People
Tommaso Ranzani is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and in the Division of Materials Science and Engineering at Boston University. His research focuses on exploring different technologies and developing manufacturing paradigms to design and fabricate innovative robotic systems. His main research area is soft robotics. He has explored soft robotic technologies to develop novel manipulators, which integrate design principles from biological systems to perform advanced procedures in minimally invasive surgery (MIS). He is interested in expanding the potential of soft robots across different scales to develop novel reconfigurable soft-bodied robots.
Prof. Ranzani received a Bachelor’s and Masters degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Pisa, Italy. He did his Ph.D. at the BioRobotics Institute of the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies under the supervision of Prof. Arianna Menciassi on soft mechatronic devices for MIS, working in the framework of the STIFF-FLOP European project. In 2014, he joined the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences as a postdoctoral fellow. He worked in the Harvard Microrobotics Lab (Prof. Robert J. Wood) and the Harvard Biodesign Lab (Prof. Conor Walsh). In his postdoctoral research, he explored advanced manufacturing technologies for novel medical devices. His research focuses on soft meso- and micro-scale reconfigurable robotic devices integrating microfluidic capabilities and exploiting layer-by-layer manufacturing processes.
orcid.org/0000-0001-8362-3710Email: tranzani@bu.edu
Ph.D. students
Jacob Rogatinsky (he/him)
PhD Candidate, Mechanical Engineering, 4th Year
LinkedIn | Research
Jacob’s research interests lie in surgical robotics and translational medicine. With a primary focus on the cardiovascular system, Jacob hopes that novel robotic designs and control methods will make beating-heart interventions widely accessible. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Vanderbilt University in 2019.
Lorenzo Kinnicutt
PhD Candidate, Mechanical Engineering, 3rd Year
LinkedIn | Research
Lorenzo’s research interests include surgical robots, soft sensing, and magnetic actuation. He joined the Morphable Biorobotics Lab as an undergraduate in 2018, then earned his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Boston University in 2020.
Leah T. Gaeta (she/her)
PhD Candidate, Mechanical Engineering, 3rd Year
LinkedIn | Research
Leah’s research interests include actuation and stiffening strategies in soft wearable and medical robotics. She earned her B.S. in Human Biology from the University of Southern California in 2013 and then came to Boston University to study engineering before pursuing her doctorate.
Pranav Sultania (he/him)
PhD Candidate, Mechanical Engineering, 2nd Year
LinkedIn | Research
Pranav’s research interests include sensing, controls, grasping, and locomotion strategies in soft robotics. He earned his Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University in 2021 and Masters of Science in Mechanical Engineering (Robotics and Control Systems) from Columbia University in 2022. He then came back to Boston University to pursue his Doctorate.
Leonardo Zamora (he/him)
PhD Student, Mechanical Engineering, 1st Year
LinkedIn | Research
Leo’s research interests include soft-robotics design, tactile sensing, and manipulation. He earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2023 before pursuing his doctorate at Boston University.
Anna Maria Moran (she/her)
PhD Student, Mechanical Engineering, 1st Year
LinkedIn | Research
Anna Maria’s research interests include locomotion, manipulation, and control strategies in bio-inspired soft robotics. She first joined the Morphable Biorobotics Lab as an REU student in 2021 then earned her Bachelors of Arts in Physics from Mount Holyoke College in 2023. She then returned to Boston University to pursue her doctorate.
Vi Vo
PhD Student, Mechanical Engineering, 1st Year
LinkedIn | Research
Vi’s research interests include bio-inspired locomotion, self-reconfigurable robots, and controls in soft robots. She earned her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University in 2023. She is supported by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.
Master Students
Deniz Albayrak (ME), LinkedIn
Manvi Saxena (RAS), LinkedIn
William Geddes (RAS), LinkedIn
Grace Matthews (ME), LinkedIn
Yuyuan Zhang (ME), LinkedIn
Tanvi Shingade (RAS), LinkedIn
Undergraduate students
Hanna Schlegel (ME), LinkedIn, Clare Boothe Luce Scholar
Wes Yan (ME), LinkedIn
Celine Chen (CE), LinkedIn
Abbigale Shi (BME), LinkedIn
Alumni
Dr. Kevin J. McDonald (ME Ph.D.), LinkedIn, Research. Research Engineer at GE Vernova
Sean Mori Carroll (ME), LinkedIn
AJ Naik (ME), LinkedIn
Howell Xia (ME), LinkedIn
Anushka Rathi (BME), LinkedIn, PhD student, University of Michigan
Cathy Cheng (ME), LinkedIn, PhD student, Harvard University
Eva Langenbrunner (ME), LinkedIn, Graduate Student, Harvard University
Megan Le (BME), LinkedIn, MS student, Imperial College London
Anant Pathak (ME), LinkedIn
Zi Heng Lim (ME), LinkedIn
Emily Sawosik (ME), LinkedIn
Jungjae Lee (CE), LinkedIn, Seoul National University
Chisom Orakwue (BME), LinkedIn
Aric Peng (ME), LinkedIn
Anas Alamoudi (ME), LinkedIn
Kiran Gomatam (ME), LinkedIn, Clare Boothe Luce Scholar
Yuchen Kang (ME), LinkedIn, PhD student, Mass Lowell
Andrew Sasamori (CE), LinkedIn
Essoha Kadambaya (ME), LinkedIn
Ziqi Wang (RAS)
Janae Oden (RAS), LinkedIn
Griffin Heyrich (CS), LinkedIn, PhD student, University of Toronto
Bryson Garriques (ME), LinkedIn
Thomas Bohac (BME), LinkedIn
Carlo Taglietti (medical student at BUSM), LinkedIn
Michael Terekhov (ME), LinkedIn, Masters of Science in Computer Science at the University of Southern California
Yixiao Jiang (ME), LinkedIn, Mechanical Team Lead at ASML
Megan Lee (BME), LinkedIn, Rotational Field Application Engineer at Boston Dynamics
Prof. Evren Samur, LinkedIn, Associate Professor at Boğaziçi University, Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Boston University
Alyda Huerta (ME), LinkedIn
Lin Zhang (RAS), LinkedIn
Geoffrey Liu (RAS), LinkedIn
Piyaporn (View) Chivatanaporn (ME), LinkedIn
Drue Davis (ME), LinkedIn, Mechanical Engineer at District of Columbia Department of Forensic Sciences
Samuel Sze (ME), LinkedIn, Robotics Trainee at Aidrivers | A*STAR Scholar
Layan AlSharif (ME), LinkedIn, Engineer IV Saudi Aramco R&D
Somtochukwu Emmanuella Okonkwo (ME), LinkedIn
Perry Thomson (ME), LinkedIn, R&D engineer at Boston Scientific
Joanna Thelen (ME), LinkedIn
Mrinal Ghosh (EE), LinkedIn
Christopher Moore (ME)
Deema Abdel-Meguid (BME), Linkedin, Masters Program BME Columbia
Sung Won Han (ME), LinkedIn, Systems Engineer at Fresenius Medical Care North America
Stephanie Woodsman (ME), LinkedIn, Ph.D. student at Yale School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. GRFP fellow.
Anjali Agrawala (BME), LinkedIn, Ph.D. student at Yale School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. GRFP fellow.
Hung Chin Lin (EE), LinkedIn, Master Student at the University of Tokyo (IME Graduate Program, Mechanical Engineering)
Kainan Liu (ME), LinkedIn, Master Student at the University of Pennsylvania (Mechanical Engineering)
Justin Gonzalez (ME), LinkedIn, Master student at Berkley (Nuclear Engineering)
Liam Doran (ME), Linkedin, Master student at Berkley (Mechanical Engineering)
Alexander Yin (ME), LinkedIn, Ph.D. student at the University of Rhode Island, Department of Ocean Engineering
Monika Lee (BME), LinkedIn, Manufacturing Engineer at Boston Scientific
Kayla Anissa Benzaid (ME), LinkedIn, Developer at MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Siva Tejaswi Irkm (ME), LinkedIn, Automation and Control Design Engineer at Sensata Technologies
Lena Sabidussi (ME), LinkedIn, Ph.D. student at Princeton
Charlotte Cathcart (ME), Ph.D. student at Princeton
Kimberly Kroupa (ME), LinkedIn, Ph.D. student at Columbia University
Joel Aduba (BME), LinkedIn
Anshul Gupte (BME), LinkedIn