Members

Faculty

Prof. Justus C. Ndukaife Education Ph.D., Electrical Engineering Purdue University M.S., Electrical Engineering Purdue University B.S. (Ist Class Honors), Electrical Engineering University of Lagos, Nigeria Awards & Honors 2024 Vanderbilt Institute of Nanoscale Science & Engineering (VINSE) High Impact Paper Award 2024 The Innovative Research Award, Vanderbilt School of Engineering (Recognizes a faculty member who has developed novel methodologies or technologies that have substantially advanced their field of study) 2023 Best and Brightest: Office of Naval Research (ONR) 2024 Young Investigator Program Award 2023 NIH R35 Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) at NIGMS 2023 Optica Kaminow Outstanding Early Career Professional Prize 2023 Optica Challenge Prize 2023 SPIE Senior Membership 2023 IEEE Senior Membership 2023 Optica Society (formerly Optical Society of America) Senior Membership 2023 Named Nanoscale Emerging Investigator in Nanotechnology and Nanoscience 2022 NSF CAREER Award 2021 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research 2020 Named a Global Rising Star of Light by Nature’s Light Science and Applications journal 2020 Alumni Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Award 2019 Junior Faculty Teaching Fellowship Award 2019 Vanderbilt Provost Research Studios Award 2018 Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Award 2017 The year 2017 Prize in Physics by Dimitris N. Chorafas Foundation in recognition of work on “plasmon nano-optical tweezers” 2016 Outstanding Research Award, College of Engineering, Purdue University 2016 Elected as Co-chair of 2018 Gordon Research Seminar on Plasmonics and Nanophotonics 2015 Golden Torch Award by National Society of Black Engineers: Named “Graduate Student of the Year” 2015 Best Paper Award at the ASME Society-Wide Micro and Nanotechnology Forum

Postdoctoral Lab Members

Dr. Abayomi Emmanuel Opadele Education Ph.D., Biomedical Science and Engineering, Hokkaido University, Japan Abayomi Opadele is currently a Postdoctoral research fellow at Vanderbilt University under Prof. Ndukaife. My research investigates the development of an optical nanotweezers platform for analyzing single extracellular vesicle (EV) secretion by single cells as well as the novel engineering of EVs derived from alternative sources such as bovine and plants for understanding cellular response to EV-uptake. Abayomi was a MEXT fellow holding a PhD in Biomedical Science and Engineering at Hokkaido University, Japan where he studied the 'EV-cargo transfer hypothesis' to recipient cells and developed engineered extracellular vesicles (EVs) through a cholesterol-dependent pathway (lipid binding domain) and tested the engineered EV capacity for protein delivery to cancer cells.

Dr. Kewei Li Education Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Clemson University, US M.Eng., Material Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China B.Sc., Applied Physics, Shandong University, China Research Interests Metasurfaces, nanophotonics, advanced spectroscopy, ultrafast optics

PhD Students

	Ikjun Hong (Ph.D. Student in Electrical and Computer Engineering) [Fall 2021- present] Education BSc. Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Seoul, South Korea MSc. Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Seoul, South Korea Research Interests All-dielectric metasurfaces, Resonant dielectric nanotweezers
	Theodore Anyika (Ph.D. Student in Electrical and Computer Engineering) [Fall 2021-present] Education BSc (First Class Honors) in Applied Physics from the University of Lagos, Nigeria Research Interests Nanophotonics and optofluidics for single extracellular vesicles analysis including machine learning approaches.
	Guodong Zhu (Ph.D. Student in Electrical and Computer Engineering) [August 2021-present] Education BSc. in Electrical Engineering from University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC, Chengdu) MSc. in Optical Engineering from Zhejiang University (ZJU, Hangzhou) Research Interests Multi-physics simulation, thermal metasurfaces, nanophotonic devices
	Maxwell Ugwu (Ph.D. Student in Interdisciplinary Materials Science) [August 2023-Present] Education BSc. in Chemistry, Caritas University, Nigeria MSc. In Chemistry, University of Nigeria, Nsukka Research Interests Spectroscopic optical nanotweezers for analysis of extracellular vesicles; surface passivation and functionalization for nanophotonic biosensors; and bio-orthogonal chemistry for EV analysis.

Masters Students

	Adam Pullen (pursuing a Masters degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering)
	Iman Faqih Iman Faqih is a Master’s student in Electrical and Computer Engineering, with a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University. Her academic and research interests lie at the intersection of electrical and biomedical engineering, where she explores innovative solutions to complex healthcare challenges.

Undergraduate Students

Estaban Zamora (pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering)

Former Lab members

	Chuchuan Hong (Ph.D. Student in Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering) [Aug 2018-May 2023] Current position Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Northwestern in Prof. Teri Odom’s Lab Education BSc. in Electrical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China MSc. in Electrical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle Research Interests Bionanophotonics, opto-thermo-electrohydrodynamics tweezers, and optofluidics. Awards & Honors 2021 Chuchuan Hong: Overall Best Paper Award in Vanderbilt School of Engineering 2021 Chuchuan Hong: C. F. Chen Best Award in Electrical Engineering at Vanderbilt
	Sen Yang (Ph.D. Student in Interdisciplinary Materials Science and Engineering) [Aug 2018-May 2023] Current position International Young Scientist Postdoctoral Fellow at Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Science Education BSc. in Optics, Harbin Institute of Technology MSc. in Optics, Harbin Institute of Technology Email sen.yang@vanderbilt.edu Research Interests All-dielectric metasurfaces, Photonic Crystal Optical Nanotweezer, Dielectric-antenna-enhanced light emission LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/sen-yang-164a60166 Awards & Honors 2022 Sen Yang: Overall Best Paper Award in Interdisciplinary Materials Science Program at Vanderbilt University 2020 Sen Yang: 3rd place prize, VINSE Nanoday presentation for his poster on “particle-assisted trapping in symmetry-breaking quasi-BIC system.
	Yuxi Jiang (MSc. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2021) Yuxi Jiang is now a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical Engineering at the University of Maryland. He joined Vanderbilt University in 2019 after receiving a bachelor’s degree at Jilin University with a major in Physics.
	Rayni Jules (Undergraduate Student in Electrical Engineering and Nanoscience) Rayni Jules is a senior majoring in Electrical Engineering with a concentration in Microelectronics and Computer Engineering at Vanderbilt University. He has performed research for the lab since Spring 2018 under the SyBBURE program. His research interests are diverse and include integrated nanophotonics, 2D nanomaterials, and neuromorphic engineering. In the future, he plans to attend graduate school or pursue a research position in the industry. He currently has worked in the VINSE cleanroom facilities for over three years and is the leader of a dance troupe.
	Paolo Dumancas (Undergraduate Student in Electrical Engineering) Paolo Dumancas is a junior studying Electrical Engineering with a minor in Applied Mathematics. He is an undergraduate researcher for the Spring 2019 semester, having been drawn to the interdisciplinary nature of the research area. His current interests include microfluidic systems, nanophotonics, and mechatronics and their applications to assistive technology and distributed energy resources. Additionally, as both an aspiring engineer and jazz musician, he is interested in the broad intersection of music and engineering technologies. He is also a Design Studio Mentor for the engineering school and an active member of the Vanderbilt Formula Electric Motorsports Team.
	Yesol Choi (rotation Ph.D. Student in Interdisciplinary Materials Science)
	Patrick Mudge (Undergraduate Student in Electrical Engineering)
	Irfan Sabri Bin Mohd Sabri (Undergraduate Student in Electrical Engineering, with a minor in Computer Science)