Food & Beverage
Repulpable Bio Spray Barrier
Waterborne spray platform: rheology-guided, probe-sonicated nanofillers; optional electrospun interlayer adds tortuosity and pinhole control; designed to debond during repulp.
Field of Expertise
Soft/programmable polymers & interfacial engineering: bio-inspired soft materials, self-assembly, thin-film patterning.
Additive manufacturing: extrusion-based bio 3D printing, SLA/FDM, sub-micron & multiphoton 3D printing (TTAP); electrospinning.
Micro/nanofabrication: interference/holographic lithography, microfluidics, cleanroom photolithography/RIE/thin-film deposition.
Colloids & nanocomposites: SAM-based surface modification and dispersion control.
Rheology, wetting/adhesion & surface metrology: rheometer, optical tensiometer (contact angle), optical profilometer.
Photonics & upconversion: photonic crystals, photon upconversion systems, light-driven soft matter.
Rapid prototyping & test fixtures: microfluidics and interfaces (3D printers + CO₂ laser).
Expertise
I am an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at CSULB and lead the Soft Materials & Interfaces Lab. My group integrates rheology and interfacial characterization with additive manufacturing (bio-extrusion, SLA/FDM, sub-micron/multiphoton 3D printing) and electrospinning to design functional soft-matter systems and testable prototypes. We routinely use a rheometer, optical tensiometer, and optical profilometer for data-driven formulation and film/surface analysis, and we build custom jigs and microfluidic devices via 3D printing and CO₂ laser fabrication.
Before CSULB, I was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at UMass Amherst (PSE) working on stimuli-responsive polymers, light-induced morphing of nanocomposite gels, and visible-light triplet-fusion photopolymerization for high-resolution 3D printing, alongside cleanroom microfabrication at Harvard CNS/UMass. Earlier work at Georgia Tech and KAIST established my track in photon upconversion, photonic crystals, and micro/nano-lithography.
I have published across Advanced Materials, JACS, ACS Photonics, Soft Matter, etc., and serve on the Editorial Board of Micromachines. Since 2020, I have built the lab’s interdisciplinary toolkit and secured competitive funding to support student-driven research and rapid prototyping for industry-facing problems.