PEOPLE

Professor Nicholas L. Abbott

Tisch University Professor
Robert Frederick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Member of Graduate Fields of
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Materials Science and Engineering

Email: [email protected]

Office: Olin Hall, Room 360

Postdoctoral Researchers

Alexis de la cotte

Soon mo park

Graduate Students

Undergraduate Students

We encourage undergraduate students interested in research opportunities to reach out to Prof. Abbott by email.

Alumni

Graduate Students

Purvil Jani- Sharing of Strain Between Soft Biological Assemblies and Synthetic Liquid Crystals - PhD - Dec 2024
Ayushi Tripathi- Order Transition in Liquid Crystals Coupled to Heterogeneous Catalytic Processes - PhD - Dec 2024
Cindy Qiu- Context-Dependent Hydrophobic Interactions of α-Peptides - PhD - Oct 2023
Huaizhe Yu- Coupling Surface Reactions to Orientational Transitions of Liquid Crystals - PhD - Apr 2023
Xin Wang- Functional Soft Materials Designed using Colloids and Interfaces at and beyond Equilibrium - PhD - Oct 2022
Nanqi Bao- Ordering Transitions of Liquid Crystals Triggered by Interfacial Reactions - PhD - May 2022
Michael Tsuei- Amphiphilic Assemblies at Liquid Crystal Interfaces - PhD - Sep 2021
Yu Yang- Design of Functional Materials Based on Liquid Crystal-Polymer Composites - PhD - Jul 2021
Hector Fuster- Liquid Crystalline Materials as Templates for Engineering van der Waals Interactions - PhD - May 2021
Hongseung Yeon- Influence of Nanoscopic Heterogeneity on Hydrophobic Interactions - PhD - 2019
Robert Gottlieb-Molecular Self-Assembly Templated by Liquid Crystal Defects - MS - December 2017
Tim Smith- Redox-Dependent Transformations in Molecular Self-Assembly of Ferrocenyl Surfactants - PhD - December 2017
Reza Abasi- Design of Functional Thin Films - PhD - October 2017
Travis Nelson- Endotoxin-induced ordering transitions in liquid crystalline systems - MS - May 2017
Maggie Herron-Design and Characterization of Bioactive Thin Films - PhD - December 2016
Xiaoguang Wang- Liquid Crystal Templated Assembly of Colloids and Molecules - PhD - September 2016
Emre Bukusoglu- Design of Functional Materials Based on Confined Liquid Crystals - PhD - December 2015
Daniel Abras- Dynamics of Nanoparticles in Mesogenic Solvents - PhD - December 2015
Marco A. Bedolla Pantoja- Design Principles for Functional Liquid Crystals - PhD - December 2015
Peter Mushenheim- Design of Active and Anisotropic Soft Matter - PhD - August 2015
Mohit Goel- Understanding the Interactions of Peptides with Abiotic Surfaces: Towards Water Free Biologics - MS - May 2015
Rishabh Jain- Characterization and Design of Biotic/Abiotic Interfaces - PhD - December 2014
Derek Ma- Hydrophobic Interactions and Sequence-Directed Assembly - PhD - August 2014
Dan Miller- Physiochemical Principles for the Design of Functional Materials based on Liquid Crystalline Droplets - PhD - August 2014
Rebecca J. Carlton- Ordering Transitions at the Liquid Crystal-Aqueous Interface - PhD - May 2014
Jacob T. Hunter- Adsorbate-Induced Ordering Transitions of Nematic Liquid Crystals - PhD - May 2014
Lie Na Tan- Bioanalytics of Microvesicles based on Liquid Crystals - PhD - December 2013
Sebastian Gast- Study of the Modulation of Hydrophobic Interactions by Electrostatic Interactions - Stuttgart-Madison Two-Way Exch - July 2013
Burcu Selin Aytar- Active and External Control over the Delivery of DNA to Cells using a Redox-Active, Ferrocene-Containing Cationic Lipid - PhD - December 2012
John Muller- Biophysical Characterization of the Interactions of Nucleic Acids and Ferrocenyl Amphiphiles - PhD - December 2012
Yiqun Bai- Anchoring of Liquid Crystals on Biomolecular Interfaces - PhD - December 2011
Claribel Acevedo-Velez- Impact of Chemical Nanopatterns on Directed Assembly - PhD - December 2011
Elise Huang- Cell-Substrate Interaction: Development of tools to Investigate SubstrateSupport in Cardiomyogensis and to Visualize Cell-Substrate Interaction - PhD - August 2011

Xiaoyang Liu- Spatial and Temporal patterning of surfactants and micelles in Microfluidic Channels - PhD - December 2010
Michael I. Kinsinger- Design and Synthesis of Multifunctional Amphiphilic Polymers to Tailor the Properties of Aqueous-Liquid Crystal Interfaces - PhD - May 2010
I-Hsin Lin- Characterization of Amphiphile-Induced Ordering Transitions at Aqueous-Liquid Crystal Interfaces - PhD - December 2009
Gary M. Koenig, Jr.- Interactions Between Particles and Liquid Crystals: Local Ordering and Driven Assembly - PhD - December 2009
Aaron Lowe- Surface Engineering for Biomolecular Analysis using Liquid Crystals - PhD - August 2009
Jugal K. Gupta- Effects of Confinement and Interfacial Chemistry on the Ordering of Liquid Crystals - PhD - May 2009
Manan Chopra- Molecular Simulations of Rare Events - PhD - August 2008
Sarah Teren- Understanding the Spatial and Temporal Patterning of the Orientations of Liquid Crystals at Lipid-Laden Interfaces in the Presence of Phospholipase A2 - MS - August 2007
Katie D. Cadwell- Analyte-Induced Ordering Transitions of Liquid Crystals at Chemically Functionalized Interfaces - PhD - August 2007
Melissa E. Hays- Interactions of Polymers and Redox-Active Surfactants - PhD - May 2007
Frank P. Hubbard- Investigation of Aggregate Microstructures Formed by Light-Sensitive Surfactants - PhD - December 2006
Guiyu Bai- Interfacial Transport Driven by Redox-active Surfactants - PhD - August 2005
Peer N. Zschoerper- Liquid Crystals at Lipid-laden Interfaces - December 2005
Matthew L. Tingey- Amplification of Biomolecular Interactions Using Liquid Crystals and Nanostructured Surfaces - PhD - December 2005
Brian H. Clare- Surface Anchoring of Liquid Crystals in Contact with Functionalized Organic Thin Films - PhD - December 2005
Luis A. Tercero- Orientational behavior of nematic liquid crystals on surfaces presenting bound virus particles - MS - August 2003
Maren K. Daschner- Lateral organization of proteins bound to biomimetic interfaces coupled to thermotropic liquid crystals - MS - August 2003
Jeffrey M. Brake- Imaging of phenomena at an aqueous-liquid crystal interface through changes in the orientation of liquid crystals - PhD - August 2003
Craig A. Rosslee- Novel applications of ferrocene based surfactants - PhD - August 2003
Justin J. Skaife- Amplification and transduction of Biospecific Interactions at surfaces by using liquid crystals - PhD - May 2001
Lei Yin- No thesis. Report title: Verification of the Gibbs adsorption equation at the solid-liquid interface and a study of electrochemically-induced spreading of aqueous solutions of redox-active surfactant - MS - May 2002
Yuedong Gu- Topological Defects Formed in Liquid Crystals Containing Solid Microspheres with Tailored Surface Properties - MS - August 2001
Jason Y. Shin- Dynamic Interfacial Properties of Aqueous Surfactant Solutions - PhD - May 2001
Rahul R. Shah- Novel Approaches to the Design and Characteriza- Tion of Organic Surfaces - PhD - December 2000
Nihal Aydogan- Design of Surfactant Molecules for Active and Passive Control of Surface and Bulk Properties of Aqueous Solutions - PhD - May 2001
Lana Iva Jong- Investigations of the Interfacial Properties of Aqueous Solutions of Disulfide-Containing Surfactants - PhD - 1999
Benedict Silvestre Gallardo- Ferrocenyl Surfactants at the Surface of Water: Principles for Active Control of the Interfacial Properties of Aqueous Solutions - PhD - 1997

Undergraduate Students

Bryan Kim- REU student - Investigation of Pd-Au Alloys for Sensing and Actuation - 2023
Lourdes Latasa- Understanding Colloidal Aggregation and Assembly Dynamics at Liquid Crystal Interfaces in the Context of Characterizing Microplastics - 2023
Oluwagbotemi Akinsoji- REU student - 2022
Ritwick Sinha- Exploring Surface Tension Properties of n-Dodecyl-B-D-Maltoside-containing Surfactants in Water
Danielle Pike- Investigation of Colloidal Liquid Crystal Intermolecular Interactions
Hayley Nilles- Interactions of Amphiphiles at Aqueous-Liquid Crystal Interfaces
Christina Lee- Chemoresponsive Liquid Crystals

Postdoctoral Researchers and Visiting Scientists

Soumik Das, PhD - Assistant Professor - Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India - 2023
Sangchul Roh, PhD - Assistant Professor - Chonnam National University, South Korea - 2023
Michael Reynolds, PhD - Postdoctoral Researcher - Miskin Group, University of Pennsylvania - 2022
Qingkun Liu, PhD - 2022
Mingxin He, PhD - Postdoctoral Researcher - Gang Group, Columbia University - 2022
JungHyun Noh, PhD
Karthik Nayani, PhD - Assistant Professor - University of Arkansas
Hirobumi Shibata, PhD - Visiting Professor - Chiba Institute of Technology
Young-ki Kim, PhD - Assistant Professor - Pohang University of Science and Technology, South Korea
Rahul Mangal, PhD
Chulsoon Park, PhD
Kazuki Iwabata, PhD
Chenxuan Wang, PhD - Research Associate
Guksik Lee - Visiting Research Associate - Research Experience for Undergraduates Student - Tokyo Institute of Technology
Julie Last - PhD - Research Associate
Zhongqiang Yang - PhD - Research Associate
Gaurav Pranami - PhD - Research Associate
Santanu K. Pal - PhD - Research Associate
Abhijit Dan - PhD
Sangwook Choi - PhD - CEO, NanoSurface Biomedical
Eddie Ramos (REU student) - University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez campus
Chiharu Takahashi - Tokyo Institute of Technology
Hiroki Eimura - University of Tokyo
Qi Wang - Tsinghua University
Yuan Xu - Tsinghua University
Ashley Adams - Research Experience for Teachers - Jefferson Middle School, Madison, WI
Kelvin Smith - Research Experience for Undergraduates Student - Auburn University
Heberth A Diestra Cruz - Visiting PhD Student - University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez
Frederic Mondiot, PhD - Research Associates

Caterina Maria Tone - Visiting Graduate Student - University of Calabria (UNICAL)
Maria Beatriz Costa Madeira - University of Pennsylvania
Jinlu Liu - Zhejiang University, China
Xiaoping Hu - Visiting Professor - Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China
Ankit Agarwal, PhD - Assistant Scientist
Aaron Lowe, PhD - Research Associate
Tyler Nelson - Research Intern
Yutaka Takahashi - Visiting Research Associate - University of Tokyo
Kris Richardson - Research Experience for Undergraduates Student - University of Toledo
Jose Alberto Gomez Jr. - Research Experience for Undergraduates Student - Tecnológico de Monterrey (Monterrey Tech)
Gladys Roldan - Research Experience for Undergraduates Student - Polytechnic University
Eduardo Mariño fernández - Research Experience for Undergraduates Student - Universidad Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Luis Daniel Vega Alonso - Research Experience for Undergraduates Student - Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla
Angel D. Cortés Morales - Research Experience for Undergraduates Student - University of Puerto Rico - Mayagüez
Vicki Meli, PhD - Research Associate
Claire Pizzey, PhD - Research Associate
Seya Ito, PhD - Visiting Research Associate - Tokyo University of Science, Japan
Joon-Seo Park, PhD - Research Associate
Tatsuo Maruyama, PhD - Visiting Asst. Professor - Tokyo University
Chang-Hyun Jang, PhD - Research Associate
Nathan Lockwood, PhD - Research Associate
Govindaraju Thimmaiah, PhD - Research Associate
Yung-Jung Hsu, PhD - Visiting Assistant Scientist - National Tsing Hua University
Yukishige Kondo, PhD - Visiting Assistant Professor - Tokyo University
Elvira Tjipto - Visiting Research Associate - University of Melbourne, Australia
Yan-Yeung Luk, PhD - Research Associate
Kun-Lin Yang, PhD - Research Associate
Koji Tsuchiya - Visiting Associate Scientist - Tokyo University of Science, Japan
Seung-Ryeol Kim, PhD - Research Associate