Laboratories
Thermal Science and Fluid Mechanics
This ongoing research program can be broadly categorized into three core subject areas: micro/nanorobotics, single cell/single molecule biophysics, and transport phenomena. Although each core program consists of a distinct project, the research team emphasizes their synergistic nature ― advances in one core are expected to drive the development of the others. The unifying component of all the cores is “biologically inspired nano/micro engineering.”
Faculty Supervisors
The Bio-Micro-Nano-Fluidics Laboratory is where researchers design, build and test Lab-on-a-Chip devices for biomedical, environmental monitoring, and food/water safety applications. The laboratory also performs numerical simulations of mass momentum and energy transport in micro and nano-scales, using continuum-based and atomistic methods. www.beskoklab.org
Faculty Supervisor
The Experimental Fluid Dynamics research areas include experimental quantification and evaluation of unsteady fluid flow processes, including vortex formation, vortex boundary interactions, and aquatic locomotion. A variety of two-dimensional and three-dimensional full-field flow measurement techniques are employed.
Faculty Supervisor
The Laser Micromachining Laboratory studies thermal-based laser micro- and nano-processing, with an emphasis on heat transfer, phase change, and fluid flow occurring during these processes. Specific research areas include:
• Short pulse laser ablation and micromachining including explosive phase change, vaporization, and Marangoni flows
• Applications of laser micromachining to electronic and photonic device fabrication
• Laser-assisted fabrication of superhydrophobic surfaces, microfluidics, and biomedical devices
• Fabrication of nanoparticles using pulsed laser ablation in liquids (PLAL)
• Laser-Induced Forward Transfer (LIFT)
• Time-resolved studies of short-pulse laser-material interactions
Faculty Supervisor
This laboratory houses two micro-machining stations equipped with two four-axis positioning systems and two nanosecond pulsed lasers of which one has four harmonics (1064, 532, 355 and 266 nm in wavelength) and the other one two harmonics (1064 and 532 nm). These systems are used for R&D work in micro-cutting, micro-drilling, micro-welding, marking and engraving on metals, plastics, ceramics, composites and semiconducting materials. This laboratory is equipped with a tensile test machine, hardness and micro-hardness testers, erosion and corrosion testers, optical microscopy and equipment to prepare samples for metallographic studies.
Faculty Supervisor
TBD
NETSL was founded in 1995 in recognition of local industry’s needs for noninvasive characterization of the thermal behavior of complex microelectronic devices. NETSL’s focus is on research and creative use of computational and metrological thermal sciences to enhance the design and reliability of microelectronics and explore new scientific frontiers. The laboratory features transient thermoreflectance-based metrology systems for measuring the properties of ultra-thin materials and their interfaces as well as temperature fields of devices with deep submicron resolution. In addition, NETSL contains a novel adaptive computational tool for ultra-fast thermal modeling of complex three-dimensional devices.
Faculty Supervisor
This Porous Media Systems laboratory focuses on the design of morphing heat exchangers, heat transfer enhancement and transport in porous media.
Faculty Supervisor
Solid Mechanics and Mechanics of Materials
This laboratory’s research focus areas include: experimental solid mechanics, impact mechanics, dynamic behavior of materials and structures, novel Kolsky bar-based high-strain rate characterization techniques, dynamic fracture and failure of brittle materials, soft materials and tissues, vehicle and body armors, non-destructive damage characterization in heterogeneous materials, and X-ray computed micro-tomography.
Faculty Supervisor
Research areas include: solid mechanics and materials engineering with a focus on the combined experimental characterization, as well as computational analysis of mechanical properties, stress/strain, and microstructure of engineering and biological materials and their applications in advancing manufacturing and materials processing technologies, engineering design analyses, and biomedical sciences and engineering.
Faculty Supervisor
This laboratory is dedicated to the development of novel micro-sensors for nano-scale measurement. Most of the research projects use “whispering gallery mode” (WGM) resonators for ultra-sensitive measurements with high resolution in time and space. The dielectric resonators used are high optical quality polymeric spheres. The measurement principle is based on the detection of extremely small sphere deformations by monitoring the corresponding optical mode (WGM) shifts. Several photonic sensors have been developed and demonstrated in the MicroSensor Laboratory, including force, strain, wall shear stress, temperature and pressure. Recent work has focused on the development of a micro-photonic seismometer as well as electric and magnetic field sensors. Because of the extreme sensitivity of the microsphere WGM to external conditions, a wide variety of applications exist, ranging from medicine to defense.
Faculty Supervisor
Research activities include multi-scale materials modeling, micro- and nano-mechanics, higher-order continuum theories, traumatic brain injury prevention, biomechanics, mechanics of soft materials, 3-D printed materials, indentation/contact mechanics, impact mechanics, damage and fracture mechanics, nanocomposites, cellular and porous materials, textile and ballistic materials, modeling of manufacturing processes.
Faculty Supervisor
Dynamics and Control
The Biomedical Instrumentation and Robotics Laboratory research activities promote strong interdisciplinary collaboration between several branches of engineering and biomedical sciences. These activities touch upon fundamentals in analytical dynamics, nonlinear control of mechanical systems, computer-aided design and virtual prototyping, applied mathematics, data acquisition, signal processing and high-performance actuators.
Faculty Supervisor
This laboratory is engaged in research in robotics, biomechanics, and vibration suppression.
Faculty Supervisor
Manufacturing and Design
Established in 2013, the LAMRA is dedicated to the exploration and development of novel, advanced 3-D printing processes. LAMRA also pursues research in soft robotics and medical and service robotics/automation technologies.
Faculty Supervisors
The research and development work performed in this laboratory includes welding, hybrid laser-arc welding, cladding, rapid manufacturing, surface modification, and modeling, sensing and control of different manufacturing processes.
Faculty Supervisor
TBD
This laboratory houses two micro-machining stations equipped with two four-axis positioning systems and two nanosecond pulsed lasers of which one has four harmonics (1064, 532, 355 and 266 nm in wavelength) and the other one two harmonics (1064 and 532 nm). These systems are used for R&D work in micro-cutting, micro-drilling, micro-welding, marking and engraving on metals, plastics, ceramics, composites and semiconducting materials. This laboratory is equipped with a tensile test machine, hardness and micro-hardness testers, erosion and corrosion testers, optical microscopy and equipment to prepare samples for metallographic studies.
Faculty Supervisor
TBD