She remained at Lehigh University for her doctoral research, continuing to study the motion of liquid droplets on surfaces with different wettabilities.
[3] Her research attracted considerable attention, and she started working with Pierre-Gilles de Gennes on how to create ratchet motion with the droplets.
[3] This achievement inspired Daniel to use the solid-supported lipid bilayers to separate membrane-bound species via electrophoresis.
[3] In 2007 Daniel joined Cornell University in the Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, where she leads two distinct research programmes, one focused on biological function and the other on surface science.
[4] During the COVID-19 pandemic, Daniel worked with Róisín Owens, a biochemist she met whilst a visiting scholar at the École nationale supérieure des mines de Saint-Étienne, on devices that allowed the rapid testing of potential COVID-19 drugs.
[6] To continue her studies of coronaviruses, she was awarded seed-funding from the Office of the Vice Provost for Research (OVPR).
[1] She was appointed Director of Graduate Studies at Cornell University in 2016, and under her leadership she recruited the most diverse class in the history of the school of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.