Department of Mechanical Engineering

Faculty

Melvyn C. Branch

• Joseph Negler Professor Emeritus
• Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1971
• Experimental and theoretical research on characterization of combustion processes; energy conversion; air pollution control

Victor M. Bright

• Alvah and Harriett Hovlid Professor and Faculty Director for Discovery Learning
• Ph.D., Georgia Institute of Technology, 1992
• Micro- and nanoelectromechanical systems, microfabrication, microsensors, microactuators, materials and devices, opto-electronics, electronics,  and micro/nano systems packaging and integration

Scott Bunch

• Assistant Professor
• Ph.D., Cornell University, 2008
• Fabrication and characterization of nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) from suspended graphene sheets, electron transport in nanoelectronic devices from graphene sheets and single-walled carbon nanotubes, scanned probe microscopy of nanostructures

Lawrence E. Carlson

• Professor
• D.Eng., University of California, Berkeley, 1971
• Research in engineering education, design of upper-limb prostheses

John W. Daily

• Professor
• Ph.D., Stanford University, 1975
• Biomass gasification, wild land fire chemistry, MEMS for propulsion, optical cancer detection, laser diagnostics of reacting flows, combustion

Subhendu K. Datta

• Professor Emeritus
• Ph.D., Jadavpur University, 1962
• Ultrasonic material characterization and nondestructive evaluation, guided waves, scattering, acoustic phonon dispersion

Olivier Desjardins

• Assistant Professor
• Ph.D., Stanford University, 2008
• Large-eddy simulation and direct numerical simulation of turbulent liquid atomization, Advanced numerical methods for complex reacting turbulent flows and for multiphase flows, Lagrangian and Eulerian spray modeling, Modeling of turbulent multiphase combustion

Yifu Ding

• Assistant Professor (beginning Aug. 2008)
• Ph.D., University of Akron, 2005
• Structure and dynamics of glass formers, Fabrication and characterization of nanostructured materials, Stability and Instability of polymer nanostructures, Inelastic light/neutron scattering spectroscopy, Nanoimprint Lithography

Martin L. Dunn

• Victor Schelke Professor and Department Chair
• Ph.D., University of Washington, 1992
• Micro/nanomechanics of materials and structures, heterogeneous media, active materials

Virginia Ferguson

• Assistant Professor
• Ph.D., University of Colorado at Boulder, 2001
• Nano-scale characterization of materials; multi-scale structure-property-function relationships for biological tissue; aging, unloading, disease and genetics for musculoskeletal system

Thomas L. Geers

• Professor Emeritus
• Ph.D., MIT, 1967
• Radiation and scattering, structural dynamics, hydrodynamics, structure-medium interaction, finite-and boundary-element methods

Alan R. Greenberg

• Professor and Executive Director, Membrane Applied Science and Technology Center
• Ph.D., Drexel University, 1978
• Physical and mechanical behavior of polymeric materials, membranes and thin-films, real-time techniques for nondestructive measurement

Michael Hannigan

• Assistant Professor
• Ph.D., California Institute of Technology, 1997
• Characterization of air pollution, impact of air quality on health, energy links to air quality

Jean R. Hertzberg

• Associate Professor and Undergraduate Chair
• Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1986
• Flow visualization, fluids education, experimental vortex dominated fluid dynamics and applications in combustion and biomechanics

Daven Henze

• Assistant Professor (beginning Jan. 2009)
• Ph.D., California Institute of Technology, 2007
• Aerosols and air quality, Climatology and atmospheric chemistry, Adjoint sensitivity analysis, Data assimilation and remote sensing

David R. Kassoy

• Professor Emeritus
• Ph.D., University of Michigan, 1965
• Solid rocket motor chamber flow dynamics, detonation initiation, bubble dynamics in oscillating pipe flows, response of gases to local thermal power deposition on the sub-microsecond time scale, applications of asymptotic methods to multiple-scale problems

Daria Kotys-Schwartz

• Instructor
• Ph.D., University of Colorado at Boulder, 2007
• Novel manufacturing techniques, development of student assessment measures, gender disparity in engineering, curriculum development, innovative instructional methods

Frank Kreith

• Professor Emeritus
• Doctorate in Applied Science, University of Paris, 1965
• Heat transfer, thermal engineering, solar engineering

Hassel Ledbetter

• Adjunct Professor
• Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1969
• Materials science, elastic properties of materials, anelastic phenomena, phase transformations

Se-Hee Lee

• Associate Professor
• Ph.D., Seoul National University, 1997
• Nanostructured materials for battery, electrochromic device, electrochemical supercapacitor, opto-electronic, and sensor applications, thin film rechargeable lithium batteries, intercalation materials.

Yung-Cheng Lee

• Professor and Director, iMINT Center
• Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1984
• Design, packaging, and interconnects for micro/nano-systems integrating microelectronic, optoelectronic, microwave, micro and nanoelectromechanical devices

Chen Li

• Assistant Research Professor
• Ph.D., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 2006
• Research in micro/nano scale phase-change heat transfer and multi-phase flow, renewable energy harvest and storage, micro/nano porous media, heat pipe technology, and thermal management.

Kurt Maute

• Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering Sciences and Joseph H. Smead Fellow
• Ph.D., University of Stuttgart, 1998
• Design optimization for structural and coupled multiphysics problems, topology and shape optimization, reliability and stochastic analysis and design, numerical methods and parallel computing

Jana B. Milford

• Professor and Associate Chair
• Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University, 1988
• Photochemical air quality modeling, source apportionment of air pollution, air quality management

Shelly L. Miller

• Associate Professor
• Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1996
• Indoor air quality, engineering controls for air pollutants, aerosols and bioaerosols, source apportionment methods

Harold S. Park

• Assistant Professor
• Ph.D., Northwestern University, 2004
• Computational NEMS, surface effects on nanowires, coupled physics behavior and properties of nanowires

Gary Pawlas

• Instructor and Director, I/UCPC
• Ph.D., University of Toledo, 1991
• Computational fluid dynamics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer

John Pellegrino

• Research Professor
• Ph.D., University of Colorado-Boulder, 1983
• Modification, formation, characterization, and performance of membranes, Electrokinetic processes, Water treatment and supply, Biomass-to-fuels process development

G.P. "Bud" Peterson

• Chancellor and Professor
• Ph.D., Texas A&M University, 1985
• Chief academic and administrative officer of the CU-Boulder campus
• Mechanical Engineering, thermodynamics and heat transfer

H. Jerry Qi

• Assistant Professor
• Sc.D., MIT, 2003
• Mechanics and physics of polymers and elastomers, shape memory materials, soft tissues, and cells, constitutive models

Rishi Raj

• Professor
• Ph.D., Harvard University, 1970
• Polymer-derived ceramics, stochastic high temperature materials science, metal-ceramic and charged interfaces

Derek Reamon

• Senior Instructor and Co-Director, Integrated Teaching and Learning Program & Laboratory
• Ph.D., Stanford University, 1999
• Mechatronics, computer-controlled machines, smart product design, robotics, engineering education, design education, and assessment

Mark Rentschler

• Assistant Professor
• Ph.D., University of Nebraska, 2006
• Design of Medical Devices and Robotics, Micro-Robotic Component Design, Power Harvesting for Long-Term Implants, Tissue Mechanics Characterization

Timothy F. Scott

• Assistant Research Professor
• PhD, Monash University, 2006
• Polymer photochemistry, Exploitation of free radicals in polymeric materials, Active and stimuli-responsive biomaterials and structures

Robin Shandas

• Research Professor
• Ph.D., University of California, San Diego, 1993
• Cardiovascular bio/fluid dynamics; medical ultrasonics and imaging; MEMS-based biosensors

Conrad R. Stoldt

• Assistant Professor
• Ph.D., Iowa State University, 1999
• Thin film processing, biophotonics, nano-materials for biomedical imaging

Wei Tan

• Assistant Professor
• Ph.D., University of Illinois, Chicago, 2002
• Cardiovascular bioengineering; bioMEMS; cell and tissue engineering biomaterials

Oleg V. Vasilyev

• Associate Professor and Graduate Chair
• Ph.D., University of Notre Dame, 1996
• Computational fluid dynamics, wavelet methods, multiscale phenomena, theoretical and numerical studies in turbulence, thermal convection flows, fluid dynamics of geological processes

Patrick D. Weidman

• Professor Emeritus
• Ph.D., University of Southern California, 1973
• Fluid mechanics, heat transfer, hydrodynamic stability, mathematics

Ronggui Yang

• Assistant Professor
• Ph.D., MIT, 2006
• Micro/nanoscale and ultrafast energy transport, micro and nanotechnology for energy conversion, nanostructured  materials (nanocomposites, nanoporous materials)

Jack L. Zable

• Industry Professor of Mechanical Engineering Design
• Ph.D., Purdue University, 1969
• Mechanical design methods, shock and vibration, high-speed mechanisms, design and measurement of sports equipment performance

Staff