Principal Investigator
Professor Lisa V. Poulikakos
Email: lpoulikakos@ucsd.edu
Office: EBU II 358
Lisa Poulikakos is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UC San Diego. She received her PhD at ETH Zürich, where she introduced an original theoretical and experimental technique to enable the rational design of chiral nanophotonic systems. Her postdoctoral research at Stanford University focused on developing functional nanophotonic surfaces for all-optical and label-free cancer tissue diagnostics. Her lab at UC San Diego develops chiral and anisotropic nanophotonic materials e.g. for next-generation imaging. She is a recipient of the ETH Medal, awarded to outstanding doctoral theses, the L’Oréal USA For Women in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship, the Swiss National Science Foundation Early Postdoc Mobility Fellowship, the RCSA Scialog Fellowship for Advancing Bioimaging, the UC San Diego MRSEC New Investigator Award, the Beckman Young Investigator Award, the AFOSR Young Investigator Program Award, the Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering and the IEM GEMINI Faculty Mentor Award.
Group Members
Postdoctoral scholars
Saaj Chattopadhyay
Saaj Chattopadhyay (she/her) is from India and grew up in the United Arab Emirates. She graduated with her B.S. in Applied Physics from Cornell University with a minor in Education. Her interest in microscopy led her to pursue a Ph.D. at the Univeristy of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she characterized the interaction of polarized light with single molecules near gold nanoparticles. In the Poulikakos lab, she is excited to work on characterizing the underlying anisotropy of natural metasurfaces and work on making affordable automated microscopes for better medical diagnostics. Apart from microscopy, she has an active interest in science education and research-based instructional strategies. She has gathered arguably more art supplies than one would ever need, loves walking her dog, and is almost always found at her desk with a hot cup of tea.
PhD students
Julia Holland
Julia Holland is a Ph.D. student majoring in Mechanical Engineering at UC San Diego. She began her undergraduate studies at Moorpark College before transferring to UC Davis, where she graduated with Honors in 2022 with her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. From the spring of 2021 to the summer of 2022, Julia interned at Teledyne Imaging Sensors where she first became interested in light-matter interactions. She joined the Poulikakos Lab in the fall of 2022, where she now studies the conversion of electromagnetic energy into mechanical energy and manipulation of this conversion using light polarization for a broad variety of applications.
In her free time, Julia enjoys painting, reading, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Moisés Humberto Ibarra Miranda
Moisés Ibarra is a PhD student in the Materials Science and Engineering program. He graduated in 2023 with a B. S. in Nanotechnology Engineering from Tecnológico de Monterrey. As an undergraduate, he did research on two-photon absorption polymerization phenomena as a fabrication method for micro- and nanostructure with a lab-built setup. Moisés additionally did research work focused on thermoelectric materials for sustainable energy materials.
At Poulikakos Lab, his main research interests involve the optical and thermal properties of metasurfaces with potential applications in health-care, energy systems, and thermal management. In his free time, Moisés enjoys reading, running, and spending time with family and friends.
Paula Kirya
Paula Kirya is a master’s student at UC San Diego, studying Mechanical Engineering. She graduated from UCSD with a degree in Bioengineering in June 2023. Paula joined the Poulikakos Lab in August 2021 and has been working on studying and developing new ways to apply structural color in nature-inspired colorimetric metasurfaces to detect disease in biological tissue. During her undergraduate years, Paula delivered plenary talks at the Stanford Research Conference and Harvard’s National Collegiate Conference.
Her master’s research is being funded by the Optica Amplify Scholarship, the Optica Women Scholarship, and the AAUW Selected Professions Fellowship. In her free time, Paula enjoys dancing, reading, and watching movies with her friends.
Undergraduate Students
Claire Kim
Claire is an undergraduate student majoring in Mechanical Engineering at UC San Diego. She joined the Poulikakos Lab in September 2024 and is currently studying the integration of optics with acoustics through acoustoplasmonic metasurfaces to advance a wide range of applications in medical imaging and sensing technologies.
Claire is also involved in the design and development of multi-functional autonomous systems as a member of both the Triton Robosub and Triton Droids teams at UC San Diego. In her free time, she enjoys cooking and exploring new places to eat with friends.
Deki Samdrup
Deki is an undergraduate student at UC San Diego majoring in Aerospace Engineering. She joined the Poulikakos Lab in the summer of 2024 and is interested in the engineering of nanostructures and the applications of nanoengineering in the medical field. She works in the cleanroom lab on campus and is excited to expand her work in the lab, focusing on the fabrication of nanostructures. In her free time she enjoys woodcarving, 3D printing, camping, hiking, and archery.
Anastasia Egoudine
Anastasia is an undergraduate student studying Mechanical Engineering at UC San Diego and will continue her studies through UCSD’s Master’s Program in Mechanical Engineering. She joined the Poulikakos Lab in Fall 2025 and is currently working on an endoscope collaboration project with the Morimoto Lab, integrating optics and engineering for medical imaging applications. Her research interests lie at the intersection of optical systems, biomedical devices, and engineering design. Beyond her research, Anastasia is actively involved in Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) at UCSD. Outside of academics, she enjoys baking, reading, and hiking.