People

Natalie was born and raised in the Rochester, NY area. She is currently in the Microsystems Engineering Ph.D. Program at RIT. She also attended RIT for undergrad, receiving her Bachelor's in Chemical Egnineering in 2019. Her current research project is modeling triblock copolymers to study their self-assembled structures. When not working, Natalie likes to study local history and play with her cat.

My name is Michael Grant and I am a first year PhD student in the Microsystems Engineering program. After high school I served 5 years in the military before leaving to attend school. I received my B.S. in Chemistry here at RIT before moving to Chapel Hill where I conducted a combination of synthetic polymer chemistry and computational studies in reaction kinetics. After a year in North Carolina I decided to move back north and focus solely on theory/computational work. When I am not working I like to enjoy an active lifestyle such as hiking, biking and working out. I also have been battling a video game addiction since high school.

My name is Brennan Fingler and I am from Rochester, NY. I am a third year undergraduate student in RIT’s Chemical Engineering program. I am also involved in Greek Life at RIT with Phi Kappa Psi.

Kambar is a third year, Mechanical Engineering student from Astana, Kazakhstan. During free time, he loves playing soccer, reading, or spending time with his friends. His research consists of analyzing the thermodynamics of polymers under different conditions. He is still at the beginning of his RIT career, but he plans to minor in Computer Science and finish the accelerated program to get his BS/ME degree.

My name is Piyush Kumar, and I am a 5th year student in the Chemical Engineering BS/Material Science MS program at RIT. My current research consists of developing a model for chiral amplification at the molecular length scale using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations to capture a "sergeants and soldiers" behavior. In my free time I enjoy cooking, trying new restaurants, gardening, and hiking.

Hi, my name is Ben Ronde and I’m from Madison, New Jersey. I am currently a fifth year in RIT’s Chemical Engineering/Material Science BS/MS program. I have completed a minor in mathematics, and I am a member of the RIT Barbell Club. In my free time I like to travel, hike, and powerlift.

Elizabeth Ahrens is an undergraduate at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY on track to receive her B.S Chemical Engineering degree, with a minor in chemistry. She will be working on understanding phase separation of triblock copolymer melts with added homopolymer in varying sizes in simulation boxes. She also enjoys writing poetry in her free time.

My name is Meleni Sarantos and I am a 5th year RIT dual degree student from Long Island, NY. I am pursuing my Bachelor's in Chemical Engineering and my Master's in Materials Science and Engineering. My current research involves the identification of the order-disorder transition temperature in block copolymers. After graduating, I intend to pursue my PhD in Chemical Engineering or Materials Science, with hopes of becoming a professor one day. I like to spend my free time singing with my A cappella group or working on 3D printing projects.