People
Princip Investigator
Yan Zhang
Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
North Dakota State University
Email: yan.zhang.4@ndsu.edu
Phone: 701-231-8478
Education
Ph.D., Aerospace Engineering, 2013
Iowa State University
M.S., Candidate, Mechanical Engineering, 2009
Harbin Institute of Technology, China
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, 2008
Xi'an Jiaotong University, China
Recruiting Updates
Our lab is currently recruiting Ph.D. students. Research/teaching assistantship will be available starting Spring 2022. Prospective students with research interests in topics of cardiovascular flow, bio-fluid dynamics, and applied aerodynamics are encouraged to apply. Students should hold at least a B.S. or equivalent degree in a relevant Engineering discipline. Prior experimental or CFD research experience is a plus. If interested, please send your CV and a copy of unofficial B.S. and/or M.S. transcripts to the email address (yan.zhang.4@ndsu.edu). Please feel free to contact if you have any questions.
[Updated September 2021]
Current Graduate Students
Nafis Saad Resan
Ph.D. student, co-advised by Dr. Yechun Wang at the ME department, NDSU
Research Lab Alumini
Ruihang Zhang
Dr. Zhang is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth. She was a former Ph.D. student who joined us in 2016 and graduated in 2021. Her research was focused on cardiovascular hemodynamics and pulsatile fluid dynamics in complex cardiovascular structures using advanced flow diagnostic techniques. She obtained her Master’s degree in Architecture and Civil Engineering from the Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, China in 2016.
John-Luke Singh
(Now a Manufacturing Engineer at Olympus Corporation of the Americas )
Mr. Singh currently works for Medtronics, the world's leading medical device manufacturer, headquartered in Minneapolis, MN. He obtained his MS degree in Biomedical Engineering in 2019. He was co-advised by Dr. Yechun Wang and Dr. Yan Zhang at the ME department at NDSU. His Master's thesis was "Design and Fabrication of Micro-Channels and Numerical Analysis of Droplet Motion Near Microfluidic Return Bends" . He obtained his B.S. degree from the ME department at NDSU in 2017.
Jiaming Zhao
Mr. Zhao was a former M.S. student. He joined us in 2017 and expects to graduate in 2019. His research is focused on wind turbine aerodynamics and passive flow control for dynamic stall. He obtained his B.S. degree from the Mechanical Engineering department at NDSU in 2017.
Benjamin Eichholz
Ben was a former M.S. student. He joined us in 2019 and graduated in 2020. After obtaining his M.S. degree, he joined the Center for Human Spaceflight, Research and Development Engineer at the University of California, Davis as a Ph.D. student. His research was focused on the fundamental mechanisms of pulsatile flow over cavities with superhydrophobic coatings with applications in cardiovascular devices.
Jennifer Schmeling
Jennifer was a former M.S. student and is now working as a Quality Engineer at Trelleborg Sealing Solutions in Minnesota. She joined us in 2021 and graduated in 2022. Her M.S. thesis research was to experiementally study the fluid-structure interaction of thin-walled collapsible vessels, which serves as a simplified model for understanding cardiovascular vein flow phenomena.
Undergraduate Students
Mei Lin Batten (Undergrad RA, ME department, 2019-present) works on super-hydrophobic surface coating research and experimentation.
Nicholas Beaver (Undergrad RA, ME department, 2019-present) works on CAD model design and model fabrication for biofluid experiment testing.
Benjamin Eichholz (Undergrad RA, ME department, 2017-2019) works on the design and testing of new negative pressure chamber for the cardiovascular flow system
Ben Gerber (Undergrad RA, ECE department, 2017-2018) works on the mathematical modeling of human cardiovascular system under gravitational change.
Louis Miller (Undergrad RA, ME department, 2017-2018) works on the design and the remodeling of the pulsatile cardiovascular flow simulator.
Garrett Naughton (Former Undergrad RA, ME department, 2016-2017) contributed to the design and construction of the new in vitro cardiovscular flow simulator.
Kade Platta (Former Undergrad RA, ME department, 2016-2017) contributed to the design and development of a new blower-type wind tunnel.
Logan Trachsel (Former Undergrad RA, ME department, 2016-2017) contributed to the design and development of a new blower-type wind tunnel.