MAE - Key Persons
Dr. Saveliev is interested in plasma engineering, combustion, and alternative energy systems.
Dr. Mazzoleni is interested in dynamics, vibrations, solid mechanics, nonlinear systems, astronautics, spacecraft design, biomechanics, power generation, and energy storage. He is the Director of the Engineering Mechanics and Space Systems Laboratory (EMSSL) at NC State.
At the graduate level, Dr. Mazzoleni teaches Advanced Dynamics I (MAE 511), Advanced Dynamics II (MAE 789), and Space Exploration Systems (MAE 589 ). The advanced dynamics courses cover: rotating coordinate systems, Euler angles, Quaternions, three-dimensional kinematics and kinetics, angular momentum methods and analytical mechanics topics (e.g. Lagrange's equations, Liapunov Stability). Examples are concentrated in the area of aerospace vehicles, but the methods learned will be applicable to land-based vehicles and any engineering system undergoing rigid body rotation, e.g. wind turbines, biomechanical systems, machine tools, robotic systems, etc. The Space Exploration Systems course covers basic orbital mechanics topics, as well as giving an introduction to all of the major systems involved with sending humans and robotic vehicles into space (e.g. propulsion systems, attitude controls systems, life support systems, etc.). At the undergraduate level, Dr. Mazzoleni teaches the Space option of Aerospace Senior Design (MAE 478 and MAE 479), Introduction to Space Flight (MAE 467), and also teaches introductory courses in Engineering Mechanics (Dynamics, Solid Mechanics, etc.). Dr. Mazzoleni works closely with his graduate students, and starting from first principles, he instills in them an understanding of a practical problem-solving approach. His students are motivated and interested in dynamics, space exploration, energy generation, or biomedical engineering. Outside of work, Dr. Mazzoleni spends time with his family and enjoys hiking, fishing, basketball, and playing the piano.
Dr. Kuznetsov is interested in developing models of electrically charged monolith filters capable of capturing viruses.
At the graduate level, Dr. Kuznetsov teaches Heat Transfer Theory and Applications (MAE 505) and Advanced Convective heat Transfer (MAE 708). In both of these courses, he presents real-life problems that have unexpected solutions. For example, he once told his students the true story of a problem that several Cosmonauts faced when first arriving at an uninhabited space station. The station was without power and its interior was very cold. They needed to know precisely the temperature in the station but did not have any devices to measure temperature. So, one of the Cosmonaut's spit on a wall and measured with a watch the time it took for it to freeze. Stories like this demonstrate how physical principles solve problems in unexpected ways and bring the material to life.
At the undergraduate level, Dr. Kuznetsov teaches Fluid Mechanics I (MAE 308) and Heat Transfer (MAE 310). He complements the fundamental treatment with videos showing different effects and a lot of modern topics, like a discussion on why biological cells dehydrate when they freeze and the wonderful properties of superfluid liquid helium.
Dr. Kuznetsov's students, like himself, are more than anything else obsessed with modeling fluid-thermal systems, which fosters a stimulating research environment. In fact, Dr. Kuznetsov's graduate students, after first working with him, are often surprised and pleased to discover that he treats them as colleagues. They enjoy an atmosphere of stimulating discussions on competing ideas. The biotechnology focus of the research also makes the subject particularly interesting.
Outside of work, Dr. Kuznetsov spends time with his family.
Job Titles:
- Graduate Services Assistant
Dr. O'Connor is interested in fabrication, characterization, and modeling of organic electronic devices. Organic semiconductors have enormous potential to transform how we interact with electronics, with wide-ranging application opportunities including low-cost solar power, biocompatible electronics, and ubiquitous integration of electronics into our surroundings (the internet of things). Current research interests in Dr. O'Connor's group include the development of robust flexible and stretchable devices, producing devices with unique capabilities, and establishing scalable processing methods. Devices of interest include solar cells, photodetectors, transistors, and thermoelectrics.
Job Titles:
- Undergraduate Lab Manager
Job Titles:
- Director of Undergraduate Advising
Cheryl's long-term goal, as an educator, is to teach material in a way students will better understand and retain; as an advisor, to guide students toward resources and information that will empower them to develop a solid academic plan.
In her capacity as an educator, Cheryl has taught MAE 214 Solid Mechanics and MAE 316 Strength of Mechanical Components. In both courses, Cheryl developed a teaching approach of lectures and supplements to break up material into smaller parts and describe subtle concepts in more detail. In MAE 214, Cheryl focuses on methodologies for different types of problems, and in MAE 316 she places a strong emphasis on fundamentals of finite element and matrix methods. Cheryl says her greatest satisfaction arises when she sees her students "get it."
In recent years, Cheryl's duties as an undergraduate advisor have commanded the majority of her time. Cheryl commits a great deal of time to meeting with students and responding to emails. During COVID, Cheryl and her fellow MAE advisors developed an online pre-registration portal using Moodle that has enabled a small advising team to manage a large volume of student advisees. The portal provides a detailed walk-through of the BSAE and BSME curricula, updates students on current and new policies, provides general academic information, and prompts students to submit an academic plan of work for review. Cheryl is also involved in MAE curricula development, course scheduling, graduation planning, and various other aspects of departmental administration. Cheryl serves on the College of Engineering coordinators of advising, course and curricula and scholarship committees.
Outside of work Cheryl enjoys cooking, reading, games and spending time with family and friends.
Dr. Chengying "Cheryl" Xu's research interests are advanced manufacturing of multifunctional materials, sensor design and manufacturing in harsh environments, process optimization, and sensor-based health monitoring and control through artificial intelligence (AI). Dr. Xu is actively researching materials processing and advanced manufacturing and has attracted high research funding. She co-authored a textbook (Intelligent Systems: Modeling, Optimization and Control, CRC Press, 2008) and has published five book chapters. Dr. Xu chaired the 1st NSF National Wireless Research Collaboration Workshop in 2015. Currently she is serving as the Editor-in-Chief at Nature Portfolio: npj Advanced Manufacturing. She has served as an Associate Editor of ASME Transactions since 2015.
Dr. Xu's research focuses on manufacturing multifunctional ceramic materials, especially on their electrical/dielectric, mechanical, and thermal properties, and how to manufacture such materials for high-temperature applications. Such studies provide great flexibility in design and manufacturing and meet a wide range of application requirements, such as high-temperature sensor design for extreme conditions, etc. The ability to effectively integrate these technologies and materials into applicable devices is critical for industry and federal government laboratories. Her research interests have been in the field of advanced manufacturing and applying the knowledge and experience to help bring engineering components and devices for next-generation energy, environmental, aerospace, and defense applications, with specific focuses on the following aspects:
Research and development of novel multifunctional materials with desirable structures/functionalities;
Developing practical/robust manufacturing processes to transform new materials into engineering components and devices;
Understanding the fundamental physics and chemistry of advanced manufacturing processes;
Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) / machine learning (ML) into manufacturing processes.
Chi-An Yeh's research focuses on the intersection of unsteady fluid mechanics, data science, and network science with particular emphasis on innovating active flow control techniques for unsteady aerodynamic applications. He is also interested in computational fluid dynamics, dynamical systems and optimization.
Prior to joining NC State, Dr. Yeh was a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles. He received his Ph.D. from the Florida State University, M.S. from National Taiwan University, and B.S. from National Chiao Tung University, all in Mechanical Engineering.
Job Titles:
- Sponsored Research Administrator
Dr. Carter received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Virginia in 2017. He also received a Ph.D. in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering from the University of Virginia in 2021. He was a President's Postdoctoral Fellow in the Aerospace Engineering department at Georgia Institute of Technology under Juergen Rauleder. At NCSU, he teaches MAE 452 (Aerodynamics of VSTOL) & MAE 252 (Aerodynamics). Dr. Carter enjoys playing basketball, volunteering, watching movies, and learning about new topics when not in the lab.
His current research involves understanding near-boundary flight regimes for multirotor vehicles. Near-boundary flight has both performance benefits and penalties for rotorcraft vehicles. His research looks to unlock the underlying aerodynamics to optimize the performance benefits for a vehicle in near-boundary flight. He is also investigating aerodynamic interactions of a multirotor, whether between two vehicles or multiple rotors interacting on a single platform. His research is done experimentally using wind tunnels and hover platforms.
Dr. Afsaneh Rabiei is interested in processing and characterization of advanced materials, metal foams, coatings and composites. She enjoys solving advanced materials problems aimed at improving our health, safety and environment. Her goal is to create new materials along with improving the properties and performance of existing materials by altering their manufacturing techniques and by studying their micro-structural and mechanical characterization and their failure analysis.
Dr. Rabiei teaches Advanced Materials (MAE-539). In this course, Dr. Rabiei exposes students to newer classes of materials like metal foams, coatings, composites and thin films. She also surveys the current state-of-the-art in advanced materials and presents a comparison of our in-house capabilities with the state-of-the-art. At the undergraduate level, she teaches Statics (MAE-206), Solid Mechanics (MAE 314) and Strength of Mechanical Components (MAE-316). These are classical courses but she likes enriching these courses with discussions on environmental and physical properties exhibited by a wide variety of materials and real life applications. She also presents Undergraduate Research through MAE496 and MAE586. In this course an undergraduate student will be teamed up with a graduate student and will be assigned to work on a research project.
Dr. Rabiei is a unique faculty advisor. Her students often work with professionals outside of MAE, on and off campus and quite often with international groups. Her students tend to be motivated, have good reading and writing skills, and enjoy scientific exploration. Much of her work leads to new inventions. She is fond of pointing out that her students work in an environment of creation.
Outside of work, Dr. Rabiei enjoys her time with family and students.
Dr. Andrew Lee's research focuses on leveraging the actuation and sensing capabilities of active materials to develop deployable and reconfigurable structures which are multifunctional. The aim is to design structural systems and architectures that can adapt to dynamic environments through self-shaping and monitoring. He is particularly interested in lightweight space structures, thin-ply composite materials, dynamical and vibrational systems, and elastic instabilities.
Dr. Lee received his B.S.E., M.S.E., and Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan. Prior to joining NC State, he was a postdoctoral scholar in the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories at the California Institute of Technology. Previously he was also a mechanical engineer at Raytheon Technologies.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Member in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at NC State University
Dr. Hooman Tafreshi is a faculty member in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at NC State University. He also serves as the Associate Director for Research at the Nonwovens Institute. Prior to joining NC State University, Dr. Tafreshi was with the Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering Department at Virginia Commonwealth University from 2007 to 2020, where he worked as assistant, associate, and Qimonda full professor. Dr. Tafreshi's research is in the field of thermo-fluids sciences at its interface with material science. His particular research focus is on multiphase fluids and particle/droplet transport through fibrous materials with applications in filtration and separation sciences. This also includes interfacial phenomena and droplet-surface interactions for self-cleaning and drag reduction applications. Dr. Tafreshi is an active member of the American Filtration and Separation (AFS) Society and also serves on the editorial board of Separation and Purification Technology journal. More detailed information about Dr. Tafreshi's past and current research activities can be found on his Porous Media and Multiphase Flow (PMMF) Laboratory website (https://www.mae.ncsu.edu/pmmf/).
Job Titles:
- Associate Teaching Professor
As an educator, Dr. Ewere aspires to impact a yearning for knowledge by instilling a scientific curiosity that will mold exceptional minds for the future. Dr. Ewere's long-term goal is to facilitate a mastery of the engineering discipline by inspiring his students to realize their own potentials.
Dr. Ewere has taught several MAE courses prior to joining NC State in 2018 namely; Fundamentals of Aerodynamics, Numerical Methods, Engineering Mechanics (Dynamics and Statics), Engineering graphics (Solid Edge, SolidWorks and AutoCAD) and computing in Mechanical Engineering.
Since joining NC State, Dr. Ewere has been involved with numerous capstone design projects. He has taught the Mechanical Engineering capstone senior design and currently teaches the Aerospace Engineering capstone senior design course.
Dr. Ewere's interests are in the science and technology at the intersection of aerodynamics, structural mechanics, energy and smart materials. Recent works have focused on exploiting aeroelastic instabilities on piezoelectric structures for engineering applications. His educational research interests include engineering design education, developing better-equipped graduates for the workforce, bridging the core competencies gap, improving diversity and collaboration within disciplines.
Outside work, Dr. Ewere plays soccer and likes to visit new places.
Dr. Wu's long-term goal is to play an important role in the development of robust and nonlinear control theory. A major roadblock in the development of robust and nonlinear control theory is solvability (computation) and so his work focuses largely on solvability.
Dr. Wu teaches Nonlinear System Analysis and Control (MAE 522). This is a first-year graduate-level course that introduces students to the interesting nonlinear behavior and the corresponding control strategies, like Liapunov stability theory, feedback linearization, and sliding mode control. He also teaches Robust Control with Convex methods (MAE 721). This is an advanced course that goes beyond linear theory to provide modern tools that enhance robustness when the system is not completely known.
At the undergraduate level, Dr. Wu teaches Dynamics of Machines (MAE 315) and Principles of Automatic Control (MAE 435). In both of these courses, Dr. Wu's major emphasis to the students is that we are dealing with systems and, as such, that they obey systematic methods.
Dr. Wu's students are theoretically oriented, self-motivated, and work independently. He tends to give them a lot of freedom in their research direction. His students enjoy the subject, among the different reasons, because of its unique blend of mathematics and engineering.
Outside of work, Dr. Wu spends time with his family and enjoys travel.
Dr. Buckner is interested in modeling, analysis, and control of dynamic systems, electromechanical systems, manufacturing automation, intelligent control, mechatronics
Dr. Buckner teaches Design of Electromechanical Systems (MAE 535), a graduate course he introduced in 2000. This course reviews the fundamentals of electromagnetic (EM) theory and introduces the computational tools needed for EM design. During the last half of the semester his students complete industry-sponsored EM machine design projects.
At the undergraduate level, Dr. Buckner teaches Engineering Dynamics (MAE 208) and Principles of Automatic Control (MAE 435). In Engineering Dynamics he brings to class guest lecturers who use engineering dynamics in their work. His Principles of Automatic Control culminates in a "hands on" design project, where students apply modeling and simulation tools to develop controllers which are validated computationally and experimentally. Dr. Buckner uses his research videos to illustrate the power of control systems, like one of an off-road vehicle showing the dramatic improvements in ride quality that can be obtained using an active suspension system.
Dr. Buckner' s research is interesting to students because it focuses on the development of technologies that address human health needs, because it balances mechanical and electrical systems design, and because of its "hands-on" nature. His students are engaged in research and development using theoretical, computational and experimental tools with a focus on technology transfer and commercialization. Dr. Buckner's students tend to be independent, motivated and creative.
Outside of work, Dr. Buckner enjoys spending time with his family, working outdoors, fishing and hunting.
Dr. Su is interested in design, learning, and control of soft robots, surgical robots and humanoid robots. He was a Research Scientist working on surgical robots at Philips Research North America, and then a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University and Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. Prior to joining NC State, he was Irwin Zahn Endowed Assistant Professor at City University of New York, City College.
He received National Science Foundation CAREER Award, Toyota Mobility Challenge Discover Award, Best Medical Robotics Paper Runner-up Award in the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, and Philips Innovation Transfer Award. He is PI for projects supported by NSF, NIH R01, National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research, and Toyota Mobility Foundation. In addition to research and teaching, Dr. Su enjoys outdoor activities including jogging and hiking with his family.
Henry Ware obtained his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma. He obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University under the guidance of Dr. Cheng Sun. His Ph.D. was spent investigating Additive Manufacturing (3D printing) of polymers and polymer/ceramic composites for implantable biomedical implants. Henry is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow. Henry's additive manufacturing expertise includes the various generations of stereolithography (photopolymer 3D printing). As a Professor, Henry will be investigating advanced manufacturing and materials development. Important research interests include scalability of high-resolution fabrication to larger areas and increasing the palette of available materials that can be used in advanced manufacturing methods. Henry is a member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma.
In addition to her duties as Associate Professor, Dr. Hsiao-Ying Shadow Huang also serves as Director of MAE's MS Non-Thesis Program.
Dr. Huang has diverse training in applied mechanics and computational simulation of various material systems. She teaches and conducts research in the areas of mechanics of materials, non-equilibrium thermodynamics, continuum mechanics and nonlinear elasticity. She is currently a Faculty Fellow of External Awards in the Office for Faculty Excellence at NC State University.
Her research programs are centered on understanding the electrochemical-mechanical interactions in energy materials, such as advanced lithium batteries, and the structures/mechanics of biological materials (i.e., cardiovascular and musculoskeletal tissue). She has been recognized by the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE, 2017) from the White House, the NSF CAREER Award (2016) and the University Teacher Award (2020) for her work at NC State.
Dr. Braun's research interests include novel supersonic propulsion concepts for air breathing and aerospace applications, through wind tunnel experiments and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations.
Dr. Patrick is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at North Carolina State University. He is interested in the development of multifunctional, structural composites to address interdisciplinary challenges in modern aerospace, automotive, civil, and naval applications.
Dr. Liu is interested in micro/nano-scale thermal transport and hybrid organic/inorganic functional materials for energy storage, conversion, and management.
Dr. Liu's graduate students are motivated to learn; they are familiar with both simulation and experiment work, and tend to solve multidisciplinary, challenging problems. His students have the opportunity to learn multidisciplinary topics in optics, electronics, thermal science, materials, and solid state physics.
Job Titles:
- Director of Graduate Programs
Job Titles:
- Sponsored Research Administrator
Job Titles:
- Head of Department - Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Job Titles:
- Associate Department Head