Faculty Research Interests

The School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering

Faculty Research Interests

Interdisciplinary Excellence Built On World-Class Knowledge

The faculty in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering have a diverse range of research interests. Here listed by faculty member are the current research interests.

Jeongmin Ahn

  • Energy Conversion, Combustion, Thermal Management, MEMS:
  • Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs)
  • Development of an integrated meso- and micro-scale power generator
  • Development of meso- and micro-combustors/heat exchangers
  • Gas-phase and catalytic combustion in heat-recirculating combustors/exchangers
  • Catalyst development for ultra low-temperature reaction
  • Thermal transpiration based propulsion and pumping

Gaurav Ameta

  • Environmentally benign design and manufacturing
  • Sustainable and energy efficient product life cycle
  • Tolerance analysis and allocation
  • Geometric problems in design, manufacturing and inspection
  • Product models and informatics

Stephen D. Antolovich

  • High temperature fracture and fatigue in superalloys and intermetallic compounds
  • Modelling of deformation and fracture processes
  • Damage detection and life prediction in composite materials
  • Electron microscopy

David F. Bahr

  • Mechanical properties of thin films
  • Micromechanics of fracture
  • Adhesion
  • Corrosion and environmentally assisted cracking

Amit Bandyopadhyay

  • Materials Research Group
  • Processing of ceramics, metals and composites using Rapid Prototyping
  • Load bearing and non-load bearing implants
  • Patient specific implants
  • Laser processing of materials
  • Microwave sintering of ceramics
  • Piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers (pMUTs) for medical imaging and therapeutics

Susmita Bose

  • Materials Research Group
  • Load bearing and non load bearing bone implants
  • Nanoscale surface modification of medical devices
  • Nanoparticles in protein/drug delivery
  • Microwave and laser processing of materials
  • Piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers (pMUTs) for medical imaging and therapeutics
  • Ceramic gas sensor
  • Processing of ceramic, polymer, metal and composites using rapid prototyping

Jow-Lian Ding

  • Solid Mechanics:
    • Thermomechanics
    • Shock dynamics
    • Electromechanics
    • Phase transformation
  • Computational Mechanics:
    • Finite element and finite difference methods applied to solid mechanics
  • Experimental Mechanics:
    • Material testing and evaluation

Indranath Dutta

  • Multi-physics phenomena in multi-component material systems, with emphasis on near-interface effects in materials for microelectronics
  • Hyper-velocity railguns
  • Alternative power generation devices

Prashanta Dutta

  • Microfluidics
  • Multiphase Flow and Heat Transfer
  • Electrokinetic Flow, Mixing, Separation and Concentration
  • Numerical Modeling of Bio-Fluid Flow
  • Ion Mobility Spectrometry
  • Micro Fuel Cell and Energy Conversion

David P. Field

  • Physical and mechanical metallurgy
  • Metal deformation and recrystallization
  • Crystallographic texture
  • Grain boundary structure
  • Thin film and IC interconnect structure/properties relationships
  • Advanced experimental techniques

Walter J. Grantham

  • Nonlinear and optimal control systems
  • Control of chaotic systems
  • Differential games and game theory
  • Optimal systems design
  • Modeling, simulation, and control applications

Sankar Jayaram

  • Virtual Assembly and virtual manufacturing;
  • Virtual Reality Applications for engineering design and manufacturing
  • Haptics integrated in CAD for virtual assembly/disassembly
  • Parametric and feature-based design; data translation and interoperability
  • Collaborative, internet-based design
  • Sustainability in engineering design and manufacturing
  • Standards for assembly representation and for sustainable manufacturing systems

Uma Jayaram

  • CAD/CAM; Application Program Interfaces (API) in CAD
  • Product LifeCycle Management
  • Ontologies for collaboration and communication between engineering applications
  • Integrated frameworks for engineering tools in design and manufacturing
  • Virtual Reality for design evaluations and training
  • Environments for retention of design information and skills
  • Sustainability considerations in engineering workflow data

William C. Kinsel

  • Engineering Mechanics
    • Metal Forming
    • Dynamics
    • Piezoelectric Medical Implants

Kelvin Lynn

  • Solid State and Surface Physics
  • Defects in semiconductors and metals
  • Photovoltaic materials
  • Room temperature radiation detectors
  • Thermal stimulated spectroscopies
  • Positron interactions in solids
  • Micro-electrical and mechanical systems
  • Growth of semiconductors and oxide crystals
  • Energy harvesting

Konstantin Matveev

  • Advanced energy systems
  • Thermoacoustics
  • Nonlinear acoustics
  • High-performance marine vehicles
  • Artificial cavitation
  • Hydrofoils
  • Wing-in-ground

Sergey Medyanik

  • Computational mechanics
  • Mechanics of solids
  • Fracture mechanics
  • Multi-scale modeling
  • Mechanics of nanomaterials and nanostructures
  • Nanotribology

Sinisa Mesarovic

  • multiscale modeling in thermomechanics of materials
  • size dependence in dislocation plasticity
  • micromechanics of granular flow
  • collective behavior of carbon nanotubes
  • micromechanics of inelastic and adhesive contact
  • phase-field models for materials processing

M. Grant Norton

  • Ceramic Materials
  • Nanotechnology
  • Alternative Energy

Jitesh H. Panchal

  • Integrated materials and products design
  • Mass-collaborative product development
  • Collective intelligence in product development
  • Agent-based modeling
  • Decision-based design
  • Multidisciplinary analysis and optimization (MAO)
  • Robust design
  • Distributed design and manufacturing

Charles (Dr. Chuck) Pezeshki

  • Quality Control for Nanotechnology
  • Development of Industrial/Academic Relations
  • Visualization in Ecodesign, and Ecodesign Education
  • Director of the Industrial Design Clinic - the Industrial Design Clinic provides professional-level services in a teaching environment using student talent in the MME School. The Clinic provides projects for the Capstone Design Class from regional industry. Revenues from the Clinic support Student Clubs in MME, as well as Clinic operation and student travel.
  • Dr. Pezeshki is also extensively involved in university governance issues, and is a Past Chair of the University Faculty Senate.
  • He is also extensively involved in environmental politics and consults on political strategy on environmental protection issues.

Cecilia D. Richards

  • MEMS power
  • Advanced energy systems
  • Spray combustion
  • Two-phase flows
  • Air breathing engines

Robert F. Richards

  • Heat transfer
  • Thermodynamics
  • Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS)

Lloyd V. Smith

  • Composite Materials:
    • experimental characterization
    • failure criteria
    • environmental degradation
  • Sports Science
    • test methods and measures of bat and ball performance
    • numeric modeling of bat-ball impacts

Hussein M. Zbib

  • Mechanics: Multiscale modeling, numerical analysis, plasticity, composites, materials instabilities, damage and fracture.
  • Materials: Dislocation theory, dislocation dynamics, crystal plasticity, defects, radiation effects, nanomaterials.

Weihong (Katie) Zhong

  • Nanocomposites and multifunctional materials
  • Aerospace materials and composites
  • Composite manufacturing technology
  • Biomaterials and processing
  • Renewable Energy materials
  • Electronic materials
Thomas Barlow 1957 ME graduate- former president of ASME Thomas Barlow 1957 ME graduate- former president of ASME

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US News and World Report Ranking:
America's Best Graduate Schools Ranked in 2008;
MSE 41
ME 56
ASEE Top 50 ME programs
Washington State University - 50
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