Advisor: Dr. Sam Park
Research Interests:
Bio: Ayodeji Adeniran is a Ph.D. student at the University of Louisville. His current research focuses on developing advanced cooling system for EV batteries. His prior work focused on numerical simulations for neutron diffusion in nuclear reactors.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Kunal Kate
Research Interests:
Bio: Pavan Kumar Ajjarapu is a PhD. Student at the University of Louisville and a member of the Materials Innovation Guild. His current research focusses on designing and processing multi-layer filament structures to improve print speed and filament properties in powder fused filament fabrication (PF3) 3D printing. In the past, he worked on 3D printing Ni-TiC cermet scaffolds and vacuum arc melting Ni-Ti shape memory alloys.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Hui Wang
Research Interests:
Bio: Sharmin Akter has completed her MS in Physics and Astronomy at the University of Louisville and is currently a Ph.D. student in the Mechanical Engineering department. She has been working in the Conn Center for energy storage systems under Dr. Hui Wang since 2021. Her current research focuses on developing the solid-state Na-/Li- ion battery, solid electrolyte, and materials synthesis. Her prior experience deals with Molecular Spectroscopy and Non-linear optics.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Christopher Richards
Research Interests:
Bio: Arjun Vallyath Anil is a PhD student at the University of Louisville . His current research focuses on autonomous navigation of UAVs for the remote sensing at the Arctic. He is also the Entrepreneurial Lead for the ‘UAV Arctic Research’ team participating in the NSF Innovation Corps Program. He previously worked as a Junior Research Fellow in the field of Mechatronics at the National Institute of Technology Durgapur.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Kunal Kate
Research Interests:
Bio: Munjuluri Krishna Sai Aparna is a master’s student in mechanical engineering at the University of Louisville and a member of Materials Innovation Guild.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Stuart Williams
Research Interests:
Bio: Aaditya Venkatesha Babu Bangaru is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Louisville with the Integrated Microfluidic Systems Laboratory, where he will design and test microfluidic devices to measure the electrical properties of nanoparticles for their analysis and selective trapping. His current research also deals with design and fabrication of interdigitated electrodes. His prior research work dealt with microfluidics integrated surface acoustic wave sensors.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Badri Narayanan
Research Interests: Atomic-scale simulations, density functional theory, defect dynamics in quantum perovskites, machine learning in materials modeling.
Bio: Devang Bhagat is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Louisville with Predictive Materials Modeling lab, where he is working on fundamental understanding of defect dynamics in quantum perovskites, with applications in emerging neuromorphic computing architectures. He employs a combination of electronic structure calculations, machine learning, and molecular dynamics simulations to understand defect-induced phase transitions in strongly-correlated perovskite nickelates.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Yanyu Chen
Research Interests:
Bio: Man Chen is a PhD student at University of Louisville, and she is working on designing, fabricating, testing, and analyzing mechanical metamaterials. Her prior research is about lattice-reinforced cementitious materials.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Peter Quesada
Research Interests:
Bio: Matt is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Louisville. His research interests involve evaluating use of acute-to-chronic workload ratio (ACWR) as a tool in sports performance enhancement and injury risk management. His objectives include identifying ACWR algorithms that can better discriminate between athletes, and that be applied with data from less costly wearable sensors. He has previously earned one earned master’s in mechanical engineering and another in exercise physiology.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Hui Wang
Research Interests:
Bio: Rachel DeWees earned her B.S. in Materials Engineering from University of Kentucky. After some experience in industry, she earned her M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Louisville and is currently a Ph.D. student in the program, working in the Conn Center for Renewable Energy under Prof. Hui Wang. Her research interests include the fundamental material science principles at play in solid state electrolytes and overall performance of lithium ion batteries.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Bikram Bhatia
Research Interests:
Bio: Dip Dutta has started his Ph.D. in the fall semester of 2019 at the University of Louisville and a member of the Pyro Energy Research Lab, where he is working with the microfabrication of Polymer films as well as the exploration of their suitability in the effective Pyroelectric energy conversion. His previous research works dealt with the Bio-composites and the Computational mechanics.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Badri Narayanan
Research interests:
Bio: Saransh is a doctoral researcher in the Predictive Materials Modeling Laboratory, University of Louisville. The focus of his current research is investigating structure-property relationships, chemical reactions, and phase transitions in electrochemical interfaces for applications in batteries and nano-electronics.
Education:
Advisor: Dr Hui Wang
Research Interests:
Bio: Selim Halacoglu is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Louisville, where he has been working in the Conn Center for Renewable Energy under Prof. Hui Wang since 2019. His current studies focus on the development of solid-state electrolytes and lithium ion batteries.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Cindy Harnett
Research Interests:
Bio: Seokyoung Han is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Louisville with Dr. Harnett’s group, where she is working towards development of soft robotic platform by using advanced materials and control methods. Her current research focuses on creating locomotion or rolling motion using soft actuators and optic fiber sensors.
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Education:
Advisor: Dr. Christopher Richards
Research Interests:
Bio: Khaled Issa is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Louisville, specializing in the design of advanced control systems for aerospace and unmanned vehicles. His research blends non-linear control strategies, Robust controls, anti-windup compensation, and control allocation techniques for UAV.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Bikram Bhatia & Dr. Sundar Atre
Research Interests:
Bio:
Julio J. Izquierdo is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Louisville. He is a member of the Materials Innovation Guild and member of the Pyro Energy Research Lab, where he is working on fabricating through AM a novel high-temperature heat exchanger. His previous research focused on designing, fabricating and characterizing AM-based piezoelectric sensors (PVDF-Cu) for the United States Air Force.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Yanyu Chen
Research interests:
Bio: Huan Jiang is a Ph.D. student at the University of Louisville. His current research involves 3D printing and numerical simulation of mechanical behavior.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Yash Chitalia
Research Interests:
Bio: Pejman Kheradmand is a Ph.D. student at the University of Louisville and a member of the Healthcare Robotics and Telesurgery (HeaRT) Lab. His current research focuses on continuum robots in surgical applications. During his master’s studies, he researched social robotics and later worked at a surgical robot startup, specializing in the development of robotic surgical systems, particularly in software, GUI design, and mechatronic integration
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Christopher Richards
Research Interests:
Bio: Shruti Kumar is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Louisville where she is working on constrained rigid body control of aerospace/space vehicles. Her current research specifically deals with the application of AI & ML to reconfigurable attitude controls with anti-windup compensation. In her prior work, she was engaged in applied robotics and control research, particularly the development of a bionic hand and implementation of AI capabilities in humanoid robots.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Stuart J. Williams
Research Interests:
Bio: Tonoy K. Mondal is a Ph.D. student at the University of Louisville with the Integrated Microfluidics Systems Laboratory, where he is working with electro kinetic manipulation of particles and droplets . His current research also deals with microfabrication of microfluidic devices. His prior research work dealt with simulation of Heat Transfer in laminar flows.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Yash Chitalia
Research Interests:
Bio: Behnam Moradkhani is a Ph.D. student at the University of Louisville and a member of the Healthcare Robotics and Telesurgery (HeaRT) Lab. His research focuses on soft and continuum robots, surgical robotics, control systems, and artificial intelligence. His previous research works dealt with the control of manipulators and using intelligent modern control methods for robotic systems.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Thomas Berfield
Research Interests:
Bio: Suyash Niraula is a Ph.D. student at the University of Louisville with Berfield Research Group, where he does his research on applied mechanics of materials and studies the residual stress of additively manufactured metals and materials. His current research also deals with the characterization of these materials. His prior research work deals with the study of the Electrolytic in-process dressing (ELID) grinding process.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Christopher Richards
Research Interests:
Bio: Homa Salehifar is a Ph.D. student at the University of Louisville, where she is working on anti-windup compensator design for rigid body dynamics. Her prior research work dealt with control design for nonlinear systems under input saturation.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Sam Park
Research Interests:
Bio: Nicholas David Schuppert is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Louisville with the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research, where his work focuses on the development of stable lithium, potassium and sodium ion batteries in aqueous environments. He has prior research experience as an undergraduate student in the fabrication of high surface area mesoporous metal oxides.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Thomas Berfield
Research Interests:
Bio: Rosa Shokri is a Ph.D. fellow at the University of Louisville with Berfield Research Group at the AMIST lab, where she studies the mechanical properties and characterization of additively manufactured NiTi implants. Her prior research work deals with the enhanced corrosion protection of NiTi orthopedic implants by highly crystalline hydroxyapatite deposited by spin coating.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Christopher Richards
Research Interests:
Bio: Majid Shahbazzadeh is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Louisville. He previously obtained a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering (Control) in 2022 from Babol Noshirvani University of Technology. His current research focuses on the anti-windup compensator design problem for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). His previous research work dealt with the robust control design and state estimation for nonlinear systems using linear matrix inequalities
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Kevin Chou
Research Interests:
Bio: Subin Shrestha is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Louisville. His PhD research is focused on the study of process parameter effect on part quality and porosity during laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) process. He is currently working on using discrete element method to analyze the effect of powder surface energy on its flowability. His current research also deals with using thermo-fluid simulation to predict the melt pool and study the influence of keyhole shape on the pore formation. His prior research was focused on characterization of pores formed during L-PBF process using micro-CT.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Badri Narayanan
Research Interests:
Bio: Varun Shreyas joined the University of Louisville as a Ph.D. student in August 2019, where he is working with the Predictive Materials Modeling Laboratory (PMML). He is passionate in working towards the development of energy storage technologies, 2D materials and super hydrophobic surfaces. His current research deals with the accurate molecular-level understanding of structure-property-processing relationships in functional materials, and reactive interfaces relevant for energy applications by using molecular dynamics and density functional theory.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Kunal Kate
Bio: Kavish Sudan is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Louisville with the Materials Innovation Guild, where he is working on 3D printing of ceramic and preceramic polymers composites combined with debinding and sintering. Additionally, he is developing a 3D printing process for co-extrusion of continuous fiber composites.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Bikram Bhatia
Research Interests:
Bio: Manish Sudan joined University of Louisville in Fall 2022 as a member of the Pyro Energy Research Lab. His research focuses on identification, characterization and processing of advanced materials for energy harvesting and storage applications. Currently he is working on utilization of pyroelectric energy for electrocatalysis which could eventually be applied as a sustainable method for hydrogen generation.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Kunal Kate
Research Interests:
Bio: Athira Nair Surendran is a PhD student at the University of Louisville and a member of the Materials Innovation Guild. Her current research focuses on designing and developing activated carbon-based filaments for additive manufacturing to be applied in energy storage and gas adsorption. She previously worked on the development of fabrication platform for microfluidic devices and experimental study of magnetic mixing and separation of magnetic and nonmagnetic particles.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Badri Narayanan
Research Interests:
Bio: Katpady Akhil Tantry is a Ph.D. candidate at University of Louisville with Predictive Materials Modeling Lab. His current research is on ionic materials for solid-state electrolyte application. The research deals with atomistic simulations to study and understand the properties of these materials and establish a relation between the structure and property. He also works on the application of Machine Learning to develop predictive models and interatomic potentials.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Badri Narayanan
Research Interests:
Bio: Ranga Teja Pidathala is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Louisville with the predictive materials modeling laboratory (PMML), where he is working with simulations of strongly correlated oxide materials and the role of oxygen vacancies that effects electronic properties of this materials. His current research also deals with using Machine Learning to generate interatomic potentials which can be used to simulate strongly correlated oxides over nano length and timescales.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Bikram Bhatia
Research Interests: Solid State Refrigeration, Micro-Electromechanical Systems (MEMS), Advanced Materials, Micro-scale Cooling, Energy systems, Solar Energy
Bio: Naveen Weerasekera started his PhD on Fall 2020 under Pyro Energy Research Laboratory at the University of Louisville. His current research focused on developing solid state micro cooling systems using advanced materials for ultra-sensitive thermal noise reduction applications. His current work also deals with analysis of smart material behavior by in-situ neutron diffraction. He was a former researcher at the multiscale joining and interconnect laboratory of the Portland State University.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Keng Hsu
Research Interests:
Bio: Sihan Zhang is a Ph.D. candidate at University of Louisville in Dr. Keng Hsu’s lab, where he is currently working at developing hybrid additive manufacturing process of metal-polymer composite devices. His current research also deals with piezoelectric polymers and ultrasonic wire embedding. His prior research work deals with electroless copper deposition and supercapacitors.
Education:
Advisor: Dr. Yanyu Chen
Research Interests:
Bio: Zhennan Zhang joined the University of Louisville as a Ph.D. student in January 2020, where he is working with the Materials and Structures in Extreme Environments Laboratory (MSEEL). His current research focus on using additive manufacturing method to print 3D/4D mechanical metamaterials. His research interests also include energy absorption, impact resistance, failure modes and fracture toughness of hierarchical lattice materials.
Education: