Research

Dr. Hossain conducts technical and educational research related to mechanics and materials. Specific topics include the following: 

• Solid mechanics and fracture in composites

• Physics of crack nucleation and crack path formation in brittle composites

• Effective toughness of heterogeneous materials

• Mechanics of multimaterial additive manufacturing

• Quantum mechanics of defects in semiconductors

• Mechanics of quantum confinement in photovoltaics

• Personalized engineering education and learning

• Advanced learning methods and technologies

• Outcome oriented pedagogical models and structures

PhD, MS and BS Advisees

• Tengyuan Hao, PhD (9/2020–4/2024), now at Georgia Tech
  Dissertation: ‘Deflection-penetration criteria at atomistic-continuum scales’

• Tousif Ahmed, PhD (7/2016–8/2021), now at IBM
  Dissertation: ‘Failure of in-plane heterostructures’

• Fazle Elahi, PhD (7/2016–8/2021) at UD, now at Intel
  Dissertation: ‘Atomic scale analysis of fracture in 3C-SiC’

• Christopher Gromec, MS Student (6/2022–6/2023), now at LLNL
  MS thesis: ‘Mechanics of defect formation in ion-irradiated carbides’

• Edward Carron, MS Student (2/2021–12/2021), now at Freelance
  MS thesis: ‘Developing architected solids using five-axis 3D printers’

• Ling Ma, MS Student (1/2018–8/2021), now at HUAWEI
  MS thesis: ‘Defect-shape effect on strength and toughness in SiC nanowires’

• Joe Zhang, MS Student 10/2018–5/2020), now at RPI
  MS thesis: ‘Diameter-dependent toughness and strength of diamond nanowires’

• Jinye Liu, MS Student (5/2017–8/2018), now at COMSOL
  MS thesis: ‘Modeling quantum confinement in alloy quantum dot-substrate heterostructures’

• Tengyuan Hao, MS Student (1/2016–5/2018), now at UD
  MS thesis: ‘Effective mechanical properties in CNT-SiO2 nanocomposites’

• Venkat Santhanam, MS Student (5/2016–8/2017), now at Gore & Associates
  MS thesis: ‘Anisotropic fracture toughness in graphene’

• Cassidy McCormick, Summer Scholar & NASA SG Awardee (6/2021–8/2022), now at UC Berkeley

Project title: ‘Thermo-mechanical instability in halide perovskites’

• Hannah Wiswell, NASA SG Awardee (1/2021–5/2022), now at Princeton University

Project title: ‘Electronic structure basis of strength and toughness anisotropy in SiC’

• Dylan Taylor, Summer Scholar (5/2022–8/2022)

Project title: ‘Manufacturing issues in 3D-printing anisotropic composites’

• Noah Etienne, Summer Scholar (5/2022–8/2022)
  Project title: ‘Role of print-direction on crack-hole interaction in 3D-printed composites'

• Yajaira Vergara-Guzman, Summer Scholar (5/2022–8/2022)

Project title: ‘Developing nonuniform displacement boundary loading set up’

• Kevin Wolynetz, Summer Scholar (5/2022–8/2022)

Project title: ‘Alternative materials for low-cost lightweight prosthetics’

• John Papadopoulos, NASA Intern & NASA SG Awardee (1/2022–8/2022), now at DOD

Project title: ‘Designing anisotropically tough composites’

• Sarah Bartlett, NASA Intern (5/2022–8/2022), now at Portescap

Project title: ‘Multiproperty generative design of lightweight composites’

• Julia Hatoum, Summer Scholar/Fellow (1/2021–8/2022)

Project title: ‘Strain chemistry in water-graphene interaction'

• Henry Fidlow, NASA SG Awardee (1/2021–5/2022), now at Sargent & Lundy

Project title: ‘Existence of negative and positive Poisson’s ratios in SiC’

• Lilah Bojanoski, UG Researcher (1/2022–5/2022),  now at Phase Sensitive Innovations
  Project title: ‘Through thickness orientation mapping in 3D-printed solids’

• Nick Ulizio, DEI Fellow (11/2020–5/2022), now at Northrop Grumman

Project title: ‘Quantum confinement in alloy quantum dots’

• Logan McKinney, Summer Scholar (5/2022–8/2022), now at Stanley Black & Decker

Project title: ‘Crack-crack interaction in particulate media’

• Mickayla Harris, Summer Scholar (6/2021–5/2022), now at Gore & Associates

Project title: ‘Modeling cortical-trabecular bone interface’

• Jenny Ziegler, NASA SG Awardee (6/2021–5/2022)

Project title: ‘Anisotropic fracture-toughness in brittle composites’

• Katelyn Young, NASA SG Awardee (6/2021–5/2022)

Project title: ‘Asymmetric fracture-toughness in brittle composites’

• Michelle Reckner, DEI Fellow (1/2019–5/2021), now at Georgia Tech

Project title: ‘Mechanics of defect-defect interaction in SiC’

• Nana Sarpong, Summer Scholar (11/2020–8/2021)

Project title: ‘Modeling ceramic-polymer interface at the atomic scale’

• Michael Sulecki, UDRAW researcher (11/2020–5/2021)

Project title: ‘Role of mechanics in composites’

• Kyle Morris, Summer Scholar & NASA SG Awardee (4/2020–1/2021)

Project title: ‘Predicting toughness anisotropy in SiC'

• Adrian Piel, Summer Scholar & NASA SG Awardee (1/2019–1/2021)

Project title: ‘Developing a surfing boundary loading set-up’

• Gabe Brown, Summer Fellow (6/2020–1/2021), now at Piab

Project title: ‘Diameter-dependent mechanical properties in CNT’

• Shane Brown, DEI Fellow (1/2019–12/2020), now at UConn

Project title: ‘Quantum confinement in Van der Waals heterostructures’

• Millicent Ayako, DEI Fellow (11/2018–12/2020), now at UM

Project title: ‘Shape effect on quantum confinement in alloy QDs’

• Benjamin Halleran, Summer Fellow (1/2019–12/2019), now at Boston Dynamics

Project title: ‘Electronic structure basis of strength in SiC’

• Timothy Hoffman, Summer Fellow (1/2019–12/2019)

Project title: ‘Strength anisotropy in black phosphorous’

• Dylan Frasher, Summer Fellow (6/2019–9/2019), now at ILC Dover

Project title: ‘Toughness anisotropy in MoS2’

• Lexi Anderson, Summer Scholar (1/2019–11/2019)

Project title: ‘Atomistic basis of osteoporosis’

• Allison Procak, NASA SG Awardee (5/2018–7/2019)
  Project title: ‘Defect shape induced toughness and strength anisotropy in hBN’

• Chris Blackwell, NASA SG Awardee (5/2017–7/2018), currently at Composites Automation

Project title: ‘Crack deflection at the atomic scale’

• Benjamin Silverman, Summer Scholar (1/2017–7/2018), now at Deloitte Consulting

Project title: ‘Gradient composition mapping in SiGe thin films'

• Tianyi Weng, Summer Scholar (5/2017–7/2018), now at Qualcomm

Project title: ‘Atomistic modeling of SiGe/Si quantum dots’

• Shawn Egan, DEI Scholar (5/2018–8/2018), now at Empower AI

Project title: ‘Composition field induced confinement in multiple QDs’

• Christopher Pasquale (5/2017–5/2018), now at Phase Sensitive Innovations

Project title: ‘Ab initio modeling of phonons in Si’

K-12 Mentees

• Malti John, 5/2022–8/2023, now at Stanford University
  ‘Mechanistic basis of mathematical fiber architectures’
  Won 1st place in the Delaware Valley Science Fair competition

• Iveena Mukherjee, 1/2022–8/2023
  ‘Electronic structure basis of strength in high-temperature carbides’

• Nathan Zhao, 6/2021–8/2023
  ‘Mechanistic basis of anisotropic properties in phosphorene’

• Suraj Reddy, 6/2021–8/2023, now at MIT
  ‘Defect-density effects on deflection vs. penetration criteria’ Won 3rd place in the DVSF competition

• Claire Andreasen, 4/2020–5/2022, now at Duke University
  ‘Strain induced magnetization in defective graphene’
  Won $25,000; Placed among the top 40 Finalists at the STS’22 competition

• Heran Yang, 6/2021–5/2022, now at UCLA
  ‘Diameter-dependent electronic properties in CNT’
  Won $4,000; Placed among the top 300 Finalists at the STS’22 competition

• Leana Griffin, 6/2022–8/2022
  ‘Crack deflection in 3D printed matrix-inclusion composites’

• Anusha Devisetty, 5/2022–8/2022
  ‘Crack deflection in 3D printed laminate composites’

• Justin Xu, 5/2019–8/2021, now at Harvard University
  ‘Electronics structure basis of strength in fluoropolymers’
  Won $25,000; Placed among the top 40 Finalists at the STS’21 competition

• Isaac Ho, 5/2019–8/2020, now at U Penn
  ‘Atomistic configurations of Van der Waals heterostructures’

• Justin Rheinstadter, 5/2019–8/2020, now at Penn State
  ‘Strain effects on phononic modes in 2D solids’