Babak Vajdi Hokmabad is a postdoctoral researcher in the lab. He studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Tabriz, Iran (undergraduate), and the University of Alberta, Canada (Master of Science), before obtaining his Ph.D. in Physics at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Germany. During his Ph.D., he worked on active soft matter, in particular, hydrodynamics and the collective behavior of chemically active droplets. He is currently working on the collective dynamics of bacteria in complex environments.

Outside the lab, Babak likes hiking, traveling, and watching movies and TV. He also loves watching (and sometimes playing) soccer; he might have some controversial opinions about it too.