Principal Investigator
Steven Caliari
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering
Department of Biomedical Engineering
University of Virginia
Education and Training
NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania (2013-2016)
PhD, Chemical Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2013)
MS, Chemical Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2010)
BS, Chemical Engineering, University of Florida (2007)
Email: caliari at virginia dot edu
Office: Wilsdorf 204
Phone: 434.243.1821
ORCID: 0000-0002-7506-3079
Graduate Students
Ivan Basurto
5th Year (joined Fall 2017)
PhD Candidate, Department of Biomedical Engineering
BS, Chemical Engineering, Lafayette College (2015)
Hometown: Wilton, Connecticut
Interests: Sports (soccer, hockey, swimming, triathlon), spending time with family and friends, traveling, food, music
Email: imb5wy at virginia dot edu
ORCID: 0000-0002-6401-2137
Beverly Miller
5th Year (joined Fall 2017)
PhD Candidate, Department of Chemical Engineering
BS, Bioengineering, Oregon State University (2017)
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
Interests: Hiking, camping, softball, reading adventure books, lifting weights, dancing, and traveling
Email: bbb4nq at virginia dot edu
Jenna Sumey
4th Year (joined Fall 2018)
PhD Candidate, Department of Chemical Engineering
BS, Chemical Engineering, Virginia Tech (2018)
Hometown: Uniontown, Pennsylvania
Interests: Traveling, running, hiking, drinking coffee, petting dogs
Email: jls6sw at virginia dot edu
ORCID: 0000-0003-2402-603X
Mackenzie Grubb
3rd Year (joined Fall 2019)
PhD Candidate, Department of Biomedical Engineering
BS, Chemical Engineering, University of Florida (2019)
Hometown: Sarasota, Florida
Interests: Hiking, reading, exploring, soccer, skiing, volleyball
Email: mg7qw at virginia dot edu
James Gentry
2nd Year (joined Fall 2020)
PhD Student, Department of Biomedical Engineering
BS, Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University (2018)
Hometown: College Station, Texas
Interests: Baking, reading, spending time with family, music
Email: jg9zk at virginia dot edu
Kelly Bukovic
2nd Year (joined Fall 2020)
PhD Student, Department of Chemical Engineering
BS, Chemical Engineering, University of Florida (2020)
Hometown: Orlando, Florida
Interests: Gardening, art history, playing viola, piano, crocheting, traveling, cooking, reading
Email: kmb5pu at virginia dot edu
Ryann Boudreau
1st Year (joined Fall 2021)
PhD Student, Department of Biomedical Engineering
BS, Bioengineering, University of New Hampshire (2021)
Hometown: Londonderry, New Hampshire
Interests: Baking, ultimate frisbee, board games, hanging out with friends & family, puzzles
Email: zns8mx at virginia dot edu
Leilani Astrab
2nd Year (joined Fall 2020)
PhD Student, Department of Biomedical Engineering
BS, Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida (2020)
Hometown: Melbourne, Florida
Interests: Traveling, reading, spending time with friends & family, drinking coffee, eating
Email: la4re at virginia dot edu
Geshani Bandara
1st Year (joined Fall 2021)
PhD Student, Department of Chemical Engineering
BS, Chemical Engineering, University of Peradeniya (2020)
Hometown: Matale, Sri Lanka
Interests: Spending time with family & friends, journaling, cooking, traveling, meditation
Email: bek2hm at virginia dot edu
Undergraduate Students
Audrey Hansrisuk
4th Year (joined Spring 2019)
Major: Biochemistry
Hometown: Las Vegas, Nevada
Interests: Dogs, food, painting and calligraphy, learning languages, and sports (volleyball and figure skating)
Email: aih2gf at virginia dot edu
Gregg Gardner
4th Year (joined Spring 2019)
Major: Chemical Engineering
Hometown: Charleston, South Carolina
Interests: Cooking, hiking, traveling
Email: gg3sr at virginia dot edu
Austin Amacher
3rd Year (joined Spring 2020)
Major: Biomedical Engineering
Hometown: Alexandria, Virginia
Interests: Running, music, hiking, food, spending time with friends & family
Email: ara2as at virginia dot edu
Abigail Harrell
4th Year (joined Summer 2021)
Majors: Chemistry, English
Hometown: Dallas, Texas
Interests: Ballet, Russian Literature, board games, and puzzles
Email: agh8xs at virginia dot edu
Samir Muhammad
3rd Year (joined Summer 2021)
Major: Biomedical Engineering
Hometown: Woodbridge, Virginia
Interests: Skateboarding, traveling, spending time with family & friends
Email: sam5dtx at virginia dot edu
Emily Pham
4th Year (joined Summer 2021)
Major: Biomedical Engineering
Hometown: Aldie, Virginia
Interests: Sushi (and food in general), traveling, beach, photography, piano, and basketball
Email: ep2au at virginia dot edu
Mikayla Jackson
2nd Year (joined Fall 2021)
Major: Biomedical Engineering
Hometown: Berlin, New Jersey
Interests: Playing guitar, music, reading, spending time with friends, baking
Email: mj5pjn at virginia dot edu
Tanvi Bhat
2nd Year (joined Spring 2022)
Major: Psychology
Hometown: Chantilly, Virginia
Interests: traveling, bubble tea, yoga, horseback riding, and spending time with friends
Email: tb4eh at virginia dot edu
Peyton Johnston
3rd Year (joined Spring 2022)
Major: Biomedical Engineering
Hometown: Seattle, Washington
Interests: reading, cooking, college basketball, NYT crossword puzzles, and running
Email: pcj6kb at virginia dot edu
Zach Tentor
3rd Year (joined Spring 2022)
Major: Chemistry (specialization in Biochemistry)
Hometown: Richmond, Virginia
Interests: Distance running, board games, reading
Email: zt5vn at virginia dot edu
Lab Alumni
Doctoral Students:
Erica Hui (PhD, Chemical Engineering), Fall 2016-Fall 2021
Thesis: Designing Spatiotemporally Tunable Viscoelastic Hyaluronic Acid Hydrogels to Study Cell Mechanobiology During Fibrosis, Current: Investigator, Downstream Process Development at GlaxoSmithKline
Masters Students:
Deniz Unal (MS, Chemical Engineering), Fall 2017-Fall 2019
Thesis: Studies of Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cells in 3D Hyaluronic Acid Scaffolds
Undergraduate Students:
Kathryn Smith (Chemical Engineering), Summer 2019-Spring 2021, Current: Technical Solutions Engineer at Epic Systems (Verona, WI)
Kathryn Gimeno (Biomedical Engineering), Summer 2018-Spring 2021, Current: Manufacturing Scientist at Eli Lilly (Indianapolis, IN)
Erin McIlhinney (Biomedical Engineering), Fall 2019-Summer 2020
Priyanshi Jain (BS, Biology), Fall 2016-Fall 2019, Current: Medical student, New Jersey Medical School
Sarah Zagorin (BS, Biomedical Engineering), Fall 2017-Spring 2019, Current: Biomedical Patent Examiner at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (Washington DC)
John Quezada (Biomedical Engineering), Summer 2019
Emily Zezas (Speech Pathology), Fall 2018-Spring 2019
Mark Mora (BS, Biomedical Engineering), Summer 2017-Spring 2019, Current: Masters Student in Translational Medicine at Keck Graduate Institute (Claremont, CA)
Oliver Phoa (BS, Chemical Engineering), Fall 2016-Fall 2018, Current: Rotational Development Program Associate at Amgen (West Greenwich, RI)
Rebecca Earhart (BS, Chemical Engineering), Summer 2017-Spring 2018, Current: Associate Specialist, Engineering at Merck (Elkton, VA)
Grant Guan (BS, Computer Science), Fall 2016-Spring 2018, Current: Associate at Boston Consulting Group (Chicago, IL)
Visiting Students:
Amber Jackson (undergraduate, George Mason University), Summer 2018
Noah Hester (high school student), Summer 2018
Caliari Lab 