Alumni Spotlight: Liam White ENG'20, PhD'25

“Rutgers taught me to be a hard worker. I thought I knew what hard work was before college, but Rutgers brought out a new level of perseverance for me.” –Liam White

As a Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) doctoral student working with professors Edward DeMauro and German Drazer, Liam White developed a novel breathalyzer able to detect SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory illnesses. A summa cum laude graduate, he earned his MAE degree in 2020. After receiving his PhD in September 2025, he joined Lightera Labs, a research arm for Lightera that’s under the Furukawa Electric Company banner, as a R&D engineer.

Why Rutgers?

I’m from West Orange, NJ, so staying close to home was important to me as an undergraduate. Rutgers’ strong engineering program made it an easy choice, and its combined BS/MS program provided a smooth transition into graduate school.

Did you have any internships?

My undergraduate internships included working as a UPS Data Center plant engineer intern; as a software engineer at Nuance Communications; and as a mechanical and software engineer at Becht, an engineering/consulting solutions company, where I developed algorithms and software to analyze fatigue on large vessels used in petroleum processing plants.   

What do you most value about your Rutgers Engineering education?

Rutgers taught me to be a hard worker. I thought I knew what hard work was before college, but Rutgers brought out a new level of perseverance for me. Since leaving Rutgers, I’ve realized that no matter how difficult a problem may seem, it’s not impossible if it doesn’t violate any physical principles. As long as you keep working on the problem, and don’t give up, you’ll eventually find a solution.

As a recent graduate, what do you most miss about Rutgers Engineering?

I miss seeing my friends every day. It makes me realize how easy we had it back in the day. 

I also miss the camaraderie of the Rutgers Engineering community. There were always people willing to discuss ideas, troubleshoot experiments, or share insights. 

Did the Covid pandemic inspire your breathalyzer?

Yes, it was part of my motivation, but Professor DeMauro’s children – who were intimidated by the nasal swab tests for Covid – were the original inspiration for developing an alternative testing method. 

It works by functionalizing a sensor surface with antibodies specific to the target pathogen. When a user exhales into the device, microscopic droplets carrying viral particles can bind to the sensor surface producing a measurable signal.

The project was a joint venture between MAE professors DeMauro, Drazer, and Hao Lin, and Mehdi Javanmard, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). The integration of mechanical droplet capture with the electronic biosensing developed by Javanmard’s lab group enabled the final breathalyzer system. 

What other viruses might it detect? 

It’s designed to detect respiratory viruses transmitted through droplets, including influenza, rhinoviruses, and other coronaviruses. 

Will you be able to commercialize it?

Rutgers holds a patent on the breathalyzer, so commercialization is a real possibility. 

What are your responsibilities as an R&D engineer at Lightera Labs?

My role is in fiber draw and hollow-core technology development. In fiber draw, we fabricate optical fibers by heating a large glass rod, or preform, up to 2000 degrees C and thinning it down to a diameter less than the width of a human hair. The resulting pristine fibers are used in high-speed data communications, shape and thermal sensing, biomedical imaging, and a host of other areas.

The hollow-core program aims to create new fiber designs that transmit light faster than typical optical fiber geometries and are used in high-frequency trading and hyper-scale data centers. 

What do you enjoy the most so far?

The people I work with are fantastic. I’m part of a small team of engineers, physicists, and materials scientists who are passionate about what we do here. We get a lot done and have a fun time doing it. 

What do you know now that you wish you’d known as an entering first-year student?

Ask as many questions as you can and don’t be intimidated when working on something new. You’re in school to learn, so you aren’t supposed to know everything. It’s perfectly fine to say, “would you mind explaining that” or “this is new tome – can you show me how it works?”

What did you do for fun as a student?

I played a lot of pickup basketball, volleyball, and soccer with my friends. I’d also occasionally go to basement shows to listen to the local college bands, which were great. Even though I hit my head on low ceilings on multiple occasions, it was worth it.

What do you do for fun now?

I’ve always been an avid skier, and I’ve been teaching my wife how to ski over the past few seasons. We just got a new puppy, so training and taking him for walks is a lot of fun.

If you could go on vacation tomorrow, where would you go?

We honeymooned in Japan and fell in love with the country. When we go back, we want to go skiing in Niseko, which is supposed to have some of the world’s best powder.