August Kohls

Assistant Professor of Physics

Expertise

Electronics, Health Diagnostics, Microfabrication, Microfluidics, MEMS, Engineering Education

Dr. August Kohls is an Assistant Professor of Physics and holds the Garey Junior Chair. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 2025, his M.S. in Electrical Engineering from CMU in 2022, and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati in 2020.

Dr. Kohls specializes in developing novel diagnostic devices. His Ph.D. thesis presented a microfluidic device for the detection of cancer directly from a patient’s blood. At SU, he is working on technology to rapidly and accurately detect viruses at the point-of-care. Beyond his technical research, Dr. Kohls researches diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within engineering education. 

Dr. Kohls is affiliated with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE).

  • Biography

    Dr. August Kohls is an Assistant Professor of Physics and holds the Garey Junior Chair. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 2025, his M.S. in Electrical Engineering from CMU in 2022, and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati in 2020.

    Dr. Kohls specializes in developing novel diagnostic devices. His Ph.D. thesis presented a microfluidic device for the detection of cancer directly from a patient’s blood. At SU, he is working on technology to rapidly and accurately detect viruses at the point-of-care. Beyond his technical research, Dr. Kohls researches diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within engineering education. 

    Dr. Kohls is affiliated with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE).

  • Publications
    • Kohls, et al. “A Titanium Dioxide Carbon Nanotube Integrated Microdevice for Rapid Isolation, Extraction, and Amplification of Extracellular Vesicle-Derived DNA,” Under Preparation for Nature Biomedical Engineering
    • Choi, K.J. Lee, A. Kohls, S.-Y Zheng, “A Lung-Alveoli-On-a-Chip Device to Study the Biological Effects of Nanoscale Coal Mine Dust,” Under Preparation for Nature Biomedical Engineering
    • Lu, Y. Zhang, F. Wang, F. Dehghandehnavi, W. Liu, S. Zhang, Y. Xia, A. Kohls, A. Jalili, M. Bagheri; A. Khair, J. Milosevic, A. Sankaranarayanan, W. Greene, H. He, S.-Y Zheng, “A Surfactant-Infused Space-Domain Microfluidic RT-qPCR Device for Rapid Pathogen Detection,” Under Review for Lab-on-a-Chip
    • A. M. Kohls*, A. M. K. Schauer*, & K. Fu (2023), “Push and Pull: Exploring the URM Engineering Retention Problem and Gauging Interest in Interdisciplinary Integration into Undergraduate Curriculum.” American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore, MD, USA, June 2023, https://peer.asee.org/43996
    • Kohls, M. Maurer Ditty, F. Dehghandehnavi, and S.-Y. Zheng, “Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotubes as a Unique Material for Biomedical Applications,” ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, vol. 14, no. 5, pp. 6287–6306, Feb. 2022, doi: 10.1021/acsami.1c20423.