Faculty with Primary Appointments in
Mechanical Engineering

Kyung K. Choi

Research Interests: Mechanical systems analysis, design sensitivity analysis and optimal design, computational methods in mechanics, mathematical theory of optimization and its application to mechanical systems, development of design sensitivity analysis and optimization tools, development of simulation-based concurrent engineering environment.

Jia Lu

Research Interests: Theory and finite element formulation for large strain inelasticity, mechanics of fiber-reinforced membrane, cellular solids, modeling of materials with microstructures.

Sharif Rahman

Research Interests: Probabilistic mechanics and reliability, computational fracture and damage mechanics, reliability-bases design and optimization, stochasic finite elements, random vibrations.

Ralph I. Stephens

Research Interests: Computational vehicular fatigue life predictions, fatigue crack growth of advanced titanium alloys, inluence of high mean tensile stress.

Shaoping Xiao

Research Interests: Multiscale modeling and simulation; nanocomposites; NEMS; shock wave propagation and spallation.

Olesya I. Zhupanska

Research Interests: Mechanics of multifunctional composites and nanocomposites; electro-magneto-thermo-mechanical coupling in solids; contact problems with friction and adhesion; discrete element modeling.

Christoph Beckermann

Research Interests: Solidification of metal alloys and composites, transport phenomena in multi-phase, multi-component systems, heat and mass transfer in buoyancy driven systems and in porous media.

James Buchholz

Research Interests:

P. Barry Butler

Research Interests: Ignition phenomena in energetic materials, real-gas thermochemical processes, reaction in supercritical water medium, detonation of gas and condensed-phase media.

Pablo M. Carrica

Research Interests: Free surface flows, multiphase flows, environmental flows. Computational fluid mechanics. Experimental two-phase flow methods and instrumentation. Ship hydrodynamics. Fluid-structure interaction. Active ship controllers. Dynamic overset methods in CFD.

Lea-Der Chen

Research Interests: Combustion, sprays, biofuels, supercritical fuels, fuel cell, airbag diagnostics and modeling, optical flow diagnostics, bio-fluid mechanics.

Ching-Long Lin

Research Interests: Boundary layer and turbulence, bubbly and free-surface flow, microfluidics, gas transport in the lungs, data assimilation, computational fluid dynamics.

Albert Ratner

Research Interests: Flame front dynamics, impact of fuel mixing on combustion instabilities, effectiveness of diagnostic techniques in accurately assessing flame state variables, hydrocarbon-based liquid rockets.

Frederick Stern

Research Interests: Computational and experimental fluid dynamics and uncertainty analysis, ship hydrodynamics, viscous flow, free surface waves and turbulence, propulsors and cavitation, resistance and propulsion, and ship and platform motions and maneuvering.

H.S. Udaykumar

Research Interests: Computational fluid dynamics, Moving boundary problems in materials processing, biofluid dynamics and multimaterial flows, Heart Valve Dynamics, Mechanics of the Gastro-Intestinal Tract, Metal-matrix composite manufacture, Munitions delivery, impact and penetration into targets.