Nanomechanical Multiphysics Lab

We discover properties of nanomaterials to enable next-generation sensors and electronics.

Welcome!

We are a research group in the Mechanical Engineering Department at University of Texas at Dallas. We are interested in studying nanomaterials, and how mechanical properties (e.g. modulus, strength) or mechanical inputs (e.g. stretching, compressing, twisting) can be used to tune or control other physical properties (e.g. electrical, thermal, chemical). As miniaturization in electronics becomes more difficult and costly, these new nanomechanical multiphysics functionalities are critical to develop and enable novel sensing, actuation and electronic technologies.  We are primarily an experimental group, but collaborate frequently with simulation and theory experts to fully understand our measurements. Please explore our research and publications for more details.

News

11/2022: New paper published on tensile testing of silver nanowires

08/2022: Juan Rincon, a new PhD student from joins the team. Welcome!

05/2022: New paper published on the electrical reliability of silver nanowires.

10/2021: New paper published on the strength statistics of nanomaterials.

08/2021: Brizeida Ojeda, a new PhD student from Venezuela joins the team. Welcome!

01/2021: Abir Hossain, a new PhD student joins our lab. Welcome!

08/2020: We received a grant from NSF’s thermal transport program.

Older

12/2019: Annabel (Lu) Yi graduated from our M.Sc. program. Congratulations!

06/2019: We are excited to host 3 undergrad students for the summer. Please see our team and outreach pages.

04/2019: We moved into our permanent home in the brand new engineering building at UTD. Please see the facilities webpage for more details.

06/2018: We are thrilled to host Ruth Benneth from the UTD Honors College as an undergraduate researcher for the summer. Welcome Ruth!

05/2018: Mohammad Waliullah, a PhD student, joins the lab. Welcome!

04/2018: We have received a grant from NSF’s Division of Materials Research to study metallic nanowires.

03/2018: Keene Chin, an undergrad researcher in our lab will start his PhD in robotics at Carnegie Mellon University this fall. Congratulations Keene!

08/2017: Lu Yi, our first student, joins the lab. Welcome Lu!

03/2017: We are excited to move into our new lab in the brand new BSB building at UTD. Please see the facilities webpage for more details.

01/2017: The Nanomechanical Multiphysics Lab has officially started at UTD!

Openings

We are looking for enthusiastic Ph.D. candidates, Masters students, and undergrad researchers. We have Ph.D. openings for Spring 2023! postgraduate

If you are interested in pursuing a doctorate at UTD, please see the admission page and program. Please contact us via email and include a CV, a short description of why you want to pursue a PhD, and what do you find interesting about our research.

If you are an undergrad or master’s student at UTD and would like to pursue research in our lab, feel free to email or come by the PI’s office to discuss potential projects. You can get elective credit (BSc, MSc) for research! We have MSc Thesis Projects as well.

This and next semester (Fall 2022 – Spring  2023), we have projects on:

  1. Simulation of a pressure vessel using COMSOL multiphysics, ANSYS or ABAQUS.
  2. Dynamic simulations of MEMS and 3D printing for simulation verification.
  3. Machine learning for computer vision in a nanomaterial tensile testing experiment.
  4. Automation of a micro-tensile testing setup.
  5. Coupled heat transfer – contact mechanics theoretical modeling of nanowires.