short cv

General Information

Full Name Sadjad Arzash
Email sarzash3@gatech.edu
Address Howey Physics Bldg, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
Languages English, Persian

Academic Position

  • 2025-present
    Postdoctoral Researcher
    Department of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
    • Advisor: Prof. Shiladitya Banerjee
  • 2022-2025
    Postdoctoral Researcher
    Department of Physics, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY and University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
    • Advisor: Prof. M. Lisa Manning and Prof. Andrea J. Liu

Education

  • 2021
    Ph.D. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
    Rice University, Houston, TX
    • Advisor: Prof. Fred C. MacKintosh
    • Thesis: Mechanical Phase Transitions in Biopolymer Networks
    • Thesis committee:
      • Prof. Matteo Pasquali
      • Prof. Anatoly Kolomeisky
      • Prof. Cornelis Storm
  • 2016
    B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering
    Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
  • 2016
    B.Sc. in Petroleum Engineering
    Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

Invited Talks

  • Apr 2025
    Epithelial Mechanics Through the Lens of Learning and Adaptation
    Syracuse University Research Computing Series
  • Dec 2024
    Rigidity of Epithelial Tissues as a Double Optimization Problem
    American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB), San Diego, CA
  • Sep 2024
    Epithelial Mechanics Through the Lens of Learning and Adaptation
    Center for Computational Biology, Flatiron Institute, New York, NY
  • Sep 2024
    Epithelial Mechanics Through the Lens of Learning and Adaptation
    Soft, Living, Active and Adaptive Matter (SLAAM) Seminar
  • Mar 2024
    Rigidity of Epithelial Tissues as a Learning Problem
    Biological Physics & Physical Biology Seminar
  • Mar 2024
    Biological Tissues Can Fluidize by Tuning Their Internal Degrees of Freedom
    APS March Meeting, Minneapolis, MN
  • Jun 2023
    Adding Learning Degrees of Freedom in Biological Tissues
    Physical Sciences Oncology Center at Penn, Philadelphia, PA

Teaching Experience

  • 2025
    Tech to Teaching Program (Foundational Level)
    Center for Teaching and Learning, Georgia Institute of Technology
    • Certificate program preparing future faculty for college-level teaching.
  • Spring 2023
    Guest Lecturer, Physics 215: Honors Introductory Physics I
    Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
  • Jul 2023
    Co-instructor, Python Modeling (CAREER Pre-College Program)
    BioInspired Institute, Syracuse University
  • Spring 2018
    Teaching Assistant, Physico-chemical Hydrodynamics
    Rice University, Houston, TX
  • Fall 2017
    Teaching Assistant, Applied Mathematics for Chemical Engineers
    Rice University, Houston, TX
  • Spring 2017
    Teaching Assistant, Statistical Physics and Thermodynamics
    Rice University, Houston, TX
  • Fall 2016
    Teaching Assistant, Chemical Engineering Fundamentals
    Rice University, Houston, TX
  • Fall 2015
    Teaching Assistant, Reservoir Geophysics
    Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

Mentoring Experience

  • 2023-2024
    Research Mentor, Meagan Gonzalez (undergraduate)
    Tissue modeling, Department of Physics, Syracuse University
  • 2023-2024
    Research Mentor, Becka Terzakis (undergraduate)
    Tissue modeling, Department of Physics, University of Pennsylvania
  • 2022
    Research Mentor, two undergraduate students
    Pre-REU program (NSF REU), Department of Physics, Syracuse University
  • 2021
    Judge, Undergraduate Research Presentations
    Gulf Coast Undergraduate Research Symposium (GCURS), Rice University

Professional Activities & Service

  • Referee: Physical Review Letters, PRX Life, Soft Matter, Physical Review E, Journal of Chemical Physics, npj Metamaterials, Soft Materials, International Journal of Solids and Structures
  • Member: Society of Rheology; American Physical Society (DSOFT, DPOLY, DBIO)
  • Postdoc Representative, Research Faculty Advisory Council, School of Physics, Georgia Tech (2025-present)
  • Session Co-chair (three sessions), Global Physics Summit 2026, Denver, CO: Mechanics and Metamaterials; Collective Behaviors in Biology; Networks and Graphs in Biology
  • Session Chair, Mechanisms of Learning and Adaptation in Cells and Tissues, Global Physics Summit 2025, Anaheim, CA
  • Co-organizer, discussion panel on applying for postdoc positions, APS DSOFT (2024)
  • Member, DSOFT Student Affairs Committee (2022-2025)
  • Co-organizer, Soft and Biological Physics Seminars, Department of Physics, Syracuse University (2022-2023)

Computational Skills

  • Programming
    • C/C++, Python, JAX
  • Scientific computing
    • Mathematica, MATLAB
  • High-performance computing & tools
    • Slurm, HTCondor, Linux, Git
  • Engineering software
    • Aspen Plus, AutoCAD