PhD
PhD
Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics,
The Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics (MEAM) program provides a comprehensive graduate education at the Ph.D. level supported by over 30 faculty and 140 graduate students working to solve a broad range of problems.
Description
The program boasts expertise in fundamental areas such as solids, fluids, heat transfer, dynamics, vibrations, materials, manufacturing, and design with applications from medical robotics to rehabilitation, magnetic levitation to energy applications, 3D printing to nano-machining, tissue engineering to advanced fibers for composites, materials characterization to nondestructive evaluation, and computational analysis and simulation to computational materials optimization.
The faculty and students in the program work on a range of problems focusing frequently on a mix of experimental understanding and characterization, theoretical modeling and simulation, numerical analysis, and modeling and simulation. These activities are supported through a broad range of experimental facilities including laboratories for computational fluid and solid mechanics and thermodynamics; micro-mechanics, fabrication and combustion; robotics and mechatronics; rapid solidification; thin films; x-ray diffraction and electron microscopy; atomic force microscopy; biomaterial and mechanotranduction; tissue and arterial mechanics; nontraditional manufacturing; dynamics and vibrations; nondestructive evaluation and ultrasonics; organic and nano-electronics; polymer composites and advanced fibers; polymer mechanics and 3D printing; power systems; surface mechanics and tribology; trauma mechanics.
Students entering the program with a B.S. degree can either enter an M.S. program or directly start a Ph.D. program, with the option of obtaining an M.S. on the way to completing their Ph.D. Students in the program at the M.S. level can also select from a broad range of specializations.
Academic Pathways
Applying for Admission
Standard requirements for all graduate programs
- Application for Admission with $50 non-refundable application fee.
- Transcripts (unofficial): Uploaded as part of application form.
If International: Uploads must include all college- or university-level transcripts or mark sheets (records of courses and marks earned), with certificates, diplomas, and degrees plus certified English translations.
After admission: Official documents are required from all students who are admitted and enroll. Photocopies of certified records are not acceptable. International students enrolled in other U.S. institutions may have certified copies of all foreign records sent directly to the Office of Graduate Studies by their current school’s registrar office.
- If applicant’s native language is not English, verification of English proficiency
is required.
When sending TOEFL scores, our institution code is 6877 and a department code is not needed.
- If applicant is not a US citizen and expects an F or J visa: financial information.
- Applicants must also fulfill any additional requirements the department specifies at the time of application.
Additional requirements specific to this program
GRE: The GRE requirement is waived for those who have a degree from a US institution that is ABET-accredited. In addition, the GRE requirement can be waived for all other applicants for Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Summer 2024 and Fall 2024, if the applicant simply notes “No” to the question about whether they have taken the GRE.
If an applicant self-reports GRE scores, they must also have ETS.org send official GRE scores sent to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (institution code 6877).
Applicants who wish to have their GRE scores evaluated as part of this application are expected to have at least a minimum Quantitative score of 155, and a minimum combined Quantitative and Verbal score of 305.- Resume/CV
- Personal Statement: Statement of Purpose including research interests and objectives
- Research Interest: Review current faculty and their research areas.
- Three letters of recommendation
Admission Application Deadlines
For full financial consideration, students must apply by January 15 for Fall, September 15 for Spring, and November 15 for Summer.
Program Faculty
Bai Cui (bio)
Materials for Extreme Environments, Advanced Manufacturing, Corrosion, Irradiation Damage, Microstructural Characterizations
Jessica Deters (bio)
Engineering Culture, Workplace Preparedness, International engineering Education (global engineering programs and comparative research)
Mohammad Ghashami (bio)
Micro/Nanoscale Energy Transfer, Near-field Thermal Radiation, Energy Conversion and Recycling Processes, Thermophotovoltaics, Thermoelectrics, and Thermionics, Engineering Applications of Nanoscale Energy Transport
Piyush Grover (bio)
Geometric and Topological Methods in Dynamical Systems, Operator Theoretic Methods (Perron-Frobenius/Koopman) for Analysis and Control, Continuum Approach to Multi-agent System Control and Decision Making (Mean-field Control and Mean-field Games, Optimal Transport)
Qilin Guo (bio)
Metal Additive Manufacturing, Laser Powder Bed Fusion, Laser Processing, In-situ Characterization, Synchrotron X-ray Imaging & Diffraction, New Alloy Development for AM, Microstructural Characterization
Abdelghani Laraoui (bio)
Quantum Sensing, Defect Discovery and Spectroscopy in Two Dimensional Materials and Wide Bandgap Semiconductors, Quantum Computing, Hybrid Photonics
Eric Markvicka (bio)
Robotics, Stretchable Electronics, Soft Materials, Liquid Metals
Fanben Meng (bio)
Bioprinting, 3D Printing, Nanofabrication, Reconstruction of Physiological Microenvironments, 3D In Vitro Disease Models, Drug Screening, Regenerative Medicine, Biosensors & Bioelectronics, Biomedical Devices
Keegan Moore (bio)
Theoretical and Experimental Nonlinear Dynamics and Vibrations, Data-driven Modeling and Identification, Reduced-order Modeling of Bolted Joint Loosening, Digital Engineering and Autonomous Methods for Model Validation and Updating, Identification of Unknown Time Series in Biomechanics, Vibrations in Next-generation Aircraft, Non-reciprocal Acoustics and Nonlinear Energy Guiding
Nitesh Nama (bio)
Computational Cardiovascular Biomechanics, Cardiovascular Mass Transport, Fluid-Structure Interaction, Finite Element Analysis, Continuum Mechanics, Nonlinear Elasticity, Microfluidics, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Acoustofluidics, Lab-on-a-chip
Mehrdad Negahban (bio)
Large Deformation Thermo-Mechanical Response of Materials
Carl Nelson (bio)
Mechanical Systems Design and Analysis, Medical Robotics, Modularity in Mechanical Systems, Graph-Theoretic Techniques in Robotics and Mechanical Systems Design
Jae Sung Park (bio)
Fluid mechanics, Turbulence, Complex fluids, Electrokinetics, Rheology, Biofluids, Microscale transport, Mathematical modeling, Scientific computing
Ryan Pedrigi (bio)
Mechanobiology, Experimental and Computational Biomechanics, Cell Engineering, Regenerative Medicine, Medical Devices, Cardiovascular Medicine, Ophthalmology, and Wound Healing
Kamlakar Rajurkar (bio)
Advanced Machining of Materials Used in Aerospace, Automotive and Medical Device Industries
Sangjin Ryu (bio)
Experimental Investigations of Multi-Scale Phenomena of Fluid Flow and Cellular Mechanics and their Applications in Engineering Systems, Breast cancer stem Cell Regulation by ECM mechanics, Biophysical Mechanism of Calcium-Based Cell Motility
Jeffrey Shield (bio)
Microstructural Development, Nanoscale Materials, Magnetic Materials, Electron Microscopy, X-ray Diffraction
Cody Stolle (bio)
Wire Rope Models, Box Beam End Terminals, Cable Barrier Systems
Eli Sutter (bio)
Novel Materials and Materials for Energy Applications
Li Tan (bio)
Nanofabrication, Monolayers for Virus Detection, Patterned Metallic Alloys, Patterned Metallic Alloys, Polymer Thin Films
Joseph Turner (bio)
Multiscale Characterization, Elastic and Stochastic Wave Propagation, Experimental Ultrasonics, Linear and Nonlinear Vibrations, Structural Acoustics
Jian Wang (bio)
Wilmer J. and Sally L. Hergenrader Presidential Chair of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Graduate Chair of Materials Engineering, Interface Engineering: Improve Mechanical Properties and Irradiation Tolerance of Materials by Tailoring Interfaces in Solids
Robert Williams (bio)
Abrasive Flow Machining, Nontraditional Finishing Processes, Rapid Prototyping, Tooling
Jiashi Yang (bio)
Electromechanical Materials and Devices
Ruiguo Yang (bio)
Nanorobotics, BioMEMS and Mechanobiology, Micro/Nanosytems for Cellular Engineering to Manipulate Cells Through Delivery of Biomolecules, Cell-Cell Interactions to Understand Mechanotransduction Under Physio/Pathological Conditions
Zhaoyan Zhang (bio)
Food Physical Chemistry
UNL Graduate Chairs and staff please complete the program update form to provide edits. Updates to graduate program pages are made on an annual basis in conjunction with the Graduate Application for Admission.