Raj S. Mukkamala
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I’m a 2nd-year chemical engineering PhD candidate at Caltech, co-advised by Prof. Julia Kornfield and Prof. Dianne Newman. My research blends polymer science with microbiology to develop living materials for precision agriculture applications.
I completed my BSE in Chemical Engineering at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in 2022. During my undergraduate studies, I 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 of the lab, I enjoy playing tennis, hiking, and competing in mixed martial arts.