Research labs and groups

Faculty: Dr. F. Ernesto Penado

The Advanced Composite Materials Laboratory is an instructional and research facility equipped for the fabrication, testing, and analysis of composite materials. The facility features specimen fabrication equipment, strain gage instrumentation and data acquisition equipment, and everything a researcher would need to manufacture or test composite materials.

Faculty: Dr. Tim Becker

Website: Bioengineering Devices Lab

BDL provides opportunities to students interested in brain and stroke research – which includes neurovascular devices such as new microcatheter designs, ischemic stroke systems, and innovative embolic agents for aneurysms (improving on coils, flow diverters, liquid embolics, etc.). The BDL also conducts extensive in vitro cerebrovascular flow model development, using mechanical testing and advanced multi-material 3D-printing of biomaterials to create benchtop models with properties similar to human tissue.

Faculty: Dr. Zach Lerner

Website: Biomechatronics Lab

The Biomechatronics Lab is a research facility focused on improving mobility in individuals with neuromuscular and musculoskeletal disabilities through innovation in mechanical and biomedical engineering.  The laboratory conducts experiments and develops musculoskeletal models and simulations to study the underlying mechanisms causing movement and orthopedic disorders. The insight gained from these analyses aids the design of robotic assistive devices and treatment strategies, which are subsequently evaluated and refined using experimental and computational methods.

Faculty: Dr. Amir Arzani

Website: Cardiovascular Biomechanics Lab

We use computer modeling and numerical methods to study blood flow and cardiovascular disease. Our work spans a variety of disciplines such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD), computational nonlinear structural mechanics, mass transport, dynamical systems, medical imaging, systems biology, and multiscale modeling.

Faculty: Jennifer Wade

The Climate Solutions Engineering lab investigates material and engineering systems that provide solutions to slow our warming climate through a variety of carbon capture processes, either directly from the atmosphere (direct air capture) or modified energy systems like biomass energy with carbon capture and storage (BECSS). Work in this group combines computational efforts that models the mass and energy fluxes with experimental approaches that characterize the key properties of the materials driving the process.

Faculty: Dr. Michael Shafer

Website: Dynamic and Active Systems Lab

The Dynamic and Active Systems Lab is a research group setup for the development and study of smart materials, mechatronic systems, and novel wildlife telemetry systems. Major equipment in the lab includes a single-point laser vibrometer, data acquisition systems, a fused deposition modeling 3D printer, multiple pieces of active and passive electronic systems equipment, and multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV-RT systems). The lab’s research areas span the biology and electrical systems domains needed for wildlife telemetry systems development, and the mechanics and dynamics domains associated with smart materials.

Faculty: Dr. Tom Acker

Website: Energy and Computational Modeling Lab

The Energy and Computational Modeling Laboratory is an instructional and research facility for the development of sustainable energy technologies.

Faculty: Dr. Heidi Feigenbaum

Website: Feigenbaum Research Group

The Feigenbaum Research Group studies a wide variety of topics in theoretical and applied mechanics, including, but not limited to, plastic deformation of materials, adaptive materials, structural mechanics, continuum mechanics, biomechanics, and biomimetics.

Faculty: Dr. Constantin Ciocanel

Website: Multifunctional Materials and Adaptive Systems Lab

The Multifunctional Materials and Adaptive Systems Lab is a research facility that focuses on the development and characterization of multifunctional materials and adaptive electro-magneto-mechanical systems.

Faculty: Dr. Peter Vadasz

Website: Dr. Vadasz