Student
Trey is a 3rd year Ph.D. candidate at Duke University studying Biomedical Engineering. He graduated from Duke with an M.S. in BME (2022) and the University of Alabama - Birmingham with a B.S. of BME (2021). With the BIOS lab, he studies morpho-mechanical characteristics of red blood cells using Quantitative Phase Imaging. He previously investigated mechanotransduction using combined quantitative phase and FRET images to extract uniquely coupled data.
His previous research includes work at Dr. Margaret Liu's UAB Cellular Therapy Lab where he performed a variety of assays under his graduate research advisor.
Apart from academic research Trey enjoys both listening and playing music, film, and his two cats - Pocket and Mayonnaise.
Appointments and Affiliations
- Student
Contact Information
- Email Address: robert.highland@duke.edu
Research Interests
Quantitative Phase Imaging
Interferometry
Red Blood Cell Mechanics
Sickle Cell Disease
Machine Learning
Awards, Honors, and Distinctions
- End Range of Motion Improvement Fellowship. Pratt School of Engineering. 2024
- Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow. Sloan Foundation & National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Inc.. 2023
- Dean’s Research Award for Master’s Students. Duke University. 2022
- Research Fellowship for BME MS/MEng Students. Duke University. 2022
Representative Publications
- O’Kane, Erin C., Robert E. Highland, Venkataramana Thiriveedi, Lauren E. Parker, Aleksandra Tata, Purushothama Rao Tata, Ravi Karra, Jatin Roper, David A. Miller, and Adam Wax. “Spectroscopic correlation tomography (SpCT) for visualization of spatial correlations in volumetric OCT scans.” Biomed Opt Express 17, no. 7 (July 1, 2026): 3434–48. https://doi.org/10.1364/BOE.593432.
- Wang, Wan, Robert E. Highland, Justin Fan, David A. Miller, and Adam Wax. “Real-time processing of high-throughput quantitative phase microscopy data using a Jetson Orin Nano.” Biophotonics Discovery 3, no. 1 (January 2026): 012902. https://doi.org/10.1117/1.bios.3.1.012902.
- O’Kane, Erin C., Wan Wang, Robert E. Highland, David A. Miller, and Adam Wax. “Spectroscopic analysis of volumetric OCT data for the automated measurement of scatterer size.” Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, Image Science, and Vision 42, no. 9 (September 2025): 1344–53. https://doi.org/10.1364/josaa.569122.
- Yang, C., D. K. Gupta, R. E. Highland, D. A. Miller, and A. Wax. “Pressure Monitoring Model for Investigating the Response of Mouse Optic Nerve Head Astrocyte to Elevated Hydrostatic Pressures.” In Clinical and Translational Biophotonics Translational 2025 in Proceedings Optica Biophotonics Congress 2025 Part of Optica Biophotonics Congress Optics in the Life Sciences, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1364/BODA.2025.JW4A.5.
- Miller, David A., Yirui Xu, Robert Highland, Van Tu Nguyen, William J. Brown, Guosong Hong, Junjie Yao, and Adam Wax. “Enhanced penetration depth in optical coherence tomography and photoacoustic microscopy in vivo enabled by absorbing dye molecules.” Optica 12, no. 1 (January 2025): 24–30. https://doi.org/10.1364/optica.546779.