Faculty
Full-time Faculty
Dr. Panos Charalambides, Professor
Phone: (410) 455-3346
Office: ENGR211
Email: panos@umbc.edu
Research interests: Mechanics of materials and micromechanics modeling, nonlinear material behavior, finite elements and computational mechanics in material research, theoretical and numerical considerations of the failure process in brittle and ductile materials, and fracture mechanics. Fiber composites, thin film decohesion and mechanics of interfaces. Laminated composites and delamination cracking. Biomechanics, Manufacturing processes and Fixturing.
Dr. Ruey-Hung Chen, Professor and Chair
Phone: (410) 455-3313
Office: ENGR210B
Email: chenrh@umbc.edu
Research interests: combustion, propulsion, pollutant emissions of combustion systems, heat and mass transfer, and fire retardation for composite materials.
Dr. Charles Eggleton, Professor
Phone: (410) 455-3334
Office: ENGR205
Email: eggleton@umbc.edu
Research interests: mechanical behavior of deformable particles including biological cells, the influence of hydrodynamic forces and applied external forces on cell behavior, effect of cell compliance on adhesion –detachment to substrates and other cells, kinetic properties of single intermolecular bonds at the nanoscale, and high throughput measurements of cell mechanical properties
Dr. Tony Farquhar, Associate Professor
Phone: (410) 455-3339
Office: ENGR217
Email: farquhar@umbc.edu
Research interests: applying quantitative structural analysis to issues that affect human nutrition, safety, and security at global scales: food production, high speed transport, medical devices, and geohazard detection
Dr. Akhtar S. Khan, Professor
Phone: (410) 455-3301
Office: ENGR224
Email: khan@umbc.edu
Research interests: emerging materials (nanocrystalline metals and polymers), new metal alloys, constitutive modeling of finite plastic behavior at high strain rates and quasi‑static loading, and damage and failure modeling of composite materials and ceramics
Dr. Soobum Lee, Assistant Professor
Phone: (410) 455-3314
Office: ENGR214
Email: sblee@umbc.edu
Research interests: energy harvesting (EH) device design, topology optimization, robust design, and reliability based design optimization
Dr. Ronghui Ma, Associate Professor and Undergraduate Program Director
Phone: (410) 455-1965
Office: ENGR215
Email: roma@umbc.edu
Research interests: heat, mass, and momentum transport in a wide range of applications including film growth for energy-efficient electronic devices, novel material processing for photovoltaic applications, and nanomaterials for treatment of cancer; material processing for energy-efficient electronic devices and low-cost photovoltaic facilities
Dr. Deepa Madan, Assistant Professor
Phone: (410) 455-3307
Office: ENG 221
Email: deemadan@umbc.edu
Research interests: composite and polymer thermoelectric materials and devices, rechargeable batteries, and additive manufacturing techniques.
Dr. Carlos Romero-Talamas, Assistant Professor 
Phone: (410) 455-8049
Office: ENGR212
Email: romero@umbc.edu
Research interests: interactions between materials, charged particles, and electromagnetic radiation; dusty plasmas and their applications in astrophysics to materials processing
Dr. Karl V Steiner, Professor
Vice President for Research
Phone: (410) 455-5636
Email: steinerk@umbc.edu
Research interests: Computer Visualization, Image Analysis Methodologies, Robotic Haptic Simulations, Nondestructive Evaluation and Manufacturing Science; Composite Materials, Robotic Fiber Placement, Filament Winding, Resin Transfer Molding, Vacuum Assisted RTM; Ultrasonic NDE, Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Computer-Aided Tomography.
Recent research interests are focused on Interactive Immersive Visualization Methodologies for the life sciences, primarily on Immersive Complex Multi-variant Data Analysis and on Biomedical Imaging with a focus on Virtual Surgery Simulations.
Dr. L. D. Timmie Topoleski, Professor
Phone: (410) 455-3302
Office: ENGR225K
Email: topoleski@umbc.edu
Research interests: fundamental mechanisms of material behavior, creation and manufacture of new biomaterials, material surface modifications to prevent wear and corrosion, micro- and nano-structural modifications to increase fatigue and fracture resistance, structural and functional changes in human arteries resulting from aging
Dr. Meilin Yu, Assistant Professor
Phone: (410) 455-3398
Office: ENGR219
Email: mlyu@umbc.edu
Research interests: Computational fluid dynamics, renewable energy harvesting, flapping wing aerodynamics, fluid-structure interaction, turbulent flow simulation, numerical optimization, transonic/supersonic flow, shock/flow discontinuity capturing techniques, non-hydrostatic atmospheric flow, biological flow, high-order methods, high performance computing, particle image velocimetry (PIV)
Dr. Liang Zhu, Professor
Phone: (410) 455-3332
Office: ENGR220
Email: zliang@umbc.edu
Research interests: magnetic nanoparticle hyperthermia, photothermal therapy using gold nanoshells/nanorods in cancer therapy, targeted brain cooling using an interstitial cooling device, using laser or heating catheters in bacterial disinfection in endodontics
Dr. Weidong Zhu, Professor
Phone: (410) 455-3394
Office: ENGR225H
Email: wzhu@umbc.edu
Research interests: dynamics, vibration, control, applied mechanics, structural health monitoring, and wind energy
Dr. Marc Zupan, Associate Professor, Graduate Program Director
Phone: (410) 455-6822
Office: ENGR225L
Email: mzupan@umbc.edu
Research interests: microscale specimen testing, engineered micro-architecture multifunctional material topologies, disparate phase materials, cellular solids, cork cellular solids, friction stir welding, carbon nanotube infused multi-length scale composites, ductile fracture and stress triaxiality effects on response.
Emeritus Faculty
Dr. Shlomo Carmi, Professor Emeritus and Dean Emeritus
Phone: (410) 455-3313
Office: ENGR225E
Email: carmi@umbc.edu
Research interests: hydrodynamic stability and transition to turbulence, non-Newtonian fluid flow, heat and mass transfer, numerical methods and computer simulations, engineering education
Dr. Warren R. DeVries, Professor Emeritus and Dean Emeritus
Phone: (410) 455-6767Office: ENGR216
Email: warrendv@umbc.edu Research interests: Time series and system identification in manufacturing, modeling of material removal processes, design and analysis tools for flexible manufacturing. Dr. Uri Tasch, Professor Emeritus
Phone: (410) 455-3305
Office: ENGR225B
Email: tasch@umbc.edu
Research interests: relationships between locomotion abnormalities and neurological diseases and injuries; diagnostic technology to detect the presence and assesses the severity of (a)lameness in dairy cows, (b) muscular injury in animals and humans, and (c) neurological diseases [e.g. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease), environmental (Parkinson’s) disease]
Dr. Christian VonKerczek, Associate Professor Emeritus
Phone: (410) 266-5421
Office: ENGR205
Email: kerczek@umbc.edu
Adjunct/Part-time/Visiting Faculty
Dr. Firooz Bakhtiari Nejad
Phone: (410) 455-3304
Office: ENGR 225E
Email: fbnejad@umbc.edu
Research focus: Control and health monitoring of mechanical smart systems and structures.
Visiting Research Scientist
Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Ecuador
Office: ENGR 225E
Phone: (240) 498-7556
Email: jfcg@umbc.edu
Research focus: Exploring the avenue of cognitive-based engineering systems and inverse problems.
Professor Jamie Gurganus
Phone: (410) 455-8439
Office: ENGR 225J
Email: jgurganus@umbc.edu
Research interests: Additive Manufacturing, Design conceptualization, Spatial Reasoning in engineering, Mentoring and mentoring programs in engineering, Service learning in engineering, K-12 & Post-secondary engineering education, Retention of Mechanical Engineering students, engineering learning technologies, diversity in engineering, best practices in educating engineering students, teachers and the community.
Dr. Neil S. Rothman
Professor of the Practice
Graduate Program Director (COEIT)
Phone: (410) 455-5507
Office: ENGR225C
Email: nrothman@umbc.edu
Research interests: product design and development, medical device design and manufacturing, application of design thinking, innovation and creativity, entrepreneurship, intellectual property strategy