HARVARD
Materials Research Science and Engineering Center
 
 
 
Graduate Student

Grant Gonzalez
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Grant Gonzalez is a Ph.D. candidate at Harvard University's John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science with a concentration in Material Science and Mechanical Engineering. At Harvard College, Grant earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a joint concentration in Chemistry and Physics in 2013. As an undergraduate, he worked in the MRSEC on a soft materials project with the Bertoldi and Weitz laboratories that resulted in a publication in Langmuir (2015) entitled "Microfluidic Fabrication and Micromechanics of Permeable and Impermeable Elastomeric Microbubbles." As a graduate student with Kevin Kit Parker's group, Grant's MRSEC research has focused on nanofiber fabrication including the development of the immersion Rotary Jet Spinning Platform (iRJS). The iRJS expands the range of producible nanofibers to include biopolymer nanofibers and rigid rod polymers (Macromolecular Materials and Engineering 2017). Furthermore, the MRSEC funded iRJS has inspired many veterans working with Grant in the lab to fabricate nanofibers for improved armored clothing. Currently, Grant is using the iRJS to control the crystallization of nanofibers to create materials with improved strength and toughness.