Principal Investigator

​
​Eric M. Young, PhD.
NSF CAREER Award (2020)
Leonard P. Kinnicutt Assistant Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
​
Postdoc, MIT (2016)
Ph.D. UT Austin (2013)
B.S. Biological Engineering (2008)
​B.S. Chemical Engineering (2008)

Graduate Students


Alexandria Adams
Ph.D. Student, Chemical Engineering
B.S.    Chemical Engineering, Louisiana State University (2020)

I'm working on expanding transporter engineering to nonconventional organisms.

Zekun Li
Ph.D. Student, Chemical Engineering
B.S.    Chemical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University (2020)

I'm working on saltwater tolerant yeasts.

Cassandra Newton
Ph.D.   Candidate, Chemical Engineering
​B.S. Chemical Engineering, B.S. Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison (2017)
 
My research is focused on applying synthetic biology techniques to engineering plant cell cultures for production of pharmaceuticals, including transporter and CRISPR/Cas9 engineering.

Emma Tobin
NSF GRFP Fellow
​Ph.D.   Student, Chemical Engineering
B.S. Biochemistry, University of New England (2020)
​
I work with a nonconventional yeast, Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous, for the development of novel engineering tools and extension of metabolic pathways towards production of nonnative terpenoids.

Sarah Weintraub
NSF CEDAR Fellow
​Ph.D.   Candidate, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Program
​B.S. University of Florida

Undergraduate Students

Carter Nakagawa, BCB
Justin Roberts, ChE
​​Lucas Anthony, ChE

Alumni

Dr. Kevin W. Keating, Ph.D. ChE '23, Scientist, Resilience
Dr. Nilesh Sharma, Postdoc ChE '22, Senior Scientist, Praj Industries
Dr. Leelakrishna Bankapalli, Postdoc ChE '22, Bycus Therapeutics
Dr. Joseph Collins, Ph.D. ChE '21, Asimov
Jaclyn Thompson, Technician '21, Synlogic
Marina Como, B.S. ChE '21, Bristol Meyers Squibb
Zachary Newlon, B.S. ChE '21, Project Farma
Elia Petros, B.S. ChE '21, Becton Dickinson
Charlotte White, B.S. ChE '21, ThermoFisher
Trent Jones, B.S. ChE '20, Ginkgo Bioworks
Shravani Balaji, B.S. CBC '20, Ph.D. Student, Yale University
Amparo Cosio, B.S. ChE '20, Ph.D. Student, Northwestern University
Celeste Marsan, B.S. ChE '19, NSF Graduate Research Fellow at UT Austin
Alden Graham, B.S. ChE '19, Pfizer
Alexandra Connor, B.S. ChE '19, consultant
Allison Guthrie,  2019 NSF REU student
Lucas Rodriguez, 2018 NSF REU student

Major Qualifying Projects (19)

2023

Chemical Species in Wine Mouthfeel

Sponsor: E.J. Gallo
Co-advised with Dr. Stewart
Cameron Cronin, Antionietta Vigliotti

2022

Encapsulated Cultured Products

Sponsor: Impossible Foods
Liam Cox, Jillian Doyle, Luca Ialongo, Gabriella Cerbo

Amino Acid Transporters in Yeast

Chris LaFortune and Kavmi Bhatnagar

SORSAM

Zachary Newlon

Microscopy of Yeast and Bacteria

Co-advised with Dr. Stewart
Elia Petros

Bacterial Transcriptomics in the Soil Environment

Co-advised with Dr. Farny
Maya Grant and Stokley Voltmer

2021

Probiotic Yeast Transformation

Charlotte White

Red Yeast Stress Response

Denisa Kim, Kyle Joyce, Natalie Soens

Diffusion in Soil Columns

Kate Amrein, Aiden Crane, Olivia Furner, Colleen Wyatt

Modeling of ​Komagataebacter xylinus

Seth Chaves and Nicholas Boggiano

Continuous Fermentation

Co-advised with Dr. Kmiotek
Sponsor: Maine Meadworks
​Robert Hager, Gio Mannino, Zachary Sasso, Cristopher Watson

Differential Gene Expression in ​P. putida

Co-advised with Dr. Farny
​Kyle Harding

2020

Fungal Highways for Soil Microbiomes

​Trent Jones

Characterization of Komagataebacter xylinus

Amparo Cosio, Sydney Packard, Alice Morgan

2019

Light Activation of Yeast Metabolism

Provost's MQP Award
​Celeste Marsan

Transporters in Cell Culture

​Allie Connor

Wild Apple Yeast Isolation

​Alden Graham

2018

Last But Not Yeast

Co-advised with Dr. Kmiotek
​Sponsor: North Country Hard Cider
​Jennifer Gagner, Alex Shefferman, Devin Stevens, Gabrielle Somadelis

2017

Yeast Whisperers

Co-advised with Dr. Kmiotek
​Sponsor: North Country Hard Cider
​Ellen Thomson, Lucas Chico, Garrett Brogan, Alexandra Rozen