Md Didarul Islam

Graduate Research Assistant, North Carolina State UniversityDepartment of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Email: mislam9@ncsu.edu & didar91@gmail.com

Research Interest

Nanofabrication | Composite Manufacturing | Materials Characterization | Ellipsometry | Failure Analysis | Design of Experiment | Statistical Process Control | Process Engineer

My name is Didar; I am a Ph.D. candidate in the mechanical engineering department at North Carolina State University. I am currently working under the supervision of Dr. Jong Ryu, as a research assistant at the Composite Design and Manufacturing Lab. I am passionate about solving problems in materials science and mechanical engineering. Specifically, I have expertise in synthesizing polymeric composite materials for infrared optics and utilizing creative nanofabrication techniques to manufacture optical devices. Some of these efforts have great potential to reduce the high fabrication cost of conventional inorganic materials. I am also interested in developing low-cost scalable manufacturing techniques to fabricate periodic microstructures for large-area substrates. Applications include superhydrophobic, self-cleaning, drag-reduction surfaces with multifunctional capabilities.

Before I came to North Carolina state university for my Ph.D., I completed my master's degree in computational science from the University of Texas at El Paso, where I worked in conjunction with the Mechanical engineering department to learn about applying design of experiment and data analytics in additive manufacturing of piezoelectric pressure sensors.

Prior to that, I completed my bachelor's degree in Mechanical engineering from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and worked for an Oil and gas company named Tullow oil inc. I worked for two years in the production team as an operations engineer. Most of the responsibilities were analyzing the production data related to mechanical equipment and other gas production process equipment. We identified potential anamolies in the systems by examining the process data and taking preventive measures.

Working in the industry made me realize the importance of making data-driven decisions. I decided to come back to school first to learn about applying data analytics and the design of experimental approaches in experimental research. Secondly, pursuing a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering allowed me to acquire more fundamental knowledge and technical skills. To summarize, my education, research, and work experience helped me learn; how to transform a real-world challenge into a scientific problem and solve them in collaboration with innovative engineering methods.

Outside of work and research, I am very enthusiastic about sports and outdoor activities including basketball and cycling. Outdoor sports activities help me to keep focused and motivated in my work and also help me to overcome stressful times at school.