Prof. Carlos M. Portela

d’Arbeloff Career Development Assistant Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering

cportela@mit.edu

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 d’Arbeloff 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 under the guidance of Profs. Julia R. Greer and Dennis M. Kochmann 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

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
Yun Kai

Yun Kai

Postdoctoral Associate

Yun’s interests lie in the utilization of ultrafast optics for the characterization of 3D architected materials. His expertise encompasses laser-ablation induced pressure waves, novel non-damaging photoacoustic excitation schemes, and various types of interferometry. Outside of the lab, Yun likes to go on day trips to other cities and get the same coffee from Dunkies.

Email – ykai@mit.edu
James Surjadi

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

Molly Carton

Molly Carton

Postdoctoral Associate

Molly’s research is in the design and fabrication of compliant architected materials. Outside of the lab, she enjoys reading, tea, making/crafting, and learning languages.

Somayajulu Dhulipala

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 and badminton.

Email – dsom@mit.edu

Thomas Butruille

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

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

Samuel David Figueroa

Samuel David Figueroa

Graduate Student

Sam has a background in additive manufacturing and nanoengineering. His research interests encompass material property characterization, impact resilience, and bioinspired design of 3D nanoarchitected materials for extreme environments. Outside the lab, Sam does weighted calisthenics and parkour, studies the archaeology of ancient mesoamerican civilizations, and critiques films.

Email – sdfiguer@mit.edu

Andrew Chen

Andrew Chen

Graduate Student

Andrew’s research focuses on the fabrication and characterization of functional materials and metamaterials. 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

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 climbing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and traveling.

Former Members

Rafael Fernandes

Rafael Fernandes

Undergraduate Student

Rafael worked with the Portela Research Group under an Experiential Learning Opportunity (ELO) on mechanical design and interactive web development.

Mia Y Liang

Mia Y Liang

Undergraduate Student

Mia worked with the Portela Lab on programming CAD files into an augmented reality compatible format for better visualization of architected materials.

Katherine Q Guo

Katherine Q Guo

Undergraduate Student

Katherine worked on understanding, designing, and fabricating acoustic metamaterials.