Alumni
Former PhD Students
Sulagna Sarkar (jointly advised with Haeyoung Noh)
Thesis: Data-driven Inverse Design of Optical Metamaterials (2024)
Bushnell Doctoral Fellowship, 2023 – 2024
Current Position: Research Scientist at Meta
Thesis: Phase-Field Modeling of Defect Dynamics: Interplay Between Inertia and Viscous Stress (2023)
Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, 2021
Invited participant at CMU Rising Stars Workshop, 2022
Invited participant at University of Texas Rising Stars Workshop, 2023
Smith Fellowship, 2022 – 2023
Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory
Kiana Naghibzadeh (jointly advised with Noel Walkington)
Thesis: Multiscale Models of Growth: Microstructure Evolution & Mechanics of Surface Growth (2023)
Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, 2021
Invited participant at MIT Rising Stars Workshop, 2021
Invited participant at CMU Rising Stars Workshop, 2022
Bushnell Fellowship in Engineering, 2022 – 2023
MIT Postdoctoral Fellowship for Engineering Excellence, 2023 – 2025
Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Kevin LoGrande (jointly advised with Jaroslaw Knap)
Thesis: Interpretable Dimension Reduction Procedures for Dynamical Systems (2023)
Department of Defense SMART Fellowship, 2020 – 2024
Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, 2021
Current Position: Federal Researcher at Army Research Lab
Thesis: Bayesian Inference of Poroelastic Properties Using an Energy-based Poromechanics Model (2022)
D’Appolonia Doctoral Fellowship, 2018 – 2020
Interpore Conference Student Grant, 2020
Invited participant at CMU Rising Stars Workshop, 2020
Dowd Graduate Fellowship, 2021 – 2022
Mao Yisheng Outstanding Dissertation Award, 2023
Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher at California Institute of Technology
Pratik Khandagale (jointly advised with Carmel Majidi)
Thesis: Statistical Field Theory for Polymer Networks and Electro-mechanical Polymers: Accounting for Nonlocal Interactions (2022)
Mechanical Engineering Graduate Fellowship, 2017-2021
Finalist in the Pittsburgh Quantum Institute Poster Competition, 2020
Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Houston
Ankit Shrivastava (jointly advised with Haeyoung Noh)
Thesis: Elucidating the Origin of Heterogeneous Stresses in Granular and Microstructured Materials Using Data Science Methods (2021)
Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher at Sandia National Laboratory
Thesis: Multiband Homogenization for Electronic Structure and Mechanical Metamaterials (2021)
Science and Engineering Research Board Fellowship, 2017 – 2021
SIAM Travel Award to present at the Annual Meeting 2020
Current Position: Research Assistant Professor at University of Utah
Thesis: Nonlocal Dipolar Interactions in Complex Geometries for Quantum Embedding (2021)
Ovshinsky Honorable Mention Travel Grant Award from the American Physical Society, 2019
Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Minnesota
Thesis: Computational Methods for Structure-Property Relations in Heterogeneous Materials (2021)
ASME Haythornthwaite Foundation Student Travel Award, 2018
Invited participant at AWM Workshop on Mathematics of Materials, 2020
SIAM Travel Award to present at the Annual Meeting 2020
Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory
Thesis: Multiscale Modeling and Theoretical Design of Dielectric Elastomers (2019)
Army Research Laboratory Summer Journeyman Fellowship, 2018
Best Poster Award from Pittsburgh Quantum Institute, 2018
Bushnell Fellowship in Engineering, 2019 – 2020
Current Position: Federal Researcher at Air Force Research Laboratory, after postdoctoral position jointly at Air Force Research Laboratory, University of Minnesota, and the California Institute of Technology
Thesis: A Computational Study of Bubble Suspensions and Foamed Cement using Extended Stokesian Dynamics (2019)
Smith Fellowship, 2018 – 2019
Current Position: Federal Researcher at Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory
Thesis: Instability-Induced Rapid Shape Change in Heat- and Photo-responsive Materials (2019)
Bushnell Fellowship in Engineering, 2016 – 2017
Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, 2018
Invited participant at MIT Rising Stars Workshop, 2019
Current Position: Research Associate and Lecturer at University of Texas Austin, after postdoctoral position at Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University
Thesis: Numerical Solution of the Non-equilibrium Boltzmann Equation using the Discontinuous Galerkin Finite Element Method (2018)
Current Position: R&D Engineer Specialist at Dassault Systemes SIMULIA Corporation
Thesis: Multiscale Phase-field Model for Phase Transformation and Fracture (2016)
Bertucci Fellowship, 2013 – 2014
Current Position: Engineer at Apple
Thesis: Coarse Graining of Electric Field Interactions with Materials (2016)
Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, 2013
Current Position: Research Associate at the Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences (ICES), University of Texas Austin
Thesis: Theoretical and Numerical Models on the Diffusive and Hereditary Properties of Biological Structures (2015)
Current Position: Engineering Project Manager at Amazon (Italy)
Thesis: Atomistic Multiscale Modeling with Long-Range Electrostatic Interactions (2014)
Best Poster Award at US National Congress on Computational Mechanics, 2011
Northrop-Grumman Graduate Fellowship Award, 2011 – 2012
Winner of Computational and Information Sciences Directorate, and ARL-wide Bronze Medalist, at ARL Summer Graduate Student Symposium, 2013
Bertucci Fellowship, 2013-2014
Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, 2014
Recent Alumni Achievement Award, 2022
Current Position: Future Technical Leader Program at Northrop Grumman, after postdoctoral position at the California Institute of Technology
Thesis: Computational Multiscale Methods for Defects: 1. Line Defects in Liquid Crystals; 2. Electron Scattering in Defected Crystals (2014)
Current Position: Data Scientist at Amazon
Thesis: Symmetry-Adapted Molecular Modeling of Nanostructures and Biomembranes (2013)
Dowd Graduate Fellowship Award, 2012 – 2013
Finalist in the Melosh Medal Competition in Computational Mechanics, 2014
Current Position: Software Engineer at Cruise, after postdoctoral position at Stanford University
Thesis: Atomistic Study of Motion of Twin Boundaries: Nucleation, Initiation of Motion, and Steady Kinetics (2013)
Student Presentation Award Finalist at Society of Engineering Science Meeting, 2012
Current Position: Algorithm Engineer at InBrace, after postdoctoral position at the University of Massachusetts
Thesis: Temporal Coarse-Graining of High-frequency Dynamics Using Parameterized Locally Invariant Manifolds and Practical Time Averaging (2012)
Ellegood Fellowship, 2008 – 2012
Current Position: Software Engineer at Scientific Forming Technologies Corporation, after postdoctoral position at the California Institute of Technology
Thesis: Real-Space Phase-Field Simulations of Ferroelectric Materials (2012)
Liang Ji-Dian Graduate Fellowship Award, 2011 – 2012
Current Position: Quantitative Research Analyst at GMO, after postdoctoral position at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
