Faculty
Mechanical Engineering Full-Time Faculty
Gregory Chirikjian
Noah Cowan
Andrew Douglas
Jaafar El-Awady
Dennice Gayme
Kevin Hemker
Cila Herman
Joseph Katz
Marin Kobilarov
Steven Marra
Charles Meneveau
Rajat Mittal
Thao (Vicky) Nguyen
Andrea Prosperetti
Kaliat T. Ramesh
Nathan Scott
William Sharpe, Jr. (Professor Emeritus)
Sean Sun
Tza-Huei (Jeff) Wang
Louis Whitcomb
Contact Information and Links to Faculty Pages
Gregory S. Chirikjian, Professor
(410) 516-7127
gregc@jhu.edu
117 Hackerman Hall
Research Interests: Computational structural biology (in particular, computational mechanics of large proteins), conformational statistics of biological macromolecules, developed theory for 'hyper- redundant' (snakelike) robot motion planning, designs and builds hyper-redundant robotic manipulator arms, applied mathematics (applications of group theory in engineering), self-replicating robotic systems.
Noah Cowan, Associate Professor
(410) 516-5301
ncowan@jhu.edu
126 Hackerman Hall
Research Interests: Robot dynamics, animal biomechanics, and sensorimotor control; theory and application of control systems and system identification techniques for closed-loop systems (especially biological systems); biological motor control and systems neuromechanics; medical robotics.
Andrew Douglas, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs
(410) 516-6771
douglas@jhu.edu
126 New Engineering Building
Research Interests: Nonlinear mechanics of solids, mechanical response of compliant biological tissues, finite deformation elasticity, Static and dynamic fracture of ductile materials.
Jaafar El-Awady, Assistant Professor
(410) 516-6683
jelawady@jhu.edu
124 Latrobe Hall
Research Interests: Multiscale materials modeling, damage and fracture mechanisms of materials in mechanical design, material degradation in extreme environments, nano-materials and structures, impact dynamics and wave propagation.
Dennice Gayme, Assistant Professor
(410) 516-5784
dennice@jhu.edu
229 Latrobe Hall
Research Interests: Dynamics and control of nonlinear, networked and spatially distributed systems such as the electric power grid, and wind farms. Modeling of turbulence and transition to turbulence in wall bounded shear flows and wind farms. Grid integration of renewable energy sources.
Kevin Hemker, Professor and Department Chair
Alonzo G. Decker Chair in Mechanical Engineering
(410) 516-6451
hemker@jhu.edu
223-C Latrobe Hall
Research Interests: Professor Hemker and his students seek to identify the underlying atomic-scale processes that govern the mechanical behavior of advanced material systems. They are making key observations and discoveries that define the way the mechanics and materials community thinks about and understands the properties of: nanocrystalline materials, MEMS and micro-lattice materials, thermal barrier coatings, armor ceramics, and high temperature structural materials.
Cila Herman, Professor
(410) 516-4467
cherman@jhu.edu
102 Latrobe Hall
Research Interests: Experimental heat transfer and fluid mechanics, optical measurement techniques, image processing. Thermoacoustic refrigeration, influence of electric fields on boiling in terrestrial conditions and microgravity, heat exchangers, heat transfer in boiling, optical tomography, holographic interferometry, cooling of electronic equipment, digital image processing, heat transfer augmentation.
Joseph Katz, William F. Ward Sr. Distinguished Professor
(410) 516-5470
katz@jhu.edu
219 Latrobe Hall
Research Interests: Cavitation phenomena, attached partial cavitation, cavitation in turbulent shear flows, jets and wakes. Multiphase flows: Interaction between bubbles and flow structure, mixing mechanisms and droplet formation in water-fuel stratified shear flows, transport of microscopic particles and droplets in turbulent flows. Development of optical flow diagnostics techniques, including Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and Holographic Particle Image Velocimetry (HPIV). Applications of PIV and HPIV for measuring the characteristics of turbulence and addressing turbulence modeling issues. Complex flow structure and turbulence within turbomachines: Wake-wake and blade-wake interactions in multistage axial turbomachines, flow and rotating stall in centrifugal pumps, development of optical diagnostics techniques for measurements in turbomachines. Oceanography: Flow structure and turbulence in the bottom boundary layer of the coastal ocean; measurement of spatial distributions of plankton, particles and bubbles in the ocean; development of optical instrumentation, including submersible holography and PIV systems. Prevention of nozzle wear in abrasive water suspension jets (AWSJ) using porous lubricated nozzles. Flow-induced vibrations and noise, mechanisms of noise generation in turbulent separated flows and in turbomachines.
Marin Kobilarov, Assistant Professor
(410) 516-5903
marin@jhu.edu
117 Hackerman Hall
Research Interests: Developing intelligent robotic vehicles that can perceive, navigate, and accomplish challenging tasks in uncertain, dynamic, and highly constrained environments. Performing research in analytical and computational methods for mechanics, control, motion planning, and reasoning under uncertainty, and in the design and integration of novel mechanisms and embedded systems. Application areas include mobile robots, aerial vehicles, and nanosatellites.
Steven Marra, Senior Lecturer
(410) 516-0034
marra@jhu.edu
123 Latrobe Hall
Research Interests: Soft and hard tissue biomechanics, nonlinear mechanics of solids, mechanics of tissue damage.
Charles Meneveau
Louis M. Sardella Professor in Mechanical Engineering
(410) 516-7802
meneveau@jhu.edu
127 Latrobe Hall
Research Interests: Theoretical, experimental, and numerical studies in turbulence, large-eddy-simulation, turbulence modeling, fractals and scaling in complex systems, small-scale structure of turbulence and velocity gradient dynamics, applications of LES to environmental flows, wind energy, development of data-intensive science tools to study turbulence.
Rajat Mittal, Professor
(410) 516-4069
mittal@jhu.edu
126 Latrobe Hall
Research Interests: Computational fluid dynamics, Low Reynolds number aerodynamics, biomedical flows, active flow control, LES/DNS, Immersed Boundary Methods, fluid dynamics of locomotion (swimming and flying), biomimetics and bioinspired engineering, turbomachinery flows.
Thao (Vicky) Nguyen, Assistant Professor
(410) 516-4538
vicky.nguyen@jhu.edu
125 Latrobe Hall
Research Interests: Biomechanics: mechanical behavior, growth and remodeling of fibrous soft tissues. Constitutive Modeling: thermomechanics, viscoelasticity, viscoplasticity of shape memory polymers and polymer composites. Fracture Mechanics: fracture and failure of rate dependent materials.
Andrea Prosperetti
Charles A. Miller, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering
(410) 516-8534
prosperetti@jhu.edu
119 Latrobe Hall
Research Interests: Multiphase flow; theoretical and computational fluid mechanics and acoustics; gas and vapor bubbles
Kaliat T. Ramesh, Professor
Alonzo G. Decker Jr. Professor of Science & Engineering
(410) 516-7735
ramesh@jhu.edu
122 Latrobe Hall
Research Interests: Nanomaterials, planetary impact, dynamic failure mechanisms, shock, impact, and wave propagation, high-strain-rate behavior of materials, injury biomechanics, constitutive and failure modeling.
Nathan Scott, Senior Lecturer
(410) 516-5646
nscott19@jhu.edu
Wyman Park Building, Room G05A
Research Interests: Principles and practice of engineering design education.
William Sharpe, Jr., Professor Emeritus
(410) 516-6756
sharpe@jhu.edu
154 WymanHall
Research Interests: Experimental solid mechanics, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), microsample testing.
Sean Sun,
Associate Professor
(410) 516-4003
ssun@jhu.edu
105 Latrobe Hall
Research Interests: Mechanobiology of the cell, molecular biomechanics and biophysics, molecular motors and muscle, statistical mechanics and nonlinear phenomena.
Tza-Huei (Jeff) Wang, Associate Professor
(410) 516-7086
thwang@jhu.edu
108 Latrobe Hall
Research Interests: BioMEMS and microfluidics, single molecule manipulation and detection, nano/micro scale fabrication, conformational dynamics of biomolecules.
Louis Whitcomb, Professor
(410) 516-6724
llw@jhu.edu
116 Hackerman Hall
Research Interests: Control Systems: Adaptive and model-based control of linear and nonlinear systems, observers, nonlinear systems analysis, with focus on problems arising in mechanical systems, robots, and robotic vehicles. Underwater Robotics: Dynamics, control, instrumentation, and navigation of underwater vehicles and inhabited submersibles – with focus on deep submergence oceanographic vehicles. Industrial and Medical Robotics: Dynamics, control, instrumentation, and operation of precision robotics for novel medical and industrial applications.
ME Faculty with Primary Appointments in other Departments
Mehran Armand, Associate Research Professor, APL
mehran.armand@jhuapl.edu
Stephen Belkoff, Associate Professor, Orthopedic Surgery
sbelkoff@jhmi.edu
Robert Cammarata, Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
rcc@jhu.edu
Gregory L. Eyink, Professor, Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics
eyink@ams.jhu.edu
Somnath Ghosh, Professor, Civil Engineering
sghosh20@jhu.edu
Lori Graham-Brady, Associate Professor, Civil Engineering
lori@jhu.edu
Daniel Naiman, Professor, Applied Mathematics and Statistics
daniel.naiman@jhu.edu
Mark Robbins, Professor, Physics and Astronomy
mr@jhu.edu
Alexander Spector, Research Professor, Biomedical Engineering
aspector@bme.jhu.edu
Daniel Stoianovici, Associate Professor, Urology
dss@jhu.edu
Pazhayannur Swaminathan, Research Professor
swaminathan@jhuapl.edu
Russell Taylor, Professor, Computer Science
rht@cs.jhu.edu
Nitish Thakor, Professor, Biomedical Engineering
nthakor@bme.jhu.edu
John Thomas, Assistant Research Professor, APL
john.thomas@jhuapl.edu
David Van Wie, Research Professor, APL
David.VanWie@jhuapl.edu
Rene Vidal, Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering
rvidal@jhu.edu
Liming Voo, Associate Research Professor, APL
Liming.Voo@jhuapl.edu
Timothy Weihs, Professor, Materials Science & Engineering
weihs@jhu.edu
Faculty Committees
Photo (c) 2009 -Jay VanRensselaer, Homewood Photographic Services