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: Taehyun Shim
• Research Focus: Modelling, estimation and control of autonomous vehicles related systems
• Career Focus: Industry/Academia
• E-mail:  adilsa@umich.edu
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• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Oleg Zikanov
• Research Focus: Computational fluid dynamics and heat transfer, Magnetohydrodynamics and magnetoconvection, Liquid metal technologies in energy applications, Turbulence
• Career Focus: Academia, Industry 
• E-mail:  rusakhm@umich.edu
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• 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:  aakhtari@umich.edu
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• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Pankaj Mallick
• Research Focus: Metal Forming, Composite Materials
• Career Focus: Industry
• E-mail:  emani@umich.edu
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• 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:  sfaruque@umich.edu
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• 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: gmahmoud@umich.edu
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• 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: ohabbal@umich.edu
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• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Youngki Kim
• Research Focus: Automotive system, Control System, Optimization
• Career Focus: Academia and industry
• E-mail:  heyuz@umich.edu
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• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Pravansu Mohanty
• Research Focus: Automotive system, Control System, Optimization
• Career Focus: Industry based Research and Development in the field of Additive Manufacturing
• E-mail:  jadhav@umich.edu
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• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Pravansu Mohanty
• Research Focus:Currently working in the field of additive manufacturing (cold-spray) to develop solid-state deposited coatings having desirable mechanical properties. Projects also include alloy development for a better wear and corrosion resistance.
• Career Focus: Industry based research and development in the field of material science
• E-mail: nkarmark@umich.edu
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• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• 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:  ckkella@umich.edu
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• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Ben Q Li
• Research Focus: Functional Thin Film Coatings, Metal Matrix Composites, Plasma Deposition Techniques
• Career Focus: Additive Manufacturing, Research and Development of Functional Coatings
• E-mail: akoneru@umich.edu
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• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Gargi Ghosh
• Research Focus: My research area focuses on characterizing and tuning the physical/mechanical/chemical properties of biomaterials (hydrogels/polymers) to regulate the functions of cells. I am looking at how altering these properties can impact the stem cell processes including viability, secretory activity, and morphology. The goal is optimization of cell-material interactions to enhance the therapeutic and tissue reparative activities of stem cells.
• Career Focus: Academia and Industry
• E-mail:  orabimo@umich.edu
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• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Gargi Ghosh
• Research Focus: Using soft biomaterials for tissue engineering
• Career Focus: Academia, Industry
• E-mail:  rittika@umich.edu
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• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Amanda Esquivel
• Research Focus: Sport Related Biomechanics, Injury mechanics, Impact Mechanics and injury prevention using Finite Element Methodology
• Career Focus: Academia, Industry
• E-mail:  rtadakal@umich.edu
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• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Lei Chen
• Research Focus: Energy storage system, Computation materials
• Career Focus: Academia
• E-mail: karntan@umich.edu
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• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Alan Argento
• Research Focus: My research interest is the mechanical and dynamic properties on the composites which are made from nano-sized cellulose and Bio-based polymer. Modeling and Manufacturing methods are also included.
• Career Focus: Academia
• E-mail: yufengt@umich.edu
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• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Nilay Chakraborty and Joe Lo
• Research Focus: My current research involves cell characterization using techniques such as mitochondrial flux analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, and Raman spectroscopy. Specifically, I’m applying these techniques to cryobiology to gauge post-thaw health as well as drug characterization. Future projects will characterization of 3D printed cell constructs for cancer and drug delivery research.
• Career Focus: Industry
• E-mail: launderw@umich.edu
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• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Hugo Casquero
• Research Focus: Structural Mechanics, Computational Engineering, and Computer Aided Design.
• Career Focus: Industry
• E-mail:  wzuowei@umich.edu
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• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Oleg Zikanov and Cheol W. Lee
• Research Focus: Thermal convection in liquid metal batteries ,Metal pad instability in liquid metal batteries, Model order reduction for battery thermal management system in electric vehicle
• Career Focus: Academia
• E-mail:  linyanx@umich.edu
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• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate 
• Advisor: Lei Chen
• Research Focus: 3D printing of alloy, welding, sintering cemented carbide, Gleeble simulation, Phase Field simulation
• Career Focus: Academia
• E-mail: yaohongx@umich.edu
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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 2020
• Advisor: Ben Q. Li
• Research Focus: Solar Energy, Nanotechnology, Nanoparticle Optics
• Career: Postdoctoral Researcher at UM-Dearborn
• E-mail:  rongheng@umich.edu
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• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated in 2021 
• Advisor: Taehyun Shim
• Research Focus: Modeling, estimation and control of vehicle dynamics systems
• Career Focus: Industry
• E-mail:  yijunl@umich.edu
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• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated in 2021
• Advisor: P. K. Mallick
• Research Focus: Core research interests include polymer composites, multi-material joints, and their implications on automotive crash worthiness.  Current research is on analysis of crush resistant tubular adhesive joints in composite-composite and composite-aluminum Structures.
• Career Focus: Academia or Industry
• E-mail: mramakri@umich.edu
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• 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 Focus: Industry
• E-mail: zwg@umich.edu
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• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated in 2021
• Advisor: Nilay Chakraborty
• Research Focus: Translational research in biological systems and mechanistic characterization techniques.  Using advanced methods such as Raman microspectroscopy and bioenergetics, attempt to create a platform for non-invasive single cell metabolic quantification.  Applications include drug delivery/candidacy, genetic engineering analysis, alternative imaging/spectroscopy applications, preservation strategy evaluation, and exosome characterization for cancer identification.
• Career Focus: Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Louisville, KY
• E-mail: jsolocin@umich.edu
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