Many of our members are available to mentor undergraduates who have questions about life after graduation, applying to graduate school, or life in general. If you’re interested, please contact our President, Dan Minahan (dminahan@udel.edu), with the name of the mentor you’re interested in speaking with.
Available Mentors
Ellen Bloom
Lab: Elliott Lab
Research: Multiscale mechanics of tendon and tendinopathy
Experience: I did undergraduate research for two and a half years, where I used mechanical testing and computational modeling to study nerve endings in the skin.
Degree(s): BS in Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota
Hobbies: I enjoy cooking and baking, as well as dogs (even though I don’t have my own!). I also enjoy swimming, running, watching movies, and trying to keep houseplants alive.
Margot Farnham
Lab: Price Lab
Research: Cartilage biomechanics (both experimental and computational modeling)
Experience: 2 summers working as a mechanical engineer primarily doing CAD modeling and fabrication of photonic devices and antennas, 9 month project developing 2 devices for improving septal perforation procedures, 4-month undergraduate research developing a training device for surgeons performing endoscopic procedures
Degree(s): Bucknell University, BS in Biomedical Engineering
Hobbies: Hiking & playing outside, yoga, biking, cooking, eating, playing with dogs, going to concerts/music festivals
Rachel Gilbert
Lab: Gleghorn Lab
Research: mechanics of embryonic development- focus on the lung and mechanotransduction. Using a combination of ex vivo mouse models and in vitro microfluidic based approaches.
Experience: While at Cornell worked on nuclear mechanics of breast cancer cells in confined migration and nuclear rupture, as well as CRISPR for introduction of N-terminal fluorophore on endogenous protein. While at NIH, used FISH to localize mRNA during cell migration.
Degree(s):
B.S. – Biological Engineering, Cornell University, New York (2014)
M. Eng.- Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University, New York (2015)
Advisor at Cornell- Dr. Jan Lammerding
Hobbies: hiking, walking my dog, baking, backyard bbqs
Ryan Locke
Lab: Musculoskeletal Development and Rehabilitation Lab (Killian Lab)
Research: Tendon/ligament-to-bone attachment healing, repair, and regeneration using genetics and scaffold/hydrogel repair techniques
Experience: 2 years working with Dr. Christopher Price on characterization of post-traumatic osteoarthritis, Orthopaedics in Action development with The Perry Initiative, 5 months of research at Rutgers University designing and mechanically testing meniscus and intervertebral disc scaffolds for complete arthroplasty
Degree(s): University of Delaware, BS in Biomedical Engineering
Hobbies: Tennis, gym, biking (mountain & road), running, soccer, pups, cooking, netflix/hbo
Dan Minahan
Lab: Gleghorn Lab
Research Interests: Regenerative medicine, how mechanical forces influence growth and development, and global health applications
Previous Research: Oral drug delivery systems – dosage forms ranging in shape and size for treatment of HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, and diabetes. Development of platforms for evaluating perfusion and toxicity of drug formulations. Tissue engineering – development of lumenal based bioreactor for implementation in cancer research within the gastrointestinal tract. Characterization – Material and device testing in various failure modes (fatigue, tension, compression, etc.) (2 years)
Other Experience: Commercial bioreactor development and biomaterial characterization with concentration in lumen (cardiovascular), tendon, and bone/cartilage at Instron Corp. (9 months). Medical device development with focus in catheters and pump based systems, ISO 13485 and FDA compliant (6 months)
Degree(s): B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA (2015)
Hobbies: Playing music (piano, guitar), hiking, basketball, and gaming (video & board)
Shantanu Pradhan
Lab: Slater Lab
Research: Cancer tissue engineering, vascular modeling, angiogenesis, polymer/biomaterial synthesis and characterization, microfluidics. Investigating tumor dormancy within 3D PEG-based hydrogels. Developing 3D microfluidic models for investigating interactions between circulating tumor cells and blood vessels
Experience: Developing 3D models of adipogenic differentiation for investigating the link between obesity-induced inflammation and colon cancer. Developing in vitro platforms for high-throughput testing of anti-cancer drugs
Degree(s):
Ph.D. – Chemical Engineering, Auburn University, Alabama (2016); Advisor – Dr. Elizabeth Lipke
B.Tech. – Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, India (2010)
Hobbies: Hiking, reading, cooking, watching movies
John Sperduto
Lab: Slater Lab
Research: Metastatic Cancer, Cellular Biology, Mechanotransduction, Microfluidics, Lab-on-a-Chip, Organ-on-a-Chip
– Investigating the function of exosomes in the pathogenesis of metastatic cancer
– Investigating the use of exosomes as predictive biomarkers for risk assessment, detection, diagnosis and prognosis of cancer
– Developing novel organ-on-a-chip device for studying metastatic cancer
Experience:
– ~4 month internship in Operations & Manufacturing Engineering.
– Participated in NSF REU in Green Energy Technology at Rutgers University
– ~2 year membership of Mazzeo Research Group at Rutgers University researching tunable energy-harvesting from wind using flapping-based devices with integrated soft actuators
– ~3 year member of Biomaterials Group at TCNJ researching electrospinning, microfluidics, and biofabrication.
– ~5 year participant in BajaSAE at TCNJ as manager, member, and advisor
Degree(s): BS in Mechanical Engineering from The College of New Jersey (TCNJ)
Hobbies: Writing and reading; trail-running and soccer; painting, drawing, woodworking, machining, metalworking; spending as much time at the beach as possible; and enjoying the great state of NJ!
Danielle Valcourt
Lab: Day Lab
Research: Polymeric nanoparticles as multifunctional platforms for the treatment of triple negative breast cancer
Experience: 2 years at UMass Memorial Medical School doing independent high school research on the endocycle (characteristic cell growth in cancer) in fruit flies; 4 months of undergrad research on the decapentaplegic gradient in the imaginal discs of fruit flies (how the wings develop); Research Experience for Undergraduates at the University of Houston making a high-throughput screening technique for drug precursors
Degree(s): University of Notre Dame, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Hobbies: tennis, soccer, dance, sudokus, sketching, traveling