Team


Principal Investigator

Ritu Raman, PhD is the Eugene Bell Career Development Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. Prof. Raman has received several recognitions for scientific innovation, including the NSF CAREER Award, the Army Research Office YIP Award, the Office of Naval Research YIP Award, and being named a Kavli Fellow by the National Academy of Sciences. She has also been named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 and MIT Technology Review 35 Innovators Under 35 lists. Dr. Raman is the author of the MIT Press book Biofabrication. She is passionate about increasing diversity in STEM and has championed many initiatives to empower women in science, including serving as a AAAS IF/THEN ambassador and founding the Women in Innovation and STEM Database at MIT (WISDM).

Prof. Raman received her BS magna cum laude from Cornell University and her PhD as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She completed her postdoctoral training with Prof. Robert Langer at MIT as a L’Oréal For Women in Science Fellow and a NASEM Ford Foundation Fellow.
Faculty Website | Personal Website

The Raman Lab accepts graduate students from all relevant departments at MIT. Prof. Raman is affiliated with Robotics at MIT, the Program in Polymers and Soft Matter, the Center for Neurobiological Engineering, the Aging Brain Initiative at the Picower Institute, and the Center for Multi-Cellular Engineered Living Systems.

Administrative Staff

Tyler Butler, administrative assistant in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Postdocs

Ferdows Afghah, PhD
Postdoctoral Associate
PhD BME,
Sabanci University ’20
Tamara Rossy, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
PhD BioE,
EPFL ’23
Ronald Heisser, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
PhD MechE,
Cornell University ’23
Sina Kheiri, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
PhD MechE,
University of Toronto ’23

Graduate Students

Angel Bu, MechE | NSF Fellow
BS BME, University of Florida ’21
Nicolas Castro, MechE
BS BME, Georgia Tech ’20
Maheera Bawa, MechE | NSF Fellow
BS MechE, MIT ’23
Jessica Shah, HST MEMP | NSF Fellow
BS BME, Duke ’23
Brandon Rios, MechE | NSF Fellow
BS BME, WUSTL ’21
Laura Schwendeman, MechE
BS MechE, MIT ’23
Sonika Kohli, MechE | NSF Fellow
BS BME, Penn State ’24

Undergraduate Students & Summer Interns

Ava Ladd,
BS MechE, MIT ’26
Jane Bai,
MS MechE, MIT ’25
Isabella Weiner,
BS, Notre Dame ’25
Vera McCoy,
BS Biology, MIT ’26
Farrah Ye,
BS, MechE ’26
Pavankumar Umashankar,
BS, UMBC ’25

Alumni

Naomi Lynch
MS MechE, MIT ’23
Liz Calle, MD, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow ’21-’23
Tara Sheehan
BS MechE, MIT ’24
Karina Shah,
High School Intern