Raudel Avila earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 2017 from the University of Texas at El Paso. He is a current PhD student in mechanical engineering at Northwestern University, where he has served as a graduate research fellow in the Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics. The focus of his dissertation is multiphysics modeling to design and optimize bio-integrated electronics for applications in healthcare. He has authored or co-authored around 50 peer-reviewed papers published in journals such as Science, Nature, Nature Medicine, and the Journal of Applied Mechanics. His model to determine the volume/flowrate in programmable drug delivery systems is the first analytical solution ever found in this field to design implantable drug systems using electrochemistry actuation. He is the recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and the Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship. Recently, he was invited to give a nationwide online seminar for the Future Leaders in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering series. As a faculty member, he will recruit, retain, and mentor underrepresented minority groups. Specifically, Avila plans to obtain federal grants to offer paid summer research experiences for undergraduates, organize workshops to help students identify and apply for internal and external funding, and establish partnerships with K-12 classrooms to inspire students to pursue STEM careers.

Research Interests

Mechanics of Bio-integrated Electronics