Photo credit: Maya Martirossyan
✉️ rss364@cornell.edu
ORCID: 0000-0001-8639-3607
Education
Ph.D. Materials Science & Engineering, December 2025 (expected)
B.S. Materials Science & Engineering, May 2019
Research Experience
CAPE CryStAL Lab at Cornell University, October 2019 – Present
Teaching Experience
- The 7th i-CoMSE Workshop: Molecular Dynamics Summer School, Summer 2024 (Boise State University)
- MSE 4020 Mechanical Properties of Materials, Processing, and Design, Fall 2023 (Cornell University, Department of Materials Science & Engineering)
- MSE 6160 Advanced Crystallography: Symmetry, Order, & Complexity in Materials, Fall 2022 (Cornell University, Department of Materials Science & Engineering)
Awards
- Donald E. and Lauren B. Morel Graduate Fellowship in Materials Science, 2024 (One semester supporting graduate students in MSE at Cornell University)
- Provost Diversity Fellowship, 2024 (Cornell University award for graduate students who advance the Graduate School’s commitment to diversity, access, equity, justice, and inclusion)
- Cornell Engineering Alumni Association Student Organization Award, 2023 ($1000 Award written with the MSE graduate student organization)
- Soft Matter Speaker Award, 2022 (Award granted to best speakers in the SB05 session at the MRS Fall Meeting)
- McMullen Fellowship, 2019–2020 (One-year fellowship in Materials Science and Engineering at Cornell University)
- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, 2019 (Competitive fellowship supporting graduate students in STEM research)
Academic Service
- Gordon Research Seminar Discussion Leader – Crystal Growth and Assembly, 2023
- Graduate Student Advisory Board to the Dean of Engineering, 2022 – 2023 (Advised on new programs to improve the graduate student experience)
- Cornell University MSE Graduate Student Organization, 2021 – Present
- Cornell MSE Justice, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion (JEDI) Initiative, 2021 – Present
Outreach Experience
- Research Education and Activities for Community Teachers (REACT), 2020 – Present
- Cornell Center for Materials Research (CCMR), 2020 – Present (Developed activities for classrooms demonstrating basic simulation techniques for high school students and presented at teacher workshops)
- Black Sheep Handspinner’s Guild, 2019 – Present (Newsletter editor (2020-present) & participated in agricultural outreach)
Publications
Rachael S. Skye, Erin G. Teich, and Julia Dshemuchadse. Tuning assembly structures of hard shapes in confinement via interface curvature. Soft Matter. 2022, 18, 6782-6790. DOI: 10.1039/D2SM00545J
Haixiang Han, Shantanu Kallakuri, Yuan Yao, Curtis B. Williamson, Douglas R. Nevers, Benjamin H. Savitzky, Rachael S. Skye, Mengyu Xu, Oleksandr Voznyy, Julia Dshemuchadse, Lena F. Kourkoutis, Steven J. Weinstein, Tobias Hanrath, and Richard D. Robinson. Multiscale hierarchical structures from a nanocluster mesophase. Nature Materials. 2022, 21, 518–525. DOI: 10.1038/s41563-022-01223-3
Samantha A. McBride, Rachael Skye, and Kripa K. Varanasi. Differences between Colloidal and Crystalline Evaporative Deposits. Langmuir. 2020, 36, 40, 11732–11741. DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.0c01139
Robin E. Rodríguez, Sneha P. Agarwal, Shun An, Eric Kazyak, Debashree Das, Wen Shang, Rachael Skye, Tao Deng, and Neil P. Dasgupta. Biotemplated Morpho Butterfly Wings for Tunable Structurally Colored Photocatalysts. ACS Applied Material Interfaces. 2018, 10, 5, 4614-4621. DOI: 10.1021/acsami.7b14383