Team

Academic Advisor
Yi Zhang, Associate Professor
Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Institute of Materials Science
University of Connecticut, Storrs

2016-2018, Postdoc at Northwestern University, Advisor: John A. Rogers
2016, Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology; Advisors: Sven H. Behrens and J. Carson Meredith
2011, B.E. in Chemical Engineering from Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China

Honors and Awards

  • Director’s Award for Faculty Excellence, Polymer Program at UConn, 2025
  • Collins Professor in Engineering Innovation from the College of Engineering at UConn, 2024
  • NSF CAREER Award, 2023
  • UConn-AAUP Research Excellence Award –Early Career, 2023
  • BME Early Career Faculty Scholar Award, UConn, 2023
  • NIH Brain Initiative R01 Awardee, 2020
  • BMES Career Development Award, 2019
  • Waldemar T. Ziegler Award for Best Research Paper in Chemical Engineering, Georgia Tech, 2015
  • Best Poster Award, Georgia Tech Career, Research and Innovation Development Conference, 2015, 2016
  • Exemplary Academic Achievement Award, Georgia Tech, 2013


Postdoc Fellows (1)

Dr. Caroline Ferguson (Ph.D., Lehigh University, Jan. 2024-present; co-advised with Prof. Wang in MSE)

Ph.D. Students (10)

Mr. Zhengyan Weng (Georgia Tech/ University of Pennsylvania, Fall 2019 – present, first/co-first author publications: Angewandte Chemie 2022; Angew Chemie 2023; ACS Sensors 2023)

Mr. Xincheng Zhang (University of Pittsburgh, June 2021- present, first/co-first author publications: Nature Communications 2025; ACS Nano 2025)

Mr. Yingqi Qiang (Jilin University/University of Pennsylvania, Fall 2021- present; first/co-first author publications: ACS Nano 2025)

Mr. Yuxuan Zhang (Zhengzhou University/Northeastern University, Fall 2021- present; first/co-first author publications: Lab on a Chip 2023)

Mr. Gilberto Martins Filho (Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neuroscience, Fall 2023-present)

Mr. Jaewook Jung (Pukyong National University, Fall 2023-present)

Ms. Xiaoting Xue (Taiyuan University of Technology, Fall 2023-present, first/co-first author publications: Nature Communications 2025)

Ms. Kaiyue Wei (Ocean University of China, Fall 2025-present)

Ms. Yiran Chu (Shandong University, Fall 2025-present)

Ms. Mei Shao (Wuhan University of Technology, Fall 2025-present; co-advised with Prof. Wang in MSE)

Undergraduate Students (5)

Ms. Lucy Homer (NSF INCLUDES Fellowship, Fall 2024-present)

Ms. Grace Jos (NSF INCLUDES Fellowship, Fall 2024-present)

Ms. Yuna Kuo (UConn BME, Fall 2024-present)

Mr. Ryan Ortiz (UConn BME, Spring 2025-present)

Ms. Wan Shen (UConn NeuroscienceBME, Summer 2025-present)

High School Students (1)

Ms. Nivrritii Mahesh (Miss Porter’s School, Summer 2025-present)

Alumni

Dr. Huijie Li (2019-2025, Ph.D. student and Postdoc; Current position: Postdoc at Caltech)

Dr. He Sun (2019-2023, Ph.D. student; Current position: Postdoc in the joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at UNC & NC State)

Dr. Zan Gao (2020-2021; Postdoc; Current position: Advanced R&D Engineer/Scientist at Honeywell)

Dr. Yang Song (2021-2024; Postdoc; Current position: Research Scientist at Thermo Fisher)

Dr. Md. Azizur Rahman Khan (2023-2024; Postdoc; Current position: Assistant Professor of Chemistry in Jashore University of Science and Technology, Bangladesh)

Dr. Manikandan Muthu (Postdoc; 2022-2023; Current Position: CTO and Co-Founder of MG Health Tech LLC)

Dr. Ji Hyun Yang (2023-2025; Postdoc)

Mr. Ian Heck (Master student, 2019-2021, Current Position: Engineer at Johnson & Johnson)

Mr. Yizhou Liu (Master in BME; 2023-2025 Current position: Master in Computer Control and Automation at NTU)

Ms. Yue Cao (Master in BME, 2021-2023)

Mr. Vagif Abdulla (Master in BME, 2021-2024, Current position: PhD student in Microelectronics at TU Delft)

Ms. Hailey Parsons  (Master in BME, Spring 2023-May 2023; Current Position: Test Technician in Siemens Healthineers)

Mr. Shuhong Yang (Master in Bioengineering, 2019-2021, Current Position: Ph.D. student at the University of Missouri)

Ms. Feiyang Li (Undergraduate researcher; Current Position: PhD student in BME at Purdue University)

Mr. Weiyi Zhang (Undergraduate researcher; Current Position: PhD student in BME at Purdue University)

Mr. Yousuf  El-Jayyousi (Undergraduate researcher; Current Position: Ph.D. student in Neuroscience at Princeton University)

Ms. Alexi Switz (Undergraduate researcher; Current Position: Ph.D. student in BME at FIU)

Ms. Michelle Huang (Undergraduate researcher)

Ms. Claudia Huang (Undergraduate researcher)

Ms. Megan Richmond (Undergraduate researcher; Current Position: Remediation Engineer at Cook Medical)

Ms. Amanda Wilt (Undergraduate researcher; 2021 Outstanding Senior Biomedical Engineer; Current Position: Clinical Associate Representative at Zimmer Biomet)

Mr. Jacob Heath (Undergraduate researcher; Current Position: Field Engineer at Abbott)

Mr. Silas Decker (Undergraduate researcher; Current Position: Associate Research Engineer at AtlasXomics Inc.)

Ms. Abigail Potorski (Undergraduate researcher; Current Position: Staff Engineer I at Giner, Inc.)