Andrew L Ferguson
Associate Professor of Molecular Engineering

Contact:
Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering
University of Chicago
5640 South Ellis Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637

t: (773) 702-5950
e: andrewferguson@uchicago.edu

Education:
Ragon Postdoctoral Fellow, MIT, 2010-12 (Arup Chakraborty)
PhD, Princeton, 2005-10 (Thanos Panagiotopoulos, Pablo Debenedetti, Yannis Kevrekidis)
MEng, Imperial College London, 2001-05

Selected Honors and Awards:
UIUC College of Engineering Dean's Award for Excellence in Research (2017)
AIChE CoMSEF Young Investigator Award for Modeling & Simulation (2016)
ACS COMP OpenEye Outstanding Junior Faculty Award (2015)
National Center for Supercomputing Applications Faculty Fellow (2015-16)
ACS PRF Doctoral New Investigator Award (2014)
NSF CAREER Award (2014)
IChemE North America Young Chemical Engineer of the Year (2013)

Links:
Faculty Homepage
Ferguson Lab
Ferguson Lab Intranet

Google Scholar Profile
ResearchGate
ORCID
Bitbucket
Academic Family Tree

NIH Biosketch
NIH My Bibliography

Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Hythem Sidky
Postdoctoral Associate, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering

Research Interests:
Enhanced sampling and deep learning in bimolecular dynamics

Contact:
ACC 118
University of Chicago
5640 S Ellis Av
Chicago, IL 60637

e: hsidky@uchicago.edu

Dr. Brandon Peters
Postdoctoral Associate, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering

Research Interests:
Membrane proteins and small molecule signaling and permeation

Contact:
ACC 118
University of Chicago
5640 S Ellis Av
Chicago, IL 60637

e: petersb@uchicago.edu

Dr. Mingfei Zhao
Postdoctoral Associate, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering

Research Interests:
Hierarchical coarse-grained models of peptide assembly

Contact:
ACC 118
University of Chicago
5640 S Ellis Av
Chicago, IL 60637

e: mingfeizhao@uchicago.edu

Wei Chen
Graduate Research Assistant, Physics, UIUC

Research Interests:
Development of accelerated sampling techniques with machine learning

Awards and Honors:
Excellent teachers for PHYS-211, (2014 Fall, 2015 Spring, 2015 Fall)

Contact:
ACC 118
University of Chicago
5640 S Ellis Av
Chicago, IL 60637

e: weichen9@uchicago.edu
GitHub: https://github.com/weiHelloWorld
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wei-chen-41211a8a

Yutao Ma
Graduate Research Assistant, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering

Research Interests:
Machine learning in inverse materials design and self-assembly

Contact:
ACC 118
University of Chicago
5640 S Ellis Av
Chicago, IL 60637

e: yma3@uchicago.edu

Kirill Shmilovich
Graduate Research Assistant, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering

Research Interests:
Inverse design of self-assembling pi-conjugated peptides

Contact:
ACC 118
University of Chicago
5640 S Ellis Av
Chicago, IL 60637

e: kirills@uchicago.edu

Xuan "Beryl" Zhang
Graduate Research Assistant, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering

Research Interests:
Inference of single-molecule folding funnels from delay embedded experimental time series

Contact:
ACC 118
University of Chicago
5640 S Ellis Av
Chicago, IL 60637

e: berylxzhang@uchicago.edu

Xinran Lian (co-advised w/ Rama Ranganathan)
Graduate Research Assistant, Chemistry

Research Interests:
Deep learning generative models for guided protein synthesis and screening

Contact:
ACC 118
University of Chicago
5640 S Ellis Av
Chicago, IL 60637

e: xlian@uchicago.edu

Nicholas Rego (co-advised w/ Amish Patel, CBE, U. Penn)
Graduate Research Assistant, Chemical and Bimolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania

Research Interests:
Molecular simulation and machine learning of engineered surface and protein hydrophobicity

Contact:
401 Walnut (PICS SUITE)
University of Pennsylvania

e: nrego@mail.med.upenn.edu

Shiqi Chen (co-advised w/ Norbert Scherer)
Graduate Research Assistant, Chemistry

Research Interests:
Numerical simulation and data-driven engineering of self-assembling optically-active colloidal particles

Contact:
ACC 118
University of Chicago
5640 S Ellis Av
Chicago, IL 60637

e: shiqi@uchicago.edu

Walter Alvarado (co-advised w/ Juan de Pablo)
Graduate Research Assistant, Biophysical Sciences

Research Interests:
Molecular simulation and machine learning of nucleosome dynamics and assembly

Contact:
ACC 118
University of Chicago
5640 S Ellis Av
Chicago, IL 60637

e: walt@uchicago.edu

Olivia Dunne
Class of 2022

ACC 118
University of Chicago
5640 S Ellis Av
Chicago, IL 60637

e: odunne@uchicago.edu

Gillian Shen
Chemistry, Class of 2020

ACC 118
University of Chicago
5640 S Ellis Av
Chicago, IL 60637

e: gillians@uchicago.edu

Joseph Aulicino
Class of 2022

ACC 118
University of Chicago
5640 S Ellis Av
Chicago, IL 60637

e: jaulicino@uchicago.edu

Andrew W Long, PhD
Senior Data Scientist for the Business and Safety Graphics Lab, 3M, Maplewood MN

PhD Thesis:
Inverse design of self-assembling colloids via landscape engineering
(Defended 08/16/17)

Awards and Honors:
Racheff-Intel Award Finalist, University of Illinois, 2016
MRS Best Poster Award Nominee, Materials Research Society Spring Meeting, 2016
Outstanding Student Presentation Award, Materials Research Society Fall Meeting, 2014
Materials Hackathon - Third Place, Materials Research Society Fall Meeting, 2014
Hamer Graduate Fellowship, University of Illinois, 2012

Contact:
e: awlong@mmm.com
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-long-a2b25129
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=opTK-NUAAAAJ
GitHub: https://github.com/awlong/

Greg R Hart
Postdoctoral Associate w/ Prof. Jun Deng, Dept. of Therapeutic Radiology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT
Research Scientist (Dynamic Modeling), Institute for Disease Modeling, Seattle, WA

PhD Thesis:
In silico vaccine design for hepatitis C: A computational platform for fighting disease
(Defended 08/24/17)

Awards and Honors:
CSE Graduate Fellowship, Computational Science and Engineering program UIUC, 2014-2016
Outstanding Teaching Assistant, UIUC Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning, 2012-2013
Graduate Teacher Certificate, UIUC Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning, 2013

Contact:
e: gregory.hart@yale.edu
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregory-hart-49a78127
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=N1xni58AAAAJ&hl=en
GitHub: https://github.com/GregoryRHart

Jiang Wang
Postdoctoral Associate w/ Profs. Cecilia Clementi and Frank Noé, Rice University

PhD Thesis:
Nonlinear machine learning of macromolecular folding and self-assembly
(Defended 05/01/18)

Awards and Honors:
UIUC Dept. of Physics Excellence in Teaching Award, 2013 (Fall), 2014 (Spring)
Physics Graduate Student Travel Award, 2015
Physics Graduate Student Travel Award, 2017

Contact:
e: jwang110@illinois.edu
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jiang-wang-0428776b
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=LDnTZrsAAAAJ&hl=en

Rachael Mansbach
Director’s Postdoctoral Fellow w/ Dr. Sandrasegaram Gnanakaran, Los Alamos National Lab

PhD Thesis:
Dimensionality reduction and multiscale modeling for the understanding of protein folding and hierarchical self-assembly
(Defended 05/08/18)

Awards and Honors:
Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) Fellow, UIUC, 2016-2017
Building Future Faculty Program Fellow, NCSU, March 29-Apr 2, 2016
Mavis Future Faculty Fellow, UIUC, 2015-2016
APS Graduate Student Affairs Travel Award for Excellence in Graduate Research, 2015
UIUC Dept. of Physics Graduate Travel Award, 2015
UIUC Dept. of Physics Excellence in Teaching Award, 2013 (Fall)
UIUC Dept. of Physics Excellence in Teaching Award, 2013 (Spring)
National Science Foundation (NSF) Fellowship Honorable Mention, 2012
Goldwater Fellowship Honorable Mention, 2010
Department of Energy (DOE) Science and Energy Research Challenge finalist, 2009
Swarthmore Department of Mathematics Morris Monsky Prize, 2008

Contact:
e: mansbac2@illinois.edu
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rachael_Mansbach
GitHub: http://github.com/ramansbach
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachael-mansbach-3430a986

Bryce A Thurston III
Postdoctoral Associate w/ Drs. Gary Grest, Amalie Frischknecht, and Mark Stevens, Sandia National Lab

PhD Thesis:
Composition, thermodynamics, and morphology: A multi-scale computational approach for the design of self-assembling peptides
(Defended 10/23/18)

Awards and Honors:
Outstanding Discussion TA, Illinios Department of Physics, Fall 2012
Outstanding Discussion TA, Illinois Department of Physics, Spring 2013
Excellent Lab TA, Illinois Department of Physics, Summer 2013

Contact:
e: thursto2@illinois.edu
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bryce_Thurston
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=list_works&hl=en&user=pUm-07sAAAAJ
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryce-thurston-33ab8b122

PhD Candidate, Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University
e: jingtianhu2018@u.northwestern.edu

PhD Candidate, Materials Science and Engineering / Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
e: zhou62@illinois.edu

Epic Medical Records, Verona, WI

PhD Candidate, Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University
e: trick2@illinois.edu

BS Candidate, Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
e: sikaufm2@illinois.edu

PhD Candidate, Materials Science and Engineering, UC Berkeley
e: lafaye2@illinois.edu

Research Scientist, Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA
e: dmani2@illinois.edu

Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UIUC
e: gayatri2@illinois.edu

Electrical and Computer Engineering, UIUC
e: ccheng32@illinois.edu

Materials Science and Engineering, UIUC
e: atan14@illinois.edu