Andrea Martin Armani is Sr Director of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the Ellison Institute o
Technology
the Ray Irani Chair in Engineering and Materials Science, and a professor of chemical engineering and materials science at the

USC Viterbi School of Engineering The USC Viterbi School of Engineering (formerly the USC School of Engineering) is the engineering school of the University of Southern California. It was renamed following a $52 million donation by Andrew J. Viterbi, co-founder of Qualcomm. ...

. She was awarded the 2010

Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) is the highest honor bestowed by the United States federal government on outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent research careers. T ...

from

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

and is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. Over the course of her career, Armani has made significant contributions to a wide range of fields, including surface chemistry, nonlinear materials, and linear and nonlinear integrated optical devices. Her findings have applications in everything from diagnostics to telecommunications. Her research group is highly interdisciplinary, working from the fundamentals of material discovery and optics to exploring the clinical and quantum applications.

Early life and education

Armani is from

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

. She attended St. Mary's Episcopal School and graduated in 1996. She was described by her school as being a "Renaissance woman", took part in

Model United Nations Model United Nations, also known as Model UN (MUN), is an educational simulation of the United Nations, which teaches students about diplomacy, international relations, global issues, and how the United Nations is run. During a model UN confe ...

and played the flute. She studied physics at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, graduating in 2001. She was the only girl in her physics class. She moved to the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...

for her doctoral studies, majoring in applied physics with a minor in biology. From 2006 to 2008 Armani served as a

Clare Boothe Luce Clare Boothe Luce (; March 10, 1903 – October 9, 1987) was an American writer, politician, diplomat, and public conservative figure. A versatile author, she is best known for her 1936 hit play '' The Women'', which had an all-female cast. He ...

postdoctoral researcher in biology and

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private university, private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small g ...

. Her advisors were

Scott E. Fraser Scott E. Fraser is an American biophysicist and Provost Professor of Biological Sciences and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC). He is also the Elizabeth Garrett Chair in Convergent Bioscience and Director of Sci ...

and Richard Flagan. While there she worked on single-molecule detection, using a silica surface that is functionalised to bind a target molecule.

Career and research

Armani began her faculty career at the University of Southern California in the Viterbi School of Engineering. When she was offered her position, she delivered a hand-written acceptance letter to Yannis C. Yortsos. She was the director of the ''W. M. Keck Photonics Cleanroom'' and ''John D. O’Brien Nanofabrication Laboratory'' overseeing its design, construction, an
opening
From 2010 to 2017, she was the Fluor Early Career Chair of Engineering, and in 2017, she was appointed the Ray Irani Chair in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. She has appointments in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Biomedical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Chemistry. From 2015 to 2019, she was a Faculty Fellow at Northrop Grumman, and in 2023, she joined the Ellison Institute of Technology as th
Sr. Director of Engineering and Physical Sciences
In this role, she leads a team of scientists and engineers advancing biomedical technologies and agritech instrumentation for global impact. Armani’s first research experience, supported by an NSF REU, was in Prof
Heinrich Jaeger
��s lab studying the self-assembly of diblock co-polymer films. She completed her senior thesis with Prof.

David Grier David Grier is an American Steel-string guitar, acoustic guitarist. A three-time International Bluegrass Music Association, IBMA guitarist of the year, Grier has been lauded as highly influential and a master Flatpicking, flatpicker by music pub ...

studying optical binding between particles using a linear optical trap. She presented these results at the spring APS March meeting in 2001, which was her first conference presentation. Once she joined USC, Armani blended optics and chemistry. She used gold nanoparticles to create low power

frequency comb A frequency comb or spectral comb is a spectrum made of discrete and regularly spaced spectral lines. In optics, a frequency comb can be generated by certain laser sources. A number of mechanisms exist for obtaining an optical frequency comb, i ...

s, which can be used as high precision light sources in fields such as cybersecurity, chemical sensing and GPS. The gold nanoparticles increase the light that circulates in the device, allowing the microlaser to operate at a range of wavelengths at high intensity. She also works on hybrid organic-inorganic photonics which combine organic materials with conventional integrated photonic devices. In this work, she invented several new organic small molecules to improve optical device performance for Rama
lasers
frequency comb generation, and frequency switchabl
devices
She invented a photo-responsive material and created a flexible indicator from a tri-layer polymer-based device, which changes colour when exposed to

UV light Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of t ...

. The colour change is due to the polymer irreversibly cleaving when exposed to UV-light. This device could be used in

preventive healthcare Preventive healthcare, or prophylaxis, is the application of healthcare measures to prevent diseases.Hugh R. Leavell and E. Gurney Clark as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical and mental health a ...

to protect against

skin cancer Skin cancers are cancers that arise from the Human skin, skin. They are due to the development of abnormal cells (biology), cells that have the ability to invade or metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. It occurs when skin cells grow ...

. She was supported by the

Office of Naval Research The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is an organization within the United States Department of the Navy responsible for the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Established by Congress in 1946, its mission is to plan ...

to develop an interferometric optical biosensor. The proposed biosensor is able to detect DNA and bacteria. She developed a high-resolution polarimetric

elastography Elastography is any of a class of medical imaging diagnostic methods that map the elastic properties and stiffness of soft tissue. The main idea is that whether the tissue is hard or soft will give diagnostic information about the presence or s ...

instrument to characterise the mechanical properties of

visco-elastic In materials science and continuum mechanics, viscoelasticity is the property of materials that exhibit both viscous and elastic characteristics when undergoing deformation. Viscous materials, like water, resist both shear flow and strain linea ...

materials. This has been used to study the

extracellular matrix In biology, the extracellular matrix (ECM), also called intercellular matrix (ICM), is a network consisting of extracellular macromolecules and minerals, such as collagen, enzymes, glycoproteins and hydroxyapatite that provide structural and bio ...

in pancreatic tissue and

porcine The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus '' Sus''. Some authorities consid ...

tissue and has potential in cancer diagnostics. Armani is interested in using optical devices for epigenetic investigations, and has developed a label-free sensor that can detect and quantify

DNA methylation DNA methylation is a biological process by which methyl groups are added to the DNA molecule. Methylation can change the activity of a DNA segment without changing the sequence. When located in a gene promoter (genetics), promoter, DNA methylati ...

. The sensor incorporates a

rare-earth element The rare-earth elements (REE), also called the rare-earth metals or rare earths, and sometimes the lanthanides or lanthanoids (although scandium and yttrium, which do not belong to this series, are usually included as rare earths), are a set o ...

optical cavity to form a nanolaser. The heterodyned nanolaser sensors can be used to diagnose

ovarian cancer Ovarian cancer is a cancerous tumor of an ovary. It may originate from the ovary itself or more commonly from communicating nearby structures such as fallopian tubes or the inner lining of the abdomen. The ovary is made up of three different ...

as they are sensitive to RASSF1A and

BRCA1 Breast cancer type 1 susceptibility protein is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''BRCA1'' () gene. Orthologs are common in other vertebrate species, whereas invertebrate genomes may encode a more distantly related gene. ''BRCA1'' is a ...

promoters. They complement their experimental work with

finite element method Finite element method (FEM) is a popular method for numerically solving differential equations arising in engineering and mathematical modeling. Typical problem areas of interest include the traditional fields of structural analysis, heat tran ...

and

finite-difference time-domain method Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) or Yee's method (named after the Chinese American applied mathematician Kane S. Yee, born 1934) is a numerical analysis technique used for modeling computational electrodynamics. History Finite difference sc ...

modelling. In 2018 she announced a portable malaria screening device that can be used for rapid screening. The device uses a 633 nm laser to study

hemozoin Haemozoin is a disposal product formed from the digestion of blood by some blood-feeding parasites. These hematophagy, hematophagous organisms such as malaria parasites (''Plasmodium spp.''), ''Rhodnius'' and ''Schistosoma'' digest haemoglobin an ...

, a magnetic insoluble nanocrystal that forms when

heme Heme (American English), or haem (Commonwealth English, both pronounced /Help:IPA/English, hi:m/ ), is a ring-shaped iron-containing molecule that commonly serves as a Ligand (biochemistry), ligand of various proteins, more notably as a Prostheti ...

aggregates. The

nanoparticles strongly scatter light and can be moved using a magnet, which allows them to be identified by monitoring the intensity of light that passes through a sample. Her team has also advanced imaging methods, developing new computational analysis techniques and new light-emitting materials. She created a ML-based algorithm that can assess the viability of 3D spheroids and organoids without requiring a dye or fluorescent molecule. She demonstrated that this method can perform longitudinal studies of the impact of cancer therapeutics o
spheroids
She also designed and demonstrated a new fluorescent imaging agent that provides information about the spatial separation o

proteins on the surface of cance

This spatial information is not available using other methods, and it is thought to be a key factor in the efficacy of HER2-based therapeutics. She also made a multi-functional molecule that could allow reading and writing of neural activity over large spatial and tempora
scales
During COVID19, her team leveraged their expertise in optics and their existing collaborations with the USC medical school to design and validate a UV-C decontaminatio
system
Working with a manufacturing company in the LA-area, they built numerous systems and distributed them throughout the LA area, and they posted the schematics and a detailed parts lis
online
She also took a leadership role in the NAE �
Call to Action
�� Initiative. Her lab group are not only involved with research, but actively engaged with the community, running engineering festivals, lab parties and sports days. She is also a co-founder, alongside Orad Reshef, of the Photonics Online Meet-up
POM
. Armani is a Fellow of

SPIE SPIE (formerly the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers, later the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers) is an international not-for-profit professional society for optics and photonics technology, founded in 1955. It ...

, Optica (formerly OSA), AAAS, and

NAI Nai or NAI may refer to: Music * ''Nai'' (album), an album by singer Anna Vissi * Nai (pan flute), a wind instrument, also known as a pan flute (Romania and Moldova) * "Nai" (song), a 2007 CD single by Irini Merkouri Organizations * NASA Astro ...

and was a visiting lecturer of both societies from 2009-2015. She was the faculty advisor for the student chapters of

and Optica at USC. She also was an Associate Editor or Features Editor of Optics Letters from 2009-2023, and she is currently an Associate Editor of ACS Photonics.

Awards and honors

Armani is a Fellow of the

and Optica. *2022 Robert E. Hopkins Leadershi
Award
*2021 Fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

*2021 Fellow of the

National Academy of Inventors The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) is a US non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging inventors in academia, following the model of the National Academies of the United States. It was founded at the University of South Florida in 201 ...

*2017 Sigma Xi member *2015

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

Young Global Leader Forum of Young Global Leaders, or Young Global Leaders (YGL), is a non-profit organization. The organization was created by Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum and is managed from Geneva, Switzerland, under the supervision of the Sw ...

*2014

Popular Science Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...

''Brilliant 10'' *2013 Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering *2011 USC Viterbi Junior Research Award *2010

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

*2010

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

''Director's New Innovator Award'' *2010

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

''Mellon Mentoring Award for Undergraduates'' *2010 Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program ''Young Investigator Award'' *2009

MIT Technology Review ''MIT Technology Review'' is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was founded in 1899 as ''The Technology Review'', and was re-launched without "''The''" in its name on April 23, 1998, under then pu ...

TR 35 Top 35 Innovators under 35 *2009

''Young Investigator Award'' *2008

Young Investigator Award *2007

''Graduate Dean's Award for Community Service'' *2001

Sigma Xi Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society () is an international non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a faculty member and graduate students in 1886 and is one of the oldest ...

award for Excellence in Research

References

External links

Armani on becoming interested in optics
(video)
Armani on her work in cancer research
(video) {{DEFAULTSORT:Armani, Andrea Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Academics from Memphis, Tennessee 21st-century American women engineers 21st-century American engineers American chemical engineers American women chemical engineers California Institute of Technology alumni University of Chicago alumni University of Southern California faculty Fellows of Optica (society) SPIE Women in optics 21st-century American women academics 21st-century American academics Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers