Team Values

Our group strives to maintain a respectful, diverse, and collaborative environment. Key innovations are often discovered by combining creative scientists from different backgrounds (and disciplines), especially within a supportive and safe space.

Our Team

Tara Peña

Tara Peña (tpena@seas.ucla.edu) is an incoming Assistant Professor in the Materials Science & Engineering Department at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Before UCLA, Tara obtained her M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical & Computer Engineering from the University of Rochester. After, she became a postdoctoral researcher in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University working with Professor Eric Pop. She has been awarded the NSF graduate research and MPS-Ascend postdoctoral fellowships throughout her career. She will officially start UCLA on November 1st, 2026.

Google Scholar

CV

Principal Investigator

Qihan Fu

Qihan Fu (qihanf7@g.ucla.edu) is a Ph.D. student in the Materials Science & Engineering Department at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He received his B.S. in Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and his M.S. in Materials Science & Engineering from UCLA. His research focuses on computational materials science, machine learning, and multiscale  material simulations.

Incoming Ph.D. Student

Sarthak Mrutyunjaya

Sarthak Mrutyunjaya (smrutyunjaya06@g.ucla.edu) is a junior undergraduate student majoring in chemistry and material science at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His main research interests are in advancing optical spectroscopy is disentangle strain and defects in low-dimensional materials.

Incoming Undergraduate Student

Join Us!

  • We are always looking for talented postdoctoral scholars to join the group, especially those who can strengthen group expertise. If interested, please send Tara your CV and a brief summary of your previous research + potential research alignment.

  • We are aiming to accept another 2-4 graduate students into the group. If you are already admitted to UCLA, please send Tara an email with your CV and research interests. Please make the subject of your email “Prospective Ph.D. (or Masters) Student”.

    If you are not accepted into UCLA yet, please see more details here about the application process.

  • Yes, we are thrilled to welcome new undergraduate researchers into computational or experimental research. Please email Tara a copy of your CV and research interests, with the subject “Prospective Undergraduate Student Researcher”.

    Please also find more information about UCLA programs here.