The J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University welcomed several new faculty members to its ranks this year. Please join us in welcoming the newest members of our prestigious faculty, listed below.
Tenured and Tenure Track
Dr. Wei Gao, Associate Professor
Gao earned a Ph.D. in engineering mechanics from The University of Texas at Austin. His research interests include mechanics of materials, multiscale materials modeling, surface and interface, mechanochemistry and mechanobiology, artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Dr. Aravind Krishnamoorthy, Assistant Professor
Krishnamoorthy earned a Ph.D. in materials science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research interests include machine learning, computational synthesis of 2D materials, excited-state dynamics and multiscale modeling.
Dr. Matthew Powell-Palm, Assistant Professor
Powell-Palm earned a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. His research interests include materials thermodynamics, biological thermodynamics, metastable and nonequilibrium states, organ and tissue cryopreservation, planetary thermodynamics of icy worlds, supercooling, nucleation and vitrification processes.
Dr. Yuxiao Zhou, Assistant Professor
Zhou earned a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Pennsylvania State University. Her research interests include orthopedic device design, computational and experimental biomechanics, bone regeneration, machine learning and mechanobiology.
Dr. JingJing (Jenny) Qiu, Associate Professor
Qiu earned a Ph.D. in industrial and manufacturing engineering from Florida State University. Her research interests include advanced manufacturing, nanomaterials synthesis and characterization, multifunctional composites, sustainable materials and energy harvesting, health care and regenerative medicines.
Dr. Mohsen Taheri Andani, Assistant Professor
Andani earned a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan. His research interests include additive manufacturing, physical and mechanical metallurgy, mechanical behaviors of materials, and the processing-structure-properties relationships of advanced materials. He will join the faculty in fall 2023.
Academic Professional Track
Dr. Matt Elliott, Instructional Associate Professor
Elliot earned a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University.
Dr. Naveen Thomas, Instructional Assistant Professor
Thomas earned a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University.
Dr. Ravi Thyagarajan, Professor of Practice
Thyagarajan earned a Ph.D. in applied mechanics from the California Institute of Technology.
Dr. Hai Tran, Instructional Assistant Professor
Tran earned a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of South Florida.