Research Opportunities

If you are interested in one of the opportunities below, please reach out directly to the faculty member listed below each project.

Ph.D. Positions

Inorganic Phase Change Materials for use in Buildings and in Energy Storage Technologies

• Hourly Research Assistants
• Ph.D. Students
• Starting Immediately or by Sept. 1, 2024
• Contact Prof. Jan Kosny by email: Jan_Kosny@uml.edu
• This is an immediate, 2.5- year fully funded position opening for Ph.D. students.
• This work will/may include:
• (i) Functional, thermal, and structural design of flat heat exchangers using latent heat storage,
• (ii) Design of product packaging methods
• (iii) Numerical thermal performance analysis, including CFD and multidimensional dynamic heat transfer simulations
• (iv) Participation in laboratory preparation of chemical formulations (work on salt hydrates and their mixtures)  
• (v) Laboratory work focused on enhancement of thermal conductivity and reduction of the subcooling effect 
• (vi) Laboratory material characterization, including mechanical strength, enthalpy, and thermal conductivity testing
• (vii) Filed exposure testing and laboratory durability testing
• (viii) Cost analysis
• 
  
• Job Requirements:
• (i) Ph.D. student with a Master of Science in Mechanical, Chemical, Manufacturing, or Civil Engineering. Material Science, or Physics
• (ii) Excellent understanding of Advance Heat Transfer, Inorganic Chemistry, and Phase Change Processes 
• (iii) Laboratory work experience (material characterization and thermal measurements) with use of DSC, FTIR, Heat Flow Meter testing apparatus, etc.…
• (iv) Proficiency in dynamic heat transfer simulations, CFD modeling experience
• (v) Familiarity with whole building energy simulation tools, as well as AutoCAD and/or SolidWorks

Ph.D., Master's and Undergraduate Positions

Parachute Research Assistant

• Graduate Research Assistant
• Interested students can be either graduate students or upper-class undergraduates. All students should have some past experience with material testing or have a strong desire to learn and gain expertise in material (fabric) testing.
• Starting Spring 2023 (Summer 2023 start possible) - May 2024 (estimated)
• Contact Prof. Alireza Amirkhizi by email: Alireza_Amirkhizi@uml.edu

Funded by both NASA and the Army, the Advanced Composite Materials and Textiles Research Laboratory is working on multiple research projects focused on characterizing material properties of the textiles in both subsonic and supersonic parachute decelerators. The research team will likely include both graduate and undergraduate researchers to perform a combination of quasi-static and dynamic testing in both uniaxial and biaxial conditions. The studies also include some test fixture and method development. These project will accumulate vital data to future developments and deployments of parachutes used on earth and in space.

Acoustics-based Damage Detection from Operational Wind Turbine Blades (Algorithm Development)

• Graduate Research Assistant
• Ph.D. Student (Outstanding BS students considering to become a graduate student or MS students will be considered)
• Starting Fall 2023 (Summer 2023 start possible)
• Contact Prof. Murat Inalpolat by email: Murat_Inalpolat@uml.edu
• Fully funded (tuition and fees + stipend + 80 percent of health insurance)

The graduate level researcher in this position will develop and test an acoustic sensor network that is needed for damage detection from operational wind turbine blades. This graduate student is expected to have, or motivated to develop, background in acoustics and vibrations, signal processing and machine learning as well as testing and data analysis. The ideal candidate (preferably with ME, EE and/or CE/CS background) will have a strong interest in data collection, analysis, and algorithm development. Working knowledge of Matlab / Python, and motivation to learn signal processing, structural health monitoring and machine learning algorithms is preferred. This position requires an undergraduate GPA > 3.500, and satisfactory analytical and language skills, work ethics, integrity, and self-motivation.

Computational Fluid Dynamics and Aero-Acoustics (CAA) for Flow-field Modeling and Structural Health Monitoring

• Graduate Research Assistant
• Ph.D. Student (Outstanding BS students considering to become a graduate student or MS students will be considered)
• Starting Fall 2023 (Spring/Summer 2023 start possible)
• Contact Prof. Murat Inalpolat by email: Murat_Inalpolat@uml.edu
• Fully funded (tuition and fees + stipend + 80 percent of health insurance)

The researcher in this position will develop and use computational fluid dynamics and aero-acoustics simulation tools to simulate laminar/turbulent flow fields and assess wind turbine blade damage using acoustic measurements/predictions. The computational tools will also be used to optimize the damage detection capability and sensor placement. The ideal candidate will have a strong interest in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), acoustics, scientific computing, aerodynamics, and fluid-structure interaction (FSI) as well as optimization. Background/experience in Ansys Fluent, COMSOL CFD, OpenFOAM (or similar), computer programming using compiled languages (Python, C, others) and/or Matlab, numerical methods for PDEs (boundary/finite element, finite difference and/or finite volume) and/or prior experience using CFD/CAA tools is strongly preferred. Parallel computing experience is advantageous, but not required. This graduate student is also expected to support sensor hardware development and any testing activities in the lab and in the field. This position requires an undergraduate GPA > 3.500 (or commensurate experience), and satisfactory analytical skills, communication skills, work ethics, integrity, and self-motivation.

Machine Learning assisted Controls for Advanced Exoskeleton Development and Testing

• Graduate Research Assistant
• Ph.D. Student (Outstanding BS students considering to become a graduate student or MS students will be considered)
• Starting Fall 2023 (Summer 2023 start possible)
• Contact Prof. Murat Inalpolat by email: Murat_Inalpolat@uml.edu
• Fully funded (tuition and fees + stipend + 80 percent of health insurance)

The researcher in this project will develop controls and machine learning algorithms (Matlab and Python based) to help develop and test improved controllers for exoskeletons employed by military personnel. This graduate student is expected to have, or motivated to develop, background in coding in Python and/or C/Matlab, signal processing, machine learning and algorithms development as well as field/lab testing of the exoskeletons and data analysis. The algorithms will be used to predict future actions and responses of the exoskeleton users. This position requires an undergraduate GPA > 3.500 (or commensurate experience), and satisfactory analytical skills, communication skills, work ethics, integrity, and self-motivation.

Experimental Investigation on the influence of Nonlinear Vibration Absorbers on the Forced Vibration Response of Automotive Transmissions

• Graduate Research Assistant
• MS Student (Outstanding BS students considering to become a graduate student will be considered)
• Starting Fall 2023 (or earlier) - Estimated to take ~1 year to complete
• Contact Prof. Murat Inalpolat by email: Murat_Inalpolat@uml.edu
• Unfunded position (may be funded in the future)

The researcher in this position will develop and experimentally test nonlinear vibration absorbers to be used in automotive manual and automatic transmissions. This researcher will improve an existing test rig, further develop the Labview test interface and conduct many experiments to investigate the effectiveness of a special tuned-mass vibration absorber to reduce torsional vibrations from vehicle transmissions. Experience with laboratory testing, automotive transmissions, multibody dynamics, mechanical vibrations as well as LabVIEW and Matlab programming language is essential for this position. Experience with computer programming and graphical user interface design using one or more of the compiled languages (Phython, C, C++, other) is preferred. Contact Prof. Murat Inalpolat by email: Murat_Inalpolat@uml.edu with your updated resume.

Nonlinear Vibration Modeling and Testing of Sandwich Structures under Impact Loading

• Graduate Research Assistant
• MS Student (Outstanding BS students considering to become a graduate student will be considered)
• Starting Fall 2023 (or earlier) - Estimated to take ~1 year to complete
• Contact Prof. Murat Inalpolat by email: Murat_Inalpolat@uml.edu
• Unfunded position (may be funded in the future)

The researcher in this position will develop a fast and efficient analytical model of the dynamic response of a multi-shell sandwich structure. The sandwich structure operates under impact loads and can have different boundary conditions. The analytical tool (with a GUI) will be used to optimize the design of sandwich structures that may be used in aerospace and military applications. The ideal candidate will have a strong interest in vibrations, scientific computing, design optimization, and Matlab (and/or Python) programming. This position requires a high GPA, satisfactory analytical and language skills, work ethics, integrity, and self-motivation.

Prognostics of Large-Scale Battery Systems using Limited Sensor Data

• Graduate Research Assistant
• MS Student (Outstanding BS students considering to become a graduate student will be considered)
• Starting Fall 2023 (or earlier)
• Contact Prof. Murat Inalpolat by email: Murat_Inalpolat@uml.edu
• Unfunded position (may be funded in the future)

Design, Fabrication, and Implantation of Custom Brain Machine Interfaces

• Doctoral Research Assistant
• Spring 2023 or Fall 2023 start
• Candidate can be either graduating/graduated senior or a Master's level student looking to pursue their doctorate
• Contact Prof. Lei Chen by email: Lei_Chen@uml.edu

The researcher in this position will optimize automated fabrication and tip preparation technologies for custom brain-machine interfaces and investigate the vibration-assisted implantation of such apparatus deep into the brain through membrane layers without buckling. Ultimate goal of the research is to understand the optical size, tip geometry, and the corresponding automated fabrication and implantation technology for custom cellular-scale brain-machine interfaces for both neuroscience studies and future brain-machine communication devices. The student will gain expertise in various advanced manufacturing techniques including additive manufacturing and precision machining, cutting mechanics of biological membrane layers through experiments and modelling, and machine design skills. This student researcher will collaborate closely with a few leading neuroscience teams around the country to identify the real-world surgical needs and advance the neuroscience studies through advanced manufacturing technologies. The student will be supported for the duration of their doctoral studies.

CFD Simulations for Navy Applications

• Hourly Research Assistant(s)
• Senior Undergraduate or M.S Student
• Starting Summer or Fall 2023
• Contact Prof. Noah Van Dam by email: Noah_VanDam@uml.edu

Students will contribute to multiple projects funded by the United States Navy to perform various computational fluid dynamics simulations of burner systems and internal combustion engines. Students would be joining a team of current students under multiple faculty advisors, and may be asked to work in one of several areas, including salt-air modeling, deposit and corrosion, ammonia combustion simulations. Interested students should contact prof. Van Dam to discuss specific project tasks available. Students will utilize High Performance Computing resources and Converge CFD simulation software. Training and support is available, but interested students should have strong computing and/or programming skills. Previous experience with Linux and/or engineering simulations are beneficial. Women and members of underrepresented minorities are encouraged to apply.