Prof. Carlos M. Portela
Robert N. Noyce Career Development Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
2019 Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, California
Institute of Technology
2016 M.S. Mechanical Engineering, California
Institute of Technology
2014 B.A. Physics, University of Southern
California
2013 B.S. Aerospace Engineering, University of
Southern California
Carlos M. Portela is the Robert N. Noyce Career Development Professor in Mechanical Engineering at MIT. Prof. Portela received his Ph.D. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology, where he was given the Centennial Award for the best thesis in Mechanical and Civil Engineering, and he received degrees in Aerospace Engineering (B.S.) and Physics (B.A.) from the University of Southern California. At Caltech he worked on exploring the mechanical response of 3D architected materials from experimental and computational perspectives. He joined MIT in August of 2020.
The Team
Janet Sabio Maslow
Administrative Assistant
Janet assists the Portela Research Group in a myriad of administrative realms. She joined us in January 2021, but has been at MIT for over a decade.
Email – jsabio@mit.edu
James Surjadi
Postdoctoral Associate
James’ research interests lie in the fabrication, testing, and characterization of multifunctional 3D micro/nano-architected materials. Outside the lab, he enjoys playing badminton, tennis, and table tennis.
Email – jsurjadi@mit.edu
Jet Lem
Postdoctoral Associate
Jet’s research interests lie in investigating the high strain-rate response of architected materials as well as the testing of novel acoustic metamaterials. Outside of the lab, he enjoys ice hockey, skateboarding, and photography.
Tiemo Pedergnana
Postdoctoral Fellow
Tiemo’s work is focused on developing novel acoustic waveguides at the microscale for analog computing applications. His research interests lie in dynamics, waves and metamaterials. Outside of the lab, Tiemo enjoys basketball, visiting museums and spending time with his family.
Lei Wu
Postdoctoral Associate
Lei’s research is focused on reconfigurable architectures, particularly those involving multistable structures and floppy mechanisms. He is currently working on leveraging bistability to create powerful actuators or achieve reprogrammable mechanical characteristics. Outside of the lab, he enjoys basketball, table tennis, and eating Sichuan cuisine.
Mohammad Charara
Postdoctoral Fellow
Mohammad’s research interests lie in studying elasto-dynamic phenomena in metamaterials. He is currently working on responsive metamaterials for computing. Outside of the lab, he enjoys running, cycling, and walking with his dog.
Somayajulu Dhulipala
Graduate Student
Somayajulu is currently working on fabricating and predicting the mechanical properties of scalable nanomaterials. His research interests lie in architected materials, phase-field modeling , and nanomechanical testing. Outside of the lab he likes meditating, hiking, taekwondo and badminton.
Email – dsom@mit.edu
Thomas Butruille
Graduate Student
Thomas is a graduate research assistant pursuing his masters in Mechanical Engineering. His research interests are the mechanics and design of 3D architected materials for high strain-rate applications. Outside of the lab, he enjoys lifting weights, reading, and skiing.
Email – thomasb3@mit.edu
Rachel Sun
Graduate Student
Rachel is currently researching the mechanics and fabrication of reconfigurable metamaterials. Her research interests include metamaterials and mechanics of structures. Outside of the lab, she enjoys playing soccer, lifting weights, reading, and exploring Boston for good food and coffee.
Email – rmsun@mit.edu
Andrew Chen
Graduate Student
Andrew’s research focuses on the fabrication and characterization of architected composite materials. His research interests lie at the intersection of additive manufacturing and mechanics of materials. Outside of the lab, he enjoys tinkering with 3D-printers, building rockets, and watching baseball.
Email – achen314@mit.edu
Michael Espinal
Graduate Student
Michaels research is currently on the fabrication and characterization of scalable metamaterials. His research interests are in scaling up mechanically efficient materials to one day be realized in industry applications. Outside of lab, he enjoys chilling with friends, dancing, and barbeques.
Email – mike4262@mit.edu
Rishi Kommalapati
Graduate Student
Rishi’s research focuses on the dynamic behavior of architected materials as well as characterization of microneedle performance. His research interests include mechanics, impact applications, and high-speed monitoring. Outside of the lab, he enjoys archery, video games, and tinkering with watches.
Email – rtk@mit.edu
Aayan Kumar
Graduate Student
Ayan is currently working on designing novel architected granular systems for impact mitigation. His research interests lie at the intersection of mechanics of materials and metamaterials for impact. Outside the lab, he enjoys playing badminton, exploring good food spots, photography, and spending time at the beach.
Ling Xu
Graduate Student
Ling’s research focuses on the mechanics and fabrication of woven architected metamaterials. Her research interests include compliant and biomimetic materials that can be utilized in applications like sensors and soft robots. Outside of the lab, she enjoys eating, playing badminton, and walking around Boston.
Lukas Martin Frabboni
Master’s Student
Lukas is a student at ETH Zurich who is currently working on his masters thesis in the field of woven architected materials. His research interests are the mechanics and design of architected materials for energy dissipation. Outside of the lab he enjoys all kinds of sports, and exploring new places around the world for good food.
Alumni
Yun Kai
Postdoctoral Associate
Yun served as a postdoctoral associate from January 2021 to November 2023, focusing on the development of ultrafast optics for characterizing 3D architected materials. Subsequently, he transitioned to a postdoctoral associate position at MIT, working alongside Prof. Keith Nelson.
Molly Carton
Postdoctoral Associate
Molly’s served as a postdoctoral associate from September 2022 -August 2024. Her research was in the design and fabrication of compliant architected materials. Subsequently, she transitioned to an Assistant Research Professor at University of Maryland.
Samuel David Figueroa
Graduate Student
Sam was a Masters student in the Portela group who graduated in January 2025. He worked on material property characterization, impact resilience, and bioinspired design of 3D nanoarchitected materials for extreme environments.