Principal Investigator
Amir A. Pahlavan
Amir is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Yale, with an additional appointment in Materials Science. His lab studies how fluids, particles, and microbes move through complex environments, and how chemical gradients, freezing, and flow change the behavior of soft materials. He is a faculty affiliate of Yale’s PEB program and Wu Tsai Institute.
Amir earned his B.S. in mechanical engineering at the University of Tehran in 2008, his M.S. in theoretical and applied mechanics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2010, and his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at MIT in 2018. He was a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton with Howard Stone before joining Yale in July 2021.
He received the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund Doctoral New Investigator Award in 2022 and an NSF CAREER award in 2025. At Yale, he teaches fluid mechanics, mentors undergraduate and graduate researchers and postdocs, and organizes the Soft, Fluid, Living Matter Coffee Hour. Outside the lab, he enjoys hiking and the outdoors.
Postdoctoral Researchers
Mobin Alipour
Mobin joined the group in February 2022 as a Postdoctoral Associate. He earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from TU Wien (joint with Udine) in September 2021, where he investigated the dynamics of particles in turbulent flows, interfacial flows in porous media and airborne exposure. At Yale, he plans to explore transport phenomena in heterogeneous environments. Mobin enjoys hiking, reading books, cafés, and nature photography (Email, URL).
Graduate Students
Haoyu Liu (柳皓宇)
Haoyu joined the group as a PhD student in Fall, 2021. He has obtained his bachelor’s degree in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from Southern University of Science and Technology, China. Haoyu’s undergrad thesis was in the area of optofluidic resonance in liquid jets. At Yale, he plans to do research in the area of interfacial flows and transport phenomena in complex environments. Haoyu likes reading novels, drawing architecture, and traveling (Email).
Zehao (Hobart) Chen
Hobart joined the group as a Ph.D. student in Fall, 2022. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering along with a double-major degree in international management and a minor in economics at Case Western Reserve University. At Yale, he plans to work on understanding bacterial transport and dynamics in porous media. Hobart enjoys playing basketball, video games, and traveling during his leisure time.
Aditya Pujari
Aditya joined the group as a PhD student in Fall 2022. He earned his bachelor’s degree with a major in Chemical Engineering and a minor in Physics from BITS Pilani, India. He then joined ICTS-TIFR Bangalore as a visiting student fellow, where he worked on a range of projects in hydrodynamic fluid-particle interactions. At Yale, he plans to do research in the field of transport in porous media. Aditya enjoys writing, hiking, cooking, reading novels and solving puzzles.
Yiran Li
Yiran joined the group in Fall 2023. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Tsinghua University, China, and is interested in theoretical and computational modeling of active matter flows in complex environments. He enjoys playing basketball and guitar.
Abhineet Rajput
Abhineet joined the group as a Ph.D. student in Fall, 2023. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. He then joined the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, where he worked on complex fluid rheology, and obtained his master’s research degree. At Yale, he plans on working on transport in poroelastic media. Abhineet enjoys cricket, running, cycling, cooking, animes, and mangas during his leisure time.
Sadrah (Sedra) Mohammed Ali
Sedra joined the group as a summer intern in July 2025 through the Yale Pathways Research Internship. At the time, she was a rising senior at Engineering Science University Magnet School (ESUMS), interested in majoring in Architecture. She loves to draw and play on her 3DS. Sedra is also her real name.
Saket Aliminate
Saket joined the group as a summer intern in July 2025 through the Yale Pathways Research Internship program. At the time, he was a rising senior at the Engineering and Science University Magnet School in West Haven, Connecticut, with interests in Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Finance/Economics, AI, and Computer Science. Saket enjoys watching sports, hiking, and playing tennis.
Kiera Meloche
Kiera joined the lab as a master’s student in spring 2025 after earning her bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Her research in the lab focused on carbon mineralization and precipitation. In her free time, she enjoys reading true crime and playing water polo.
Luke Morad
Luke joined the lab as an undergrad in summer 2024. He is a senior studying Mechanical Engineering at Yale and is interested in inertial particle-fluid interactions and 2D turbulence. Luke enjoys reading novels and rock climbing.
Akash Ganesh
Akash joined the group as a Postdoctoral Associate in April 2023. He obtained his PhD in Fluid Mechanics from Laboratoire FAST, CNRS, Université Paris Saclay in January 2023, where he investigated the hydrodynamic dispersion of bacterial suspensions. At Yale, he explored bacterial chemotaxis in complex environments. Akash enjoys reading novels, listening to podcasts, watching movies, cooking, and swimming during his leisure time (Email). He now works for the startup company REEgen Inc.
Marta Bartnicka
Marta joined the group as a summer intern in July 2024 through Yale Pathways Research Internships. She is a rising senior at High School in the Greater New Haven Community and intends to major in Mechanical Engineering or Data Science. Marta enjoys hiking, camping, and kayaking in her free time.
Keylianis Valentín
Keylianis joined the group as a summer intern in June 2023 as part of the NSF REU program in Yale Physics, Engineering, and Biology (PEB). She is in her fourth year at the University of Puerto Rico - Humacao majoring in Microbiology with a minor in Biotechnology. She enjoys dancing and traveling.
Rawasy Almaksoudi
Rawasy joined the group as a summer intern in July 2023 as a rising senior from West Haven High School, through the Yale Pathways Research Internship program. She hopes to major in Biomedical Engineering and enjoys traveling and reading in her free time.
Leah Mock
Leah joined the group as a summer intern in July 2023 through Yale Pathways Research Internships. She is a senior at Engineering and Science University Magnet School and intends to major in Physics when in college. Leah enjoys reading, listening to music, and knitting.
Florian De Bel
Florian joined the group as a visiting researcher in July 2023. He earned his bachelor’s degree from UCLouvain, Belgium, and is currently doing a master’s degree in Applied Mathematics at the same university. He is interested in numerical methods, especially their applications to fluid dynamics. At Yale, he plans to focus on simulating the evaporation of sessile droplets. Florian enjoys sports and solving puzzles.
Otis Van Kerm
Otis joined the group in July 2023 as a visiting researcher. He is doing his studies at UCLouvain, Belgium. After getting his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, he started a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering also in UCLouvain with a focus on aerodynamics. At Yale he plans to do research in the field of colloid transport with simulations. He enjoys running, listening to music and learning new things.
Xiaolei Ma
Xiaolei joined the group in April 2022 as a Postdoctoral Associate. He got his Ph.D. in physics from Emory University in 2019. His research is focused on the multiscale phenomena in complex fluids, solids, and active matter. At Yale, he explored crack patterns in binary mixture suspensions. Xiaolei likes traveling, reading and delicious food (Email, URL). He is currently a Senior Research Scientist at Henkel in Minnesota.
Pauline Moulliard
Pauline joined the group in July 2022 as a visiting researcher. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from UCLouvain, Belgium and is currently doing a master in the same university, where her focus is on mechanics of materials. At Yale, she plans to do research in the field of transport in porous media. She enjoys hiking, listening to music and traveling.
Youri Marchal
Youri joined the group in July 2022 as a visiting researcher. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from UCLouvain, Belgium, focusing in fluid mechanics and is finishing his master’s with a thesis about numerical simulation of external flow aerodynamics, and beginning his PhD in UCLouvain. At Yale, he plans to do research in the field of transport in porous media. He likes running, reading novels, learning about Greek ancient culture and Belgian beers.
Emily Kang
Emily joined the lab in June 2022 as a visiting undergraduate researcher (REU). She is in her third year at Amherst College majoring in Biochemistry & Biophysics. At Yale, she researched transport phenomena in porous media. She enjoys reading and listening to music.
Tanzila Alam
Tanzila joined the group in April 2022. She is in her fourth year of undergraduate studies majoring in chemical engineering on the ABET-accredited track. Prior to coming to New Haven, she attended Fresno State in her hometown of Fresno, California. At Yale, she plans to do research in the area of transport phenomena. Tanzila enjoys trying new restaurants, watching movies, and practicing calligraphy.