AFASL Research Opportunities

We welcome highly qualified Students, Engineers, and Biologists from around the world to join our multidisciplinary autonomous flight and aquatic systems laboratory.

  • The Autonomous Flight and Aquatic Systems Laboratory is currently seeking motivated applicants for PhD and MS positions for Spring 2018 and Fall 2019.
  • If you are interested to join AFASL Lab, please send your detailed CV and scan of your transcripts to Dr. Hassanalian. Please use "Application for AFASL lab openings" as your email topic to distinguish it.
  • The undergraduate students from New Mexico Tech are welcome anytime to join AFASL lab.

Opportunities for working with Dr. Hassanalian

Graduate students at NMT or other universities

Every year I can welcome a few exceptional students from NMT or other universities around the world who are highly interested in bioinspired flight and aquatic systems with a focus on fluid structure interaction, performance enhancement, biomimetics, and conceptual design. Students are free to select the focus they prefer of up to two disciplines. Students will be involved in all areas through our weekly meetings and multidisciplinary collaborations with other departments or universities. I will care mostly about your motivation and intellect; your specific background is less critical in my multidisciplinary field of research. In our research group you will learn new things on a daily basis to work at the cutting edge. Projects will be defined based on the particular interest of the student and available funding. If you are interested in our diverse field of research please send me a statement and research plan that explains what you want to study and learn during your graduate studies.

Undergrad students from NMT

I am looking for highly motivated NMT undergraduate students to participate in our multidisciplinary research especially in flying and swimming robots design/ manufacturing/ testing and space exploration projects. We also want to strengthen our lab with adding undergraduate students with a mixed background in engineering who may work with our graduate students. Undergrads from all engineering departments are so welcome to join AFASL research group. NMT students can contact me through email. Undergraduate students from NMSU and UNM are also welcome to spend their summer at AFASL research group. Please send me an email explaining your motivation and reasons why you want to participate in our research or design project and include your CV as a PDF.

Postdocs with fellowships in Engineering or Biology

Contact me if you are an exceptional scientist who wants to do a Postdoc in our lab at New Mexico Tech University supported by your own national or international fellowship project. Our lab will do research on diverse research projects, because of our broad interest and expertise in bioinspiration, biomimetics, fluid structure interaction, autonomous aerial and aquatic vehicles, and new concepts for space and planetary exploration. Our research at NMT will provide exceptional opportunities for both engineers and biologist to develop or implement the latest technology and work at the leading edge of our field of research. In our lab we will fully support and develop for you a detailed mentor plan that will enable your scientific career. If you are interested in our diverse field of research please send me a statement and research plan that explains what you want to study and learn during your Postdoc. Please include your CV and three of key papers as a single PDF file.

Visiting students from around the world

Talented and internationally oriented students from comparative bioinspiration and autonomous systems labs around the world are welcome to pursue a flight-related project as a visiting student at NMT. Our lab is interested in short exciting research projects focused on bioinspiration and biomimetics drones and planetary and space exploration by unmanned systems. You will need to find your own funding for the reduced tuition for visiting students at New Mexico Tech University. If you are interested in our diverse field of research please send me a statement and research plan, that explains why you want to spend sometimes in our research group as visiting student. Please include your detailed resume/CV in your email.