Caltech AGEP Program Alumni

Zakaria Al Balushi obtained his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering in 2017 from The Pennsylvania State University. He joined the Atwater group at Caltech in 2017 and focused his research on band alignment in two-dimensional and layered materials in order to design new heterojunctions for photonic and optoelectronic devices. Zak is currently an Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at UC Berkeley where his research group works on the creation of novel synthesis, processing and integration schemes for emerging electronic and photonic materials, and the development of new instrumentation that will ultimately aid in the discovery of new materials for microelectronics, optoelectronics and quantum technologies.

Marchello Cavitt received his Ph.D. in 2015 in Chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology. In 2016, he joined Professor Brian Stoltz's group to develop new strategies and tactics for the synthesis of important molecules. He is currently employed as a medicinal chemist at Janssen.

Bradley Dickerson obtained his Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Washington in 2015. He joined the Dickinson lab where he worked to understand how precisely timed mechanosensory input structures the locomotor output controlling reflex and voluntary maneuvers of flying insects. Brad was also the recipient of an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology. In 2019 Brad moved to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology. In January of 2022, he started as an Assistant Professor at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute of Princeton University. 

Leopold Green earned his Ph.D. in Bioengineering from UC Riverside in 2016. As a postdoctoral scholar at Caltech, working with Dr. Richard Murray, Leo worked to engineer bacteria for potential bio-sensors and bio-actuators. In 2021 he began a new position as an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University.

Jessica Hinojosa received her Ph.D. in Marine Geochemistry from the University of Otago in New Zealand. She then moved to the Sessions lab at Caltech where she worked on leafwax hydrogen isotope records of paleoclimate in records from New Zealand lakes. Jessica is now a Nature-Based Solutions Researcher on the Biodomain team at Shell where she focuses on screening emerging opportunities in nature-based solutions to offset greenhouse gas emissions.

Stewart Mallory received his Ph.D. in Chemical Physics from Columbia University. For his postdoctoral research, he joined the group of Dr. John Brady to work on the development of new nonequilibrium theories for the behavior of soft active materials and complex fluids. He is now an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at The Pennsylvania State University working on a number of open questions concerning the collective behavior and mechanical properties of soft active matter systems with the intention of designing the next generation of soft functional materials.

Michaëlle N Mayalu obtained her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2017. Next she moved to Caltech where her research with the Murray Group focused on mathematical modeling and control theory of synthetic biological systems. She has recently accepted a position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University that she will begin in Spring 2022. 

Brian Ramirez obtained his Ph.D. in 2017 from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UCLA. He joined the group of Dr. Chiara Daraio at Caltech where they created novel systems and new materials with unprecedented global properties by taking advantage of nonlinearities in local material interactions. Brian is now an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Cal State Polytechnic University – Pomona.

Gustavo Rios received his Ph.D. in Bioengineering in 2016 from Caltech. He then continued his research in the Siapas lab studying chronic recording of brain activity in the hippocampus of freely behaving rodents. He worked to develop a modular, scalable, nanofabricated neural probe system from dense 3-D electrophysiology to study animal brains. Gustavo is now Principal Engineer – R&D Sensors at Edwards Lifesciences.

Mauro Rodriguez Jr. earned his B.S. degree with honors in Mechanical Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. He then earned a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. At Caltech Mauro was a Ford Foundation fellow under the mentorship of Professor Tim Colonius. In 2021 he joined the School of Engineering at Brown University as an Assistant Professor. His work there uses high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics to study wave and bubble dynamics in and near hard/soft materials. He is passionately committed to increasing underserved and underrepresented individuals, diversity, equity, and inclusion across all levels of STEM, especially in his work with the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.