IDEAL was honored to invite alumni for the Summer 2021 Virtual Group Meetings. Each alumni discussed and gave valuable information on their respective research areas. The alumni who attended the meetings can be found below.
Prof. Shikui Chen (Ph.D., 2010): Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stony Brook University. Prof. Chen kicked off the summer series with his talk under the title “From Euclidian Space to Riemannian Manifold: Conformal Shape & Topology Optimization Using Extended Level Set Methods”. He joined Stony Brook University as a faculty in Fall 2013 and he is the director of Computational Modeling, Analysis, and Design Optimization Lab (CMADO Lab) . His current research areas are predictive science based design optimization, specifically in in the fields of structural shape and topology optimization, geometric modeling with level set methods, PDE constrained optimization, and simulation-based design under uncertainty.
Dr. Xiaoping Du (Ph.D., 2002): Professor, Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Prof. Du gave an exciting presentation under “Uncertainty Quantification in High Dimensions”. Prof. Du’s research interests are in design optimization, probabilistic and statistical methods, robust design, and system/structural reliability.
Prof. Ramin Bostanabad (Ph.D., 2019): Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at University of California Irvine (UC Irvine). As our third guest, Prof. Bostanabad gave his talk under the name “Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design and Computational Mechanics”. He joined the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty at UC Irvine in Fall 2019 and he is the director of Probabilistic Modeling and Analysis of Complex Systems Laboratory (PMACS Lab). His current research areas are designing next-generation materials using mechano-probabilistic deep learning, uncertainty quantification in high-dimensional and multifidelity systems, and Bayesian analysis of multiscale and multi-physics computer models.
Prof. Faez Ahmed (Postdoc, 2019-2020): Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) . Prof. Ahmed gave his talk under the name “Decoding Engineering Design with Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence”. He joined the Mechanical Engineering Faculty at MIT in Fall 2020 and he is currently the director of Design Computation & Digital Engineering Lab (DeCoDe). His current research areas include machine learning and optimization for engineering design, AI-augmented human teams, and advanced engineering material systems.
Prof. Zhenghui Sha (Postdoc, 2016-2017): Assistant Professor, Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). As our fifth guest, Prof. Sha gave a great talk of his lab’s research areas under the title “SiDi Lab Research on Complex Systems Engineering and Design & Swarm and Cooperative Manufacturing Systems”. He joined the Mechanical Engineering Faculty at UT Austin in 2021 and previously served as an Assistant Professor at the University of Arkansas from 2017-2020. He is currently is the director of Systems Integration & Design Informatics Laboratory (SiDi LAB) and his current research focuses on system science and design science as well as the intersection between these two areas.
Prof. Hongyi Xu (Ph.D., 2014): Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering at the University of Connecticut (UConn). As our sixth and last guest, Prof. Xu gave a great talk under the title “Quantifying Aleatoric Uncertainties in a Topological Spatial Domain”. He joined the Mechanical Engineering Faculty at UConn in 2019 and he is currently is the director of Xu Research Group . His current research focuses developing design optimization and uncertainty quantification methods for the analysis and design of heterogeneous microstructural materials.
It was a great pleasure to have our distinguished alumni as our guests for the Summer 2021 meetings. Even though the meetings were virtual, we hope to see them in person in the future.
