He earned a Ph.D from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under Prof. Michael S Feld. He worked on optical downhole fluid analysis and oil spill sensing at Schlumberger-Doll Research before his current position. He is a recipient of NSF CAREER Award and NASA inaugural Early Career Faculty Award. His research interests are in biophotonics, nano-plasmonics, multi-modal neural stimulation & sensing, point-of-care technology, cancer theranostics, environmental sensing, hyperspectral microscopy & imaging, N/MEMS, and laser-based 3D manufacturing. He has published more than 50 articles in books, journals and conference proceedings, and is the inventor of 6 issued patents. As an independent PI, his research is also supported by NIH, DoI, and GoMRI with a cumulative sum of $3M.