People

Complex Fluids and Interfacial Physics Laboratory at UCLA

CFIP Lab group

PI Principal Investigator

Pirouz Kavehpour

Pirouz Kavehpour

Professor, Principal Investigator

Pirouz Kavehpour is a Professor in the UCLA Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT in 2003. His research addresses various aspects of microfluidics and biofluidics, biofuel cells, cardiovascular flow, complex fluids, interfacial physics, micro-tribology, non-isothermal flows, drug delivery systems, and artificial organs. He serves as the Faculty Director of the University of California Leadership Excellence through Advanced DegreeS (UC LEADS) program, a two-year capstone program that offers resources and research opportunities for first generation and minority science and engineering students. He was awarded the L. E. Scriven Young Investigator Award in 2010.

Graduate Students

Parnian Hemmati

Parnian Hemmati

PhD Candidate

Parnian is a PhD Candidate in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department at UCLA, specializing in biofluid mechanics. Her research focuses on the fluid dynamics of the glymphatic system, the brain's waste-clearance network, investigating how cerebrospinal fluid flow drives the removal of metabolic byproducts and its role in neurodegenerative disease. She is passionate about applying complex fluid mechanics to uncover the physiological mechanisms underlying brain health.

Edoardo Leone

Edoardo Leone

PhD Candidate

Edoardo is a PhD Candidate in Mechanical Engineering at UCLA, studying the effects of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) on the cerebrospinal fluid and its contents. His main focus is conducting physiologically relevant in vitro experiments to characterize tau protein aggregation under mechanical stress. His goal is to collect data that will inform the development of a digital twin for his experiments. In his spare time, Edo is also a professional triathlete and a 3 times Collegiate National Champion.

Undergraduate Students

Alexander Gorin

Alexander Gorin

Undergraduate researcher

undergrad2

Haley Sharma

Undergraduate researcher

Alumni

Ph.D.

  • Peiwen Yan
  • John Hollister
  • Gabriela Bran-Anleu
  • Alireza Mohammad Karim
  • Faryar Tavakoli
  • Pooria Sharif-Kashani
  • Brian Hardy
  • Hamarz Aryafar
  • Kevin Lu
  • Sammy Houssainy
  • Kelly Connelly
  • Peggy Ip
  • Aysan Rangchian

M.S.

  • Rommina Ghavami
  • Sofy Kabachek
  • Anna Hoang
  • Janet Zhen
  • Kawika Uechi
  • Aleksandra Sasha Lukyanets
  • Eliza Honey

B.S.

  • Helen Hani Lou
  • Maziar Hemati
  • Megan Matal
  • Jerry Huang