R. Helen Zha

Principal Investigator

Dr. Helen Zha received her B.Sc. (2007) from MIT and her Ph.D. (2013) from Northwestern University in Materials Science & Engineering. After pursuing postdoctoral research at Eindhoven University of Technology and UC Berkeley, Helen started as a tenure-track assistant professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering in 2018. She is an affiliate faculty in the Biochemistry and Biophysics graduate program and a member of the Center for Engineering and Precision Medicine. Additionally, Helen is an Associate Director of the recently founded NY Fashion Innovation Center.

Helen’s research focuses on the study of natural materials and the synthesis of biomimetic materials. Helen has received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award and the National Institutes of Health R35 MIRA Early Career grant. She is a Scialog fellow and was named an Emerging Investigator by RSC Biomaterials Sciences in 2019.

Externally, Helen was the 2023 Chair of the Biomaterials program area of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. She is also an active member of the American Chemical Society and the Society for Biomaterials.

Hannah Doss

Graduate Student

Hannah graduated in 2015 from Northeastern University with her Bachelor's of Science in Chemical Engineering. After graduating, Hannah worked for three years at Bristol-Myers Squibb developing and optimizing chromatographic and filtration processes, and supporting the commercial production of protein therapeutics. Hannah is originally from Cape Elizabeth, Maine.

Jeongae Kim

Graduate Student

Jeongae graduated in 2015 with her Bachelor’s of Science in Chemical Engineering and in 2017 with her Master’s of Engineering in Chemical Engineering from Chonbuk National University. Jeongae was born and raised in South Korea.

Jasmine Yang

Graduate Student

Jasmine graduated from Trinity University in 2020 with her Bachelor's of Science in Engineering Science. She was born and raised in Victoria, Texas.

Angela Moser

Graduate Student

Angela graduated from the Colorado School of Mines in 2017 with a B.S. in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, and in 2018 with a B.S. in Chemistry. Before starting graduate school, Angela worked as an Application Engineer at MilliporeSigma for 3 years, where she helped to develop novel membrane chromatography devices for downstream processing of biotherapeutics. Angela grew up in Ellicott, Colorado.

Sahiti Tamirisakandala

Graduate Student

Sahiti graduated from Ohio State University in 2022 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Chemical Engineering. She is originally from Solon, Ohio.

Vrushali Varude

Graduate Student

Vrushali graduated from the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai in 2022 with her Bachelor’s of Science in Chemical Engineering. She was born and raised in India.

Robert Carr

Graduate Student

Robert graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2022. He is originally from Greenwich, NY.

PhD Graduates and Postdoctoral Fellows:

• Caleb Wigham (December 2023)

• Alex Connor (June 2023: Associate at McKinsey & Associates in Austin, Texas)

• Tanner Fink (December 2022: postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University in Mirkin lab)

• Amrita Sarkar (tenure-track Assistant Professor at Montclair State University)

Undergraduate Researchers:

• Henry O’Donnell (Senior Undergraduate Chemical Engineering Student at RPI)

• Fina Corripio (pursuing a MBA at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)

• Max Nigogosyan

• Shweta Burgula (pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Delaware)

• Katherine Cianciotti (Engineer at Moderna)

• Robin Newman (Bioprocess Engineering at Novartis Gene Therapies)

• Ashley Hersey (pursuing a Ph.D. at Georgia Tech)

• Mary Margaret St. Cruz (pursuing a Ph.D. at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)

• Janaya Nelson

• Jack Zhu

• Chuhan Yuan

• Benjamin Carlson (Operations Engineering at Boston Metals)

• Christina Yang (pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Washington)

• Lauren Salee

• Alex LaClair