Principal Investigator
Edmund F. Palermo
Assistant Professor

Ed is from Bay Shore, NY. He began his adventures in polymer science as a high school student under Prof. Miriam Rafailovich at SUNY Stony Brook. After completing a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering at Cornell in 2006, he moved to The University of Michigan and earned a Ph.D. in Macromolecular Science & Engineering, under the mentorship of Kenichi Kuroda, in 2011. Ed was also an NSF/JSPS visiting scholar at Nagoya University under Prof. Masami Kamigaito in 2010. Following a postdoc with Anne McNeil in Chemistry at Michigan, Ed joined the faculty at RPI in 2014. He is married to Gabrielle Todd and they have a daughter, Sophia, who is 2.5 years old and already loves polymer science.  Link to Ed's CV
Awards and Honors
  • ACS PMSE Young Investigator, 2018
  • NSF CAREER Award, DMR-Biomaterials, 2017
  • ACS PRF Doctoral New Investigator Award, 2017
  • 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award, 2016-2018
Postdocs
Dr. Ao Chen
Postdoctoral Research Associate

Ao is from Shanghai, China. He obtained his BS degree from Dept. of Macromolecular Science and Engineering, Fudan University in 2013. He then joined the group of Prof. Andrew Whittaker in Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, the University of Queensland, where he explored the antimicrobial performance of novel polymeric materials and completed his PhD in 2017. Ao became a member of the Palermo Lab in 2018 and is now focusing on the fabrication of antimicrobial coatings using self-immolative polymers.
Graduate Students
Cansu Ergene
Presidential Graduate Research Fellow (MS&E)

Cansu is from Tekirdag, Turkey. She earned her BS from Middle East Technical University in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering. Then, she  completed her MS degree in Manufacturing Engineering at Atilim University, under the mentorship of Dr. Cemal Merih Sengonul. She worked on biointerfaces and surfaces, and their characterization techniques.  She joined the Palermo Lab in 2015 and working on biologically active polymer materials.

Cansu was selected for a Rensselaer Graduate Student Research Fellowship and was inducted into the ​Alpha Sigma Mu International Professional Honor Society.
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Zhe Zhou
Graduate Student Research Assistant (MS&E)

Zhe is from Shandong Province, China. He obtained a B.E. in Polymer Materials and Engineering from Qingdao University of Science and Technology and an M.S. degree in Polymer Science from The University of Akron, under Professor Stephen Z. D. Cheng (NAE). At Akron, he worked on "giant surfactant" molecules including fullerene-polymer conjugate materials. He joined the Palermo lab in 2016 and is working on sequence-controlled polymers.
Alexis Ziemba
NSF Graduate Research Fellow (BME)
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Alexis is from Ludlow, MA. She earned her BA in Neuroscience from Smith 
College in 2012. After taking time off to study the pharmacology of 
general anesthetics, she joined Ryan Gilbert's lab at RPI in 2015. She 
is currently co-advised by Dr. Palermo on a project that aims to develop 
anti-inflammatory coatings to prevent neuroinflammation that occurs upon 
intracortical microelectrode implantation.

​She was awarded the prestigious NSF GRFP in 2016.
Alexander Yepikhin
Graduate Student Research Assistant (MS&E)

Alex is from Niskayuna, NY. He obtained his BS degree from the Department of Chemistry at the George Washington University in 2013. He went on to work in industry for 5 years at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Yincae Advanced Materials before coming to RPI. He is co-advised by Professors Palermo and Ullal and is focusing on using STED lithography to create 3D Nanostructured Polymer Gels, starting in the summer of 2018.
Sam Ellman
BS (Chem '18), Co-term M.Eng. (MS&E '19)

Sam is from Yonkers, NY and is pursuing a B.S. in Chemistry and a co-terminal master's degree in materials science. Previously, he worked in the Hybrid Electronics and Characterization Laboratory under professor Kim Lewis. He joined the Palermo Lab in 2016 and is working on monomer synthesis and purification. He is also synthesizing estrogen-based polymers in collaboration with the Gilbert lab in BME.
Undergraduate Students
Phillip Falcone
BS (MS&E major, Chem minor)

Phillip is from Syracuse, New York. He began doing research in high 
school working in multiple labs at Syracuse University. Phillip is a 
sophomore at Rensselaer studying Materials Science and Engineering with 
a minor in Chemistry. He joined the Palermo Lab in Summer 2017 and is 
working on synthesizing monomers for the self immolative polymers 
project.
Tahsin Islam
BS (BME major)

Tahsin is from Dix Hills, NY. He is a junior studying biomedical engineering with a concentration in biomaterials at Rensselaer. He has worked in hematology labs in Good Samaritan Hospital in Long Island. In the summer of 2016, Tahsin did research with professors in Columbia University focusing on the adverse effects arsenic water has on
the pulmonary system. In the Palermo lab since 2019, he will work on curcumin-based polymers.
Elliot Chen
BS (MS&E Major)

Elliot is from Rhode Island, and is part of the class of 2019. They 
joined the Palermo Lab Spring 2019, and is working on learning how to 
perform SEM on bacterial cells. They are also working with professor 
Rahmi Ozisik on the characterization of nanoparticle infused polymers 
via nanoindentation. Outside of RPI, Elliot interned at a BME lab in 
Southeast University in Nanjing, China, the summer of 2018.
Dongyu Yang
BS (MSE major)
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Dongyu is from Shanghai, China. He is a junior studying materials  engineering. Before he joined the Palermo lab in spring 2019, he used to volunteer in a chemistry lab in Shanghai. He now is working on testing the mechanical properties of biomaterials.
Anqian Sun
BS (MSE major)
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Anqian is from Jiangsu Province, China. He began doing research in high school working in Freshwater Fisheries Research Center(FFRC). He is a junior at Rensselaer studying Materials Science and Engineering. He joined the Palermo Lab in Spring 2019 and is working on mechanical properties and degradation of surgical sutures.
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