Andrew Kang

Ph.D. Student
Mechanical Engineering    

390 Kimball Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
Email: jk2829 (at) cornell (dot) edu

Biography

Andrew began his graduate studies at Cornell in Fall 2018 and  joined the Micro/Nanofluidics Laboratory in November 2018. He graduated from SUNY Binghamton in May 2018 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and B.A. in Mathematical Sciences. During his undergraduate career at Binghamton, Andrew worked on designing a simple, passive-flow lab-on-a-chip for exosome collection in collaboration with Children’s National Medical Center. He also worked on computationally characterizing the structure and dynamics of charged polymer-grafted nanoparticles monolayers at oil-water interfaces and oil droplet collisions. Outside from microfluidics, Andrew competed in the 2017 and 2018 SpaceX Hyperloop Competition, where he focused on electrodynamic suspension and braking theory for the team’s magnetic braking and levitation systems. The team reached finals in 2017 and semi-finals in 2018.

In his free time, Andrew enjoys playing the piano, cooking, tae kwon do, and sketching.

Current Projects

Andrew is currently working on analyzing the dynamics of platelet adhesion and aggregation on substrates under the presence of high shear and clotting factors. Von Willebrand Factor is a extremely long polymer that transitions from a globular to elongated state under high elongational stresses, thereby exposing binding sites for platelets. High shear stresses are present in heart-assist pumps such as LVAD and HVAD, which lead to thrombus formation and device failure.

Education

B.S. Mechanical Engineering, SUNY Binghamton, 2018, Summa Cum Laude

B.A. Mathematical Sciences, SUNY Binghamton, 2018, Summa Cum Laude