Raj S. Mukkamala

Raj is a 3rd-year chemical engineering PhD candidate at Caltech, co-advised by Prof. Julia Kornfield and Prof. Dianne Newman. His research blends polymer science with microbiology to develop engineered living materials for precision agriculture applications (read more). Raj completed his B.S.E. in Chemical Engineering at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in 2022. During his undergraduate studies, he worked on developing polyolefin blends suitable for scalable conversion to carbon fibers in Prof. Valentin Rodionov's polymer chemistry group and on simulating the dynamics of bottle-brush polymers in Prof. Michael J.A. Hore's polymer physics group. Outside the lab, Raj enjoys playing tennis, hiking, and learning mixed martial arts.