Focus Areas

Dynamics and Control

  • Eric Butcher – spacecraft GNC; astrodynamics; nonlinear dynamics, vibration and control; stability, control and estimation in periodic, delayed and fractional systems
  • Eniko T. Enikov – dynamics of charged particles and macro-ions; control of processes driven by electrostatic forces; use of neural-network-based self-learning methods for control of human-machine interfaces
  • Daniel Larsson – autonomy; decision-making under uncertainty; path-planning; information-limited control; information-theoretic abstraction; representations for autonomous systems; artificial intelligence, optimization, inference and estimation
  • Samy Missoum – vibrations; crashworthiness and stochastic optimization of dynamical systems
  • Hossein Rastgoftar – decision-making under uncertainty; human-robotic interaction; swarm robotics; system autonomy; UAS traffic management; intelligent transportation; formal specification and verification and finite-state abstraction of dynamical systems
  • Jekan Thanga – space robotics; CubeSats and sensor networks; machine learning applied to dynamics and control of swarms; autonomous systems design; small-satellite propulsion, power and thermal systems
  • Vitaliy Yurkiv – model-based evaluation of battery management systems for improving battery performance and lifetime; electric vehicle state-of-charge estimation using machine learning techniques
satellite in orbit above earth, sun in background

 

Energy

  • Majid Beidaghi - discovery and synthesis of advanced functional materials; energy storage materials and devices (batteries and supercapacitors); synthesis and characterization of MXenes and other 2D materials; advanced manufacturing of energy storage devices, sensors, and membranes
  • Qing Hao – thermal transport within power electronic devices anticipated to control >80% of the electricity by 2030; nanoporous materials to manipulate heat flow; enhanced boiling and condensation with nanostructured materials
  • Peiwen "Perry" Li – renewable energy technologies; concentrated solar thermal power technologies; thermal energy storage; solar energy for clean water; fuel cells and electrolysis cells for electrochemical energy storage
  • Farzad Mashayek – turbulent reacting flow; plasma flow; electrostatic atomization; solid ion batteries; computational methods; machine learning applications
  • Vitaliy Yurkiv – multi-physics modeling and machine learning calculation of energy storage and conversion technologies; ab-initio density functional theory calculations; phase-field modeling; thermal measurements of rechargeable batteries; thermal runaway assessment in electric vehicles
energy from turbine

 

Fluid Dynamics

  • Stuart A. Craig – aerodynamics; experimental fluid mechanics; boundary-layer stability and transition; hydrodynamic stability
  • Eniko T. Enikov – microsensors for slow-moving flows in smart implantable medical devices; development of in situ sensor calibration methods
  • Hermann F. Fasel – computational fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic stability; laminar-turbulent transition; turbulent flows; flow control; nonlinear dynamics and aerodynamics
  • Kyle Hanquist – hypersonics; nonequilibrium flows; molecular gas dynamics; computational fluid dynamics; low-temperature plasmas; optimization; aerothermodynamics
  • Jeffrey W. Jacobs – experimental fluid mechanics; hydrodynamic instabilities, including Richtmyer-Meshkov and Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities; turbulent mixing
  • Jesse Little – experimental fluid dynamics; aerodynamics; active and passive flow control of separation, mixing and noise; experimental fluid mechanics; plasma actuators; turbulent shear flows
  • Farzad Mashayek – turbulent reacting flow; plasma flow; electrostatic atomization; solid ion batteries; computational methods; machine learning applications
  • Bernard Parent – numerical simulations of turbulent hypersonic flows, plasmas, fuel reforming, combustion, lightning
  • Sergey V. Shkarayev – aerodynamics; fluid-structure interactions and designing unmanned aerial vehicles
  • James A. S. Threadgill – experimental fluid mechanics; transonic, supersonic and hypersonic compressible flows; shock boundary layer interactions; active and passive flow control of separation and transition; applied vehicle aerodynamics and performance; ramjet/scramjet internal propulsion flows; boundary layer transition
  • Israel J. Wygnanski – aerodynamics (related to fixed-wing and rotary aircraft); control of separation, high-lift devices, and drag reduction; aeroacoustics (jet noise, cavity noise, screech)
  • Yitshak Zohar – biomicrofluidics: microscale manipulation of bio-species such as proteins, cells and tissues in microfluidic systems
fluid dynamics

 

Solid Mechanics

  • Kavan Hazeli – materials design; human-centered design; mechanical behavior of materials; multi-functional materials; failure analysis; fatigue; thermo-mechanical properties and biomaterials design and characterization
  • Erdogan Madenci – prediction of deformation and failure modes in metallic and composite materials; characterization of mechanical properties of materials
  • Samy Missoum – computational design; optimization; uncertainty quantification; parameter identification
  • Sergey V. Shkarayev – aerodynamics; fluid-structure interactions; designing unmanned aerial vehicles
  • Xiaoyi Wu – tissue engineering; biomechanics; biomaterials; computational biomaterials
  • Olesya Zhupanska – mechanics of composite materials and structures; electromagnetic, thermal and mechanical multifield effects in composites; contact mechanics
solid mechanics

 

Thermosciences

  • Cholik Chan – heat transfer; materials processing; boundary element method
  • Kyle Hanquist – hypersonics, nonequilibrium flows; molecular gas dynamics; computational fluid dynamics; low-temperature plasmas; optimization; aerothermodynamics
  • Qing Hao – nanoscale energy transport in advanced materials and nanoelectronics; materials synthesis and characterization
  • Peiwen “Perry” Li – renewable energy; energy-water nexus; fuel cells; electrolyzers; hydrogen generation and storage; energy and power systems; heat mass transfer in gas turbines and HVACR systems
  • Farzad Mashayek – turbulent reacting flow; plasma flow; electrostatic atomization; solid ion batteries; computational methods; machine learning applications
  • Bernard Parent – numerical simulations of turbulent hypersonic flows; plasmas; fuel reforming; combustion; lightning
  • Vitaliy Yurkiv – multi-physics modeling and machine learning calculation of energy storage and conversion technologies; Ab-initio density functional theory calculations; phase-field modeling; thermal measurements of rechargeable batteries; thermal runaway assessment in electric vehicles
thermosciences