PhD in Materials Science & Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical engineering research ranges from fundamental work in solid and fluid mechanics to diverse studies in materials, mechanical systems, and biomechanics.

Characterizing the performance of such systems often depends on understanding behavior at several scales, requiring, for example, the mechanics of dislocations and other imperfections, grain boundaries, interfaces, and material heterogeneity.

Key areas of focus include:

• Investigating the mechanics of materials structures
• Exploring geophysical and biological systems involved phenomena such as elasticity, plasticity, buckling, fracture, and wave motion
• Understanding biological control, or the self-organizing behavior of living systems, in particular the brain, to develop novel control strategies and biologically-inspired machines
• Developing biomedical instrumentation, teleoperated robots, and intelligent sensors.

The PhD mechanical engineering covers a wide range of activities, including research in dynamics, fluids, materials, solids, and thermodynamics. Research is strongly interdisciplinary, with many connections to applied mathematics, applied physics, earth and planetary sciences, and chemistry and chemical biology.