Nicole Bacca

Nicole Bacca is a Mechanical Engineering PhD Candidate and Research Fellow. Previous REU/RET Projects include: Multimaterial 3D Printing of Multifunctional Materials (REU, 2025)

Thomas Bifano

2026 REU Project: In a Heartbeat 2026 RET Project: Light in the Bucket Dr. Thomas Bifano directs the Bifano Lab and the Boston University Photonics Center. His research focuses on modeling, design, production, and use of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) in optical instruments and photonic devices. He also works on biomedical imaging applications and microscopy. Previous […]

Keith Brown

Dr. Brown primarily studies polymers and smart fluids in order to measure their useful properties, and the order in which they emerge, defining importance. Namely, he seeks to develop methods which increase the throughput of materials research using scanning probe lithography, autonomous experimentation, additive manufacturing, and combinatorial chemistry. Previous REU/RET Projects Include: Nanocombinatorial Electrochemistry for […]

Christopher Chen

Dr. Christopher Chen is the principal investigator at the Tissue Microfabrication Lab. The lab’s projects include vascular, cardiac, and stem cell biology and engineering. Goals of the lab include building biomimetic tissues as experimental models and to direct tissue remodeling and regeneration through understanding how adhesive, mechanical and biochemical interactions drive cell and tissue function.  Previous REU/RET Projects include: Developing Anchoring Methods to Generate and Mature […]

Kamil Ekinci

Professor Kamil Ekinci’s research focuses on physical and biological phenomena at the nanometer length scales. His group uses state-of-the-art nanofabrication techniques to create functional micro and nanostructures. They use these small structures along with highly sensitive electrical and optical measurement techniques to study diverse fundamental phenomena in solid mechanics, fluid dynamics and biological physics. They […]

Mustafa Cagatay Karakan

Dr. Mustafa Cagatay Karakan is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Biological Design Center. Previous REU/RET Projects include: Developing Anchoring Methods to Generate and Mature 3D-Engineered Tissues (REU, 2025)  Microfluidic Platform for Electrical Measurements on Biofilms (2022) Microhydraulic actuation of PDMS microchannels (2018) Scaffolds for Heart Tissue Engineering and their Mechanical Responses (2018)

Huate Li

Dr. Huate Li was a graduate student in the Bifano Lab. Previous REU/RET Projects include: Using Adaptive Optics to Calibrate Extended Field of Depth Adaptive Scanning Optical Microscope (EDOF-ASOM) with a MEMS Deformable Mirror (2018)

Le Li

Dr. Le Li was a graduate student in the Nanometer Scale Engineering Lab (NEMS) Lab. Previous REU/RET Projects include: Mathematical Model for Liquid-Vapor Thermal Expansion Soft Actuators (2018) Patterned Enzymatic Growth of Materials (2017) Knudsen Transport in Atomically-Smooth Nanochannels (2015)  

Christos Michas

Dr. Christos Michas was a graduate student in the Tissue Microfabrication Lab. Previous REU/RET Projects include: Exploratory Study of Contractile Force in Cardiomyocytes (2018)