Principal Investigator

Yasser Khan

Assistant Professor
Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Southern California

Yasser completed his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2018. He received his B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Dallas and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, respectively. Yasser’s research focuses on additive manufacturing and hardware AI to produce skin-like wearables, implantables, and ingestibles. These medical devices are being used for precision health and psychiatry.

Yasser received the EECS departmental fellowship at UC Berkeley, discovery scholarship and graduate fellowship at KAUST, and academic excellence scholarship at UT Dallas. Yasser published over 40 research publications in the most reputed platforms in the field, which were highlighted by BBC News, Wall Street Journal, NSF News, and attracted over $2 million in research funding.

CV:

Open Positions ✨

Prospective students and postdocs: If you want to work on exciting bioelectronics and medical devices at the intersection of engineering and medicine, please feel free to reach out to Prof. Khan. We are always looking for candidates with experience and interests in additive manufacturing, flexible and stretchable electronics, bioelectronics, sensors, embedded systems, and hardware AI.

PhD Students

Ansa Abdigazy

email: abdigazy@usc.edu
years: 2022 –

Ansa was born and raised in Kazakhstan. He received his BS degree in EE and CS in 2019 from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in South Korea. He joined USC as a PhD student in Fall 2019. He is interested in the development of analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits for ingestible and implantable medical devices. In his recent project, Ansa worked on designing an ultra-low power transmitter and receiver for insertable smart pills. In his free time, Ansa loves reading books, working out, and swimming. He is also passionate about learning foreign languages.

Research area: mixed-signal integrated circuits, ingestibles, biophotonic devices

Felix Muñoz

email: jdfelix@usc.edu
years: 2022 –

Felix was born in Mexico and completed his MS degree in Medical Physics from San Diego State University in 2020. He joined USC as a PhD student in the Fall of 2020 and is currently co-advised by Prof. Krishna Nayak and Prof. Yasser Khan. He is interested in developing low-field MRI compatible hardware, such as receiver coils and wearable sensors for physiological signals. His current project involves evaluating the SNR and imaging performance of a dedicated speech MRI receiver coil at low field. In his free time, Felix likes to go the gym, salsa dancing, and trying different burger joints.

Research area: wearables, biochemical devices

Mohammad Shafiqul Islam

email: islamm@usc.edu
years: 2022 –

Shafiq is from Bangladesh. He completed his BSc, MSc, and MSE degrees in Electrical Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and Princeton University, respectively. His research interest is to design and fabricate devices and circuits for sensing. currently he is working on sensors and transistors and their system-level implementation for near- and in-sensor computing. He likes to try different cuisine, explore seashores despite being acrophobic.

Research area: biochemical devices

Md Farhad Hassan

email: mdfarhad@usc.edu
years: 2022 –

Md Farhad Hassan graduated from Islamic University of Technology (IUT) with a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering in 2018 and 2021, respectively. He also served as a faculty member of the same intuition. His undergraduate and graduate studies concentrated on the design and numerical analysis of photonic biosensors for lab-on-a-chip applications. He was the recipient of best student paper award in ISITIA 2020 and TENCON 2020, two IEEE conferences held in Indonesia and Japan respectively. His research will be focused on the development of wearable medical devices, with a particular interest in printed bioelectronics and biphotonics.

Research area: wearables, biophotonic devices

Munia Ferdoushi

email: ferdoush@usc.edu
years: 2023 –

Munia is an incoming Ph.D. student at USC from Bangladesh, who will be joining Khan lab in the Spring of 2023. She completed her BSc. and MSc. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) in 2018 and 2021, respectively. At BUET, she is presently appointed as an Assistant Professor. She has been engaged in research on nano-structured solar cells and phono-cardiogram sensors up until this point. At Khan lab, she is interested to work on optoelectronic and biophotonic sensors with the goal of making biomedical devices more efficient, affordable, and equitable. She is a mystery fiction enthusiast, who also loves to travel and experience different cuisines and music.

Research area: wearables, biophotonic devices

Masters Students

Mohammed Arfan

email: arfan@usc.edu
years: 2022 –

Arfan is a MS student in Electrical Engineering, with R&D experience in device design and pre-development settings – having strong hands-on technical expertise and exposure to building electro-mechanical and electro-optical systems. He worked for Siemens Healthineers as system research engineer prior to starting at USC. He is interested in optics, rapid prototyping, and imaging systems.

Research area: ingestibles, biophotonic devices

Zijie Li

email: zijieli@usc.edu
years: 2022 –

Zijie Li was born in China. He is a second-year master’s student at USC. His major is Materials Engineering. He is interested in wearable electronics and flexible electronics. In the past year, he did a one-year internship at the Terasaki Institute. His work focuses on the fabrication and testing of biosensors. In the future, he hopes to gain more knowledge and meet more partners in Professor Khan’s laboratory.

Research area: sensors

Aobo Zhang

email: aobozhan@usc.edu
years: 2022 –

Aobo is from China and a first-year master’s student of Electrical Engineering. He is interested in bioelectronics and research that could benefit human lives. In his free time, he likes to watch movies and play video games.

Research area: sensors

Chad Derosier

email: derosier@usc.edu
years: 2023 –



Research area: sensors

Manoj Sunkara

email: msunkara@usc.edu
years: 2023 –



Research area: sensors

Samiha Tasnim

email: stasnim@usc.edu
years: 2023 –



Research area: sensors

Undergraduate Students

Tessa Wills

email: tawills@usc.edu
years: 2022 –

Tessa was born in Connecticut, USA. She is a BS student studying Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Southern California, graduating in 2025. She has an interest in the electrical hardware design of medical devices, although she is still exploring her interests. In her free time she likes to paint, hike, and go thrift shopping.

Research area: wearables

Jessica Yuan

email: yuanjess@usc.edu
years: 2022 –

Jessica is a senior Mechanical Engineering student. She is passionate about futuristic technology, and especially medical device innovation. Jessica enjoys surfing, snowboarding, making matcha latte, and watching rocket launches in the desert.

Research area: ingestibles

Kathryne Keenan

email: kakeenan@usc.edu
years: 2022 –

Kathryne Keenan is a third year undergraduate student at the University of Southern California. She is majoring in mechanical engineering with an emphasis in design, and minoring in science visualization. She is currently interested in the potential of 3D printing in the engineering world as a whole, as well as researching cleaner energy alternatives for the aerospace industry. In addition to the Curve Research Fellowship, she also works for the Cultural Relations and University Events department. She was also a mentor for the Society of Women Engineers club and played on the Women’s Ice Hockey team.

Research area: sensors

Diego Garcia

email: diegoaga@usc.edu
years: 2022 –

My name is Diego Garcia and I am an undergraduate student from San Mateo, California studying Biomedical Engineering with an emphasis in Electrical Engineering. I plan to graduate in 2024 and then pursue my Master’s in Medical Devices and Diagnostic Engineering(MDDE). In my free time I like to play basketball, eat brunch, and maintain a healthy workout routine. I feel grateful for undergraduate research and hopeful to meet my team’s goals while working at the Khan Lab.

Research area: sensors

Cevina Manzano

email: crmanzan@usc.edu
years: 2022 –

Cevina is a freshman studying Civil Engineering. She is passionate about sustainable infrastructure and optimizing the built enviroment. Her interests include woodworking, hiking, and crocheting.

Research area: sensors

Reo Tseng

email: reotseng@usc.edu
years: 2022 –

Reo was born in California and is currently working towards his Bachelors in CS at the University of Southern California. He is passionate about computer systems with experience in embedded systems, and is determined to develop devices and software for Khan Lab. He’s also an active member of RPL and works with their avionics team with PCB design, software documentation, and CAD work. In his spare time, he’s learning the acoustic guitar and frequently plays video games.

Research area: sensors

June Shao

email: juneshao@usc.edu
years: 2022 –

June Shao is a second year undergraduate student majoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering and minoring in Mathematics. She is driven by a passion to develop skills to pioneer new technology to improve both the quality of life in society and the natural world we reside in. In her free time, she enjoys pursuing personal projects such as learning how to build a LED neon sign, embroidering, or folding 1,000 paper cranes to assemble a senbazuru.

Research area: sensors

Leikhang Xiong

email: leikhang@usc.edu
years: 2022 –

Leikhang is an Electrical Engineering student at the University Of Southern California. He has an interest in electronic devices such as medical ones, although he is willing to explore other areas of electronics as well. Leikhang likes to drive or do photography in his free time.

Research area: sensors

Arda Caliskan

email: acaliska@usc.edu
years: 2022 –

Arda is currently working towards his Bachelors in Electrical Engineering at the University of Southern California. He is passionate about embedded systems, and is excited to develop medical devices for Khan Lab. He’s also an active member of SC FSAE Electric where he enjoys designing analog and digital circuits. In his free time, he enjoys running around L.A. and reading about the economy.

Research area: sensors