Research

Summary

I am a Graduate Research Associate at the Thermal Properties of Materials for Extreme Environments Lab at The Ohio State University. My research focuses on understanding the evolution of defects in nuclear fuels under extreme conditions and investigating how these defects impact fuel performance. Through a combination of experimental techniques and computational modeling, I aim to advance the fundamental knowledge required for developing safer, more efficient, and more resilient nuclear energy systems. 

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Research Areas 

Selected Publications

Journal Publications

1. Minaruzzaman, M., Kamboj, A., Bawane, K., Alshannaq, M., Zengince, O., Jin, M., Zhang, Y., Kombaiah, B., He, L., Hurley, D. H., Khafizov, M. (2026). Cluster Dynamics Modeling of Interstitial Loop Evolution and Loop Unfaulting in Face-Centered Cubic: Case of Proton-Irradiated ThO2. Manuscript to be submitted.

2. Kamboj, A., Yu, L.-C., Minaruzzaman, M., Bawane, K., See, P., Hua, Z., Shao, L., Khafizov, M., Zhang, Y., Jin, M., Watkins, J. K., Jiang, C., Hurley, D. H., Kombaiah, B. (2025). Excessive dislocation loop growth in uranium mononitride under high-temperature proton irradiation. SSRN. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5947674 

3. Adnan, S., Khanolkar, A. R., Hua, Z., Minaruzzaman, M., Alshannaq, M., Ferrigno, J., Prusnick, T. A., Jin, M., Mann, J. M., Hurley, D. H., Khafizov, M. (2025). Defect-induced phonon-resonant scattering and its influence on thermal transport of irradiated thorium-dioxide. Journal of Applied Physics, 138, 135905. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0290898

4. Khanolkar, A., Adnan, S., Minaruzzaman, M., Malakkal, L., Thomson, D. B., Turner, D. B., Mann, J. M., Hurley, D. H., Khafizov, M. (2025). Lattice anharmonicity effects in fluorite oxide single crystals and anomalous increase in phonon lifetime in ceria at elevated temperature. arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.14254. https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.14254 

5. Kamboj, A., Minaruzzaman, M., Bawane, K., He, L., Shao, L., Mann, J. M., Khafizov, M., Zhang, Y., Jin, M., Hurley, D. H., Kombaiah, B. (2025). Faulted and Perfect Loop Evolution in Single Crystal Thorium Dioxide under High-Temperature Proton Irradiation. Journal of Nuclear Materials, 155955. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2025.155955 

6. Alshannaq, M., Owen, C., Ferrigno, J., Minaruzzaman, M., Abdel-Khalik, H. S., Raj, A., Pavlov, T. R., Khafizov, M. (2025). Implications of point defect accumulation on UO2 thermal conductivity and fission gas release under accelerated fuel irradiation. Journal of Nuclear Materials, 156057. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2025.156057  

7. Bawane, K., Kamboj, A., Jin, M., Minaruzzaman, M., Alshannaq, M., Rickert, K., Mann, J. M., Teng, F., Childs, M., Shao, L., Hurley, D. H., Zhang, Y., Khafizov, M., Kombaiah, B. (2024). In-Situ TEM study of microstructural evolution in proton irradiated single crystal UO2 under high-temperature annealing. Acta Materialia, 281(120440), 120440. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2024.120440 

8. Ahmed, F., Minaruzzaman, M., Fuad, M., Gugulothu, R., Mollah, A. S. (2021). Numerical simulation of heat exchanger for analyzing the performance of parallel and counter flow. WSEAS Transactions on Heat and Mass Transfer, 16, 145–152. https://doi.org/10.37394/232012.2021.16.17 

Conference Publications

Conference Proceeding: Alshannaq, M., Minaruzzaman, M., Abdel-Khalik, H. S., Zabriskie, A., Khafizov, M. (2025). “Behavior of Inert Fission Gas Under Accelerated Irradiation Conditions for Prototypical LWR Conditions”,  Presented at TopFuel 2025: Nuclear Reactor Fuel Performance Conference (Oct 5, 2025)

Undergraduate Thesis: Alam, I., Minaruzzaman, M., Rahman, M. A., Basith, M. A. (2021) “Fabrication of zinc oxide/graphene-carbon nanotubes nanocomposite with enhanced dye degradation ability”, Presented in ICMERE 2021 Conference

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