Manu Prakash

Manu Prakash is an associate professor of bioengineering in the School of Engineering and Medicine, and a senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment. At Stanford, Prakash is also a member of the core leadership team of the Center for Innovation in Global Health and a board member of the Jasper Ridge Reserve. 

In his research, Prakash takes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding how computation is embodied in biological matter. Broadly, he invents new tools for studying non-model organisms with significant focus on life in the ocean. In 2014, his lab introduced Foldscope, a powerful, paper microscope which was distributed to countries across the world. His work has been honored by various awards and fellowships including the Harvard Society of Fellows, the Pew Foundation, the MIT Ideas Sustainability Prize, and the Tau Beta Pi Teaching Award. He holds an MS and a PhD in applied economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.