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Current Members

Former Members

PhD & Postdoctoral

Yi Shen

Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Duke University, Now: Research Scientist, Rockwell Automation

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Pingcheng Jian

Ph.D. in Electrical & Computer Engineering, Duke University, Now: Postdoctoral Fellow, Imperial College London

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Hans Riess

Postdoctoral Researcher, Duke University, Now: Faculty Research Scientist, ECE, Georgia Institute of Technology

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Kavin Sivakumar

Ph.D. in Electrical & Computer Engineering, Duke University, Now: Founding ML Research Engineer, Garden

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Yan Zhang
Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Duke University, Now: Sr. Research Scientist, Amazon Inc.

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Panagiotis Vlantis
Postdoctoral Researcher, Duke University, Now: Robotics and Software Engineer, Seervision AG

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Luke Calkins
Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Duke University, Now: Product Owner/Sr. Controls Engineer, ASML

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Xusheng Luo
Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Duke University, Now: Postdoctoral Fellow, Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University

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Reza Khodayi-mehr
Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Duke University, Now: Managing Staff, AI Research Engineering, Intuitive

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Davood Hajinezhad
Postdoctoral Researcher, Duke University, Now: Data Science Director, Fidelity Investments

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Yiannis Kantaros
Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Duke University, Now: Assistant Professor, ECE, Washington University, St. Louis

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Meng Guo
Postdoctoral Researcher, Duke University, Now: Assistant Professor, College of Engineering, Peking University, China

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Wann-Jiun Ma
Postdoctoral Researcher, Duke University, Now: Sr. Manager of AI Platform Engineering, Ulta Beauty

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Soomin Lee
Postdoctoral Researcher, Duke University, Now: Sr. Applied Scientist, Amazon Inc.

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Charles Freundlich
Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Duke University, Now: Sr. Manager, Design
Technology, Tesla

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Nikolaos Chatzipanagiotis
Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Duke University, Now: Applied Science Manager, Amazon Inc.

Masters

Evangelia Koskinioti
M.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens


Konstantinos Papathanasiou
M.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens

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Dillon Sandhu
M.Sc. in Computer Science, Duke University

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Xenia Konti
M.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens

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Jim Turner
M.Sc. in Computer Science, Duke University

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Yijie (Jayson) Zhou
M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Duke University

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Shiqi Sun
M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Duke University

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Chenyu Liu
M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Duke University

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Mu Jia
M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Duke University

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Dongyao Lei
M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Duke University

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Haozhe Wang
M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Duke University

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Ryan Connolly
M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Duke University

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Yuankai Zhu
M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Duke University

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Yihui Feng
M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Duke University

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Fangyan Shen
M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Duke University

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Litao Qiu
M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Duke University

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Qitong Gao
M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Duke University

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Zhaoyun Xiong
M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Duke University

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Yan Zhang
M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, Duke University

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Nithesh Reddy Nelvoy
M.Sc. in Electrical & Computer Engineering, Duke University

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Charles Freundlich
M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology

Undergraduate

Lukas Dannull

CS Undergraduate student, Duke University

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Yanpeng Yuan
CS Undergraduate student, Duke University

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Kenneth Marenco
ME Undergraduate student, Duke University


Himanshu Jain
ECE Undergraduate student, Duke University


Achilles Dabrowski 
ECE Undergraduate student, Duke University

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Savini Prematilleke

ME Undergraduate student, Duke University


Reed Cone Le Beaumont

ME Undergraduate student, Duke University


David Laub

ME Undergraduate student, Duke University


Cole Garda

ME Undergraduate student (Pratt Fellow), Duke University


Nikhil Vanderklaauw

ME Undergraduate student, Duke University


Jihane Bettahi

ECE Undergraduate student (Pratt Fellow), Duke University


Thomas Monson

ME Undergraduate student, Duke University


Chanwook Oh

ECE Undergraduate student (Pratt Fellow), Duke University


Yang Liu

ME Undergraduate student (Pratt Fellow), Duke University


Visrut Sudhakar

CS Undergraduate student, UNC Chapel Hill


Addison Howenstine

ECE Undergraduate student, Duke University


Parker Hao

ECE Undergraduate student, Duke University


Qian Wang

ECE Undergraduate student, Duke University


Alexander Ching

ME Undergraduate student, Duke University


Tayyab Wasim

ECE Undergraduate student (Pratt Fellow), Duke University


Tosin Omofoye

ME Undergraduate student (Pratt Fellow), Duke University


Negatu Asmamau

ECE Undergraduate student (Pratt Fellow), Duke University


Kevin Nikolaus

ME Undergraduate student (Pratt Fellow), Duke University


Nicholas Albertson

ME Undergraduate student, Duke University


Alex Zhu

ECE Undergraduate student (Pratt Fellow), Duke University


Challen Herzberg-Brovold

ME Undergraduate student (Pratt Fellow), Duke University


Davis Bolster

ME Undergraduate student, Duke University

Contact
Information

Duke University

Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science

Hudson Hall, Box 90300
Durham, NC 27708, USA

michael.zavlanos AT duke DOT edu

919-660-5528

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Office​

417 Wilkinson Building, Pratt School of Engineering

534 Research Dr

Durham, NC 27705, USA

Lab

437 Wilkinson Building, Pratt School of Engineering

534 Research Dr

Durham, NC 27705, USA

©2025 Michael M. Zavlanos

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