Education
Chemical engineering throughout, with the computational and biological training layered on deliberately rather than by accident.
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2021–2025
Ph.D., Chemical Engineering · North Carolina State University
GPA 4.0/4.0.
Thesis: Advancing Biosensors Through Computational Modeling, AI, and CRISPR Technology.
James K. Ferrell Outstanding Ph.D. Graduate Award, Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.AdvisorProf. Qingshan Wei
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2019–2021
M.Sc., Chemical Engineering · University of Houston
Research: Aggregation of tumor suppressor mutant p53 in human cells. Coursework in biomaterials, biomedical microdevices, and tissue engineering.AdvisorProf. Peter Vekilov
Experience
Academic research throughout, with one deliberate detour into industry.
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2026–now
Postdoctoral Scholar · UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute
AI and high-performance computing for genomics, biotechnology, and advanced materials.AdvisorsProf. Mircea Teodorescu · Prof. Mohammed Mostajo-Radji · Prof. David Haussler
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2026
Visiting Scholar · Wei Research Group, NC State University
January to March. AI agents for biosensors.AdvisorProf. Qingshan Wei
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2021–2025
Graduate Research Assistant · Wei Research Group, NC State University
Built the wearable plant sensing, CRISPR diagnostics, liquid-metal plasmonics, and AI-for-colorimetric-sensing programs described above. Lab group leader, 2023 to 2025. Graduate recruiting captain for the department for three consecutive years.AdvisorProf. Qingshan Wei
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2024
Machine Learning Intern · Pairwise, Durham, North Carolina
Advanced the use of machine learning to improve efficiency predictions for gene editing tools, helping enhance the efficiency of Pairwise's editing pipeline.
With the Pairwise team, Durham, North Carolina. -
2022–2025
Graduate Teaching Assistant · NC State Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Seven appointments across six courses: Chemical Reaction Engineering and Transport Processes (graduate), Process Control, Thermodynamics II, and Introduction to Chemical Engineering Analysis. -
2019–2021
Graduate Research and Teaching Assistant · University of Houston
Aggregation of tumor suppressor mutant p53 in human cells. Where the wet-lab molecular biology came from.
Talks, Awards, and Funding
Invited talks and seminars
- Shape and Size-Dependent Plasmonic Resonances of Liquid Metal Nanoparticles.
CBE Ph.D. Student Research Seminars, NC State, March 2025 - Artificial Intelligence for Early Plant Disease Detection.
9th Annual Plant Science Symposium, University of Florida, January 2025 - Revolutionizing Disease Detection: Advanced AI Solutions for Human and Plant Health.
BioLunch Seminar Series, NC State, July 2024
Plus 14 conference oral presentations (AIChE, ACS National Meetings, AI in Agriculture) and 7 poster presentations.
Selected honors
- James K. Ferrell Outstanding Ph.D. Graduate Award, the department's highest honor for a graduating Ph.D., Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, NC State, 2026
- Top Viewed Article, Advanced Functional Materials (Wiley), 2025, for Liquid Metal-Based Biosensors: Fundamentals and Applications
- 1st Place Pitch, Annual Graduate Research Showcase, NC State CALS, 2025
- Norma L. Trolinder Graduate Student Award, NC State CALS and N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative, 2024
- Outstanding Referee of the Month, Communications Materials, 2024
- Top Reviewer Award, Digital Chemical Engineering, 2024
- Selected Mentee, Bayer Crop Science University Mentoring Program, 2024
- 3rd Place, BASF Two-Minute Pitch and Bayer NextGen Pitch Competitions, 2023 and 2024
- Finalist, Linde Exceptional TA Award, NC State Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, 2023
Funding and fellowships
- Graduate Student Grant Award, N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative, 2024. $34,000 plus tuition
- Mentored Teaching Fellowship, NC State College of Engineering, 2024 to 2025
- Student Travel Award, Plant Science Symposium, University of Florida, 2024
- Travel Grant, Foundations of Process Analytics and Machine Learning, 2023
- Professional Development Scholarship, CMI Emerging and Infectious Diseases Division, 2023
Teaching, Mentoring, and Service
Teaching
At NC State I co-developed and co-taught Introduction to Chemical Engineering Analysis (CHE 225), rebuilding the course around Python so that students meet data science inside the chemical engineering core rather than beside it. The College of Engineering recognized this work with the Mentored Teaching Fellowship in 2024 and 2025. I also co-taught Thermodynamics II and served as teaching assistant for Chemical Reaction Engineering and Transport Processes (graduate) and Process Control (undergraduate). Finalist for the Linde Exceptional TA Award, 2023.
Mentoring
I have served as direct research mentor to more than ten undergraduate, master's, and high-school researchers. Their projects spanned CRISPR assay development, machine learning for sensor data, and liquid-metal nanoparticle synthesis. Several have gone on to graduate study and to positions in industry.
Service
Peer reviewer for eleven journals: Communications Materials, Nano-Micro Letters, Digital Discovery, Digital Chemical Engineering, International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, Journal of Superintelligence, Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, Processes, Biomicrofluidics, Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association, and IEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology. Graduate Recruiting Captain for the NC State Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering for three consecutive years, and lab group leader in the Wei Research Group.
Certifications and Formal Training
The machine learning and genomics course sequences I worked through while moving from wet-lab chemical engineering into computational work. Listed by program rather than by certificate.
- Deep Learning Specialization DeepLearning.AI · 2021 Neural Networks and Deep Learning; Improving Deep Neural Networks (hyperparameter tuning, regularization, optimization); Structuring Machine Learning Projects; Convolutional Neural Networks; Sequence Models.
- TensorFlow Developer Professional Certificate DeepLearning.AI · 2021 Introduction to TensorFlow for AI, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning; Convolutional Neural Networks in TensorFlow; Natural Language Processing in TensorFlow; Sequences, Time Series and Prediction.
- Mathematics for Machine Learning Imperial College London · 2022 Linear Algebra; Multivariate Calculus; Principal Component Analysis.
- Genomics and cancer biology Johns Hopkins University · 2021–2022 Introduction to Genomic Technologies; Python for Genomic Data Science; Introduction to the Biology of Cancer.
- Machine learning and data engineering Stanford Online, IBM, Google, UC Davis · 2021–2022 Machine Learning (Stanford Online); Deep Neural Networks with PyTorch (IBM); Unsupervised Machine Learning (IBM); Data Analysis with R Programming (Google); SQL for Data Science (UC Davis); Image Processing with Python.
- AI for Medical Diagnosis DeepLearning.AI · 2022 Deep learning applied to medical imaging, diagnosis, and prognosis.