Principal Investigator
Rohit Karnik
Professor of Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, 2006 M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, 2004 B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, 2002
Email: karnik@mit.edu
Room: 3-461A map
Phone: 617-324-1155
MIT faculty page Google scholar profile CV
Rohit Karnik is Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he leads the Microfluidics and Nanofluidics Research Group. He obtained his B. Tech. degree from the Indian Institute of Technology at Bombay in 2002, and his PhD from the University of California at Berkeley in 2006 under the guidance of Prof. Arun Majumdar. After postdoctoral work with Prof. Robert Langer at MIT, he joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT in 2007. His research focuses on the physics of micro- and nanofluidic flows and design of micro- and nanofluidic devices for applications in healthcare, energy systems, and biochemical separation and analysis. Among other honors, he is a recipient of the Institute Silver Medal (IIT Bombay, 2002), NSF Career Award (2010), Keenan Award for Innovation in Undergraduate Education (2011), DOE Early Career Award (2012), and IIT Bombay Young Alumni Achiever Award (2014).
Administrative Assistant
Alexandra Cabral
Room: 3-461
Email: cabrala@mit.edu
Phone: 617-324-2805
Postdoctoral Associates
Rozzeta Binti Dolah, Ph.D.
Email: rozzeta@mit.edu
Rozzeta Dolah CEng completed her BSc in Chemical Technology at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (2002) and MEng Mechanical Engineering -Advanced Manufacturing Technology (2006) at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. She completed her Ph.D in 2014 at Meiji University, Japan with Prof. Zenichi Miyagi’s Measurement Information Laboratory focused on robust design methodology and Taguchi’s quality engineering. Rozzeta joined Karnik group as a postdoctoral fellow in Spring 2017 and focusing on renewable energy in biomass conversion into biofuels and upgrading technique for pyrolysis bio oil.
Chi (David) Cheng, Ph.D.
Email: chicheng@mit.edu
Google Scholar Profile
Chi (David) Cheng completed his BE in Polymer Materials and Engineering at Wuhan University of Technology in 2010. He received his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Monash University in 2014. After several years working as a research fellow at Monash University and The University of Melbourne, he joined the Karnik group in 2018 and now works on Bio/chemical separation using atomically thin membranes.
Graduate Students
Mary Tellers
PhD student (Dept. of Mechanical Engineering)
Email: mtellers@mit.edu
Mary completed her BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland. She joined the Karnik group in Fall 2015.
Emily Hanhauser
PhD student (Dept. of Mechanical Engineering)
Email: ehanhaus@mit.edu
Emily received her B.S. in Biology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in 2012. From 2012 to 2015, she worked as a research assistant at Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and University of California, San Francisco. She joined the Karnik group in Fall 2015 and works on water sample preservation and quality testing.
An Chang
PhD student (Dept. of Mechanical Engineering)
Email: anchang@mit.edu
An received her B.E. in materials science and engineering at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. She joined the Karnik group in Spring 2017 and works on air particulate monitor.
Chun Man Chow
PhD student (Dept. of Chemical Engineering)
Email: cmchow@mit.edu
Chun Man studied chemical engineering and environmental engineering science as an undergraduate at the University of California – Berkeley, and completed an MPhil in Advanced Chemical Engineering at University of Cambridge, UK in 2017 under the Churchill Scholarship. From 2018 to 2019, he worked with Prof. Alan Hatton at MIT on applying electrochemical methods for water treatment. He joined the Karnik group in Spring 2019 and works on graphene membranes enabled separations.
Simar Kaur Mattewal
PhD student (Dept. of Chemical Engineering)
Email: mattewal@mit.edu
Simar received her B.Tech + M.Tech (Dual Degree) in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in 2020. She joined the Karnik lab in Fall 2021. She is co-advised by Zachary Smith in ChemE, and is working on nanoporous graphene membranes and carbon molecular sieves for membrane based separations.
Isabelle Cunitz
PhD student (Dept. of Mechanical Engineering)
Email: icunitz@mit.edu
Isabelle is a PhD candidate interested in micro- and nanoscale engineering for sustainability, with a current focus on soil sensing. She joined the Karnik group in 2022 and earned her SM in 2023 for work on graphene membranes. Previously, she earned her BS in environmental engineering, with minors in mathematics and French, from the University of Oklahoma in 2019. Isabelle is a recipient of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and has conducted research at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Visiting Students
Moritz Ploner
Email: moritzpl@mit.edu
Moritz Ploner earned his B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Vienna University of Technology, Austria, and his M.Sc. in Electrical Energy Engineering from the University of Bologna, Italy. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Advanced Systems Engineering at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy, in collaboration with Empatica Srl. His research focuses on designing flexible electrochemical sensors for wearable applications to detect human biochemical profiles from sweat. Moritz joined the Karnik group as a visiting student in 2025 and worked on microfluidic technologies to develop advanced isolation and sensing platforms, enabling the precise detection of bacteria for foodborne pathogen monitoring. By bridging electrochemical sensing and microfluidics, his work aims to push the boundaries of real-time biochemical analysis for both healthcare and environmental monitoring.
Sharafat Ali
Email: sharafat@mit.edu
Sharafat Ali is a PhD student in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Waterloo, Canada. He is a recipient of the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship. He joined the Karnik Group as a visiting student in 2025. In Karnik’s lab, he is working on nanoporous graphene membranes for molecular separation. His research interests include membranes for water purification, organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN), and fate and treatment of contaminants of emerging concern, e.g., PFAS.
Alumni
Mike Bono
Michael Bono completed his BS in Mechanical Engineering at Union College (Schenectady, NY) in 2009. He completed his MS (2013) and PhD (2015) at Cornell University, where he worked in Prof. Brian Kirby’s lab on the development of a dielectric method to measure algal lipid content for biodiesel production. Michael joined Karnik group as a postdoc in Fall 2015 and has focused on the development of improved water testing technology for use in resource-limited environments.
Krithika Ramchander
Krithika completed her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and then worked with Shell Technologies for an year. She joined the Karnik group in Fall 2014 and graduated with a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in Februray 2021.
Doojoon Jang
Doojoon joined the Karnik group in Fall 2013. He graduated with a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in June 2018.
Luda Wang
Luda Wang received his B.E./B.S. (2006) and M.S. (2009) degrees from Beihang University, Beijing, China. From 2009 to 2014, Luda worked as a Ph.D. student with Prof. Scott Bunch in the University of Colorado at Boulder. Luda joined the Karnik group as a postdoc in Fall of 2014 and left in 2018 to begin a faculty position at Peking University.
Sui Zhang
Sui Zhang received her B.S. (2008) degree from Fudan University, Shanghai, China. From 2008 to 2015, Sui worked as a Ph.D. student and then postdoc with Prof. Neal Chung in National University of Singapore. Sui joined the Karnik group as a postdoc in Fall of 2015 and left in 2017 to begin a faculty position at National University of Singapore.
Piran Kidambi
Piran Kidambi graduated with a B.Tech from the National Institute of Technology at Tiruchirappalli in 2006, an M.S. from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich in 2010, and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge in 2014 (advisor Dr. Stephan Hofmann). Piran joined the Karnik group as a postdoctoral researcher in 2014, and left in 2017 to begin a faculty position at Vanderbilt University.
Tarun Kumar Jain
Tarun joined the Karnik group in Fall 2009 and obtained his M.S. in 2011. He graduated with a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in January 2015.
Sean O′Hern
Sean joined the Karnik group in Fall 2009 and obtained his M.S. in 2011. He graduated with a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in October 2014.
Jong-Min Lim
Jong-Min was a postdoc in the Karnik, Farokhzad, and Langer groups from 2010-2014. He joined the industry to work on development of biomedical devices.
Mohammad Qasaimeh
Mohammad joined the Karnik group as NSERC postdoc fellow from 2013-2014. He joined NYU-Abu Dhabi as Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering in July 2014.
Jongho Lee
Jongho joined the Karnik group in Fall 2008. He graduated with a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in August 2014 and joined the Elimelech group at Yale as postdoc.
Chia-Hua Lee
Chia joined the Karnik group in Summer 2008. She graduated with a Ph.D. in Materials Science in January 2014.
Suman Bose
Suman joined the Karnik group in Fall 2007 and obtained his M.S. in 2009. He graduated with a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in September 2013.
Sung-Yong Choi
Sung-Yong joined the Karnik group as a postdoctoral associate in Fall 2010 and joined Kyung Hee University as Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering in March 2013.
Marco C. Ayala
Marco joined the Karnik group in Fall 2009 and obtained his M.S. in 2008. He graduated with a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in January 2013.
Pedro M. Valencia
Pedro joined the Karnik group in Spring 2008 and obtained his M.S. in 2009. He graduated with a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in November 2012.
Harold Au
Harold joined the Hadjiconstantinou and Karnik groups in Fall 2011 and graduated with M.S. in Mechanical Engineering in Summer 2012.
Yi-Heng (Jason) Sen
Jason joined the Karnik group in Summer 2007 and obtained his M.S. in 2008. He graduated with a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 2012.
Hui-Ying Yang
Hui-Ying spent one year in the Karnik group in 2010-2011 as Visiting Professor. She is currently Assistant Professor at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD).
Minsoung Rhee
Minsoung was postdoctoral associate in the laboratories of Profs. Omid Farokhzad (BWH), Robert Langer (Institute Professor, MIT), and Rohit Karnik from 2009-2011. He is currently in Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, CA
Mohamed Raafat
Mohamed joined the Karnik group in Spring 2008, and completed his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 2010.