Centers and Laboratories

The mission of the Center for Autonomous Vehicles and Sensor Systems (CANVASS) is to unify research and development of autonomous vehicles and systems to better serve the state and nation. It is a multi-laboratory center with investigators in various departments within the college.

The threefold mission of the Center of Innovation in Mechanics for Design (CiMDM) and Manufacturing is: research; education and training and global collaborations; and industry and governmental lab outreach. The center aims to solve the need for mechanics support for early stage design and subsequent manufacturing.

The Energy Systems Laboratory focuses on energy-related research, energy efficiency, and emissions reduction. Innovations in research, education, and technology offer solutions to help improve quality of life, foster economic development, and enhance education.

The mission of the INnoVation tools and Entrepreneurial New Technology (INVENT) Lab is to help researchers and companies get technology developed and to market faster through development and application of innovation accelerating tools and new technology feasibility demonstration. Our research areas include but not limited to: Tribology of touch for haptic perception, tribology of robotic interactions, MEMS/NEMS characterization and nanophotonics.

The StarLab develops disruptive, deployable technologies based on the innovative application of smart design strategies, tools, and techniques and conducts focused research on development of novel algorithms and analysis and implementations of autonomous vehicle systems.

The Turbomachinery Laboratory faculty and students team up with industry partners to conduct research into important problems of reliability and performance of turbomachinery through the Turbomachinery Research Consortium.

The current research at the Acoustics & Signal Processing Laboratory is focused on the study of sound and vibration generation, propagation, and reception and the control of them in mechanical and bioengineering systems.

The ART lab facilitates fundamental and applied research on robotics and embedded technologies for applications in defense, health care, and education. Ongoing research projects include swarm robotics, novel transformable robots, origami-inspired robotic mechanisms, and tangible interactive games.

The Advanced Computational Mechanics Laboratory is dedicated to state-of-the-art research in the development of novel mathematical models and numerical simulation of physical phenomena. Current research includes but not limited to damage, fracture, nonlocal mechanics, composite materials and structures (e.g., plates and shells), and computational fluid dynamics and heat transfer.

The Advanced Engine Research Lab investigates advanced methods for internal combustion engine energy conversion and emission reduction.

The Advanced NanoManufacturing Lab develops new tools and techniques to pattern unconventional materials at the nanoscale, with particular interests in polymers, organic small molecules, metallic and semiconducting nanoparticles, and 1- and 2-D materials.

The Aerosol Technology Laboratory performs static bench-top testing of aerosol devices, fluorometric analysis, imaging of test aerosol particles, and wind-tunnel testing of aerosol sampling equipment.

The BiSSL group works on systems-level problems related to sustainability and resilience. We seek to better engineer systems ranging from industrial resources networks to power grids by incorporating inspiration from biological systems, optimizing designs towards their desirable characteristics.

The BioMechanical Environments Laboratory conducts research in orthopedic biomechanics, tissue mechanics and engineering, human performance, and vascular, lymphatic, and cell biomechanics.

The Building Energy and HVAC & R research group focuses on HVAC, building energy efficiency and resiliency. We exploit intelligent building operations with advanced sensor and controls, smart ventilation, grid-interactive efficient buildings and heat pump technologies through simulations, big data analytics, hardware-in-the-loop emulators, and real building demonstrations.

The Computational Heat Transfer Laboratory conducts research to develop techniques to predict turbulent flow and heat transfer in nuclear reactors.

The Computational Thermo-Fluids lab focuses on developing new physical models suitable for high-performance computing with high scalability to aid designing clean and efficient energy conversion systems.

The CAST Lab utilizes a multidisciplinary approach to connected, safe and autonomous technologies.

Major research interests in our lab include machine intelligence and control, autonomous and connected vehicles control and optimization, dynamics modeling, automation and control for oil and gas applications, control and optimization for energy systems, and mechatronic system design, fabrication and prototyping.

The Design Systems Lab discovers, studies, and demonstrates new ways in which engineers can design complex systems.

The Experimental Solid Mechanics Laboratory investigates a wide range of problems in solid mechanics, many of which exhibit a strong coupling between mechanics and other fields, such as electronics and chemistry. Current areas of interest include mechanics of materials for energy storage and conversion, deformation and fracture of soft materials, mechanics of flexible/wearable electronics, coupled electro-chemo-mechanics, mechanics of plants, mechanics of irradiated materials, and mass transport in materials.

The Fluid Mixing at Extreme Conditions Laboratory studies fluid mixing at high temperatures, pressures, and velocities and multiphase flows and magnetohydrodynamic forces.

The Hypervelocity Impact laboratory’s (HVI) research is aimed at enabling unique high-rate materials characterization and multiscale numerical model development and implementation. The Texas A&M HVI laboratory will provide a testbed for the development of novel layered structures comprised of polymers, composites, metals, ceramics, soft materials, gels, and geomaterials to mitigate HVIs.

The Laboratory for Low Carbon Energy and Sustainable Environment conducts research on 1) the production of renewable fuels with zero carbon emissions by using carbon dioxide as the feedstock, sunlight as the energy input, and nanomaterials as the catalysts, and 2) treatment and reuse of wastewater from industry and oil/gas fields, and membrane technology for desalination.

The Laboratory for Nonequilibrium Phenomena studies the dynamic behavior of materials subject to extreme environments and uses this knowledge to enable the multi-scale design of revolutionary multifunctional materials.

The Manufacturing Innovation Laboratory performs multi-disciplinary research combining manufacturing with material science, thermal science, and computer science for broad applications in industry and healthcare.

The Microtribodynamics Laboratory studies tribology and dynamic interaction in miniature systems with research interests ranging from tribological problems in compressor application to nano-tribology for Head-Disk Interfaces in magnetic storage.

The Mixed Initiative Design Laboratory develops computational frameworks for the representation, presentation, and manipulation of information with research positioned at the intersection of computer-aided product design, human-computer interaction, and artificial intelligence.

The Morpheus Laboratory is a dynamic research facility focused on Smart Systems with applications of smart materials and adaptive structures.

The Multi-Phase Flow and Heat Transfer Laboratory have ongoing research projects ranging from micro-fluidics, boiling heat transfer, nanotechnology, and Bio-MEMS.

The Multiscale Manufacturing Lab applies the fundamental understanding of transport phenomena at macro-, micro-, and nano-scales for advanced manufacturing.

The Nano Energy Laboratory explores advanced energy technology and science, nano/micro-systems, and thermal engineering science.

NES focuses on nanomaterial fabrication and characterization with applications to human sensing, internet of things, personalized medicine, and energy harvesting embodied with artificial intelligence, with an ultimate goad to be vibrant and adaptable to the high impact innovations in the multidisciplinary areas of mechanical, materials science, electrical engineering and biomedical engineering.

The Optical Diagnostics and Imaging Laboratory develops and applies cutting-edge laser techniques to study reacting and non-reacting flows such as combustion, propulsion, plasma systems, and hypersonic flows.

The Petersen Research Group specializes in the study of combustion, gas dynamics, and propulsion. They conduct experiments on reacting flows, chemical kinetics, and shock waves for a range of applications.

Photonic systems laboratory performs fundamental studies on wave-matter interactions in natural and engineered structures and materials. We strive to bring photonic solutions to grand challenges in energy, manufacturing, health science, information technology, and national security.

The Plasma Engineering and Diagnostics Laboratory’s research is focused on the experimental study of microscale and low temperature plasmas and devices with drive plasmas.

The Polymer NanoComposites Lab studies various polymer and nanocomposite materials, with properties that rival metals and ceramics, while maintaining beneficial polymer mechanical behavior. Flame retardancy, gas barrier, anti-corrosion, thermoelectric energy generation and heat shielding are topics of particular expertise.

Synthesis of control and instrumentation, actuators and power electronics, sensors and signal processing, and precision system design.

The Precision Metrology and Inspection Lab develops novel metrology and inspection technologies for semiconductor manufacturing and advanced subtractive/additive manufacturing.

The PROduct Synthesis Engineering Laboratory helps engineers during initial design phases and develops design methods to facilitate concept generation for specific types of product spaces, such as biomimetic, derivative biomimetic, and universal product concepts.

Research focuses on experimentally verified computational film flow models for the prediction of the static and dynamic force response of fluid film bearings; in particular hydrostatic bearings, tilting pad bearings, annular pressure seals, squeeze film dampers, floating ring bearings, gas damper bearings and seals, foil gas bearings and porous-carbon bearings.

The Smart Systems Lab is focused on researching persistent structural change phenomena using external stimuli in a variety of forms.

The Surface Science Laboratory researches develops methodology to characterize and understand chemical, mechanical, physical, and tribological properties of surfaces and interfaces of materials in different states and processes to synthesize various materials.

The Thermo-Fluids Control Laboratory focuses its research on using advanced control strategies to achieve higher energy efficiency, reduced environmental impact, and increased performance for conventional and alternative energy systems.

The Turbine Heat Transfer Laboratory develops new cooling techniques and investigate traditional cooling methods in the pursuit of more efficient gas turbines for both power generation and aircraft propulsion.

The Unmanned Systems Laboratory’s research focuses on mapping, localization, guidance, navigation, and control for developing autonomous ground and aerial vehicles.

The Vibration, Control, and Electromechanics Laboratory is currently researching seawater desalination, the Morton Effect, machinery windage, and solid model based finite element rotordynamics.