PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Mikael P. Backlund
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Member, Illinois Quantum Information Science and Technology Center (IQUIST)
Member, Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology (CBQB)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
B.S., University of California, Berkeley, 2010
Ph.D., Stanford University, 2016
Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 2016-2020
mikaelb@illinois.edu
POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHERS
Anish Kumar Das
B.S., Presidency University, 2016
M.S., Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram, 2018
Ph.D., Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram, 2023
akdas@illinois.edu
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Cheyenne Mitchell
B.S., Bridgewater College, 2019
csm9@illinois.edu
David Durden
B.S., University of Georgia, 2019
ddurden2@illinois.edu
Swastik Hegde
B.Tech., National Institute of Technology Karnataka Surthkal, 2016
M.S., Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research, 2019
swastik2@illinois.edu
Lakshmy Priya Ajayakumar
B.S.-M.S., Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram, 2020
lpa3@illinois.edu
Armine Dingilian
B. S., B. A., University of California, Berkeley, 2020
armined2@illinois.edu
Aksshay Nandakumar Regeni
B.S.-M.S., Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram, 2023
aksshay2@illinois.edu
Dhananjay Dhruva
B.E., SSN College of Engineering, Anna University, 2016
M.S., Duke University, 2018
ddhruva2@illinois.edu
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
Kyle Haggard
Chemical Engineering, Class of 2025
haggard6@illinois.edu
Rishi Sivakumar
Physics Engineering, Class of 2024
rishis4@illinois.edu
Zach Burke
Chemistry and Astrophysics, Class of 2024
zpburke2@illinois.edu
Alan Mu
Physics, Class of 2024
mu8@illinois.edu
FORMER MEMBERS
Nabil Sikora – student at University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign
Dr. Mingcai Xie – Lithograph Engineer at Pengxinwei Integrated Circuit Manufacturing Co., LTD (Shenzhen, China)
Gustavo Aldas – student at New Jersey Institute of Technology