COE Communication Lab

The Comm Lab offers on-line workshops and peer-to-peer coaching for graduate-level writing and communication tasks for course work and for research.  ​The Comm Lab is also offering on-line office hours for quick questions relating to tips and tools you might need for your writing and communication tasks.  Click “schedule appointment” below to request a one-hour peer-to-peer coaching session or a 15-minute office hour.  Please contact our Program Coordinator, Tracy Carter (t.carter@northeastern.edu) with any questions.The Comm Lab brings a discipline-specific perspective to assist you with the task at hand—whether you’re working on a manuscript, poster, presentation, or other projects.

NU COE Communication Lab

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Comm Lab Fellows

	Julia Clarin is PhD candidate working with Professor Rouzbeh Amini in the Soft Tissue Biomechanics Lab. By integrating novel experimental and computational techniques, Julia investigates cardiac valve biomechanics to improve treatment strategies and long-term outcomes for patients with valvular disease. Her work has resulted in 4 publications, 8 conference presentations, and an NIH R13 grant for the first Engineering for Women’s Health Conference in 2024. Beyond academia, Julia has worked in the R&D divisions of major medical device companies such as Abbott Laboratories and Medtronic, challenging her to blend the rigor of research with the demands of effective communication in industry settings. As a fellow, she strives to help her peers enhance their technical communication skills through creative and individualized approaches, hoping to instill confidence and guide students in discovering their unique “scientific voice.”
	Luke Khoury is a PhD candidate in the laboratory of Prof. Nikolai Slavov. His research interests span the intersection of metabolism, cellular signaling, and regulatory mechanisms that govern biological systems. He is actively conducting single-cell analysis of immune cells using mass spectrometry to better understand regulation at the proteomic level. Prior to joining Northeastern, Luke spent several years in industry where he directed research and production operations of a commercial analytical laboratory. Having gained an appreciation for the importance of strong technical communication, he is driven towards expanding opportunities to improve these skills for students to leverage across their academic and professional careers.
	José Martines is a PhD candidate working in Professor Randall Erb’s Directed Assembly of Particles and Suspensions (DAPS) lab. Before joining the DAPS lab, he worked in the Aerospace industry as a Materials engineer focused on fiber-reinforced composites for launch vehicles and satellites. When he began his PhD journey, he was awarded the DoD NDSEG fellowship, and his work was focused on the development of an empirically based finite element model to assess thermal barrier materials for battery packs to mitigate thermal runaway. He is now investigating using colloidal assembly and additive manufacturing to texture hexaferrites to enable better performance in nonreciprocal passive RF devices. With his breadth of experience working in interdisciplinary environments, he has developed a passion for helping others better communicate their ideas and work to create impactful connections and collaborations.
	Nick O’Hare is a 4th year PhD student working in Professor Eno Ebong’s lab. The lab focuses on how endothelial mechanotransduction can prevent or promote a variety of diseases related to blood vessel dysfunction. More specifically, his work centers around the relationship between endothelial glycocalyx and the blood-brain barrier with the goal of identifying a novel therapeutic target in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Nick has been a commlab fellow for 2 years and is passionate about supporting the graduate community with all forms of technical communication. In particular, Nick has helped to develop and run multi-week seminars focused on assisting students with their graduate research fellowship (GRFP) application. As a GRFP and American Heart Association (AHA) fellow himself, he hopes to use his experience in grant writing and fellowship applications to support other students through these stressful and daunting applications.
	Echo St. Germain is a second-year PhD student researching iron combustion under the guidance of Professors Yiannis Levendis and Randall Erb. Her work is based on the byproducts of the reaction, to examine how complete the combustion was and how the byproducts can be reused. Prior to starting her PhD, Echo completed three co-op positions at startups in the Boston area and was the first employee at Fourier, a company that spun out of the DAPS lab. These experiences gave her insight into the operations of early-stage companies and improved her skills in presenting her work to both technical and non-technical audiences. As a PhD student, Echo has continued to develop her presentation abilities by creating posters for a variety of audiences. She looks forward to talking to other students about how to use visuals to assist in giving clear presentations.
	Evan Toth is a PhD candidate working with Professor Randall Erb in the Directed Assembly of Particles and Suspensions (DAPS) lab. The DAPS lab is a materials science/additive manufacturing focused lab with a diverse set of research interests ranging from composite 3D printing to semiempirical modeling to surface chemistry-actuated microstructuring. Through the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Evan leveraged his background in chemical engineering and mathematics, applying it toward creation, characterization, and simulation of thermally percolated composites and their emergent properties – for example, fabricating a particle-filled polymer that, instead of a standard heat sink, cools a CPU by directly contacting the electronics. Evan hopes to help his peers accessibly convey their research in writing, without loss of scientific precision, to technical and non-technical audiences simultaneously – he loves learning, reading, and discovery as much as communicating the excitement they can spark.