Carl Anthony Kohnke | Student Spotlight

Carl Anthony Kohnke

PhD Candidate
Chemical Engineering
Advisors: Professors Shaqfeh & DeSimone

“I chose Stanford because it’s the best place in the world to be a huge nerd while simultaneously living a full life. When I first visited, I was greeted with big smiles and captivating stories of science and adventure, and I wanted in. It also didn’t hurt to be back home in the Bay Area around my friends and family. I first came here to work on thin metallic films, but I soon became intrigued by microscale transport processes through classes taught by Eric Shaqfeh. I joined his group through a co-advisement with Joe DeSimone, studying oxygen transport dynamics within 3D-printed tissue constructs being developed by Joe’s group.

My current work investigates how the properties of microscale blood vessel networks determine oxygenation across entire organs, and whether we can use that understanding to reliably predict where ischemia will develop in living tissues. By combining first-principles physics, tissue engineering experiments, and accelerated computational methods, I am building multiscale simulations that could bring new insights into the design of engineered organs and implantable devices, and ultimately for assessing cardiac risks and planning interventions in the clinic as well. Once I graduate, I hope to continue building new medical technologies at this exciting intersection of engineering, computation, and medicine.

Outside the lab, I cherish the new friendships that I’ve been fortunate to make at Stanford. Whether it be through cooking for potlucks, jamming on our guitars, trying new restaurants, doing community service, or venturing the great outdoors, I’ve valued every moment."