Past Group Members – Armani Research Lab

One question that every student and post-doc should ask of a potential advisor is: Where do your students go after graduation? My goal for my group members is for them to get their “dream job”. The definition of this position is different for every individual because everyone is unique. Moreover, our lab is home to a diverse range of researchers with very different life goals. Below are the first positions of all of the lab alums. Not surprisingly, they cover the entire spectrum of possible career paths: academic, industry, NGO, and government.

Only the first position after leaving/graduating from USC (and ArmaniLab) is listed. For faculty members, links to group webpages are included.

Post-doctoral Scholars

PhD Students

MS & Undergraduate Students

Dr. Meghan Barrett

Asst Professor, Indiana University
PhD: Biology, Drexel University
BS: Biology and Creative Writing, SUNY

Dr. Yingmu Zhang

Research Scientist, Jihua
PhD: Chemistry, Texas A&M
BS: Chemistry, Jilin University

Dr. Haijie Zuo

Research Scientist, Nanjing University
PhD: Australian National University (Optical Engineering)/Xiamen University (Electronic Engineering)
BS: Applied Physics, Zhengzhou University

Prof. Xiaoqin Shen

Asst. Professor, Shanghai Tech
PhD: Chemistry, National University of Singapore
MS: Polymer Chemistry & Physics, University of Science of Technology, China
BE: Polymer Materials & Engineering, Hainan University, China

Prof. Rigoberto Castro Beltran

Assoc. Professor, University of Guanajuato, Mexico
CONACYT-USC Scholar
PhD: Centro de Investigaciones en Optica, GPOM

Dr. Eda Gungor

Intel
PhD: Polymer Science and Technology, Istanbul Technical University

Prof. Cecilia Lopez

Assistant Professor of Biology, California State California, Los Angeles
PhD: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of California, Los Angeles
BS: Biochemistry, California State California, Los Angeles

Dr. Tushar Rane

Nanostring Technologies
Viterbi Scholar
PhD: Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University

Prof. Rasheeda Hawk

Adjunct Professor, Bastyr University
PhD: USC, Physiology and Biophysics
BA: UCSD, Biology

Dr. Alper Nese

Sila Nanotechnologies
PhD: Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon

Prof. Heather Hunt

Associate Professor of Bioengineering, University of Missouri
PhD: Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology
BS: Chemical Engineering, Iowa State University

Dr. Jason Gamba

Intel, Senior Process Engineer
PhD: Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology
BS: Chemical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Dr. Jinghan He

now: Micron
BS: Polymer Science & Engineering, Sichuan University
ME: Chemistry & Biotech, University of Tokyo
PhD: Chemistry, USC (2022)

Dr. Rene Zeto

now: Keysight
BS: Physics, Oregon State University
PhD: Materials Science, USC (2021)

Dr. Andre Kovach

now: Northrop Grumman (FTL Program)
BS: Chemical Engineering, USC
PhD: Chemical Engineering, USC (2021)

Dr. Dongyu Chen

now: Oculus/Facebook
BS: Physics, Peking University
PhD: Electrical Engineering-EP, USC (2020)

Dr. Hyungwoo Choi

now: Lumentum
BS: Chemical Engineering, Hanyang University
MS: Energy Engineering, Hanyang University
PhD: Chemical Engineering, USC (2019)

Dr. Victoria Sun

now: Temple University, MD Program
BS: Chemical Engineering, Columbia
BA Management Engineering, Scripps College
PhD: Chemical Engineering, USC (2019)

Dr. Alexa Hudnut

now:
BS: Biomedical Engineering, USC
PhD: Biomedical Engineering, USC (2018)

Dr. Vinh Diep

now: Boeing
BS: Nanotech, UCSD
PhD: Materials Science (2018)

Dr. Samantha McBirney

now: RAND
BS: Biomedical Engineering, UC Berkeley
PhD: Biomedical Engineering (2018)

Dr. Erick Moen

now: Caltech post-doc
BS: Electrical Engineering and Mathematics, TCU
PhD: Electrical Engineering – EP (2017)

Dr. Michele Lee

now: FDA
BS: Materials Science, MIT
PhD: Materials Science (2017)

Dr. Soheil Soltani

now: GA Tech post-doc
BS/MS: Electrical Engineering – Electronics, Shiraz University
PhD: Electrical Engineering-Electrophysics (2017)

Dr. Mark Harrison

now: POC
BS: Electrical Engineering – Systems, USC
PhD: Electrical Engineering – EP (2016)

Dr. Simin Mehrabani

now: South Coast Air Quality Management District
BS: Chemical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology
PhD: Chemical Engineering (2015)

Dr. Maria Chistiakova

now: Intel
BA/BS: Physics/Chemical Engineering, UC Berkeley
PhD: Chemical Engineering (2014)

Dr. Ashley Maker

now: Cisco
BS: Chemical Engineering, USC
PhD: Chemical Engineering (2014)

Dr. Ce Shi

now: Optofluidics
BS: Materials Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology
PhD: Materials Science (2014)

Dr. Xiaomin Zhang

now: Finisar
BS: Optical Information Sceince and Technology, Hebei University of Technology
PhD: Materials Science (2013)

Dr. Hong Seok Choi

now: Intel
BS: Applied Physics, Konkuk University
PhD: Materials Science (2012)

If a MS degree with a research thesis was also received through the USC PDP program, it is indicated. Several students have also started companies (indicated).

Victoria Nunez

Then: Computer Science, USC
After:

Vidhur Senthil

Then: Electrical Engineering, USC
After:

Luis Manzanarez

Then: Chemical Engineering, USC
After:

Shakthi Srinivasan

Then: Biomedical Engineering, USC
After: PriceWaterhouseCoopers

Hari Sridhara

Then: Chemical Engineering, USC
After: GA Tech, PhD program

Jade Roman

Then: Biomedical Engineering, USC
After:

Maddie Pierce

Then: Biomedical Engineering, USC
After:

Vincent Fu

Then: Electrical Engineering, USC
After: University of Chicago, PhD program

Sandra Lara Galindo

Then: Biomedical Engineering, USC
After: USC, PhD program

Debasmita Banerjee

Then: Electrical Engineering, USC
After: CREOL/UCF, PhD program

Amber Chow

Then: Chemical Engineering, USC
After: Rivian

Dania Duran

Then: Electrical Engineering, USC
After:

Brian Hernandez

Then: Chemistry, USC
After: University of Michigan, PharmD Program

Hsin Pan

Then: Electrical Engineering, USC
After: Princeton, PhD Program

Goldie Roth

Then: Chemical Engineering, USC
After: Stanford, PhD Program

Rhys Richmond

Then: Biomedical Engineering, USC
After: duet (founder); Yale Medical School

Mike Shao

Then: Chemical Engineering, USC
After: bp

Mark Veksler

Then: Iovine and Young Academy, USC
After: SAP

Arynn Gallegos

Then: Electrical Engineering, USC
After: Stanford, PhD Program

Kristina Kaypaghian

Then: Biomedical Engineering, USC
After: Medtronic

Katie Barajas

Then: Applied Physics, Cornell
After: degree in progress

Daniel Cummins

Then: Biomedical Engineering, USC, 2019
After: UCSF, MD Progam

Holly Huber

Then: BME, USC, 2018 (BS); ME USC, 2019 (MS)
After: Medtronic

Brock Hudnut

Then: ISE, USC, 2018 (BS); MASC USC, 2019 (MS)
After: In Diagnostics

Sang Bum Kim

Then: Chemical Engineering, Univ Mass, 2018 (BS); Chem Eng USC, 2019 (MS)
After: UC Davis PhD program

Josh Greenberg

Then: Chemical Engineering, USC, 2020
After:

Sasha Yousefi

Then: Data Science, Berkeley, 2020
After:

Josh Neutel

Then: CHE, USC, 2019
After: Davenport Engineering

Teresa Estrella

Then: CHE, USC, 2019
After: EXPO Center Tutoring

Joelle Burkhardt

Then: CHE, USC, 2018
After: Microsoft

Chase Choate

Then: CHE, USC, 2018
After: (applying to MD)

Spencer Gilbert

Then: CHE, USC, 2018
After: Solar Asset Management

Omar Garcia

Then: CHE USC, 2018
After: UCLA, PhD Program

John Lazzeroni

Then: EE, USC, 2018
After: Navy (Nuc)

Kaitlyn Olah

Then: Stanford, product design, 2018
Now: Stanford, ME MS Program

Lexie Scholtz

Then: BME, Johns Hopkins, 2019
After: USC, PhD Program

Lili Lash-Rosenberg

Then: BME, USC, 2016 (BS); ME, USC, 2017 (MS)
After: Edwards Scientific

Lea Fang

Then: Biochemistry, USC, 2017
After: Johns Hopkins, OT

Martin Siron

Then: CHE, USC, 2017
After: Berkeley, PhD Program

Linda Xu

Then: BME, USC, 2017
After: Medtronic

Grace Kim

Then: ME, USC, 2016
After: LSIS

Alexei Naumann

Then: Computer Science, USC, 2016
After: SAS

Gumi Sethi

Then: CHE, USC, 2016
After: Berkeley, PhD Program

Leah Tsui

Then: Human Biology, USC, 2015
After: Drexel University

Samuel Kushner-Lenhoff

Then: EE, USC, 2015
After: USC, MD Program

Jason Pang

Then: ChE, USC, 2015/6 (BS/MS)
After:

Tara Assi

Then: CHE, USC, 2015
After: Freescale Semiconductor

Julie Strickland

Then: BME, USC, 2015
After: UT Austin, PhD Program

Garrison Crouch

Then: ChE, USC, 2014
After: Notre Dame, PhD program

Max Reynolds

Then: ME, USC, 2014
After: Berkeley, PhD program, then Symbio (founder)

Emma Meinke

Then: ChE, USC, 2014
After: Aaren Scientific

Yuting Liu

Then: CS, USC, 2014
After: USC, MS program

Andre Kovach

Then: Chem E, USC, 2014
After: USC, PhD Program

Nishita Deka

Then: EE, USC, 2013
After: Berkeley, PhD program, then Sonera Magnetics (founder)

Audrey Harker

Then: Chem E, USC, 2013
After: Berkeley, PhD Program

Sara Brisbin

Then: BME, USC, 2013
After: Abbott

Brian Rose

Then: ChemE, USC, 2011/12 (BS/MS)
After: Intel

Nic Murillo

Then: CHE, USC, 2013
After: Cree

Christine Zimmerman

Then: CHE, USC, 2013
After: –

Daniel Guevara

Then: Chem E, USC, 2013
After: –

Yingchao Lin

Then: EE, USC, 2013
After: Oracle

Mansi Thakar

Then: Chem E, USC, 2013
After: —

Natalie Landsinger

Then: Chem E, USC, 2013
After: Pastry Chef

Garima Aggarwal

Then: EE, USC, 2013
After: —

Bradley Biggs

Then: Chem, USC, 2012
After: Rice, PhD Program

Shehzad Ismail

Then: EE, USC, 2011/12 (BS/MS)
After: Cisco

Chaitanya Murthy

Then: Chem E, USC, 2011
After: UCSD, PhD Program

Dania Neiroukh

Then: Chem E, USC, 2011
After: Park Systems

Bamini Balaji

Then: Chem E, Caltech, 2011
After: Amgen

Sai Satpathy

Then: EE, Caltech, 2011
After: Princeton, PhD Program

Warren Cai

Then: Chem E, Caltech, 2011
After: Stanford, PhD Program

Carol Soteropulos

Then: BME, USC, 2010
After: PhD, Univ of Missouri

Ashley Maker

Then: Chem E, USC, 2010
After: USC, PhD Program

Lindsay Freeman

Then: Chem E, USC, 2010
After: UCSD, PhD program

Cathy Douglass

Then: Chem/Phys, Caltech, 2010
After: Colorado, PhD Program