Meet our team!
Dr. Shweta Patil
Postdoctoral Scholar
Dr. Shweta Patil joined the Gross group in February 2023. Before joining the group, she worked at Advanced Enzymes Technologies Ltd. as Fermentation Scientist, and she Received her PhD (Tech) in Bioprocess Technology from Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai in March 2022. She has total of 6 years of industrial experience in fermentation and was a major contributor of 1 granted US and Europe patent from one of her Industrial tenures. Currently, she is working on fermentative production of monomers for sustainable, biodegradable plastics.
Location: CBIS 4141
Dr. Anarul Hoque
Postdoctoral Scholar
Anarul joined the group as a postdoctoral research associate in April 2021. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 2017, from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), Shanghai, China. After graduation, he obtained a postdoctoral innovative talent scholarship (Nov 2017-Oct 2019), SJTU, China. He has experience in multiple protein expression in E. coli and yeast cells and in designing synthetic gene circuits for biosensing purposes.
In the Gross group, his research focuses on proteolytic enzyme engineering and expression for peptide synthesis.
Location: CBIS 4141
Sandhiya Thiagarajan
Postdoctoral Scholar
Sandhiya Thiagarajan will join the Gross group in September 2025. She obtained her PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering from The University of Alabama in May 2024. She has experience as an analytical chemist in the synthesis and characterization of various polymers in her PhD and as a Research Specialist after. In the Gross Lab she will be working on using mechano-enzymatic methods to modify polymers.
Location: CBIS 4141
Dr. Filbert Totsingan
Faculty
Dr. Totsingan received his Master degree in Industrial Chemistry cum laude (2004) and his PhD in Organic Chemistry (2008) from the University of Parma (Italy) focusing on designing new probes (peptide nucleic acids, PNAs) for nucleic acid recognition. After spending a year (2008-2009) at NYU-Poly as postdoc working with Prof. Mark Green on amplification of chirality in PNAs, he moved to NYU-Chemistry where he spent 5 years on designing new antimicrobial peptides against multidrug-resistant bacteria. He joined Prof. Gross group at RPI in March 2014.
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Location: Cogswell 209C
Recent Graduate Student Alumni
Dr. Gayathri Subramanian, July 2023
Dr. Sarah P. Black, July 2023
Dr. Rebecca T. Miceli, June 2023
Dr. Cody Edson, Aug 2022
Dr. Anna-Christina Amason, Dec 2021
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Check the alumni tab to see what they are doing now!
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Kavita Ramnath
5th Year Graduate Student
Kavita joined the group in fall 2020 She received her B.S. in biochemistry and minor in environmental engineering from UCLA in 2018, and did research in metabolic engineering for biofuels production at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO before coming to RPI. In the Gross group, Kavita is engineering enzymes to depolymerize and upcycle poly(ethylene-terephthalate) plastic.
Location: CBIS 4143
Martins Iji
4th Year Graduate Student
Martins is a doctoral student in Prof. Gross' research lab, joining in 2023. He holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial chemistry, which he obtained in 2012 from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Nigeria. Building upon this, Martins earned a master’s degree in Polymer Science and Technology from Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria in 2021.
Before joining Prof. Gross' research lab, Martins worked as an assistant lecturer at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Nigeria where he contributed to the development of novel polymer materials for industrial applications.
In Prof. Gross' research group, Martins is carrying out research in the field of biocatalysis and functional materials. He is exploring protease-catalyzed synthesis of peptide materials for potential application in tissue engineering.
Location: Cogswell 308
Ajay Singh
3rd Year Graduate Student
Ajay joined the group in Fall 2023 as a graduate student. In the Gross group, he is working on developing new biodegradable biopolymers for a variety of plastic products in collaboration with Danimer Scientific Inc. The main focus of his research is to develop these materials with an environment friendly and commercially viable process for greater environment sustainability. Additionally, his other NSF project focuses on organic synthesis and polymerization of some natural products in order to see their potential applications in making bioplastics with tunable properties, wound healing hydrogels and even medicinal chemistry.
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Location: Cogswell 308
Lisa Kaid
2nd Year Graduate Student
Lisa joined the lab in Fall 2024. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in natural products chemistry from the University of Sciences et de la Technology Houari Boumediene (Algeria) and completed a master’s degree in molecular chemistry at Sorbonne University (France).
Before joining RPI, Lisa gained experience in both academia and industry through various internships such as at URD ABI and L’Oréal, where she worked on biocatalysis, organic synthesis, and natural product analysis. She is also committed to mentoring and outreach, supporting international students through the RPI GradGuide program and Algerian Women in Science network. In Prof. Gross’ group, Lisa is conducting research on surfactant modifications, focusing on biocatalysis and sustainable polymer chemistry for biomedical and industrial applications.
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Location: CBIS 4143
Amanda Thompson
1st Year Graduate Student
Amanda Thompson joined the Gross lab group in the fall of 2025. She obtained her bachelor's in biochemistry at McDaniel college, where she did research on the synthesis and analysis of fluorescent hydrogen sulfide probes. Amanda’s Ph.D. work will be focused on developing new routes to peptides and peptide-based materials.
Location: CBIS 4143
Evan O'Berg
Undergraduate Researcher
Evan O'Berg is a senior BCBP major, after graduation he is hoping to go into medical school as well as join the armed forces. Here at RPI besides research, he runs varsity track and field as a sprinter, he is a member of Global Medical Brigade, and does photography for RPI Athletics. Evan works with Cody Edson.