Faculty
Prof. Matthew J. Rau is an Assistant Professor in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at GWU. He joined the department after getting his start at Penn State and previously completed a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship with the U.S. Naval Research Lab. Dr. Rau’s research interests revolve around transport phenomena in turbulent multiphase flows relevant to the environment and sustainability. Contact at matthew.rau (at) gwu.edu.
Postdoctoral Researchers
Dr. David Fierli is Rau Lab’s postdoc. He got his PhD in algal biotechnology at the Atlantic Technological University in Sligo, Ireland. He holds a BSc in agriculture and an MSc in plant and microbial biotechnology. His main expertise is oxidative stress and cell physiology in photosynthetic organisms. His research interest focuses on biotic and abiotic factors regulating algal self-aggregation.
Graduate Students
Swastika Bera is a Graduate student in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at George Washington University, working under Dr. Matthew Rau. Originally from Kolkata, India, she graduated from South Dakota State University with an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering. She worked under Dr. Anamika Prasad and Dr. Yucheng Liu, with a research focus on material science and solid mechanics. She has industry experience as a manufacturing process engineer at Daktronics, South Dakota, and has several internships in manufacturing and fabrication at Daktronics. Her research in RauLab focuses on marine aggregates, laminar flow, and the deformation behavior of marine snow. She is working on the Oceanic Laminar Particle Manipulator and Imager (OPMI) to study marine particle dynamics by enabling real-time particle observation and manipulation of particles under simulated natural ocean conditions.
Undergraduate Students
Nathan Janssen is a senior undergraduate student majoring in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Robotics at George Washington University. Hailing from Portsmouth, Rhode Island, his life by the water inspired a deep-seated passion for marine technology. His internship with the Navy’s Undersea Warfare Center further fueled his interest in developing underwater technologies. Nathan has been working in Dr. Rau’s lab for the past year, working on optimizing the collection and compaction of organic material. At GWU, Nathan is an active member of the Design Build Fly organization and pursues many projects involving STEM. Outside of his academic pursuits, he enjoys cooking, exploring DC, and thrifting.
Alumni
Alumni!
PhD Students
Dohwan Kim was the lab’s first PhD graduate and now works for Qualcomm! Originally from South Korea, he has graduated from University of California, San Diego with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Economics. Dohwan worked with Dr. Rau from 2017 to 2022 and completed a thesis on preferential bubble concentration in bluff-body wakes. Visit his personal website: https://sites.psu.edu/dohwankim/
Yixuan (ee-shuan) Song graduated in 2023 and is now a postdoc at the University of Rhode Island. He spent his undergraduate days at University of Michigan-Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute, major in Mechanical Engineering. After that, he received his master degree from University of Southern California, working with Dr. Mitul Luhar on heat transfer and simulations in porous structure. Yixuan worked with Dr. Rau to explain how marine phytoplankton aggregates deform and fragment under hydrodynamic shear. Contact at yzs220@psu.edu.
Nicholas Cross worked with Dr. Rau and was co-advised by Dr. Bruce Logan (PSU) and Dr. Derek Hall (PSU). He is now a postdoc at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He is from just outside Portland, Oregon, and graduated from Oregon State University with a H.B.S. in Chemical Engineering and an H.B.A. in International Studies with minors in Physics and Spanish. Nicholas’s research worked to improve Thermally Regenerative Batteries through both experimental and numerical techniques to help the technology become economically competitive. You can contact him through LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncro3/ or email at nrc83@psu.edu.
MS Students
Alanso Johnson still needs to send Dr. Rau his picture and bio…
Brandon Angle was the lab’s very first graduate! While a graduate student, he worked with Dr. Rau and Dr. Margaret Byron (PSU) to study the settling behavior of cylinder particles with non-uniform densities. Outside of work and school, he is a sports fanatic and enjoys spending his weekends at sprint car races.
Nicholas Evich worked with Dr. Rau and Dr. Mary Frecker (PSU) in developing modern design tools for two-phase thermal fluid systems. Outside of his research, Nicholas is a licensed reactor operator at the Penn State Breazeale Nuclear Reactor and enjoys playing ice hockey and tennis.
Undergraduate Students
Ashley Kraekel graduated from GW in 2024 and is now a PhD student in the Harris Lab at Brown University. Within the Rau Lab, Ashley researched algae aggregation as an export path for marine contaminants.
Mathew Kurian worked with Dr. Rau to study two-phase flow over bluff bodies. Mathew is originally from Kerala, India, however, he had lived in Abu Dhabi, UAE for most of his life before starting college in the US. Outside of research, Mathew enjoys doing karate, attending social dances such as salsa and swing, cooking, and going on long walks and runs.
Aditya Akole worked in the lab to perform marine aggregate fragmentation experiments. Aditya likes to play sports in his free time. He is involved in THON and is also the THON chair of his fraternity. Besides that, Aditya works for Penn State Global programs as an Orientation Student Coordinator for International Student Orientation.