Research in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Research Is One of Our Strengths
Collaborative research contracts allow students to work with world-class researchers. Our students gain hands-on experience working on projects alongside faculty members, whose research activities cover a wide range of areas, from optimizing luge sleds for the U.S. Olympic Luge Association and creating the newest ducted wind turbine technology to improving the operation and design of engineering systems for industry partners and understanding the laryngeal aerodynamics of voiced speech.
Our strengths lie in the areas of:
- Advanced materials and manufacturing
- Aerodynamics
- Data science and artificial intelligence
- Fluid mechanics
- Heat transfer
- Human health and resilience
- Modeling, simulation and high performance computing
- Multidisciplinary design optimization
- Space
- Structural materials
- Sustainability and energy systems
- Wind energy and turbines
Graduate students and many undergraduates actively participate in research projects, using state-of-the-art experimental and computational facilities. Many undergraduates present their work at local, national and even international conferences; some receive co-authorship on peer-reviewed publications. Research is an excellent way for undergraduates to find out if pursuing a research-based graduate degree (MS or PhD) is right for them.
Undergraduate Research
Mechanical engineering majors experience both on-campus research in the fall and spring semesters and paid summer internships funded by groups such as the National Science Foundation or other government agencies or foundations. Our mechanical engineering majors often work with faculty in their laboratories to gain experience in areas of interest to them.
Aerospace engineering majors benefit from having a wide variety of research projects being pursued by faculty and graduate students within the department. Any undergraduate student looking for a research experience has the opportunity to do so.
Our Faculty
Many of our mechanical and aerospace engineering faculty are affiliated with research centers such as the Clarkson Center for Complex Systems Science, the Institute for a Sustainable Environment and the Center for Rehabilitation Engineering, Science and Technology.
Our Faculty Research Areas of Expertise
Materials behavior, failure mechanisms, and structural reliability across scales.
Ajit Achuthan - Solid mechanics, smart materials, nanomechanics
Daryush K. Audun - Metallurgy, weldability, corrosion, system reliability
Aikaterini Bellou - Materials sythesis, microstructure and properties
Cetin Cetinkaya - Solid mechanics, stress wave propagation (primary)
Marcias Martinez - Structural health monitoring, experimental mechanics
Ioannis Mastorakos - Metal failure, crystal plasticity, nanometallics
Mishal Thapa - Variable stiffness composites, architected materials
Philip Yuya - Experimental mechanics, polymers, nanofibers
Fluid behavior, multiphase flows, turbulence and environmental/energy systems.
Goodarz Ahmadi - Multiphase flow, aersols, turbulence
Douglas Bohl - Experimental fluid dynamics, optical diagnostics
Suresh Dhaniyala - Aerosol physics, instrumentation
Brian Helenbrook - Aerodynamics, wind energy systems
Luis Rodriguez - Turbulent flow, simulation
Applying engineering principles to biological systems and medical device design.
Kevin Fite - Biomechanics, prosthetics, rehabilitation devices
Arthur Michalek - Spine mechanics, disc degeneration and repair
Philip Yuya - Biomaterials constitutive modeling (secondary)
Goodarz Ahmadi - Respiratory flow modeling (secondary)
Cetin Cetinkaya - Bio-related sensing/mechanics (secondary)
Flight systems, space technologies, autonomous platforms and extreme environments.
Ronald Buckingham - Spacecraft design, space environments
Ganqiang Li - Propulsion, aerospace structures, lunar systems
Nicholas Tepylo - UAVs, drone systems
Brian Helenbrook - Aerodynamics (secondary)
Mishal Thapa - Wind energy structures (interface with aero)
Simulation, data-driven modeling, optimization, controls and digital engineering.
Carl Hoover - Data science, machine learning, test engineering
Kenneth Willmert - CAD, computer graphics
Kevin Fite - Mechatronics, system design (secondary)
Ganqiang Li - Dynamics and control (secondary)
Marcias Martinez - FEA for structural systems
Luis Rodriguez - FEA, manufacturing systems
Mishal Thapa - Optimization, uncertainty quantification, deep learning
Brian Helenbrook - Numerical simulation (secondary)
Cetin Cetinkaya - MEMS, mechatronics (secondary)