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: EV motors and lithium batteries
• Career Focus: Industry/Academia
• E-mail:  [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate
• Advisor: Youngki Kim
• Research Focus: Vehicle control, autonomous vehicles, and personalization of vehicles
• Career Focus: Industry
• E-mail:  [email protected]

• 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: Hugo Casquero
• Research Focus: Fluid dynamics, structural mechanics, and computational engineering
• Career Focus: Industry/Academia
• E-mail:  [email protected]
• Learn more about Sadman Faruque

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Candidate
• Advisor: Hugo Casquero
• Research Focus: Computational solid mechanics, computational fluid dynamics, and 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: Fluid mechanics and splines
• Career Focus: Industry/Academia
• E-mail: [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Ph.D. Pre-Candidate
• Advisor: Rafael Ruiz
• Research Focus: Computational modeling and simulation of mechanical metamaterials
• Career Focus: Industry/Academia
• 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 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, biophotonics, and 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 in 2024
• Advisor: Oleg Zikanov
• Dissertation: Magnetoconvection with Walls of Finite Electrical Conductivity
• Career Focus: Academia, Industry
• E-mail:  [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated in 2024
• Advisor: Youngki Kim
• Dissertation: Integrated Thermal Management of Electric Vehicles Based on Model Predictive Control With Approximated Value Function
• Career: Thermal CFD Simulation Engineer for Automotive Battery Systems
• E-mail:  [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated in 2023
• Advisor: Joe Lo
• Dissertation: MicroTesla Enabled 3D Printing Microfluidic Co-culturing of Adipocytes and Beta Cells for Diabetes on a Chip
• Career Focus: Academia
• E-mail:  [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated in 2022
• Advisor: Pankaj Mallick
• Dissertation: Press Forming and Formability of Polypropylene, Dry Fabrics and Fabric-Reinforced Polypropylene
• Career: Mechanical Data Center Field Engineer - Amazon Web Services
• E-mail:  [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated in 2025
• Advisor: Hugo Casquero
• Dissertation: Overcoming locking in NURBS-based discretizations of rods and nearly-incompressible solids: Continuous-assumed-strain (CAS) elements
• Career: Postdoctoral Researcher in computational mechanics at Purdue University
• E-mail: [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated in 2025
• Advisor: Christopher Pannier
• Dissertation: Modeling and Sensing for Control of 3D Printing: Examining the Roles of Buckling and Heat Transfer in Fused Filament Fabrication
• Career: ASM America
• E-mail: [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated in 2022
• Advisor: Youngki Kim
• Dissertation: Powertrain and Vehicle Longitudinal Motion Control for Personalized Eco-driving of P0+P4 Mild Hybrid Electric Vehicles
• Career: Senior AI Algorithm Developer - Stoneridge
• E-mail:  [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated in 2025
• Advisor: Mathumai Kanapathipillai
• Dissertation: Development and Characterization of Novel Peptide- and Protein-Based Amyloid Depots for Therapeutic Delivery
• Career Focus: Academia, 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: Senior Product Development Engineer - Ambient Biosciences
• 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: Materials and Process Engineer - Mainspring Energy
• E-mail: [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated in 2022
• Advisor: P.K. Mallick
• Dissertation: Formability and Springback Analysis of Aluminum/Polypropylene/Aluminum Sandwich Laminates
• Career: R & D Engineer, Automotive Products Application - ArcelorMittal
• E-mail:  [email protected]

• Program: PhD in Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
• Status: Graduated in 2023
• Advisor: Ben Q Li
• Dissertation: Development and Characterization of CuCr Composite Coatings & Thin Films as Contact Materials for Vacuum Interrupters
• Career: Staff Process/Productivity Engineer - Lam Research
• E-mail: [email protected]

• 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 - 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: Domain Expert - Mercedes-Benz Research and Development, India
• E-mail: [email protected]

Jason Solocinski

• 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 2023
• Advisor: Lei Chen
• Dissertation: Computation-accelerated Design of Dendrite-free Li Batteries
• Career: Faculty at the Department of Metallurgy Engineering - Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
• E-mail: [email protected]

• 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 - 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
• Dissertation: Construction of all-carbon quaternary stereocenters by catalytic asymmetric conjugate addition to cyclic enones in natural product synthesis
• Career: Postdoctoral Researcher - 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
• Dissertation: Investigations on Microstructure Evolution of Metal Additive Manufacturing by Experiments, Physics-based and Data-driven Modeling
• Career Focus: Academia
• E-mail: [email protected]