PROJECTS

This Master's research project focused on advancing automated microbial experimental evolution for applications in challenging environments, such as extended human space missions.

• Autonomous Biofluidics System Development: Successfully designed and tested a multi-parameter sensor system for the Automated Adaptive Directed Evolution Chamber (AADEC), a second-generation device developed at NASA Ames Research Center to automate tedious, error-prone directed evolution (DE) experiments.

• Novel Sensor Integration: Implemented and validated microprobe sensors for monitoring critical real-time microbial ecology parameters, including pH, Oxidation-Reduction Potential (ORP), and Electrical Conductivity (EC).

• Custom Sensor Engineering (MECON): Developed and constructed an in-house Micro-bio Electrical CONductivity (MECON) sensor to meet the specific requirements of the experimental setup. The MECON sensor's performance was validated and found to be comparable to commercial sensors in the
  0−9,000 μS/cm range.

• Microfluidics Design & Fabrication: Redesigned the ADEPT (Adaptive Directed Evolution Parallel Transfer) fluidics card using CNC-milled polycarbonate to ensure biocompatibility. The new card incorporates a dedicated growth chamber for stress exposure (UV-C) and a separate sensor chamber to accommodate the microprobes.

• Embedded Systems and Automation: Automated the entire electrical and sensing system using a Raspberry Pi standalone computer for seamless, real-time data collection and system control.

• Experimental Validation: Successfully demonstrated a proof-of-concept by integrating and operating the sensor system within a single growth-sensor chamber pair, providing a foundation for expansion to a parallel transfer system capable of inter-culture comparisons and multiple population studies. The final fluidics card design also enables
  repeated autoclave sterilization without compromising integrity.

Skills Gained

• Embedded Systems & IoT Development: Designed and implemented a complete automation and data acquisition system utilizing a Raspberry Pi and custom circuitry for real-time control and monitoring of a biofluidics setup.

• Sensor Integration & Calibration: Expert-level experience in selecting, interfacing, and calibrating multiple in-situ microprobe sensors, including pH, ORP, Electrical Conductivity (EC), and flow.

• Custom Hardware Design (MECON): Developed and validated an in-house Micro-bio Electrical CONductivity (MECON) sensor from concept to functional prototype, including circuit design using components like Op-amps and ADCs (MCP3008).

• Microfluidics & Biocompatible Design: Designed, modeled, and fabricated a second-generation CNC-milled polycarbonate fluidics card, prioritizing material biocompatibility and ensuring the system could withstand repeated autoclave sterilization.

• Electronic Prototyping & Assembly: Hands-on proficiency in building and debugging complex electronic circuits, including power management, signal conditioning, and integrating components like MOSFETs, Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJT), and multiplexers.

• Experimental Design & Validation: Developed and executed proof-of-concept experiments to functionally validate the integrated sensor system, demonstrating its capability for use in long-term microbial experimental evolution studies.

Simply Put: Automated Evolution in a Box 

This project was about building a miniature, self-contained laboratory—a kind of "smart fish tank" for microbes—that can run long, complex evolution experiments completely on its own, which is essential for things like long-duration space missions.

• The Problem: Evolving microbes in a lab to gain new traits (like surviving a new drug or a harsh environment) takes countless hours of manual work by a scientist. This is impossible in space.

• The Solution: We built a robotic system, the AADEC, that can handle all the tedious steps. We gave this "robot" a set of custom-made electronic sensors (for things like acidity, saltiness, and cell growth) and taught it to monitor the microbes in real time using a Raspberry Pi computer.

• The Impact: This system automates the process of "directed evolution," making it a reliable, error-free, and scalable tool for science. It allows researchers to safely conduct critical biological experiments in challenging, remote environments like the International Space Station or on future deep space missions, advancing our ability to study and potentially engineer life outside of Earth.

This doctoral research focused on developing and validating miniaturized, robust analytical instruments for astrobiological missions to icy moons (like Europa) using kinetic impact-penetrator platforms.

• High-G Space Payload Development: Designed and experimentally validated science payloads capable of surviving ultra high-g impact loads (up to 50,000 g), which are characteristic of low-cost impact-penetrator missions.

• Integrated Multi-Species Detection: Developed two microfluidic sub-payloads for the Ice Shell Impact-Penetrator (IceShIP) module:

  • Icy Moon Penetrator Organic Analyzer (IMPOA): Detects low-concentration organic species (e.g., amino acids, polycyclic hydrocarbons) using Laser-Induced Fluorescence (LIF).

  • Microfluidic Inorganic Conductivity Detector for Europa (MicroICE): Detects inorganic salts (Europan brine analogs) using Capacitively Coupled Contactless Conductivity Detection (C4D).

• Exceptional Analytical Performance: Demonstrated MicroICE's Limit of Detection (LOD) for salt species, exceeding the stringent NASA Europa Lander requirement by up to four orders of magnitude (achieving 10s μM sensitivity).

• Shock-Tolerant Mechanical Design: Performed multiple rounds of high-G impact testing (12 k-g, 25 k-g, 50 k-g) and subsequent post-impact analysis (X-ray, functional testing) to iteratively refine the payload canister design and component potting.

• Novel Materials and Fabrication: Developed PolyCODES, the first demonstration of a polymer-based C4D electrode using cost-effective, cleanroom-free microfabrication techniques (PEDOT:PSS drop-stain-coating) to ensure mechanical robustness and reproducibility.

• Microfluidic Automation: Designed the Solenoid-based Actuator Assembly for Impact Penetrators (SIP) to establish a Programmable Microfluidic Platform (PMP), enabling automated functions like sample intake, mixing, and fluid routing inside the penetrator.

Skills Gained

• Planetary Instrument Design & Engineering: Expertise in developing miniaturized, high-g load-tolerant analytical payloads for spaceflight, focusing on maximizing scientific return while minimizing size, weight, and power (SWaP).

• Microfluidics & Microfabrication: Design, fabrication, and characterization of microfluidic devices, including experience with CNC-machined metal manifolds, PTFE gaskets, and novel polymer electrode systems.

• Analytical Chemistry & Sensing: Developed and optimized two ultra-sensitive micro-sensing techniques: Laser-Induced Fluorescence (LIF) for organics and Capacitively Coupled Contactless Conductivity Detection (C4D) for inorganics.

• High-G Mechanical & Materials Testing: Performed physical high-acceleration (up to 50 k-g) impact testing and post-impact failure analysis (e.g., X-ray inspection, electrical functional testing). Proficient in material selection for shock mitigation (17-4 PH Stainless Steel, 7075 Aluminum).

• Embedded Systems & Mechatronics: Integrated Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) electrical components (microcontrollers, piezoelectric actuators, solenoids) into shock-hardened architectures and developed the SIP solenoid actuation system for automated fluidics.

• Computational Modeling: Used COMSOL for computational modeling and finite element analysis to guide initial design iterations and predict mechanical behavior under extreme impact stress.

Simply Put: Sending a 'Smart Bullet' to Find Life on Icy Moons 

This project was about inventing tiny, extremely tough scientific instruments that could survive being shot out of a spacecraft and smashing into the ice of a distant moon (like Europa) to search for signs of life.

The Mission Challenge: To find out if life exists beneath the icy surface of a moon like Europa, we need to get instruments down there. Traditional landers are huge, slow, and expensive.

The Solution: The "Smart Bullet": We designed a miniature probe, a kinetic impact-penetrator, that hits the ice at high speed. This impact is so violent it generates forces up to 50,000 times the force of gravity, but the probe is designed to survive this extreme shock.

The Instruments: We built tiny, super-sensitive "laboratories" that fit inside. One instrument looks for organic molecules (the building blocks of life, like amino acids), and another is exceptionally good at finding trace amounts of salt (which tells us about the ocean's chemistry).

The Impact: By creating this tough, miniature technology, we lower the cost and difficulty of exploring the Solar System. This allows us to send smaller, more frequent missions to look for life in places we could never afford to explore before.

Spaceflight Instrument Development & Leadership

• Systems Engineering & Mission Leadership: Served as a central systems engineering interface for the Lunar Explorer Instrument for space biology Applications (LEIA), part of NASA's CLPS lunar payload (2027 launch). Defined and validated requirements, ensured compliance, and contributed to the overall Engineering Life Cycle.

• Cross-Functional Team Management: Led 3+ NASA-funded teams in spaceflight hardware development and testing. Managed vendor relationships, coordinated requirements flow, and led successful collaboration across signal, thermal, mechanical, and firmware teams.

• High-Reliability Hardware Design: Designed the world’s first space-ready bioreactor with a fully integrated suite of wetted electronic sensors. Created
  5+ custom enclosures for electronic systems that successfully passed launch-level vibration testing without failure.

• V&V Testing & Cost Savings: Led and executed the entire Thermal Vacuum (TVAC) and Vibration Testing campaign for the LEIA lunar payload, resulting in an estimated cost savings of approximately $30,000 through independent planning and execution.

• Verification and Validation (V&V): Directed the calibration, integration, and reliability assessment for high-sensitivity optical and electrochemical payloads. Generated and reviewed
  6+ Design and Test Plans (DTPs) and 3+ risk logs to mitigate potential mission delays by 4-6 months.

Skills Gained

• Systems Engineering: Requirements definition and validation, requirements flowdown, Engineering Life Cycle (ELC) planning, and system-level verification through QA/QC frameworks.

• V&V Testing & Analysis: Expert-level execution of Thermal Vacuum (TVAC) Testing and Vibration (Vibe) Testing; failure analysis; reliability assessment; and structural analysis using COMSOL (Finite Element Analysis) with 95% correlation accuracy.

• Hardware Design & Integration: Microfluidic/Bioreactor design, custom electronics enclosure design, optical system calibration, electrochemical system validation, and integration of miniaturized hardware across signal, thermal, mechanical, and firmware subsystems.

• Project Management & Leadership: Cross-functional collaboration, vendor management, risk analysis and mitigation, technical team leadership, and budget-conscious test strategy development.

• Data Science & Software: Python/Jupyter for data processing, analysis, and sensor data pipeline development.

• Technical Communication & Mentorship: Authored technical documentation, operating procedures (including cleanroom protocols), Design and Test Plans (DTPs), delivered 35+ professional talks, and formally trained/mentored 15+ junior engineers and scientists.

Simply Put: Leading the Tiny Lab Going to the Moon 

This project involved leading the engineering and testing of a unique, miniaturized biological laboratory (LEIA) that is scheduled to fly to the Moon on a NASA mission.

• The Mission: We built a small, high-tech science instrument designed to study biology in the harsh environment of space and on the Lunar surface. I was the lead engineer responsible for making sure the whole system worked flawlessly.

• Engineering Leadership: I acted as the main coordinator between the scientists (who decided what the instrument needed to do) and all the different engineering teams (like electrical, mechanical, and software). I made sure everyone was building the same product according to the same plan.

• Extreme Testing: I personally managed the most critical tests to prove the instrument could survive. This included vibration testing (shaking it violently to simulate a rocket launch) and thermal vacuum (TVAC) testing (putting it in a chamber to simulate the extreme cold and vacuum of space). My planning saved the project significant time and an estimated $30,000.

• The Hardware: I oversaw the design and integration of the core components, including creating the world's first space-ready bioreactor—a tiny growth chamber with electronics—that survived the intense launch environment.

• The Impact: Successfully integrating and validating this payload allows NASA to conduct key space biology experiments on the Moon, paving the way for sustained human presence in deep space.

• Funded Research Project: Principal Investigator and sole recipient of the $5,000 Lewis and Clark Field Exploration Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology.

• Mission Goal: To investigate the extent and impact of human (anthropogenic) microbial contamination in an extreme terrestrial environment, addressing a critical, often-disregarded issue in field analog studies and planetary protection.

• Analog Field Site: Conducted a 7-day field campaign at the Mauna Iki volcanic ash downfall field in Hawai'i, a key terrestrial analog site resembling lunar and Martian terrain due to its arid and windy tholeiitic basalt geology.

• Controlled Experimental Design: Designed a study to test three hypotheses, primarily examining how the level of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) (gloves only; gloves + facemask; full coveralls) influences the extent of human-associated taxa spread.

• Contamination Mapping: Performed rigorous sampling by collecting soil samples upwind and downwind at set distances (up to 15 meters) from the point of human activity to map the radius and spread of contamination.

• Multi-Stage Sample Analysis: Samples were analyzed in a three-stage process: (1) Microscopic examination to detect dead human cells/hair , (2) Agar plate culturing to assess microbial density , and (3)
  16S rRNA gene sequencing to investigate microbial diversity and identify anthropogenic taxa.

• Planetary Impact: This research directly supports several core objectives of the NASA Astrobiology Roadmap, specifically on assessing habitability, searching for life in the solar system, and defining the role of planetary protection.

Skills Gained

• Principal Investigator (PI) & Project Leadership: Led all phases of independent research, including proposal development (securing $4,995 grant funding), field work planning (logistics, permits, budget, and travel), materials procurement (e.g., hazmat suits, sterile tubes, sequencing reagents) , and reporting.

• Field Research and Logistics: Executed a complex 7-day field campaign in a remote, low-biomass, extreme analog environment (Mauna Iki, Hawai'i).

• Advanced Experimental Design: Developed a novel, controlled field experiment to quantify the influence of PPE levels and wind/particle transfer on microbial contamination radius and composition.

• Molecular Biology & Genomics Analysis: Hands-on experience with sample preparation and post-field analysis, including 16S rRNA gene sequencing, microbial enrichment culturing, and bioinformatic analysis using tools like the dbbact.org/enrichment database and calculating the Shannon Diversity index.

• Astrobiology & Planetary Protection Expertise: Direct experience addressing high-priority NASA Astrobiology research questions related to the challenges of microbial forward contamination during field studies and future planetary exploration missions.

• Grantsmanship & Funding Acquisition: Demonstrated success in securing highly competitive research funding, including the Lewis and Clark Fund in Astrobiology
  
  

Simply Put: Mapping Human Co-Pilots to Mars

This project was about solving a major puzzle in space exploration: how much contamination do human scientists bring with them when they study remote, pristine environments that look like Mars or the Moon?

• The Mission: I led a 7-day expedition to the Mauna Iki volcano in Hawai'i—a site that closely resembles the Martian surface. The goal was to prove that human field scientists are like "microbial co-pilots," unintentionally dropping germs that could confuse a search for alien life.

• The Experiment: I designed a highly controlled experiment to precisely measure this contamination. We had people wear different levels of protection (just gloves, gloves and a mask, or full hazmat suits) and then tracked how far their germs spread, mapping the contamination up to 50 feet away in the dust.

• The Analysis: After collecting samples, we used DNA analysis to identify exactly which microbes were human-associated and how quickly they spread under the influence of wind and movement.

• The Impact: This was critical research funded by the Lewis and Clark Fund in Astrobiology. It directly informs NASA's Planetary Protection policies, helping future missions design better protocols to prevent astronauts from accidentally contaminating Mars and confusing scientists trying to find native Martian life.

P-SPEAR is a novel, low-cost impact-penetrator probe designed for in-situ geochemical and astrobiological analysis of the Martian subsurface, eliminating the need for complex landing or drilling mechanisms.

• Novel Sample Acquisition Strategy: Developed a small-scale impact-penetrator probe that utilizes the kinetic energy of impact to passively ingest Martian regolith, streamlining the sample collection process for subsurface access.

• Low-Cost Mission Architecture: Enables cost-effective, high-impact planetary science by minimizing mass, complexity, and mission costs, making subsurface access viable for constrained resource frameworks.

• High-G Tolerance Design: The robust design ensures the survival and functionality of the analytical payload—including next-generation mass spectrometers, X-ray spectrometers, and microfluidic/electrochemical devices—under extreme shock loads (>10,000–20,000 g).

• Scientific Mission Expansion: Supports key astrobiological and geological objectives, including biosignature detection, ice-rich site characterization, and geological activity analysis, particularly in terrains previously considered inaccessible.

• Swarm Deployment Potential: Offers the potential for swarm deployment to conduct broad, shallow subsurface investigations, significantly enhancing the understanding of Martian geology and In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) strategies.

• Key Project Objectives: Focused on advancing the technology through three core objectives:

  1. Developing a predictive geophysical model for accurate sample ingestion.

  2. Validating a P-SPEAR prototype through regolith ingestion tests.

  3. Conducting mission design trade studies to assess the feasibility within Mars exploration architectures.

Skills Gained

• Space Mission Design & Concepts: Developed novel low-cost mission architectures leveraging impact-penetrator technology as an alternative to traditional landers and rovers.

• Extreme Environment Hardware Design: Expertise in designing and analyzing robust instruments capable of surviving and operating under ultra high-shock loads (>10,000 g) for planetary exploration.

• Geophysical Modeling: Developed and applied predictive geophysical models to simulate and optimize sample ingestion mechanics in Martian regolith.

• Astrobiological Instrumentation: Integrated and adapted next-generation analytical instruments (e.g., mass spectrometers, microfluidic, and electrochemical sensors) for high-shock-tolerant small-scale payloads.

• Prototype Validation & Testing: Designed and executed prototype regolith ingestion tests to validate the passive sample-on-impact approach.

• Planetary Science Strategy: Contributed to mission planning and design trade studies to assess the feasibility and scientific return of small-scale probes within existing planetary exploration frameworks.

Simply Put: Low-Cost Drills to Sample Mars 

This project is about creating a revolutionary, low-cost way to get to the Martian subsurface without expensive rovers or drilling equipment. We designed a simple, tough probe that uses the force of impact to collect samples.

• The Mission: The goal is to make access to the Martian subsurface cheaper and easier, allowing us to search for past or present life, and to look for water ice that future astronauts could use.

• The Solution: P-SPEAR: We engineered a small, "bullet-like" probe that is launched from orbit. When it hits the surface, it uses the kinetic energy (the force of the crash) to instantly scoop up a sample of the Martian dirt or ice.

• Extreme Survivability: The probe and the instruments inside are specially designed to survive an impact up to 10,000 to 20,000 times the force of Earth's gravity—an unbelievable level of shock.

• The Impact: By eliminating complex drilling mechanisms, this approach allows for more frequent, smaller missions to Mars. It also opens up the possibility of sending an entire "swarm" of probes to map out large areas of the subsurface quickly and affordably.