-scale properties of the early universe with innovative superconducting detectors arrays. Professors Mike Niemack (Physics) and Terry Herter (Astronomy) are her faculty sponsors.
Dr. Melody Lim, PhD University of Chicago (Physics)
Melody’s research is focused on the bottom-up design of materials with complex function, by engineering novel directed interactions between assembling particles. Professor Itai Cohen (Physics) is her faculty sponsor.
Dr. Kelly Luo, PhD Ohio State University (Physics)
Kelly’s research is focused on imaging ultra-fast dynamics in 2D magnets driven by spin-transfer torque, with the goal of implementing spin-transfer torque method to efficiently read and write 2D magnetic memories and developing ultrafast optic technique to probe the magnetic switching dynamics. Prof. Dan Ralph (LASSP/Physics), Kin Fai Mak (Physics), and Jie Shan (Physics & AEP) are her sponsors.
Dr. Joesene Soto Pérez, PhD University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras (Chemistry)
Joesene’s research is focused on understanding the chemistry of emerging nanomaterials as low loading Platinum group metals (PGM) combined with first-row transition metals for energy conversion reactions. His fellowship research will focus on non-precious metal electrocatalysts for energy conversion reactions (ORR, OER, HER and HOR). His fellowship is jointly supported by Cornell Energy Systems Institute (CESI) and KIC. His faculty sponsor is Professor Héctor Abruña (Chemistry).
Dr. Salva Salmani Rezaie, PhD University of California, Santa Barbara (Materials Science & Engineering)
Salva’s research is focused on using different transmission electron microscopy techniques to reveal high-rank multipolar orders in quantum materials and link these hidden orders to the physical properties. Professors David Muller and Lena Kourkoutis (AEP) are her faculty sponsors.
Dr. Shusaku Shoji, PhD Tokyo Institute of Technology (Energy Science & Engineering)
Shusaku is currently working on block copolymer derived nanostructured materials for catalysis. He is sponsored by Prof. Uli Wiesner (MSE).
Dr. Wenjin Zhao, PhD University of Washington (Physics)
Wenjin’s research will focus on strong correlation physics in 2D materials, including creation of periodic environment and manipulation of the correlation strength. Professors Jie Shan (AEP/Physics) and Kin Fai Mak (Physics).
KIC Postdoctoral Theory Fellows
Dr. Jason Kim, PhD University of Pennsylvania (Bioengineering)
Jason’s research interest is engineering complex systems such as metamaterials and neural networks to design advanced functions. Itai Cohen (LASSP/Physics) is his faculty sponsor.
Dr. Dan Mao, PhD MIT (Physics)
Dan’s research focuses on strongly correlated quantum matter, especially the intriguing phases of matter that can emerge from correlated electron systems. Eun-Ah Kim (LASSP/Physics), Debanjan Chowdhury (LASSP/Physics), and Chao-Ming Jian (LASSP/Physics) are her faculty sponsors.
Dr. Yuri Lensky, PhD Stanford University (Physics)
KIC Graduate Fellows
Yulan Chen, Knight@KIC Fellow 2022-2023
Materials Science and Engineering, working in the research group of Amal El-Ghazaly. As a KIC graduate fellow, Yulan will work to image the spin textures of high MS NPs to determine the size range where the single-domain state can be achieved. In collaboration with the Muller group, the Fe-Co NPs of various size will be imaged using the new microscope with the smaller probe and in conjunction with the ptychography information. Subsequent analysis will be used to validate our simulation- and experimentally-informed hypotheses of the four main magnetization regimes of Fe-Co NPs as a function of sizes around the single-domain limit. These results will, for the first time, visually reveal the predicted spin textures at the nanoscale.
Thomas Ugras, Webb@KIC Fellow 2022-2023
Applied and Engineering Physics, working in the research groups of Richard Robinson and Kyle Shen. As a KIC graduate fellow, Thomas plans to develop a platform that will enable the rapid and accurate detection of spin filtering by chiral nanomaterials with a state-of-the-art very low energy electron diffraction (VLEED) detector. This project, and the technology developed throughout, is a tool to unlock a deeper understanding of chiral spin-selective materials and the rapid screening of them for spintronic applications.
Wei Wang, Knight Graduate Fellow 2022-2023
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, working in the research groups of Alyssa Apsel and Itai Cohen. As a KIC graduate fellow, Wei proposes to develop core technologies to enable a cilial platform to be responsive to environmental changes. Developing these capabilities will transform this platform from one that is preprogrammed to one that can generate emergent collective beating patterns that drive mixing, transport, and merging surface driven flows – all in response to a measured change in the local environment.