Prof. Carlos M. Portela
d’Arbeloff 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 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
Administrative Assistant
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
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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.
Email – mike4262@mit.edu
Rishi Kommalapati
Graduate Student
Rishi is working on the fabrication and characterization of composite micromaterials and scalable metamaterials. His research interests lie in improving the design space through advancing manufacturing and materials. Outside of the lab, he enjoys archery, video games, and building keyboards.
Email – rtk@mit.edu
Undergrads
Pau Illerbaig Bajona
UROP
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Aidan Salazaar
UROP
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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.