Fashioning the Future With: Andrea Armani

Are you wearing laser protective eyewear to read this webpage? If not, put 'em on right now because today we're interviewing Professor Andrea Armani, and she's got a dangerously cool career that includes everything from research to teaching to even lasers. You probably should slip into some closed-toed shoes and your favorite lab coat, too, because Dr. Armani even has her own laboratory! Yep, Andrea is the head of the Armani Research Lab at the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering. That's just one of many spectra that Andrea lights up!

Professor Armani is also the Ray Irani Chair in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at USC. She teaches a number of courses including (but not limited to!) Biomedical Engineering, Electrical Computer Engineering-Electrophysics, and Chemistry. Andrea is also the Director of both USC's Northrop Grumman-Institute of Optical Nanomaterials and Nanophotonics and the John O'Brien Nanofabrication Laboratory. Laser-firing licorice, that's a lot of labs!

In case you were wondering just what it takes to become such a professorial powerhouse: Andrea has a PhD in Applied Physics and Minor in Biology from Caltech, and her undergrad degree in Physics is from the University of Chicago. Impressive, right? But wait, Professor Armani's cool factor extends beyond academia. We could list all of Andrea's accolades, but that would take forever, so here are just some of the highlights: President Obama awarded her the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2010. Popular Science included Andrea in their 2013 'Brilliant Ten' list. In 2015, the World Economic Forum named Andrea as a Young Global Leader. Notably, the year before, Andrea was honored as a WEF Young Scientist. Dr. Armani is currently a fellow of both The Optical Society and the International Society for Optics and Photonics.

What's more, Armani Lab students and researchers engage in community #SciComm initiatives, and Andrea also runs very cool social media accounts for the lab, which shine a different kind of light on what working in a lab environment is like. We love the optics on that! 

We were thrilled to ask Andrea about what she loves most about her lab's research, who inspires her, what her favorite anecdote from teaching is (spoiler alert: a melon is involved), and more. Meet Professor Andrea Armani!

When did you first know you were a scientist? 

One of my neighbors in my early childhood (when I was 2 or 3 years old) was a tinkerer. He would spend hours in his workshop building and fixing things, and, since he and his wife took care of me during the day, I often wandered in. To keep me “contained,” he gave me a corner in his workshop and a drawer for my supplies, and he let me build things. Though, at the time, I would not have identified my activities as science and engineering, this encouragement is definitely when the seed was planted.

What drew you to physics and then chemical engineering and biology?

I have always been curious about why things happen. In that sense, physics was a natural place to start as many phenomena that are easily visible are governed by physics — blue skies, car engines, electricity, and many more. But once I understood the “why,” I then become more motivated to build a career on using these behaviors to do something useful. It took a little while to figure out my path, but in the end, I decided to pursue medical device technology, which combines physics, biology, and many fields in engineering.

What inspired you to become a professor? 

When I first started my PhD, I actually planned to work in industry or a national lab after graduation. But then I taught a class and began mentoring undergraduate students. I really enjoyed both activities. The only career path which includes both teaching and mentoring students and performing research is being a professor, so this decision was easy. The actual execution, or obtaining the position, was the challenging part.

Your lab at USC, The Armani Research Lab, works in “advanced materials and integrated optical devices that can be used in portable disease diagnostics and telecommunications.” How do you explain what your lab does to non-engineers? 

We are problem solvers, and we start from the very basics. There are two approaches to innovation: pushing and pulling. Pushing is when researchers try to push a new technology onto society, whether on not society has expressed an interest in it. Pulling is when researchers develop technology to solve an established societal challenge. We take the “pull” approach and work with the end-users, like physicians, to identify their needs. However, even within this method, there are different invention strategies.

The fastest way to solve a problem — like developing a new way to detect cancer — is to take an existing method and re-purpose it. While this approach works sometimes, it often results in a technique that is not completely ideal for the challenge at hand. We take a different route. We evaluate the challenge and then invent a solution that is ideally suited for the challenge. This method could involve developing new materials that form the foundation of a system or making a new laser with improved performance, instead of simply buying existing materials or existing lasers. Because we have this wealth of expertise in the lab, we are able to tackle a wide range of problems from very diverse areas.

What do you enjoy most about running the Armani Research Lab?

I get to work with students and watch them grow as researchers over time.

Do you have a favorite moment or anecdote that took place at your lab or in one of your classes that stands out in your mind?

During my third year, I was awarded an undergraduate mentoring award called the Mellon Mentoring Award, based on nominations from the undergrads who were performing research in my lab. That same semester I was also teaching an undergraduate class. When I came to class the day after the award was announced, my students gave me a melon that they had all signed.

Can you talk a little bit about the scicomm outreach that Armani Research Lab members do? 

We do a lot of outreach, both as a lab and mini-teams of group members. Highlighting a few: Throughout the year, we participate in numerous outreach events organized by USC that bring middle and high school students, and sometimes teachers, to campus to tour labs and meet with engineers. We also go into local schools to talk about engineering and perform demonstrations. A group of students also act as judges for local and regional science fairs. We also host high school student researchers in the lab during the summer.

Does your lab have any unusual lab traditions?

We do, though they are evolving with time. Every other year, we have a lab Olympics with “fun” games (non-athletic). We used to have an envelope board with awards to celebrate research accomplishments, but recently, the group voted to change this celebration approach and have lab parties. Lastly, we hold a graduation lunch and coffee/dessert for all group members and their families during graduation week.

The Armani Research Lab’s social media is outstanding and unusual. What inspired you to make and run amazing social media feeds for your lab?

It started as a project suggested by two of my PhD students who “promised” that they would maintain it. They didn’t. I could not have a stagnant Twitter feed, so I picked up the slack and started maintaining it. Last spring, I received feedback from my students that the account had become a blend of personal and group opinions, so I split off the account and created a second twitter account, one for the group. So, now there are two accounts that I am maintaining.

What do you think most people get wrong about what it’s like working in a lab environment?

That it is boring, dull, and lonely. This is completely wrong. Every single day in a lab environment is different. The experiments you do will change, based on the results from the day before, and when a project works, it is extremely exciting and rewarding. Celebrating is common. Also, students very rarely work alone. Working together is true for both safety reasons (being in the lab alone violates policy) and because experiments typically are team based. Also, in a social sense, coffee/tea hour is almost a sacred time.

What advice do you have for young people who are interested in becoming engineers?

To have faith in yourself. Many great engineers stumbled in a class or two along the way. Don’t let a bad grade or a negative comment discourage you from pursuing engineering.

Which scientists (modern day and/or historical) inspire you? 

Inspiration comes for many reasons, so the list is lengthy. But here is a start.

Dr. Ward Lopes who was my undergrad mentor while he was a PhD student and who introduced me to “real research”. His patience was without limit.

While there are many faculty who are fabulous researchers, faculty who are both amazing researchers and supportive mentors are much more rare. A few who inspire me are Dr. David Agus (an oncologist at USC), Dr. Scott Fraser (a biologist/technologist at USC), Dr. Paul Weiss (chemist at UCLA), Dr. Michal Lipson (electrical engineer at Columbia), Dr. Selim Unlu (electrical engineer at Boston University), and Dr. Teri Odom (materials scientist at Northwestern).

Lastly, it is generally accepted that earning a degree in engineering or science is hard. But many of the top technology entrepreneurs and academic researchers in the US immigrated here. Just imagine how much more challenging it is to learn and excel in STEM fields in a second (or third) language. This entire group is a continuous inspiration.

What are some hobbies you enjoy in your free time?

Exercising (running, hiking), traveling and spending time with my husband, reading, and playing with my cat and two dogs.

Do you have any favorite STEM/engineer/professor characters in books/movies/other art forms? 

Though very unrealistic, Iron Man is a given. On the other hand, a group of very realistic characters (real people) is Katherine Goble Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson (the women of Hidden Figures).

If you were a superhero, what would your go-to wearable tech device be?

A teleportation system. And if I am a superhero, I would figure out how to make it wearable, because we are already suspending reality, right?

Want to learn more about Andrea and her work? Here's how to follow Professor Armani and the Armani Research Lab online: @Armanilab and @ProfArmani (Twitter), Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube!