Our Ph.D. Students

Learn more about our Ph.D. students and the work they're doing on their profiles below.

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Lei Chen
• Research Focus: Computational modeling
• Career Focus: Industry
• E-mail:  [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Taehyun Shim
• Research Focus: Modelling, estimation and control of autonomous vehicles related systems
• Career Focus: Industry/Academia
• E-mail:  [email protected]
• Learn More about Syed Adil Ahmed

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Pre-Candidate 
• Advisor: Christopher Pannier
• Research Focus: Additive Manufacturing, Control Systems and Sustainability.
• Career Focus: Academia/Industry
• E-mail: [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Oleg Zikanov
• Research Focus: Computational Science, Computational Fluid Dynamics and Heat Transfer, Magnetohydrodynamics and magnetoconvection, Turbulence
• Career Focus: Academia, Industry
• E-mail:  [email protected]
• Learn more about Ali Akhtari

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Youngki Kim
• Research Focus: Energy-efficient Electric Vehicle Thermal Management
• Career Focus: Industry
• E-mail:  [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Joe Lo
• Research Focus: Microfluidics, Diabetes, Disease modeling.
• Career Focus: Academia
• E-mail:  [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Hugo Casquero
• Research Focus: My areas of interest are fluid dynamics, structural mechanics and computational engineering. 
• Career Focus: Industry/Academia
• E-mail:  [email protected]
• Learn nore about Sadman Faruque

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Hugo Casquero
• Research Focus: Finite Element Analysis (FEA), Computational mechanics.
• Career Focus: Research and development branch of automotive industries
• E-mail: [email protected]
• Learn more about Mahmoud Golestanian

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Christopher Pannier
• Research Focus: Additive Manufacturing, Fused Filament Fabrication.
• Career Focus: Academia, Industry
• E-mail: [email protected]
• Learn more about Osama Habbal

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Mathumai Kanapathipillai
• Research Focus: Peptide Aggregation for Drug Delivery
• Career Focus: Academia, Industry
• E-mail: [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate
• Advisor: Hugo Casquero
• Research Focus: Computational Solid Mechanics, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Isogeometric Analysis
• Career Focus: Industry
• E-mail: [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Hugo Casquero
• Research Focus: My areas of interest are fluid mechanics and splines.
• Career Focus: Industry/Academia
• E-mail: [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Joe Fujiou Lo
• Research Focus: Microfluidics, Biphotonics, Biomaterial Functionalization, Disease Modeling, Fluid Dynamics, Heat Transfer, and Mathematical Modeling of Energy Systems.
• Career Focus: Research and Development Engineer/Associate Professor
• E-mail:  [email protected]
• Learn more about Mohamad Orabi

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Rafael Ruiz
• Research Focus: Computational Modeling and Simulation of Mechanical Metamaterials.
• Career Focus: Industry/Academia
• Research Interests: Modeling of mechanical metamaterials, taking advantage of model reduction schemes, substructure synthesis, and data-driven models to reduce the computational cost associated with their design and optimization.
• E-mail: [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Christopher Pannier
• Research Focus: Computational Modeling and Simulation of Mechanical Metamaterials.
• Career Focus: Industry
• E-mail: [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Mathumai Kanapathipillai, Gargi Ghosh
• Research Focus: Using soft biomaterials for tissue engineering
• Career Focus: Academia, Industry
• E-mail:  [email protected]
• Learn more about Rittika Somadder

• Program: PhD in Bioengineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Joe Lo
• Research Focus: Exploring the frontiers of Microfluidic studies by advancing applications in disease modeling and Diabetes research, Biophotonic, MEMS.
• Career Focus: Academia, Industry
• E-mail:  [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Science and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate
• Advisor: Youngki Kim
• Research Focus: Battery Control and State Estimation
• Career Focus: Industry
• Email: [email protected]

Learn more about our Alumni and the work they're doing on their profiles below.

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated in 2022
• Advisor: Oleg Zikanov
• Dissertation: Magnetoconvection at Very Strong Magnetic Fields
• Career: ASM International, Phoenix, AZ
• E-mail:  [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated December 2022
• Advisor: Pankaj Mallick
• Research Focus: Metal Forming, Composite Materials
• Career Focus: Industry
• E-mail:  [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated December 2022
• Advisor: Youngki Kim
• Research Focus: Automotive system, Control System, Optimization
• Career Focus: Academia and industry
• E-mail:  [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated in 2022
• Advisor: Pravansu Mohanty
• Dissertation: Microstructure Control and Property Prediction in Inductively Coupled Selective Laser Melting
• Career Focus: Industry based Research and Development in the field of Additive Manufacturing
• E-mail:  [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated in 2022
• Advisor: Pravansu Mohanty
• Dissertation: Development of a Precipitation Free High-Nitrogen Alloy
• Career Focus: Industry based research and development in the field of material science
• E-mail: [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated December 2022
• Advisor: P.K. Mallick
• Research Focus: My research area focuses on the major influencing factors and modelling the problem of Spring back  in thin Sandwich panels made of metal-plastic –metal , which are being used in the automotive industry for weight reduction
• Career Focus: Industrial Research and development in the Automotive OEMs
• E-mail:  [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated August 2023
• Advisor: Ben Q Li
• Dissertation: Development and Characterization of CuCr Composite Coatings & Thin Films as Contact Materials for Vacuum Interrupters 
• Career Focus: Additive Manufacturing, Research and Development of Functional Coatings
• E-mail: [email protected]
• Learn more about Animesh Koneru

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated in 2020
• Advisor: Ben Q. Li
• Dissertation: Directional Light Scattering and Absorption Enhancement by Nanoparticles and Nanoparticle Clusters with their Applications in Solar Energy Harvesting
• Career: Postdoctoral Researcher at UM-Dearborn
• E-mail:  [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated in 2021 
• Advisor: Taehyun Shim
• Dissertation: Application of Model-based Control in Autonomous Vehicle Chassis Control and Motion Planning
• Career Focus: Industry
• E-mail:  [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated in 2021
• Advisor: P. K. Mallick
• Dissertation: Analysis of Tubular Adhesive Joints in Aluminum and Composite Structures under Crush and Tensile Loads
• Career Focus: Domain Expert in High Speed Crash Structures at Mercedes Benz R&D, Bengaluru, India
• E-mail: [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated in 2021
• Advisor: Nilay Chakraborty
• Dissertation: Mitochondria: Bioenergetics and Predictive Therapeutics Using Vibrational Spectroscopy
• Career Focus: Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Louisville, KY
• E-mail: [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated in April 2023
• Advisor: Lei Chen
• Research Focus: Energy storage system, Computation materials
• Career Focus: Academia
• E-mail: [email protected]
• Learn more about Karnpiwat Tantratian

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated in 2022
• Advisor: Alan Argento
• Dissertation: Testing and Interface Modeling of the Mechanical and Damping Behavior of Nanocrystalline Cellulose Reinforced Bio-based Polyamides
• Career: Mechanical Engineer at Yangtze Railroad Materials, Rosedale, MD
• E-mail: [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated in 2022
• Advisor: Nilay Chakraborty and Joe Lo
• Dissertation: Development and Optimization of a Preservable Three-Dimensional Bio-Construct
• Career: ATCC, Manassas, VA
• E-mail: [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated in 2021
• Advisor: Lei Chen
• Research Focus: I work on applied machine learning with high-throughput multi-scale multi-physical AM simulations, with applications mainly to additive manufacturing (AM) of piezocomposites and metals for accelerating materials/structure discovery and design, property/performance prediction, and AM process optimization.
• Career: Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Michigan Ann Arbor
• E-mail: [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated in 2022
• Advisor: Oleg Zikanov and Cheol W. Lee
• Dissertation: Reduced Order Modeling For Large-Scale Linear Systems
• Career: MathWorks, Boston, MA
• E-mail:  [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated in 2023
• Advisor: Lei Chen
• Research Focus: 3D printing of alloy, welding, sintering cemented carbide, Gleeble simulation, Phase Field simulation
• Career Focus: Academia
• E-mail: [email protected]