PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Janani Sampath (she/her)
Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, The Ohio State University, 2018
M.S. Chemical Engineering, The Ohio State University, 2016
B.E. Chemical Engineering, R.V. College of Engineering, 2010
Janani joined the University of Florida in January 2021. She was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, supervised by Jim Pfaendtner and Chris Mundy. She earned her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University under Lisa Hall. Prior to joining graduate school, Janani worked as a research engineer at Unilever R&D in Bangalore, India. She won the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty award as well the ACS PRF Doctoral New Investigator Award in 2023. She was awarded the NSF CAREER in 2026.
Outside of research, Janani enjoys CrossFit, running, cooking Indian food, and spending time with her dogs Saabu, Po and daughter Bhumi.
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Taofeek Tejuosho (he/him)
Taofeek joined the group in Fall 2021 as PhD student. He enjoys playing soccer and reading books on productivity/human behaviors.
Justin Kim (he/him)
Justin joined the group in Fall 2025 as a PhD student. Justin comes to us from the University of Virginia.
Amalakrishna (Amala) Vemula (she/her)
Amala joined the group as a PhD student in Fall 2024. Amala comes to us from IIT-Madras.
Danny Sepulveda (he/him)
Danny joined the group in Fall 2025 as a PhD student. Danny comes to us from Universidad del Atlántico.
Sirsha Ganguly (he/him)
Sirsha joined the group as a PhD student in Fall 2024. Sirsha comes to us from Jadhavpur University.
Jesal Patel (he/him)
Jesal joined the group in Fall 2025 as a PhD student. Jesal comes to us from the University of Delaware.
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
Brock Daniel
Emily Soto
Patricia Mariash
ALUMNI
Ph.D Students
Mohammed Al Otmi (Otmi)
August 2020 - May 2025
Current Position: Research Scientist, Exxon Mobil
Yinhao Jia
August 2021 - December 2025
Current Position: Singapore
M.S. Students
Marissa Premsukh
December 2021
Current Position: Process Engineer, Intel
Marco Padilla Soto
December 2021
Current Position: Invista
Diana Aponte-Claudio
December 2025
Current Position: Honeywell
Undergraduate Students
Adam Fernandez
May 2023
Current Position: UF Medical School
Brendan Wernisch
May 2023
PhD Student, Northwestern University
Sohil Kollipara
May 2023
Data Scientist, Aether Biomachines
PhD Student, Duke University (from 2025)
Timothy Rigaurd
May 2023
Automation OTN Engineer, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
Danielle Geils
Grace Freeman
Dominick Szabo