Lauren Zarzar
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology

Lauren Zarzar is currently a Ph.D. student in Joanna Aizenberg's group at Harvard studying chemistry. She became interested in chemistry, in particular materials chemistry, as an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania where she conducted research on gold nanoparticles. She subsequently earned a B.S. in chemistry from Penn as well as a B.A. in economics from the Wharton School. In the Active Soft Materials Interdisciplinary Research Group, Lauren's research focuses on chemo-mechanical actuators comprised of high-aspect-ratio polymeric nano/microstructures embedded within a responsive hydrogel. The responsive hydrogel acts as a "muscle" where the volume change of the gel drives the patterned movement of the flexible structures.

In addition to research, Lauren is highly involved with both teaching and community outreach. She has served as a Teaching Fellow for three different courses at Harvard, including Physical Sciences 1, Chemistry in Materials Science and Engineering, and Science and Cooking. She regularly volunteers at the Museum of Science, Boston where she also developed a science demo inspired by her graduate research on hydrogels. This demo was adapted for use in the Nanoscale Informal Science Education (NISE) NanoDays kit in 2012.