People
Interested in joining the Microrobotics Lab? Click here for information for potential students.
Lab Director

Eric Diller, Ph.D., P.Eng.
- Clarice Chalmers Chair of Engineering Design
- Associate Professor
- Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
- PhD Carnegie Mellon University, U.S.A.
- BS & MS, Case Western Reserve University, U.S.A.
- Dr. Diller has led the Microrobotics Lab since 2014. His work is on micro-scale robotics and bio-inspired novel locomotion systems, and features fabrication and control relating to remote actuation of micro-scale devices using magnetic fields, micro-scale robotic manipulation, and smart materials.
- Dr. Diller is the recipient of the MIE Department Early Career Teaching Award, the UofT Connaught New Researcher Award, the Ontario Early Researcher Award, the I.W. Smith Award from the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineers, the Dean’s Catalyst Professorship from the UofT Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, the McCharles Prize for Early Career Research Distinction from the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, the Professional Engineers Ontario Young Engineer Medal, and the Early Academic Career Award in Robotics and Automation from the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society.
Research Team

Changyan He
Lab manager | Postdoctoral Researcher
- Starting October 2021
- Ph.D., Beihang University, China
- B. Eng, Beijing Jiaotong University, China
- Co-supervised with James Drake at SickKids Hospital

Zhaoxin (Jason) Li
Ph.D. Student
- Starting May 2019
- M. Eng, University of Toronto
- B. Eng, South China University of Technology, China

Xiaoyun Liu
Ph.D. Student
- Starting September 2019
- MASc, Columbia University, USA
- B. Eng, Harbin Institute of Technology, China

Haley Mayer
PhD Student
- Starting September 2020
- B.Eng, University of Guelph
- Co-supervised with James Drake at SickKids Hospital

Daniel Sieben
Ph.D. Student
- Starting September 2021
- B. Sc, University of Calgary
- M. Sc, University of Calgary

Erik Fredin
Ph.D. Student
- Starting September 2021
- M.Sc.Eng. Lund University, Sweden

Chloe Pogue
PhD Student
- Starting January 2022
- Co-supervised with Professor Burgner-Kahrs
- MASc, University of Toronto
- B.Eng, McGill University

Anastasia Aubeeluck
PhD Student
- Starting May 2023
- MASc, University of Toronto
- BASc, University of Toronto

Taeyoung Lee
MASc Student
- Starting January 2023
- B. Tech, McMaster University
Research Assistants

Ardavan Alaei Fard
Undergraduate Summer Student
- Starting May 2023
- B.ACs Candidate – Electrical and Computer Engineering

Yuanzhe (Felix) Deng
Undergraduate Summer Student
- Starting May 2023
- BASc Candidate – Mechanical Engineering

Nayaab Ali
Undergraduate Summer Student
- Starting May 2023
- B.ASc Candidate – Engineering Science

Shreesh Mahapatra
Undergraduate Summer Student
- Starting May 2023
- Dual Degree (B.Tech + M.Tech) Student, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (Current)

Akshat Verma
Undergraduate Summer Student
- Starting in May 2023
- B. Tech. Mechanical Engineering, Student, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (Current)
Alumni
Post-Doctoral Researchers
- Dr. Jaekwang Nam, 2019-2020
- Dr. Peyman Shokrollahi, 2017-2019
Ph.D. Alumni
- Dr. Cameron Forbrigger, graduated 2023
- Dr. Priscilla Lai, graduated 2023
- Dr. Mohammad Salehizadeh, graduated 2020
- Dr. Sajad Salmanipour, graduated 2020
- Dr. Onaizah Onaizah, graduated 2019
- Dr. Jiachen Zhang, graduated 2018
Masters Alumni
- Robin Liu, MASc. 2022
- Zhuo Fan Bao, MASc. 2022
- Lyle Gauthier, MASc. 2022
- Monisha Naik, MASc. 2022
- Nancy Wu, MASc. 2022
- Adam Schonewille, MASc. 2022
- Mihai Nica, MASc. 2020
- Andrew Lim, MHSc. 2019. Co-supervized with James Drake at SickKids Hospital
- Tianqi Xu, MASc. 2018
- Omid Youssefi, MASc. 2018
- Saba Sabetian, MASc. 2018 Co-supervised with James Drake at SickKids Hospital
- Patrick Ryan, MASc. 2017
- Zhe Li, MASc. 2017
Undergraduate Researchers
- Chenqi Li, 2022
- Mulan Wu, 2022
- Maxwell Zheng, 2022
- Soham Purohit, 2022
- Khaled Gaber, 2022
- Daniel Esser, 2021
- Sviatoslav Leniuk, 2020
- Youyang Li, 2020
- Alexi Tracey, 2020
- Sumanth Kandala, 2019
- Alexandre Poersch, 2018
- Gurtej Bhasin, 2018
- Ernest Lau, 2018
- Seifeldin Hassan, 2016-2018
- Jessica Campos, 2017
- Ahmed Ujjainwala, 2017
- Daniel Franca, 2016
- Vishal Gupta, 2016
- Piyush Jain, 2016
- Xian Wang, 2014
- Hweedo Chan, 2014
High School Interns
- Joe Ajoy, 2014