Team


Principal Investigator

Ritu Raman, PhD is the Eugene Bell Career Development Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. Her lab is centered on 4D tissue engineering of biological actuators for applications in medicine and machines. Ritu’s research has received several recognitions including the NSF CAREER Award, the Army Research Office YIP Award, and the Office of Naval Research YIP Award. She is also the recipient of the Spira Award for Excellence in Teaching at MIT and the author of the MIT Press book Biofabrication.

Prof. Raman received her BS from Cornell University and her PhD as an NSF Fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She completed her postdoctoral research as a L’Oréal For Women in Science Fellow and NASEM Ford Foundation Fellow with Prof. Robert Langer at MIT.

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. Faculty Website

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 | CNBE T32 Fellow
BS MechE, MIT ’23
Sonika Kohli, MechE | NSF Fellow
BS BME, Penn State ’24
Ashley Margetts, MechE | Raman/Culpepper Lab
BS MechE, MIT ’24

Undergraduate Students

Ava Ladd,
BS MechE, MIT ’26
Jane Bai,
BS/MS MechE, MIT ’25
Isabella Weiner,
BS, Notre Dame ’25
Annika Marschner,
BS MechE, 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
Vera McCoy,
BS Biology, MIT ’26
Karina Shah,
High School Intern