I am broadly interested in understanding the physical world, with particular interest in active matter, and mechanobiology.

I have worked under Professor Saenz at the Physical Mathematics Lab since September 2020 working on projects related to weekly chaotic Faraday Waves and exploring the dynamics of walking droplets subject to random forces.

I have also worked Professor Polacheck at the Polacheck Lab December 2022-July2024 on understanding fluid drag forces relevant to angiogenic sprouting, and work on contraction of smooth muscle over patterned adhesion.

I have spent 10 months in the Active Evolvable Matter Lab working under Professor Thutupalli at the National Centre for Biological Sciences. Supported by the Fulbright-Nehru fellowship, I conducted experiments, highlighting a new self assembly process for microfluidic active droplets.

Currently I work with Professor Ming Guo in the Guo Lab of Cell Mechanics at MIT, supported with the NSF GRFP.

Experimental Techniques: High-Speed Videography, Image Analysis, 3D Printing, Lasercutting, Arduino, Mammalian Cell Culture, Microfluidics, PIV

Computing Literacy: MATLAB, ImageJ, SolidWorks, Blender, Onshape, Adobe Premiere Pro

Observing the emergence of the dominant Faraday wave mode of a vibrating silicone oil bath over a submerged topography. (photo credit: Katie Chai)

Publications

Abraham, A. J., Kumar, M., Thutupalli, S., 2025. Tunable assembly of active droplet clusters. In Preparation

Wang, J., Wang, H., Abraham, A. J., Marzuola, J. L., Sáenz, P. J., 2025. A trajectory equation for walking droplets over variable topography. In Preparation

Abraham, A. J., Malkov, S., Ljubetic, F. S., Durey, M., Sáenz, P. J., 2024. Anderson Localization of Walking Droplets. Physical Review X, 10.1103/PhysRevX.14.031047.

Heinonen, V., Abraham, A.J., Słomka, J., Burns, K.J., Sáenz, P.J. and Dunkel, J., 2022. Emergent universal statistics in nonequilibrium systems with dynamical scale selection. Under Review at Nature Physics, preprint arXiv:2205.01627.

Fellowships

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (2025-2030):

Three years of graduate funding from the National Science Foundation, for research in cell mechanics in curved systems, under Professor Ming Guo. ($159,000)

Fulbright-Nehru Open Study/Research Grant (2024-2025):

Awarded by the Fulbright Foundation, Institute of International Education, and US India Education Foundation, for research in physics under Professor Shashi Thutupalli. (~$16,000)

Abrams Scholar (2023):

Awarded by the joint Department of Biomedical Engineering for fall and spring research under Professor William Polacheck on upstream angiogenic sprouting. ($2,000)

Lucas Scholar's Fellowship (2023):

Awarded by the joint Department of Biomedical Engineering for summer and fall research under Professor William Polacheck exploring organized cell behaviors ($5,000)

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (2022):

Awarded by UNC's Office of Undergraduate Research for summer research under Professor Pedro Saenz on exotic diffusion of walking droplets.($4,000)

Johnson Scholar's Summer Internship (2022):

Awarded by the joint Department of Biomedical Engineering for summer research under Professor Pedro Saenz on jamming in microfluidic emulsions. ($4,000)