Principal Investigator
Daryl Yee
Daryl W. Yee was born in Singapore, and obtained his B.Eng in Materials Science and Engineering from Imperial College London, UK in 2014. He then earned his MSc. and Ph.D. in Materials Science from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), USA in 2016 and 2020 respectively. After obtaining his Ph.D., Daryl then joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA, as a postdoctoral associate.
Daryl joined the Institute of Electrical and Micro Engineering at EPFL as an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Microengineering in March 2023, where he leads the Laboratory for the Chemistry of Materials and Manufacturing (ALCHEMY). His research group seeks to utilize molecular design and accessible materials processing strategies to engineer advanced functional materials that will help tackle societal challenges in healthcare, energy, and climate change.
Administrative Assistant
Myriam Poliero
Myriam Poliero was born in Neuchâtel and obtained her baccalaureate in socio-economics there. Since obtaining her degree, she has worked as an administrative assistant in various technical fields, including electroplating and microengineering, before joining EPFL in 2009. To complete and refresh her training, Myriam obtained a diploma as a generalist in accounting in 2023.
Myriam works for two laboratories: at LMTS since 2009 and ALCHEMY since 2023. She particularly enjoys the incredible and fascinating multicultural melting pot that is EFPL. Her favourite part of the job: coordinating the various tasks in the lab and helping new arrivals to settle in.
Ph.D. Students
Disha Bandyopadhyay
Disha Bandyopadhyay joined ALCHEMY in April 2023 and is a PhD student working on developing shape shifting and stimuli responsive polymers for 3D printing. Previously Disha obtained her MEng from Imperial College London in 2022 in Materials with Nuclear Engineering. Disha enjoys exploring interdisciplinary science and is interested in studying light-matter interactions for device applications, imaging and small-scale fabrication. Disha also enjoys theatre, painting and is passionate about starting an ALCHEMY band called Rubber Band.
Yiming Ji
Yiming Ji joined ALCHEMY on April 1st, 2023. His research interests include nanocomposites, magnetic materials, and field assisted SLA 3D printer. Previously, he got B.S. and M.S. degree in Mechanical engineering from Beihang University, PRC, in 2020 and 2023 respectively.
Hana Elhaddad
Hana Elhaddad, born in Cairo, Egypt, earned her BSc in Chemistry from the University of Toronto, Canada, in 2023. During her time at the University of Toronto, Hana immersed herself in its vibrant research community, gaining experience in polymer chemistry under the supervision of Professor Helen Tran and inorganic chemistry under the supervision of Professor Robert Morris. Hana joined EPFL’s Doctoral Program in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and ALCHEMY in December 2023. While her scientific interests lie in the molecular realm, Hana is keen on merging the worlds of molecules and materials to address key societal problems. Recognizing that the true utility of advanced manufacturing lies in the hands of its consumers, Hana is interested in democratizing 3D printing to encourage diverse audiences to take part in shaping their material world. Beyond her scientific pursuits, Hana enjoys exploring new cities, appreciating art, reading, running, and indulging in the delight of delicious warm bread.
Diego Sandoval
Diego was born in Mexico, and has been trained in Chemistry and Nanotechnology Engineering (Tecnologico de Monterrey BSc 2015-2020), Micro and Nanofabrication (MIT, 2017), Biomaterials (Harvard-MIT HST Division, 2018-2019) and Materials Science and Engineering (MSc EPFL, 2020-2023).
Diego joined ALCHEMY on April 2024, starting a PhD in the Materials Science department. Diego aims to bring his multidisciplinary materials experience to create true multimaterial 3D fabrication with no restrictions of geometry, and thus achieve functional materials bridging the gap from the nano to the macroscale. When he is not messing with obscure materials properties at the lab, Diego loves to pursues the intersections of art and science, reads and writes prose and poetry and longboards along the hills and lakes of Switzerland.
Postdoctoral Associate
Ying Hong
Ying Hong joined ALCHEMY as a Postdoctoral Associate in August 2024. Ying was born in Anhui province, China, and received the B.S. degree in materials science and engineering from Beihang University, China in 2016, the M.S. degree in materials science and engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology under the joint program with Southern University of Science and Technology, China in 2018, and the Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from the City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong in 2022, respectively. After that, Ying worked as a Postdoctoral Associate at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong.
Before joining ALCHEMY, Ying mainly worked on the advanced manufacturing of architected piezoelectric ceramics and their applications on energy harvesters, sensors, and ultrasonics. Now, Ying focuses on polymer-derived additive manufacturing of oxides and metals/alloys. Besides academic research, Ying loves reading and writing, especially mystery and science fiction novel. In China, Ying have published over 10 novels.
Master’s Student
Arnaud Viollet
Arnaud Viollet is a Materials Science student at EPFL. He obtained his BSc in 2022.
He joined ALCHEMY in September 2024 for his Master Thesis. His work focuses on field assisted VAT photopolymerization of anisotropic composites. Arnaud aims to bring his multidisciplinary experience in Mechanical and Materials Engineering to build a printer that allows particles management during the printing process.
Arnaud likes sports in general but mostly football, skiing and running. He also likes hanging out with friends and travelling.
Visiting Researchers
Terence Ho
Terence was born in Singapore, and obtained his B.Sc (2021) in Chemistry and Biological Chemistry from the School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. He is currently pursuing his PhD studies in Materials Science and Engineering from NTU, working on the vat photopolymerization of carbide based materials. His research interests span widely, from inorganic and organic chemistry, to soft stimuli-responsive polymer materials, ceramics and additive manufacturing. He joined ALCHEMY as a visiting research student in September 2024, where he hopes to further his interest in additive manufacturing and better understand how material design at a molecular level could imbibe cool functional properties in the additively manufactured parts. Terence enjoys gaming, hanging out with friends, climbing and trying new things when he is not wearing a lab coat.
Hamidreza Daghigh Shirazi
Hamidreza was born in Iran and obtained his B.Sc. in Metallurgy and Materials Engineering from the University of Tehran. He continued his academic journey in Functional Materials at Aalto University, where he obtained his M.Sc. in Finland in 2020, after completing his thesis on producing filter media for the Outotec company. He then joined the Multifunctional Materials Design (MMD) lab at Aalto University for his Ph.D. studies, taking inspiration from nature to develop multifunctional films and surfaces. In 2021 and 2022, he conducted research on nanocellulose at the Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE) in Stockholm, and in 2024, he joined ALCHEMY at EPFL as a visiting doctoral researcher. Hamidreza enjoys playing badminton, knitting, singing in a choir, and listening to psychological podcasts.