People

Rachel Owyeung
Chemical and Biological Engineering

Bio
I grew up in Sunnyvale, CA and moved to La Jolla for my undergraduate studies, where I received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, San Diego. There, I researched stretchable, semiconducting polymers for sensor applications. I am now pursuing a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Tufts University working with Prof. Sameer Sonkusale and Prof. Matthew Panzer. My research interests include chemical sensors and novel materials for soft/flexible electronics and wearable devices to be implemented into soft robotic platforms. When I'm not in the lab, I enjoy eating, staying active, and exploring the outdoors.

IGERT Research
Living organisms are constantly receiving information and adapting to their surroundings from a macro scale all the way down to a molecular level. I seek to understand how we can design materials to combine various architectures and chemical sensing capabilities to mimic dynamic responses seen in biological organisms. Through this, we can investigate how to create hierarchies of multiple sensing and mechanical changes to create an intricate feedback network. These materials can then be used for biosensing devices and soft material robotics where we want to elicit a more complex response from a fluctuating environment.

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