Faculty & Research

About our research

Mechanical engineers and materials scientists will address the most pressing challenges of the 21st century: providing a plentiful supply of clean energy; ensuring high-quality, affordable health care; and maintaining the security of nations and communities. The principles of mechanics are embedded in each of these challenges, determining the behavior of man-made and natural systems as diverse as wind turbines, crawling cells and fighter jets. New materials — nanostructured, multifunctional, energy-harvesting, light, strong and environmentally friendly — will disrupt the way these systems are designed and made.

MEMS research areas

Biomechanics.jpg

Biomechanics & Mechanobiology

The study of the mechanical behavior and properties of biological systems combined with the study of the effect of the mechanical environment on biological systems.

Thermal-fluids.jpg

Thermal-Fluids in Energy, Aerospace and Biomedicine

Application of the principles of thermal-fluids to develop solutions for renewable energy, energy storage and harvesting, electronics cooling, and efficient, safe, and sustainable transportation.

Advanced-materials.jpg

Advanced Materials

The combination of novel synthesis strategies, advanced characterization techniques, computational tools and data science methods to investigate the relationship between a material's structure, the way it is manufactured, and the properties it exhibits.

Research videos

What is mechanobiology

Bomb-sniffing locusts

Inside the Wagenseil lab

Research by the numbers

Announcement.png
1/3
of faculty members have NSF CAREER Awards
ChemicalSafety.png
61%
increase in research expenditures from 2018 to 2021
Brookings.png
#38
top rising materials science institutions worldwide (Nature Index)

Institute of Materials Science & Engineering (IMSE) facilities

Scientists across the university will use the new facility to conduct research where micron- and nanometer-sized circuits or patterns in semiconductors and metals are employed to explore and control electronic and optical properties of materials.

IMSE acquires new facility for fabricating nanomaterials

Learn more about IMSE