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About

Sunanda Sharma is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of microfluidics, space exploration, and sustainable design. Her work is defined by two major thrusts: advancing additive manufacturing for precise fluid control and enabling planetary science through instrumentation. She led the development of the first 3D-printed multimaterial microfluidic proportional valve (2016, 73 citations), a fundamental primitive that unlocks programmable, automated lab-on-a-chip devices for precise fluid handling. This innovation has broad implications for diagnostics, chemistry, and field-deployable analysis. Sharma also made critical contributions to NASA’s Mars 2020 mission as a key developer of the SHERLOC Calibration Target (2022, 35 citations), a component on the Perseverance rover that uses Raman and fluorescence spectroscopy to search for organic compounds and signs of past life. Her work bridges Earth-bound engineering and extraterrestrial exploration. Earlier, she explored biomaterial templating for structural design in the Ocean Pavilion (2015, 11 citations), using crustacean-derived biopolymers and robotic fabrication to create environmentally responsive constructs. Sharma’s career exemplifies how microfluidics, space instrumentation, and sustainable materials can converge to solve grand challenges in health, exploration, and the environment.