Rate My Professor Jamel Ali

Jamel Ali, Ph.D., serves as Associate Professor and Department Graduate Director in the Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. He joined the faculty in 2018 as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in Fall 2025. Ali also holds an appointment as Assistant Professor in Condensed Matter Science at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and directs the Nanobio Materials and Robotics group there. Additionally, he leads a new center for pharmaceutical engineering. His academic background includes a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics from Drexel University in 2016, an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Howard University in 2013, and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Howard University in 2011.

Ali's research specializations encompass micro/nanobiorobotics, microbial dynamics, cancer mechanobiology, and biomaterials for bio/biomedical applications, with applications in targeted drug delivery, advanced medical imaging, 3D bioprinting for tissue regeneration, high-throughput drug screening, and 3D human liver models for predicting drug-induced liver toxicity. His scholarship has amassed over 770 citations according to Google Scholar. Key publications include Rogowski, L. W., et al. (2021), "Symmetry Breaking Propulsion of Magnetic Microspheres in Nonlinearly Viscoelastic Fluids," Nature Communications; Elizondo, D. M., et al. (2020), "Pancreatic islets seeded in a novel bioscaffold forms an organoid to rescue insulin production and reverse hyperglycemia in models of type 1 diabetes," Scientific Reports; and Ali, J., et al. (2017), "Bacteria-inspired nanorobots with flagellar polymorphic transformations and bundling," Scientific Reports. Major awards include selection for the inaugural AIMBE Emerging Leaders Program in 2025, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Program award in 2022—the first for an HBCU recipient, totaling $450,000—the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund Doctoral New Investigator Award in 2022 ($110,000), and a 2022 Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering grant. These recognitions highlight his impact on biomedical innovation and promotion of diversity in the field.