Soft Matter Lab
Prof. Eric Dufresne - Yale University

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Prof. Eric R. Dufresne

Eric is an assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Physics.  Eric is a 1996 graduate of Yale College and earned his Ph.D with David Grier in the Physics department at the University of Chicago in 2000.  In the fall of 2000, Eric and David helped to found Arryx, a company dedicated to developing and applying holographic optical tweezers.  In 2001-2002, Eric consulted in the Washington, DC office of McKinsey & Co.  From 2002-2004, Eric worked as a post-doctoral fellow with Dave Weitz in the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University.
eric.dufresne @ yale.edu


Dr. Wilfried Engl

Wilfried received his Ph.D. in 2007 from the University of Bordeaux in 2007 under the supervision of Prof. Pascal Panizza.   He is studying the mechanics of drying complex fluids.  
Dr. Holger Kress

Holger carried out his doctoral research in the group of Ernst Stelzer at the EMBL (European Molecular Biology Laboratory).  He received his Ph.D.  from the University of Heidelberg in 2006, with Alexander Rohrbach and Joerg Schmiedmayer. He is studying signalling networks in live cells. Holger's research is supported in part by a fellowship from the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.  Holger's Web Page



Dr. Jin-Gyu Park

Jin-Gyu is a Group Leader in the Functional Particles Group of Samsung Cheil Industries and a post-doctoral fellow in our lab.  Jin-Gyu received his Ph.D. in the Department of Chemical Engineering of Hanyang University in Seoul, Korea.   Jin-Gyu is an expert in the synthesis of polymeric colloidal particles.  He is synthesizing monodisperse aniostropic particles and studying their self-assembly.  
Dr. Sunil Sainis

Sunil received his Ph.D. in Physics from Yale University in 2006, with Prof. David DeMille.  He is studying the charging of colloidal particles in nonpolar solvents.



Dr. Alla Shundrovsky

Alla received her Ph.D. in Physics from Cornell University, where she studied single molecule biophysics with Prof. Michelle Wang.  Alla is studying mechanotransduction in neurons and has a joint appointment in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, where she is co-advised by Prof. Paul Forscher.  
Dr. Marleen van der Veen

Marleen received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Groningen in 2006 with Prof. Hummelen. She is co-advised by Mark Reed and is studying plasmons in metallic nanostructures.  Marleen's research is supported in part by a Rubicon Grant from the Dutch government.
Jason Forster

Jason is a Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering.  Jason is studying colloidal interactions mediated by biological molecules.  He is a 2005 graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University.



Sara Hashmi

Sara is a Ph.D. student in Chemical Engineering.  Sara is studying the flow of deformable objects in microfluidic channels, and is co-advised with Michael Loewenberg.  She is a 2001 graduate of Harvard College. Sara's research is partially supported by a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.  For more info on her research, click here.



Cecile Mejean

Cecile is a first-year Ph.D. student in mechanical engineering.  She received her Masters from the Ecole Nationale Superieure de Chimie et de Physique de Bourdeaux (ENSCPB) in 2005.  Cecile is studying mechanotransduction in live cells.



Jason Merrill

Jason is
a first-year Ph.D. student in physics.  He graduated from Amherst College in 2006 with degrees in physics and music.  Jason in studying plasmons in metallic nanostructures.


Elissa Dunn

Elissa is a junior physics major.  She is investigating self assembly of anisotropic microparticles.
Elizabeth Jerison

Elizabeth is a sophomore physics major.  She is measuring forces generated by crawling cells.
Elise Novitski

Elise is a senior Physics major.  She is investigating interactions between light and soft matter.
Madeleine Udell

Madeleine is a junior Physics major.  She is investigating microhydrodynamic correlations.


Former Lab Members

Dr. Vincent Germain - now at University of Lyon

Dr. Aric Sanders - now at NIST Boulder

Aaron Barnet  '08 (summer 2005)
Stephen Chapin  '07 (summer 2005, fall 2006, spring 2007) - now at MIT ChE
Jacqueline Martinez '06 (fall 2005, spring 2006) - now at Oliver Wyman
Eleanor Millman '07 (fall 2005 - summer 2007) - now at Harvard Physics
Kristina Mois '06 (spring 2007)


Our Colleagues



Collaborators at Yale

Soft Matter & Complex Fluids
Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena (CRISP)
Mark Reed - EE

Thierry Emonet - MCDB
Paul Forscher - MCDB
Christine Jacobs-Wagner - MCDB
Lynne Regan - MB&B
Elizabeth Rhoades - MB&B
Dan Wu - Medical School



Collaborators at other academic institutions

Ward Lopes - Mt. Holyoke
Orion Weiner - UCSF

Center for Cell Analysis and Modeling - Universty of Connecticut Health Center



Collaborators in industry

Cabot Corporation
Unilever Corporation


Copyright Eric R. Dufresne, Yale University, 2007