Graduate Student Excellence Award in Research: Maedeh Mohammadifar
Maedeh Mohammadifar is a prolific researcher who has already seen her research picked up by journals, conferences and even various news organizations.
PhD student Maedeh Mohammadifar from the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department is one of the recipients of the Binghamton University Graduate Student Excellence Awards in Research for 2019.
As a PhD student, Mohammadifar’s research experience has been extensive. She has published in five journals and at 18 conferences. In 2017, she was nominated for the Best Student Paper Award at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) conference. She was also a Best Conference Paper Award finalist at the IEEE Nanomed Conference and the PowerMEMS conference in 2018.
Mohammadifar works with Associate Professor Sean Choi, who is well-known for his work with batteries including inventions like a battery powered by spit and a foldable, paper-based battery.
“My research focus is in the field of paper-based microbial fuel cells and microbial-sensors, which is on the interface of engineering and microbiology,” explained Mohammadifar. “We harvest energy from microorganisms and develop systems to drive electrical currents through microorganisms using various methodologies – at the heart of which is the idea that this unexpected power source could be the future of electronics and sensing technologies.”
Some of the research that Mohammadifar has worked on with Choi has gone on to be recognized by news organizations like Fox News, Phys.org and ScienceDaily.
Mohammadifar is originally from Iran where she received her bachelor’s degree from K.N. Toosi University of Technology and her master’s degree from Amirkabir University. She came to Binghamton University for her PhD because she was extremely interested in the type of research that Choi was doing in his lab.
When she’s not in the lab, writing papers or presenting at conferences, Mohammadifar enjoys traveling, swimming and spending what free time she has with her spouse and her family.
Mohammadifar will receive her 2019 Graduate Student Excellence Award at the end of March as part of a special reception for all awardees.