Grants
NASA USRC: Crash- and Turbulence-Resilient eVTOL Seat Base System Using Metamaterials, Faculty Mentor, $69,171.96, 2025 - 2026
NSF-ExLENT: Beginnings: Preparing and Advancing College Engineering (PACE) Students for the Aerospace Workforce with Experiential Learning and Research, NSF, $999,029.00, October 2025 - September 2028
Mitigating Nasal Prong-induced Nasal Deformities for Preterm Neonates with Wearable Sensor and Digital Twinning, UTA Interdisciplinary Research Program (IRP), $20,000, September 2025 - August 2026
Novel Damage-tolerant Composites Enabled by Hybrid Biomimetic Designs and Multi-material Additive Manufacturing, UTA Research Enhancement Program, $12,000, June 2025 - August 2026
Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP): System to Characterize Damage Tolerance of Composites with Data-rich In-situ Nondestructive Inspection and Digital Twinning $ 183,846, AFOSR, October 2024– September 2025
CoE Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Program, CoE Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Program, $ 2,000, UTA, October 2024– April 2025
The University of Texas System STARs Award $ 100,000, UT System, October 2023 – September 2026
The UTA Faculty Startup Package $373,340.44, UTA, October 2023 – September 2025
Rackham Graduate Student Research Grant $3,000, University of Michigan, 2021 – 2022
University of Michigan Space Institute Grant $5,000, University of Michigan, 2021 – 2022
Honors and Awards
UTA Innovation Day Awards 2025, Graduate Poster 1st Place Award (Advised graduate student: Rowa Hamdan, Le Hoang)
Travel Grants for Attending the ASME Rising Stars, NSF, 2024
Harry H. and Lois G. Hilton Student Paper Award in Structures, AIAA, 2021
Nominee for Richard and Eleanor Towner Prize for Outstanding Ph.D. Research, 2021
American Society of Composites Ph.D. Scholarship, 2020
Harry H. and Lois G. Hilton Student Paper Award in Structures, AIAA, 2020
Collier Research Hypersizer/AIAA Structures Best Paper Award, AIAA, 2019
Student Honors
Ryan Shrestha: NASA USRC Challenge, 2025
Jawaad Zulqernine & Ryan Shrestha: UTA I-Engage, 2025
Jachin Ramirez: UTA REU, 2025
Jawaad Zulqernine: Prof Wen Chan Endowed Scholarship, 2025
Rowa Hamdan: UTA Innovation Day Graduate Student Poster 1st Place, 2025
Ryan Shrestha: Igor Fraiberg Endowed Scholarship in Engineering , 2025