Faculty
Lei Chen, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at UMass Lowell
Faculty member of the Advanced Composites Materials & Textile Research Lab (ACMTRL)
Research interests: Advanced manufacturing processes; brain-machine interface; biomedical design and manufacturing; manufacturing for custom healthcare; soft and hard tissue cutting mechanics.
Current Ph.D. Students
Dongyang Yi
Kevin Lat
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, UMass Lowell, Lowell, MA (2024)
Projects: Brain-Mimicking Phantom Material Creation, Inchworm-Type Inserter for Brain Machine Interfaces
You?
See Available Positions Page for more information on openings.
Please contact Dr. Lei Chen at Lei_Chen@uml.edu with resumes and statement of interest.
Current M.S. Students
Milovan Jovic
B.S. in Electrical Engineering, UMass Lowell, Lowell, MA (2025)
Projects: Metal Ink Printing and Microelectrode Array Auto-Fabrication Machine, Three-Axis Stereotaxic Machine
Work: MTI-Milliren Technologies – Phase Locked Loops/Frequency Locked Loops, Synthesizers
Ryan Kinney
You?
See Available Positions Page for more information on openings.
Please contact Dr. Lei Chen at Lei_Chen@uml.edu with resumes and statement of interest.
Current Undergraduate Students
Njinang K Kwankam
B.S. student in Mechanical Engineering, UMass Lowell, Lowell, MA (Expected 2027)
Project: Static Buckling Behavior of Microwire against Brain Tissue Phantom
You?
See Available Positions Page for more information on openings.
Please contact Dr. Lei Chen at Lei_Chen@uml.edu with resumes and statement of interest.
High School Students
Joanna Pham
Avirup Barua
Gladys Ruiz
PROPEL Program Summer 2024
Goes to Dracut High School (Class of 2026)
Projects: Microwire for brain insertion, force dynamics upon insertion.
Interested in the field of natural science
Jennifer Abdou
PROPEL Program Summer 2024
Goes to Dracut High School (Class of 2025) in Dracut, MA
Projects: Microwire assembly sharpening, buckling dynamics
Interested in cardiology and the in field of medicine
Hadassah Keo-Vann
PROPEL Program Summer 2023
Goes to Lowell High School (Class of 2025) in Lowell, MA
Projects: Carbon Fiber Bundling Sharpening, Phantom Development for Brain Tissue Surrogate
Interested in the field of natural science
Manarineth Tann
PROPEL Program Summer 2023
Lowell High School student (expected June 2024) Lowell, MA
Projects involved: Carbon Fiber Bundling Sharpening for In Vivo, Phantom Development for Brain Tissue Surrogate
Career of Interest: Pharmacist
Lab Alumni – Graduate Students
John D. Baron
Ph.D. student, Mechanical Engineering, Francis College of Engineering, UMass Lowell, Lowell, MA (2023-2024)
Masters Certificate in Technological Entrepreneurship, UMass Lowell, MA (2017)
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, UMass Amherst, Amherst, MA (1996)
Collaborative technical leader with 25 years experience in aerospace, medical, military, automotive, consumer electronics, telecommunications, and capital equipment. Projects range from early R&D prototypes to high volume production assemblies. Mechanical design experience includes design and analysis of plastics, sheet-metal, weldments, and machined parts. Machine shop experience includes CAM (including G-code editing), CNC milling, turning, and TIG welding.
Samuel Blake
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at UMass Lowell, Lowell, MA (2023)
M.S. in Mechanical Engineering at UMass Lowell, Lowell, MA (2024)
Projects involved: Carbon fiber electrode sharpening
Worked in the lab as undergraduate research assistant 03/2023-12/2023 and graduate directed studies student 01/2024-04/2024
Justin Cormier
Nathan Landry
M.S. Student in Mechanical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell (2022)
Currently Employed as a Mechanical Engineer III at Millipore Sigma
Technical Degree in Automotive and Diesel Technology Nashville Auto Diesel College
Certified Master Automotive Technician and Advanced Specialist
Worked in the lab as undergraduate research assistant 01/2022 – 08/2022 and then as Master directed studies student 09/2022 – 12/2022
Venkata Shashidhar Akella
M.S. in Mechanical Engineering (Expected 2024), UMass Lowell, Lowell, MA
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, CVR College of Engineering, JNTUH, India (2022)
Projects involved: Carbon fiber MEA assembly machine
Worked in the lab as Master directed studies student 09/2022 – 12/2022
Balaviswanathan Aniruddh
M.S. in Mechanical Engineering (Expected 2024), UMass Lowell, Lowell, MA
B.T. in Mechanical Engineering, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, Gujarat, India (2022)
Projects involved: Carbon fiber MEA assembly machine
Worked in the lab as Master directed studies student 09/2022 – 12/2022
Lab Alumni – Undergraduate Students
Joshua Thorson
NSF REU program summer 2025
BS student in Mechanical Engineering, Louisiana Tech, Ruston, LA
Project: Microwire Buckling in Brain Machine Interfaces
Worked in the lab as undergraduate research assistant 06/2025 – 08/2025
Abraham Mudoola
B.S. student in Industrial Engineering, UMass Lowell, Lowell, MA
Projects: Brain-Mimicking Phantom Material Creation, 3D-custom automatic extrusion, Automatic Carbon Fiber Assembly
Worked in the lab as undergraduate research assistant 02/2023-04/2025
Shayla Som
B.S. student in Mechanical Engineering, UMass Lowell, Lowell, MA (2024)
Currently works at Pramand LLC
Worked in the lab as undergraduate research assistant 04/2023-12/2024
Aidan Silvia
B.S Student in Mechanical Engineering
Projects: Vibration-assisted insertion of neural interfaces
Worked in the lab as undergraduate research assistant 04/2024-12/2024
Dominic Kittel
M.S. student in Mechanical Engineering (Expected May 2025), UMass Lowell, Lowell, MA
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, UMass Lowell, Lowell, MA
Projects: Tip-sharpening machine for axis symmetric micro electrode bundles, hardware integration and optimization
Interests: Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Design
Worked in the lab as undergraduate research assistant 05/2024-08/2024
Palak Sharma
Worked in the lab as undergraduate research assistant 04/2024-12/2024
Muhammad Omer Naveed
B.S Student in Mechanical Engineering
Interest: Material Science, Mechanical Design, Automotive
Projects: Hybrid Manufacturing
Worked in the lab as undergraduate research assistant 04/2024-12/2024
Yuki Saikachi
B.S Student in Mechanical Engineering
Projects: Hybrid Manufacturing
Worked in the lab as undergraduate research assistant 04/2024-12/2024
Aidan Silvia
B.S Student in Mechanical Engineering
Projects: Vibration-assisted insertion of neural interfaces
Worked in the lab as undergraduate research assistant 04/2024-12/2024
Rhein Ferdous
Continues education at The University of British Columbia
Major: mechanical engineering. Minor: computer science.
Interests: automotive engineering.
Projects: Hybrid Additive Manufacturing with In Situ Machining.
Worked in the lab as undergraduate research assistant 08/2023-08/2024
Ethan Young
Projects: Software Development, Numerical Methods, Data post-processing.
Interests- Software Engineering, Data science
Worked in the lab as undergraduate research assistant 07/2023-12/2023
Harrison Zhu
M.S. student in Mechanical Engineering , UMass Lowell, Lowell, MA
B.S. student in Mechanical Engineering with Aerospace minor, UMass Lowell, Lowell, MA
Projects: Model design, fabrication, and static testing of 3D printed models
Worked in the lab as undergraduate research assistant 05/2021-05/2024
Brian Ung
Starting Master’s study in Bioengineering at Tufts Univ. in Fall 2023.
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering (Graduated December 2022), UMass Lowell, Lowell, MA
Projects involved: 3D Printing, Finite Element Simulation, Biomedical Manufacturing
Interest: Software Programming, Basketball, Aerospace
Worked in the lab as undergraduate research assistant 01/2022 – 12/2022
Daniyal Ahmed