Contact Us
James D. Sterling535 Watson Drive
Claremont, CA 91711 Phone: (909) 607-9253
Email: jim_sterling[at symbol]kgi.edu
Microfluidics Research Lab Group Members
Faculty
James Sterling
BS Mechanical Engineering - Texas A&M University
MS Mechanical Engineering - California Institute of Technology
PhD Mechanical Engineering - California Institute of Technology
Email: jim_sterling[at symbol]kgi.edu
Faculty Page: http://www.kgi.edu/jimsterling
Dr. Sterling received degrees in mechanical engineering with a BS from Texas A&M University and MS and PhD degrees from Caltech. As a founding faculty member at KGI, Dr. Sterling has developed engineering coursework that prepares students of the applied life sciences to work in the development of laboratory research tools, laboratory automation, and micro-bioanalytical methods. He has taught elements of engineering design, biotransport, microfluidics and microfabrication, flow cytometry, and product development. Dr. Sterling led the development of the Marsh Cooper Bioengineering Laboratory at KGI and directed the program of capstone, industry-sponsored projects for KGI professional masters degrees, the Team Masters Projects (TMP), from 2004-2010.
His scientific interests have focused on fluid mechanics, chemically-reacting fluid flows, heat transfer, dynamical systems and Lattice Boltzmann numerical methods. He worked at TRW and Advanced Projects Research, Inc. as a systems engineer and project manager, developing a keen interest in new product development and entrepreneurship.
His key research capabilities include prototype development and proof-of-concept for molecular diagnostic devices and tools including fluorescence measurement, capillary electrophoresis, sample preparation, lab automation, electrowetting, lab-on-a-chip. Engineering analysis of thermal, fluidic, evaporative, mixing, and other biophysical processes involved in molecular diagnostics.
Ali Nadim
BS Chemical Engineering - University of California-DAVIS
MS Chemical Engineering - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
PhD Chemical Engineering - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Email: ali.nadim@cgu.edu
Dr. Nadim earned his undergraduate degree from UC Davis, graduating summa cum laude, and his MS and PhD in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While an assistant professor of applied mathematics at MIT from 1986-1991, he received the Science Council Prize of Excellence in Teaching Undergraduates. In 1997-98 he was a visiting professor at the Laboratoire de Modelisation en Mecanique at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, France and the Insitut de Recherche sur les Phénomenes Hors Equilibre, at the Université Aix-Marseille in Marseille, France. Prior to joining The Claremont Colleges, he was an associate professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering at Boston University. In 2001 Nadim joined KGI and the Department of Mathematics at the Claremont Graduate University as a joint appointment. Nadim co-directs the Microfluidics Research Lab at KGI with Professor James Sterling.
Professor Nadim is an expert in computational and applied mathematics and mathematical modeling, by means of partial differential equations and dynamical systems analysis. The microfluidics lab at KGI, which he co-directs, is equipped with state-of-the-art microfabrication instruments (soft-wall clean room, mask aligner, spin coater, sputter coater, CVD reactor) as well as with instrumentation for chip-based capillary electrophoresis, fluorescent microscopy, and high-speed video.
Research Staff
Hsiang-Wei LuHsiang-Wei Lu joined the Microfluidics Laboratory in 2010 researching in Microfluidic devices for polymerase chain reaction. He received BS in Aerospace Engineering from University of Maryland in 1997, MS in Aero/Astro from MIT in 1999, and PhD from UCLA in 2007. He researched in Nanostructures by Self-Assembled Monolayer as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Harvey Mudd College from 2007-2010.
Anna Iwaniec Hickerson
Anna Hickerson joined the microfluidics lab in 2005 to work on electrowetting devices. She received her BS in Engineering and Applied Science in 2000 and a PhD in Bioengineering in 2005 from the California Institute of Technology. Anna is currently a scientist and lecturer at KGI working on design of diagnostic instruments.
PhD Student
Michael Franklin
Michael Franklin is a doctoral candidate working towards a PhD in Applied Mathematics in the School of Mathematical Sciences at Claremont Graduate University; his advisor is Professor Ali Nadim. His research interests include Microfluidics, Mathematical Modeling, and Electrowetting. As part of the Sterling/Nadim Microfluidics lab at Keck Graduate Institute, he is currently working on a project involving Electrowetting-based purification and PCR amplification of DNA, while simultaneously working on his PhD dissertation on the same subject.