Faculty & Staff

Faculty

Robert Hyers
George I. Alden Professor and Head, Mechanical & Materials Engineering

Phone: +1 (508) 8315759

Professor Hyers works at the interface between computers and the physical world. His most recent applications are in high-temperature materials and high-temperature materials processing systems. His recent projects include model-based experiments on the Space Station including magnetohydrodynamic effects on nucleation and solidification, novel methods for measurement of properties of matter at high temperature, scale-up of a novel metallurgical process by 1000X, and a novel approach to thermal management in spacecraft propulsion. ...

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Sarah Jane Wodin-Schwartz
Associate Professor of Teaching & Associate Department Head, Mechanical & Materials Engineering

Phone: +1 (508) 8316037


Professor Wodin-Schwartz joined WPI in August 2015. Her Ph.D. research focused on the use of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) for down hole geothermal well monitoring. Before joining WPI, she spent two years at the technical consulting firm Exponent Inc., where she conducted failure analyses and design evaluations for projects ranging from consumer products to power systems. As a consultant she worked with over 75 different clients ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies. ...

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Mehul Bhatia
Associate Teaching Professor, Mechanical & Materials Engineering

Phone: +1 (508) 8315217

Dr. M. A. Bhatia is an Assistant Teaching Professor in Mechanical & Materials Engineering Department at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Prior to coming to WPI, Dr. Bhatia was a Postdoctoral Researcher at Arizona State University where he was working on thermal and mechanical stability of nanocrystalline Cu-Ta material which was published in nature journal. He received his Ph.D. from Arizona State University in December 2014. ...

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Thomas Christiansen

Phone: +1 (508) 8316008

Professor Christiansen works with microstructure optimization and surface engineering of metallic materials for improving materials properties and performance. He is the director of the Center for Heat Treating Excellence (CHTE), which is a member-driven industrial center anchored at Worcester Polytechnic Institute that conducts research and development for primarily the thermal processing industry. The center focuses on heat treating and thermochemical surface engineering of metallic components – technological disciplines that are important for our modern society. Prof. ...

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Danielle Cote
Associate Professor, Mechanical & Materials Engineering

Phone: +1 (508) 8316020

 

After graduating from UNH with a chemical engineering degree in 2005, Danielle Cote worked as a researcher at Saint-Gobain in the Northboro Research and Development Center in polymer science and data automation.  Cote continued working while she pursued a master’s degree at WPI, followed by a PhD fellowship, and joined the WPI faculty in 2016.  ...

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Aswin Gnanaskandan
Assistant Professor, Mechanical & Materials Engineering

Phone: +1 (508) 8316438

 

Prof. Aswin Gnanaskandan joined the WPI faculty in August 2020 as an assistant professor. His research experience prior to WPI includes a Postdoctoral Researcher position at California Institute of Technology, USA, a Research Scientist position at Dynaflow Inc, USA, and a Scientist position at the Defense Research and Development Laboratory, India.  ...

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Selcuk Guceri

Phone: +1 (508) 8314692

Dr. Selcuk Guceri is a distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at WPI, where he also served as the inaugural Bernard M. Gordon Dean of Engineering from 2011-2013. Dr. Guceri earned his undergraduate degree from ODTÜ/METU in Turkey and his Ph.D. from North Carolina State University. He began his academic career at the University of Delaware, establishing major research programs in composite materials and energy. ...

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Jianyu Liang

Phone: +1 (508) 8316649

Professor Liang’s research explores the physics of interfaces between the nanometer and micron scales.  Her team responds to the challenging interdisciplinary nature of their research endeavor through successful collaboration with colleagues with expertise in metrology, physics, bioscience, medical science, chemistry, and fire protection engineering.  Her educational effort includes novel approaches to project-based learning and global centers for science and engineering. ...

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Yuxiang Liu
Associate Professor, Mechanical & Materials Engineering

Phone: +1 (508) 8314829

The overarching theme of my research is light-matter interactions and their applications in microscale and nanoscale. Particularly, my research interests include optical trapping, optofluidics, nanophotonics, cavity optomechanics, and fiber optic sensing systems, with an emphasis on optical actuation, damping, and sensing of mechanics in micro-/nano-scale structures and biological specimens. The potential applications of my research include on-chip disease diagnosis, in vivo disease treatments, motion detection in consumer electronics, health monitoring, and biomechanics. ...

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Makhlouf Makhlouf

Phone: +1 (508) 8315647

Makhlouf M. Makhlouf is professor of Mechanical & Materials Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). He was Director of the Advanced Casting Research Center (ACRC) between 1992 and 2015. ACRC is a collaboration between the academic and industrial sectors focusing on issues that benefit the global foundry industry. It brings fundamental understanding to existing processes, develops new methods, and addresses management-technology interface matters. ...

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Zhu Mao
Associate Professor, Mechanical & Materials Engineering

Phone: +1 (508) 8314845

Dr. Zhu Mao joined WPI as an Associate Professor in the Mechanical and Materials Engineering Department in 2021, and before that, he was on the faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell from 2015. His research interests include dynamics and vibration, intelligent systems, noncontact sensing and computer vision, signal processing and machine learning, uncertainty quantification, and condition-based monitoring for a variety of applications. ...

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Brajendra Mishra
Kenneth G. Merriam Distinguished Professor, Director, MPI & Donald M. Zwiep Distinguished Fellow, Mechanical & Materials Engineering

Phone: +1 (508) 8315711

 

Brajendra Mishra’s research focuses on sustainable stewardship of earth’s resources by developing technologies to advance commercially viable metals/materials processing. He is involved in the design and development of industry-oriented methods for energy and materials sustainability, which is one of the greatest challenges in the 21st Century. ...

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Mehdi Mortazavi
Associate Teaching Professor, Mechanical & Materials Engineering

Phone: +1 (508) 8314927

We are hiring! Click here to learn more. 

 

My research interests include multiphase flow, droplet dynamics, clean hydrogen energy systems, and decarbonization. I am an experimentalist in thermo-fluid sciences and engage in both fundamental and applied research. As the director of the Multiscale Thermal Fluids Laboratory (MTFL) at WPI, I lead a team that focuses on addressing thermo-fluidic challenges across a variety of applications.  ...

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Lee Moradi
Professor of Practice, Mechanical & Materials Engineering

Phone: +1 (508) 8316186

Lee Moradi, PhD, PE

WPI School of Engineering, Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering (MME)

 

Lee Moradi joined WPI in February 2022 as a Professor in the Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering (MME).  He is also the Co-Director of the Autonomous Vehicle Mobility Institute (AVMI).  Prior to WPI, Lee had 18 years of experience with industry and 25 years as a faculty and director at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).  Lee held several leadership positions at UAB including: ...

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Pradeep Radhakrishnan
Associate Professor of Teaching, Mechanical & Materials Engineering

Phone: +1 (508) 8316544

Teaching gives me an opportunity to interact with students and to continually learn and impart new concepts at the same time. I teach Modeling and Analysis of Mechatronic Systems (ME/RBE 4322) and Advanced Engineering Design (ME 4320) during the regular academic year. During summer, I teach Intro to Dynamic Systems (ES 2503) and Kinematics of Mechanisms (ME 3310).

My research is centered around developing automated design tools and hardware related to mechatronic systems. ...

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Pratap Rao
Associate Professor, Mechanical & Materials Engineering

Phone: +1 (508) 8314828

My research is aimed at discovering, understanding and developing advanced materials for a range of applications including solar energy conversion, catalysis, printed electronics, sensors, and functional coatings. Our lab specializes in the synthesis of nanostructured thin film materials using scalable processes. Students and researchers in my lab can expect to work on highly interdisciplinary projects at the intersection of materials science, mechanical engineering, solid state physics, and thermal sciences.

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Ahmet Sabuncu
Assistant Professor of Teaching, Mechanical & Materials Engineering

Phone: +1 (508) 8315807

Dr. Sabuncu holds a Ph. D. in Aerospace Engineering from Old Dominion University. Dr. Sabuncu’s professional interests is thermo-fluids engineering including microfluidic applications. He is also interested in dielectric spectroscopy of cells and tissues since 2009. His research in engineering education focuses on development of online laboratory exercises and use of Internet of Things & artificial intelligence in engineering education. ...

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Joe Stabile

Phone: +1 (508) 8315181

I have spent 36 years in product development. 25 years in the computer storage industry working on airborne hard drives, desktop hard drives, tape storage systems, optical storage devices, and robotic pick and place systems for tape cartridges. Most recently I have spent the last 11 years at Bose Corporation working in advanced development on high efficiency small speaker systems. ...

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Vladimir Vantsevich

Phone: +1 (508) 8315013

Vladimir Vantsevich is a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. He serves as co-Director and Principal Investigator of the Autonomous Vehicle Mobility Institute (AVMI). Prior to WPI, he worked as a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Lawrence Technological University (LTU) in Michigan. Before LTU, Dr. ...

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Yan Wang

Phone: +1 (508) 8315453

I am William Smith Foundation Dean’s Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Since joining WPI, I have been very active in research. Currently, my lab focuses on the study of new electrodes and materials for energy storage, including lithium ion batteries, supercapacitors, flow batteries, battery manufacturing, battery safety and recycle, and fundamental electrochemistry. This research can lead to energy storage with high energy density, high power density, long life, low cost, and high safety. ...

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Jamal Yagoobi
George F. Fuller Professor, Mechanical & Materials Engineering

Phone: +1 (508) 8315299

 

I enjoy teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Teaching is very rewarding, and it allows me to interact with the students. My teaching portfolio includes undergraduate and graduate level courses in the areas of heat transfer, fluid mechanics, liquid/vapor phase change, thermodynamics, and design of thermal systems. ...

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Jiawei Yang
Assistant Professor, Mechanical & Materials Engineering

Phone: +1 (508) 8316749

Jiawei Yang is an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at WPI. He received a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Sciences from Harvard University and completed postdoctoral training at MIT and Boston Children’s Hospital. He joined WPI in 2024.  ...

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Yihao Zheng
Assistant Professor, Mechanical & Materials Engineering

Phone: +1 (508) 8314649

My research focuses on medical and manufacturing innovation. I apply manufacturing science and technology to enhance healthcare. I contribute fundamental knowledge of tissue mechanics and imaging properties, provide novel computational modeling methodologies to simulate and understand manufacturing and surgical processes, and develop medical devices and clinical manufacturing systems to tackle unmet clinical needs. ...

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Administrative Staff - Mechanical Engineering

Administrative Staff - Lab Managers

Administrative Staff - HAAS Technical Center

Joel Harris
Senior Instructional Lab Engineer, Mechanical & Materials Engineering

Phone: +1 (508) 8315219

Joel Harris, PE, joined the Manufacturing Laboratory after a 32 year career at Raytheon Technologies (formerly Raytheon Co) plus 3 years at Pratt & Whitney Aircraft.  Joel’s area of expertise is mechanical and mechatronic engineering of aerospace and marine products.  Joel worked on design, analysis, manufacture, test of components and systems, plus support to fielded products.  For his last 12 years at Raytheon, Joel was the engineering lead for the manufacture of the PATRIOT GEM-T missile control section.   ...

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Administrative Staff - Center For Advanced Research In Drying

Administrative Staff - Metals Processing Institute

Associated Faculty

Name Title Email Phone Extension Office Location
Francesca Bernardi Assistant Professor fbernardi@wpi.edu 4183 Stratton Hall 105D
Nicholas Bertozzi Senior Instructor nbertozzi@wpi.edu 6166 85 Prescott, #207
Kristen L. Billiar Professor kbilliar@wpi.edu 5384 Gateway Park, 4008
Kathy Chen STEM Education Executive Director kcchen@wpi.edu 6221 157 West Street
Nicholas A. Dembsey Professor ndembsey@wpi.edu 5971 Gateway Park II 1212
Songbai Ji Associate Professor sji@wpi.edu 6852 Gateway Park 3002
Sharon Johnson Professor sharon@wpi.edu 5183 Washburn Shops 223
Renata Konrad Assistant Professor rkonrad@wpi.edu 5192 Washburn Shops 205
Greg Lewin Assistant Teaching Professor/Associate Head of RBE glewin@wpi.edu 5587 UH 250J
Reinhold Ludwig Professor ludwig@wpi.edu 5315 Atwater Kent 229
Solomon Mensah Assistant Professor smensah@wpi.edu 4036 Gateway, 60 Prescott Street
Markus Nemitz Assistant Professor mnemitz@wpi.edu N/A Rm 311, 85 Prescott Street
Kathy A. Notarianni Associate Professor kanfpe@wpi.edu 6786 Gateway Park II 1205
Cagdas Onal Associate Professor cdonal@wpi.edu 4857 Higgins Labs 105
Milosh T. Puchovsky Professor of Practice milosh@wpi.edu 5113 Gateway Park II 1209
Nima Rahbar Associate Professor nrahbar@wpi.edu 6567 Kaven Hall 106
Ali S. Rangwala Associate Professor rangwala@wpi.edu 6409 Gateway Park II 1210
Albert Simeoni Professor asimeoni@wpi.edu 5162 Gateway Park II 1203
Burt S. Tilley Associate Professor tilley@wpi.edu 6664 Stratton Hall 105A
Michal Timko Associate Professor mttimko@wpi.edu 4101 Goddard Hall 123
Walter Thomas Towner Assistant Teaching Professor fabman@wpi.edu 6013 Washburn Shops 222
Karen Troy Associate Professor ktroy@wpi.edu 6093 Gateway Park 4007
James Urban Associate Professor jurban@wpi.edu N/A 50 Prescott Street (Gateway Park II) 1213
Zhenglun Alan Wei Assistant Professor zwei1@wpi.edu 6239 Gateway Park 1,  4038

 

 

Faculty Emeriti

Faculty Name Title WPI Email
Diran Apelian Professor Emeritus dapelian@wpi.edu
Holly K. Ault Associate Professor Emerita hkault@wpi.edu
Isa Bar-On Professor Emerita ibaron@wpi.edu
John M. Boyd Professor Emeritus jmboyd@wpi.edu
Chrysanthe Demetry Professor Emerita cdemetry@wpi.edu
Allen H. Hoffman Professor Emeritus ahoffman@wpi.edu
Brian J. Savilonis Professor Emeritus bjs@wpi.edu
Satya Shivkumar Professor Emeritus shivkuma@wpi.edu
Richard Sisson Professor Emeritus sisson@wpi.edu
John M. Sullivan, Jr. Professor Emeritus sullivan@wpi.edu
Ryszard J. Pryputniewicz Professor Emeritus rjp@wpi.edu