Dhruv Seshadri, assistant professor of bioengineering, develops wearable medical technologies and low-cost health monitoring systems that improve patient care. In this episode, he discusses how personal experiences shaped his research, why equitable medical devices matter, and why he hires students based on purpose and curiosity rather than GPA.

Guest bio: Dhruv Seshadri is an assistant professor of bioengineering at Lehigh University, where he leads research focused on wearable medical devices, biosensors and equitable healthcare technologies. His lab develops tools that improve patient outcomes across diverse populations, with projects ranging from surgical monitoring systems to wearable devices for swallowing disorders and disease screening.

Rossin Connection is hosted and produced by Christine Fennessy, with support from the Dean's office at the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science.

Talk to us @RossinPodcast.

Chayah Wilbers has a knack for getting young kids excited about all things engineering. She’s the program manager for the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science, and the head of the college’s newest STEM outreach initiative, the STEM Squad. In this episode, Chayah talks about how she turns preschoolers into little coders, gets middle schoolers amped up about careers in space, and how she’s helping Lehigh students develop educational tools that will help local teachers meet new requirements in STEM education. Plus, you’ll hear from Lehigh faculty who bring their research into area schools and science fairs, and a sixth-grade science educator who sees huge potential in having Lehigh students visit his classroom.

Guest bios:

Chayah Wilbers is program manager for the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science at Lehigh University, where she leads K–12 STEM outreach initiatives, including Choices and the Summer Engineering Institute. She works with faculty, students and local schools to bring hands-on engineering experiences to young learners throughout the region.

Ana-Iulia Alexandrescu-Anselm is a professor of practice in Lehigh's Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, co-director of the Integrated Business and Engineering Honors Program, and Director of the ISE Outreach Program. Through STEM outreach, she introduces students to systems engineering and demonstrates how engineers solve complex real-world problems through teamwork and critical thinking.

Jennifer Winikus is a teaching associate professor in Lehigh's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Her outreach activities encourage students to explore engineering through creative, hands-on experiences while helping broaden perceptions of who can become an engineer.

Rich Staniec is a sixth-grade science teacher at Upper Perkiomen Middle School who partners with Lehigh on STEM outreach programs that connect classroom learning with real-world engineering.

Rossin Connection is hosted and produced by Christine Fennessy, with support from the Dean's office at the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science.

Talk to us @RossinPodcast.

Her focus is on fundamental science, but everything Whitney Blocher McTigue does in the lab is aimed towards applications in the real world. As an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, her lab explores how polymers and biomaterials can solve real-world medical challenges. From making vaccines easier to transport to developing smart and degradable bandages, her research is driven by one goal: improving patients' lives through fundamental science. Because for her, the drive to make that happen is personal.

Guest bio:

Whitney Blocher McTigue is an assistant professor in Lehigh University's Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Her research focuses on polymers, biomaterials and protein stabilization, with applications ranging from shelf-stable vaccines and mRNA therapeutics to smart wound dressings and advanced drug delivery systems. Her lab combines fundamental materials science with practical healthcare challenges to improve patient outcomes.

Rossin Connection is hosted and produced by Christine Fennessy, with support from the Dean's office at the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science.

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Like a lot of kids, Dominic DiFranzo, assistant professor of computer science and engineering, spent loads of time on the internet when he was growing up. It was where he could connect with other people who shared his passion for “nerdy things” like science fiction and Japanese anime. Pretty soon, the web itself captivated him–how it worked technologically, and eventually, how people built online communities. Today, he studies how technology can make online spaces safer and more supportive. In this episode, he discusses human-centered computing, digital literacy and the new tools he’s designing to reduce cyberbullying, misinformation and online scams. His goal is to make the internet safer for kids, older adults, and really, for all of us.

Guest bio:

Dominic DiFranzo is an assistant professor in Lehigh University's Department of Computer Science and Engineering, where he directs the Social Design Lab. His research combines human-computer interaction, social computing, and artificial intelligence to design technologies that improve digital literacy, reduce harmful online behavior, and create safer online communities for people of all ages.

Rossin Connection is hosted and produced by Christine Fennessy, with support from the Dean's office at the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science.

Talk with us @RossinPodcast.

Javad Khazaei came to the U.S from Iran. He was the first member of his family to leave the country, and at first, the transition was a tough one. But he pushed through what he calls, “the challenge that every international student has to overcome.” Today, he’s an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering. In this episode, he talks about an influential trip he took as a kid with his dad and the encouraging words of an advisor that changed the course of his career. He also explains how his research into dynamics and control of modern power systems is focused on making electric grids more reliable while integrating renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power. It’s all part of the global effort to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

Rossin Connection is hosted and produced by Christine Fennessy, with support from the Dean's office at the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science.

Talk with us @RossinPodcast.

Growing up, Siddha Pimputkar spent summers with his grandparents, which meant spending lots of time figuring out how to maintain an old house and a large garden. That love of problem solving stayed with him, and he eventually turned it into a career in materials science, the engineering discipline that, he says, connects to all the others in some shape or form. Today, as an associate professor of materials science and engineering, he’s developing new methods to grow cubic boron nitride—a novel semiconductor material that could outperform silicon in high-power electronics, electric vehicles and future energy systems. It’s so promising, he often calls it the “holy grail” of materials.

Guest bio:

Siddha Pimputkar is an associate professor in Lehigh University's Department of Materials Science and Engineering. His research focuses on crystal growth, wide-bandgap and ultra-wide-bandgap semiconductor materials, and advanced manufacturing techniques for next-generation electronics. His laboratory is developing scalable methods to grow cubic boron nitride crystals for applications in power electronics, communications, manufacturing and energy systems.

Rossin Connection is hosted and produced by Christine Fennessy, with support from the Dean's office at the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science.

Talk with us @RossinPodcast.

When Farrah Moazeni started out as a chemical engineering student in Iran, she figured she’d end up working for her country’s petrochemical industry. But the environmental impacts of the business made her change course. She came to the U.S. to study renewable energy and got her PhD in civil engineering. After an invaluable (and memorable!) experience working in industry, she came to Lehigh where she’s now an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering researching ways to make smart water distribution systems safer and more efficient. In this episode, she explains how smart, internet-connected infrastructure creates both efficiency and cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and shares her research into using AI to prevent catastrophic water outages. She also talks about what it was like leaving everything she knew behind in Iran, the mindset she developed to push through tough times, and how those experiences guide her mentorship of her own international graduate students.

Guest bio:

Farrah Moazeni is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, PhD program director for the department, and member of Lehigh's Institute for Cyber Physical Infrastructure and Energy (I-CPIE). She is the director of the Interconnected Critical Infrastructure Systems Engineering (CONCISE) Laboratory, and her research focuses on smart water infrastructure, cyber-physical systems, artificial intelligence and the resilience of interconnected water and energy networks. Her work aims to improve sustainability, strengthen critical infrastructure against cyber threats and expand equitable access to reliable water and energy systems. 

Rossin Connection is hosted and produced by Christine Fennessy, with support from the Dean's office at the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science.

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According to the Centers for Disease Control, antibiotic resistance is a global public health threat that was associated with nearly 5 million deaths worldwide in 2019. In this episode, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering Angela Brown explains how bacteria adapt and evolve, why antibiotics remain both essential and imperfect, and how her lab is developing new drug delivery strategies and anti-virulence therapies that could improve the effectiveness of existing antibiotics while reducing resistance. We also learn how she never intended to become an engineer in the first place, why she calls bacteria “amazing,” and the surprising part of the job that she loves (ok, and sometimes hates), the most.

Guest bio:

Angela Brown is a professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Lehigh University. Her research combines biomolecular engineering, microbiology and drug delivery to develop new strategies for treating bacterial infections and combating antibiotic resistance. Her lab investigates anti-virulence therapies, bacterial toxins and bio-inspired drug delivery systems that could improve the effectiveness of existing antibiotics while protecting the body's beneficial microbiome. 

Rossin Connection is hosted and produced by Christine Fennessy, with support from the Dean's office at the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science.

Talk with us @RossinPodcast.

It’s really, really hard to make something swim like a fish. But understanding just how these animals move can help in a range of applications–from the design of renewable energy devices to underwater vehicles and forecasting the impact of climate change on fish populations. In this episode, professor of mechanical engineering and mechanics Keith Moored talks about how his childhood love of the ocean led him to diving with manta rays as a grad student, and eventually to a career researching bio-inspired locomotion, specifically, the fluid mechanics of fish swimming. He explains how studying the fluid mechanics of fish swimming is helping engineers design quieter underwater vehicles, more efficient renewable energy technologies and new ways to better understand the effects of climate change on marine ecosystems.

Guest bio:

Keith Moored is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics at Lehigh University whose research explores bio-inspired locomotion and fluid mechanics. His lab studies how fish swim and interact with flowing water to better understand marine ecosystems while developing underwater robots, renewable energy technologies and other engineering systems inspired by nature. His work spans fluid dynamics, robotics, energy and environmental sustainability. 

Rossin Connection is hosted and produced by Christine Fennessy, with support from the Dean's office at the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science.

Talk with us @RossinPodcast.

Chances are, you’ve never given much (if any!) thought to the films that coat things like your phone charger. But without them–and without their exact dimensions of thickness and hardness–the technology we rely on every day would be useless. In this episode, associate professor of materials science and engineering Nicholas Strandwitz explains what he calls the “magic” of atomic layer deposition, a thin film growth technique that, among other things, enables faster computer chips and more efficient solar cells and technologies that could shape the future.

Guest bio:

Nicholas Strandwitz is an associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Lehigh University. His research focuses on atomic layer deposition and other advanced thin-film manufacturing techniques that improve the performance of electronics, solar cells and energy technologies. His work combines materials science, nanotechnology and engineering to create materials that enable the next generation of devices.

Rossin Connection is hosted and produced by Christine Fennessy, with support from the Dean's office at the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science.

Talk with us @RossinPodcast.