People

In the Microelectrical Mechanical Systems (MEMS) and Microfluidics Lab in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Case Western Reserve University, our people are our strongest asset. Meet the members of our team. 

Principal Investigator

Dr. Melinda Speers

Professor Lake-Speers started her faculty position at Case Western Reserve University in January 2023 after finishing a postdoctoral research position at Purdue University. She started graduate school at the University of Notre Dame and transferred to The Ohio State University to follow her research advisor and completed her PhD from there in 2019. She completed her Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology.

Her lab’s research focuses on developing lab-on-a-chip solutions to solve critical health problems in cancer, global health and biological modeling. The development and manufacturing of such technology can be costly and she wants to ensure the technology is accessible to people who need it. So, in addition to developing novel microfluidic devices and MEMS for point-of-care diagnostics and organ-on-a-chip, she is also focusing on how to cost-effectively manufacture these systems in bulk. Outside of work, she enjoys running, hiking, and doing outdoor activities with her dogs.
Connect with Lake-Speers on LinkedIn.

See Lake-Speers’ Research on GoogleScholar.

Graduate Students

Ian Brackenbury

Ian is a first-year graduate student at Case Western Reserve University in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, specializing in biomechanics. He is interested in micro and nanoscale systems, and exploiting their properties for novel applications in industry and medicine. Outside of academia he enjoys drawing, writing, and martial arts among other things.

Haowei “Victor” Ma

Victor is a first-year graduate student at Case Western Reserve University in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. His fields of study include the development of point-of-care devices for clinical applications, and he is dedicated to contributing to the advancement of cancer detection devices through his work. Outside of the lab, Victor enjoys art, music, and film. He also owns a lizard.