Research Areas:
- Green and Sustainable Manufacturing
- Multi-scale modeling of Manufacturing processes
- Advanced metal forming
- Intelligent dental implant technologies, and
- Carbon sequestration and carbon neutrality methods

Current Students
Wencai Li, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Mechanical Engineering
Email: [email protected]
Research topic:
- Thermoplastic composite materials
-
Natural fiber composites
- Nanocellulose composites
- Manufacturing, characterization, and joining of composites
- Repair and recycling mechanisms
-
Additive manufacturing of composites
Rana Dabaja, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Mechanical Engineering
Email: [email protected]
Research topic: Biomechanics and bioengineering technologies for enhancing bone regeneration in medically compromised patients; additive manufacturing of porous architectures and prosthetics for patient-specific tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

Youngrok Lee
Ph.D. candidate in Mechanical Engineering
Email: [email protected]
Research topic:
- Experimental investigation of incremental sheet forming (ISF) for complex part fabrication
- Numerical modeling of aluminum alloys and sheet metal forming processes
- Mechanical behavior and microstructural evolution studies in ultrasonic-assisted metal forming
Zhuoer Li
Ph.D. candidate in Mechanical Engineering
Email: [email protected]
Research topic: Analyzing and increasing the environmental sustainability of fiber-reinforced polymer composite material manufacturing.
Xifei Cao
Ph.D. candidate in Mechanical Engineering
Email: [email protected]
Research topic:
His research focuses on manufacturing, mechanics, materials, and batteries. He also manages a laser manufacturing lab. Passionate about teaching, he has served as a Graduate Student Instructor for “Mechanical Behavior of Materials” for four semesters, gaining valuable experience in mentoring and student learning.
Jacob Harris
Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering
Email: [email protected]
Research topic: Exploring pultrusion techniques to optimize lightweight lignin-based carbon fiber composites for structural applications
Luohaoran (Rain) Wang 
Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering
Email: [email protected]
Research topic: Carbon fiber polymer composites; Carbon fiber recycling; Composites manufacturing; Composites characterizations; Functionality of carbon fiber; Simulation; Machine learning; Material models
Zixuan Mu
Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering
Email: [email protected]
Research topic: Advanced incremental sheet forming simulation, data-driven lightweight metal manufacturing.
Alumni
Metin KAYITMAZBATIR
Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, 2024
Email: [email protected]
Research topic: Metal additive manufacturing (Directed energy deposition)
Weiling Wen
Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, 2022
Email: [email protected]
Research topic:
Yasmeen Shakour
Master’s Student in School of Information
Email: [email protected]
Research topic:
Marianna Anagnostou
Master’s Student in Mechanical Engineering
Email: [email protected]
Research topic:
Zonta Owens
Master’s Student in Mechanical Engineering
Email: [email protected]
Research topic:
Tae Hwa Lee
Postdoctoral Researcher in Mechanical Engineering
Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan 2020
Email: [email protected]
Research topic:
- Design and manufacturing processes: dissimilar material joining, compression molding of composites, injection molding of composites
- Multi-scale modeling of joining processes such as ultrasonic welding of thermoplastic short carbon fiber composites
- Material characterization and identification of the constitutive material models
- Thermo-mechanical, vibration, fluid dynamics modeling in the manufacturing process.

Jaekwang Shin
Postdoctoral Researcher in Mechanical Engineering
Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan 2016-2021
Email: [email protected]
Research topic: Advanced modeling for incremental sheet forming. Investigation of the influence of the process parameters and the development of the finite element model for incremental forming. An evaluation of different model parameters and the establishment of the guideline for choosing the process parameters for ISF. Deriving the mechanism of various defective phenomena found during the incremental forming. Development of the novel analytical model for 3-D prediction of the geometry and thickness.

Yang Li
Research Fellow in Mechanical Engineering
Email: [email protected]
Research topic:
Mohammad Ravand
Research Fellow in Mechanical Engineering
Email: [email protected]
Research topic:
Lynn Cook
Administrative Assistant
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Email: [email protected]