Sayavur Baktiyarov

Dr. Sayavur Bakhtiyarov is a professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department. His research focus is non-Newtonian fluid mechanics, self-healing composites, tribology, porous medium flows, nanotechnology, rheology, turbulent flows, and enhanced oil recovery.

He received his Ph.D. from the Russian Academy of Sciences and his D.Sc. from the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Bakhtiyarov authored 350+ scientific publications in refereed scholarly journals, books, international conferences and symposia proceedings, and 14 patents.

My interests in self-healing materials include an engineering synthesis of high-temperature heterogeneous metal/ceramic composites and thermal barrier coating systems, testing their thermophysical properties and structural behavior. Application of these materials would range from space exploration to civil manufacturing.

David Grow

Dr. David Grow is an associate professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department. His research focuses on haptic technologies, robotics, and dynamic modeling. His projects also include biomedical prosthetics.

He received his bachelor’s and master’s from the University of Utah, and his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University.  He has taught the Robotics section of the Living Learning Community, as well as classes in Smart Systems, biomedical engineering, and mechatronics.

Michael Hargather

Dr. Michael Hargather is an assistant professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department. His research focuses on optical flow instrumentation, experimental explosives, blast testing, and imaging.

He received his bachelors from Penn State-Erie, and his Ph.D. from Penn State University.  He has taught classes in aerospace propulsion, fluid dynamics, combustion, and thermodynamics.

Jamie Kimberley

Dr. Jamie Kimberley is an assistant professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department. His research focuses on solid mechanics, impact analysis, dynamic failure and fracture, and solid mechanics.

He received his bachelor’s from Binghamton University, and his master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois.  He completed a post-doc at Johns Hopkins University. 

Seobkin Lim

Dr. Bin Lim is an associate professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department. His research focuses on energetic materials and explosions. He studies the shock physics of two-state light-gas suns and VISAR, shaped charges, and laser safety.

He received his bachelor’s from the Chungnam National University in South Korea. He earned his master’s and Ph.D. from the Missouri University of Science and Technology. His research projects have been funded by the Office of Naval Research, Sandia National Lab, Department of Homeland Security, and the NSF.

Curtis O’Malley

Dr. Curtis O’Malley is an assistant professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department. His research focuses on solid mechanics, mechanical system design, and vibration testing.

He received two bachelors from Drexel University, and his master’s and Ph.D. from Georgia Tech. His publications include studies of the vibrational effects on railway bridges and vehicle bridges. He has taught courses in the mechanics of materials, construction materials, vibration testing, and additive manufacturing.

Donghyeon Ryu

Dr. Donghyeon Ryu is an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at New Mexico Tech. He is active in research on multifunctional materials and nanocomposites, energy harvesting, multi-modal sensor technologies, autonomous damage detection, structural health monitoring, and sustainable and resilient infrastructure systems.

He earned his Ph.D. and master’s from the University of California-Davis. He earned a master’s and a bachelor’s at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. Dr. Ryu is the director of the Lab for Smart Materials and Structures, where he improves reliability, resiliency, and sustainability of structural systems through innovative fusion of scientific findings by addressing urgent technical challenges. The Lab conducts multidisciplinary research cutting across structural engineering, materials science, nanotechnologies, and optoelectronics through collaborative research. 

Current on-going projects are:

• A NASA project on multifunctional mechano-luminescence-optoelectronic composites for energy harvesting and multi-modal damage detection.
• Self-powered fiber optic sensor module for autonomous impact detection, sponsored by the Korea Railroad Research Institute.
• Deep learning-enabled visualization of surface strain for prognosis of cracks, sponsored by Los Alamos National Lab.
• 3D impact sensor network for aerospace structures.
• Micro-mechanical analysis of conjugated polymer-based self-sensing nanocomposites for improving mechanical resiliency.

Arash Mousavi

Dr. Arash Mousavi is an assistant professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department. His research focuses on stiction failure, energy harvesting, water purification, and energetic materials.

The primary focus of his research is to study the science of micro- and nano-systems. His team mainly use MicroElectroMechanical Systems, generally referred to as MEMS for their experiments. These devices range from 100's of nanometers to 100's of micrometers and are generally made using the same technologies used to fabricate Integrated Circuits. MEMS are highly interdisciplinary devices and cover a wide range of scientific fields.

Tie Wei

Dr. Tie Wei is an assistant professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department. His research focuses on wind energy, atmospheric boundary layer flows, and turbulence.

He received his bachelor’s from Shanhai Jiaotong University in China and his Ph.D. from the University of Utah. He also completed post-docs at Penn State University and Los Alamos National Lab. 

Andrei Zagrai

Dr. Andrei Zagrai an associate professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department. His research focuses on space systems and structures, and monitoring the structural integrity of aerospace structures.

He received his bachelor’s and master’s from Taganrog State University of Radio-Engineering in Russia, and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina. His students at NMT have made test launches of their instruments from SpacePort America.