PROJECTS


At META Lab projects are developed in close collaboration with the student to best suit their interest. With curiosity and joy as our guiding principles, our research projects evolve and emerge as reflections of our students' personalities. We encourage the lab members to integrate their interests in science, engineering, art, humanities, or any other mode of knowledge creation to formulate their projects. The projects are constantly improvised, with always an eye for unforeseen directions worth pursuing.

If you are interested in any of the following projects or would like to initiate a collaboration, please reach out to Abhishek.

Stalemate Exhibiton underneath The Chrysler

Auxetic Fabrics, with Rabab Chowdhury, Janine Choy, and Mekhi Vazquez
Molecular Simulation of an AB Sequence (Ubaidullah Hassan)
Stable foam developed by Nora, Muneeb, Masuma, and Stella for Stalemate with Carlos Irijalba for Stalemate
Thermal Imaging for Chemical Engineeers (Faith Cheung, project website)
“Corroso” by Chiara Leopardi A’25, using laser physics to reveal microstructure. 
Self-fitting sleeve in action: made by Rowen Sadlier, worn by Rachel Lee
Simulation of a protein by Tausif Tamim
diffracted sunset through a disordered network (Joseph, Rowen)
Lab overview in October 2024 (Abhishek’s office)


PEOPLE 


All ChE students unless indicated otherwise

Spring 2026

  • Rachel Lee: Computational design of sequenced materials
  • Suhama Saniz: Molecular simulations of lipid nanoparticles 
  • Mekhi Vazquez, Rabab Chowdhury, Janine Choy (CE): Auxetic fabrics, with Fashion Show by mililab
  • Masuma Faruqi, Nora Haque, Muneeb Alam (A’27), Stella Hyolim Lee (A’28): Synthesis and characterization of solid foams, with Carlos Irijalba (Art)
  • Violet Caleca (AR’26):  Lithium characterization and crystallization, with Tommy George (Chemistry)
  • Gabby Carlos: Chemical engineering and coffee
  • Saskia Lampe  (Art) :  Auxetic metamaterials for sculpture (starting grad school at Imperial College London)
  • Justin Zhou : Electrolysis sculpture with Harrison Tyler (AACE lab)

End of the Year Show  2026

Gabby Carlos: Chemical engineering and Coffee    
Justin Zhou: Electrolysis Sculpture
Violet Caleca: Lithium Extraction
Rabab Chowdhury and Janine Choy: Auxetic Fabrics






Past Projects



Fall 2025


  • Rachel Lee: Parametric design of open-source science communication demonstrations 
  • Suhama Saniz: Molecular dynamics for the study and optimization of drug delivery systems
  • Mekhi Vazquez: Auxetic fabrics
  • Masuma Faruqi: Synthesis and characterization of solid foams
  • Nora Haque: Synthesis and characterization of solid foams
  • Muneeb Alam (A’27): Synthesis and characterization of solid foams
  • Stella Hyolim Lee (A’28): Synthesis and characterization of solid foams
  • Violet Caleca (AR’26):  Lithium characterization and crystallization
  • Justin Zhou : Electrolysis sculpture with Harrison Tyler (AACE lab)

Lab members at AIChE 2025 Annual Meeting in Boston. (L-R): Rachel Lee, Suhama Saniz (won 2nd Prize in Poster Competition!), Faith Cheung, Mekhi Vazquez, and Abhishek Sharma




Spring 2025

All projects were presented at the End of The Year Show 2025! 

  • Ubaidullah Hassan : Mapping sequences to networks to study the evolution of function (PhD student, Chemistry at UPenn)
  • Rowen Sadlier: Use of auxetic patterns in art and performance (PhD student, Chemical Engineering, CCNY)
  • Joseph C: Computational design of networked materials for stimulus-response
  • Abigail Takemoto: Auxetic fabrics
  • Mekhi Vazquez: Auxetic fabrics
  • Jobsue Ventura (A’26): Design of auxetic garments
  • Faith Cheung: Thermal imaging of heat transfer (Project Website, School of Engineering’s Dean’s Innovation Grant 2024)
  • Chiara Leopardi (A’25): Menschel project Corroso, and senior show Pyramids before tourism. Advised on laser and sound work.

Engineers, Artists, and Chemists: Abhishek, Chiara Leopardi A’25, Fabiola Barrios-Landeros (Chemistry) at Chiara’s Senior Show
    
End of the Year show spread for three of the projects



Fall 2024



  • Tausif Tamim: Biomolecular simulations for optimization of bioprocesses (PhD student, Chemical Engineering at NYU)
  • Suhama Saniz: Molecular dynamics for the study and optimization of drug delivery systems
  • Rachel Lee: Parametric design of open-source science communication demonstrations
  • Abigail Takemoto: Embedding active medicinal molecules in clothing
  • Jenna Sapers: Evaluation, treatment, and extraction of microplastics in water
  • Harsh Reshamwala: Monte Carlo simulation of hard particle systems and application of machine learning to describe order
  • Faith Cheung: Phase change materials for clothing


Tausif presents his research poster at AIChE 2024