Leadership Team

Rajarshi Banerjee | Diana Berman | Dwight Burford | Francis D’Souza | Jincheng Du | Teresa D. Golden | Sundeep Mukherjee 

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Rajarshi Banerjee

Faculty Page | Google Scholar | Materials Research Facility (MRF) | Rajarshi.Banerjee@unt.edu 

Dr. Banerjee is a Regents Professor in Materials Science and Engineering. He researches advanced metallic and functionally-graded composite (or hybrid) materials for aerospace, energy, and biomedical applications.  He leads the Institute’s structural materials core. He also holds appointments as an adjunct professor in the materials science and engineering at the Ohio State University and as a visiting professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Diana Berman

Faculty Page | Google Scholar | Research Profile | Diana.Berman@unt.edu 

Dr. Berman is an Assistant Professor in Materials Science and Engineering. Before joining UNT in Fall 2016, Dr. Berman worked in the Center for Nanoscale Materials at Argonne National Laboratory. Her research interests focus on the synthesis and processing nanostructured carbon materials as well as understanding their tribological properties, from nano to macroscale friction and wear behavior, and their impact on the performance of mechanical systems, ranging in scale from MEMS/NEMS devices up to wind turbines.

Dwight Burford

Faculty Page | Google Scholar | Research Page | Dwight.Burford@unt.edu 

Dr. Burford is a Research Professor in Materials Science and Engineering. After receiving his doctorate from the Colorado School of Mines in 1987, Dr. Burford conducted postdoctoral studies at Ohio State University. In 1989, he joined Boeing in Wichita, Kansas, where, as an Associate Technical Fellow, he conducted research and development in metal forming, machining, welding, heat treating, etc. Beginning in 2000, Dr. Burford’s R&D work in friction stir welding led to production flight hardware in mid-2005. From the fall of 2005 to the summer of 2012, he directed the NIAR Advanced Joining Lab at Wichita State University. Since mid-2012, Dr. Burford has also worked as a metallurgical engineering consultant.

Francis D’Souza

Faculty Page | Google Scholar | Supramolecular Nanochemistry Group | Francis.Dsouza@unt.edu 

Dr. D’Souza is a Regents Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Materials Science and Engineering. He is presently the co-leader for the functional materials core of AMMPI. His research covers wide areas of chemistry, nanophotonics, energy storage and materials science. He received his doctorate from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, and conducted post-doctoral work at the University of Houston and University of Dijon, France.

Jincheng Du

Faculty Page | Google Scholar | Functional Glasses and Materials Modeling Lab (FGM²L) | Jincheng.Du@unt.edu 

Dr. Du is a Professor in Materials Science and Engineering and serves as a leader for AMMPI’s computational core. He studies the structure-property relationship of materials using atomistic and other simulation methods. He received his doctorate at New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and University of Virginia.

Teresa D. Golden

Faculty Page | Google Scholar | Electrochemistry and Nanomaterials Lab | Teresa.Golden@unt.edu 

Dr. Golden is a Professor in the Deparment of Chemistry and the Director of the Forensic Science Program at the University of North Texas. Her research covers the study and electrosynthesis of nanomaterials of unique compositions and phases, including alloys, rare earth oxides, cermets, and metallic composites. She is in charge of the X-ray Diffraction Laboratory. An expert in corrosion protection coatings, she supports AMMPI’s outreach to many industries. She received a doctorate in chemistry from New Mexico State University.

Sundeep Mukherjee

Faculty Page | Google Scholar | Research Profile | Sundeep.Mukherjee@unt.edu 

Dr. Mukherjee is an Associate Professor in Material Science and Engineering. Dr. Sundeep Mukherjee received his bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, and his master’s and doctoral degrees from the California Institute of Technology. Prior to coming to UNT, he worked as a post-doctoral research associate at Yale University and senior engineer in Intel’s Logic Technology Development division.

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Members

Nandika A. D’Souza |Melanie Ecker | Mohamed El Bouanani |Ravi Sankar Haridas |Xiao Li |Shengqian Ma | Maurizio Manzo |Sreekar Marpu | Reza Mirshams | Seifollah Nasrazadani | Jens Neu | Mohammad Omary | Bibhudutta Rout | Thomas Scharf | Sheldon Shi | Hector Siller Carrillo | Srinivasan Srivilliputhur | Hong Wang | Yuanxi Wang |Dr.Xiao | Yuanxi Wang | Marcus L. Young | Weihuan Zhao

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Nandika A. D'Souza

| Faculty Page | Google Scholar | Research Profile | Nandika.DSouza@unt.edu |

Dr. Nandika Anne D’Souza is a Professor and the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies.  She has joint appointments in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering. Through AMMPI, she will work on manufacturing bioinspired architectures for multifunctional reliable performance. She earned a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University and her master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Auburn University.

Melanie Ecker

| Faculty Page | Google Scholar | Research Profile | Melanie.Ecker@unt.edu |

Dr. Ecker is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the director of the Ecker Lab – Smart Polymers for Biomedical Applications. Her research interests lie at the intersection of polymer science and biomedical engineering. She combines both fields to develop the next generation of biomedical devices based on smart polymeric materials. These materials mainly consist of shape memory polymers responsive to bodily conditions and mechanically adaptive to comply with a tissue. Dr. Ecker received her doctorate in natural sciences from Freie Universität in Berlin, Germany

Mohamed El Bouanani

| Faculty Page | Bouanani@unt.edu |

Dr. Mohamed El Bouanani is an Associate Professor in Materials Science and Engineering. He received His PhD in Physics from the Universite Claude Bernard Lyon I in 1990. Areas of research include growth, processing and characterization of inorganic thin film nanostructures for micro/nano-electronic and photovoltaic applications. Other areas of research include nanoscale interfacial studies of complex multi-layered nanostructures: size effects on thermal stability, diffusion and reactions.

Ravi Sankar Haridas

| Faculty Page | Google Scholar | Research Profile | Ravisankar.Haridas@unt.edu |

Dr. Haridas is a Research Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering, a position he has held since the spring of 2022. Prior, he was a post-doctoral research associate in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at University of North Texas. He earned an M.Tech and a Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India in 2019. His research interests include experimental solid mechanics, additive manufacturing, mechanical characterization, friction stir welding/processing, solid-state processing of metals, process-microstructure-property correlation, high strain rate deformation, and high entropy alloys. He has published around 30 research articles in peer reviewed journals and conferences.

Xiao Li

| Google Scholar | Research Profile | Xiao.Li@unt.edu |

Dr. Li is an Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. Her research interests are self-assembly of soft materials--polymer, liquid crystals, elastomer, colloidal particles--into nano/mesoscale structures for optical, optoelectronic, biomedical, miniaturized actuators and flexible sensor applications.

Shengqian Ma

| Faculty Page | Google Scholar | Research Profile | Shengqian.Ma@unt.edu |

Dr. Ma is a Professor and Welch Chair in Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry. His research focuses on the development of functional porous materials including metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), covalent organic frameworks (COFs), and porous organic polymers (POPs) for energy, biological, environmental-related applications. He has published more than 300 papers with the total citations over 32000 and the H-index of 96; he has been selected as the Highly Cited Researcher (top 1%) for eight consecutive years (2014-2021).

Maurizio Manzo

| Faculty Page | Google Scholar | Photonics Micro-Devices Fabrication Laboratory | Maurizio.Manzo@unt.edu |

Dr. Manzo is an Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering. He is the Director of the Photonics Micro-Devices Fabrication Laboratory and is involved in sensor development, instrumentation and flow diagnostics, and biomedical micro-devices.  He received his Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from the Southern Methodist University (SMU).

Sreekar Marpu

|Faculty Page | Google Scholar | SreekarBabu.Marpu@unt.edu |

Dr. Marpu is an adjunct professor in the Department of Chemistry with research interests in polymers, hydrogels, optical materials, fiber optics, and nanomaterials for chemical sensing, environment, energy, and biomedical applications.

Reza Mirshams

|Faculty Page | Google Scholar | Research Profile | Reza.Mirshams@unt.edu |

Dr. Mirshams is a Professor in Mechanical Engineering. He has Ph.D. degree in Industrial Metallurgy and Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, and M. Engr. and B.S. from the University of Tehran. He is a Licensed Professional Engineer with combined industrial, academic, and forensic engineering experiences. His research interest is in deformation mechanisms, fracture and failure analysis, and materials performance in engineering products. He has been the recipient of research grants from federal and local agencies and industries. He has taught courses in the areas of metallurgy, manufacturing processes of materials, failure analysis of materials, fracture mechanics, fatigue, creep, engineering product design and materials selection, corrosion, and performance of materials. He has been ABET Commissioner, Team Chair, engineering Program Evaluator, and current member of The Minerals, Metals & Material Society (TMS) and National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE).

Seifollah Nasrazadani

| Faculty Page | Google Scholar | Research Profile | Seifollah.Nasrazadani@unt.edu |

Dr. Nasrazadani is a Professor and Senior Director for Technology and Management Programs in Mechanical Engineering. His research has contributed to understanding the mechanisms of atmospheric corrosion of high-strength low-alloy steels and the characterization of corrosion products of ferrous and nonferrous alloys. His research group is developing a standard atmospheric corrosion test protocol to assess corrosion resistance in all-aluminum microchannel heat exchangers.

Jens Neu

The research in the Neu lab is focused on understanding photophysics in emerging materials for solar applications. The main spectroscopic techniques developed in the lab focus on Terahertz (THz) spectroscopy. The THz range of the electromagnetic spectrum is very sensitive to mobile charges. In combination with femtosecond laser pulse-excitation, THz provides frequency, phase, and time resolved insight into photoconductivity. Additional to this rather established technique the Neu lab is actively pushing the limits of the temporal range of THz spectroscopy and combining the spectroscopic read-put with external biases using transparent electrodes. A THz-transparent three-electrode cell is used to adjust the Fermi level in the material under study and also to mimic in-operando conditions for solar cells. The breath of materials to which these techniques can be applied is huge and the Neu lab is always open for collaborations. In house, the focus lies on photoconductive metal-organic frameworks (MOF) and exploring their potential for ultra-light solar cells.

Mohammad Omary

| Faculty Page | Google Scholar | Omary Research Group | Mohammad.Omary@unt.edu |

Dr. Omary is an University Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Chemistry and leads the Omary Research Group.  His goal with AMMPI is to design metal-containing molecular materials as “green” functional materials for a variety of optoelectronic, environmental, and biomedical applications. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Yarmouk University and his doctorate in physical inorganic chemistry from the University of Maine.

Bibhudutta Rout

| Faculty Page | Google Scholar | bibhu@unt.edu |

Dr. Rout is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics. He is actively pursuing research in several experimental areas involving condensed matter physics, materials science, nano-science and technology. His current research interests include materials analysis and modification using high energy focused ion beams; Growth and analysis of micro-nanostructures using UHV techniques involving MBE, E-beam, Ion beam.

Thomas Scharf

| Faculty Page | Google Scholar | Moving Mechanical Assemblies Lab | Thomas.Scharf@unt.edu |

Dr. Scharf is a Professor in Materials Science and Engineering. He studies the processing, metrology and characterization of advanced ceramic, metallic and functionally-graded composite (or hybrid) materials for aerospace, energy, and biomedical applications. He hopes to identify and find better ways to control the wear and corrosion performance of components. He received his doctorate and master’s degree from the University of Alabama. 

Sheldon Shi

| Faculty Page | Google Scholar | Sheldon.Shi@unt.edu |

Dr. Shi is a Professor in Mechanical Engineering. He received his Ph.D. from Michigan Technological University in 1997. Dr. Shi has published papers on modeling and validation of biomass pyrolysis with a focus on product yield and composition, the fabrication of wood fiber-rubber composites with microwave-modified waste rubber powder, and on soybean meal-based wood adhesives water resistance improvement.

Hector Siller Carrillo

| Faculty Page | Google Scholar | Digital Manufacturing Lab | Hector.Siller@unt.edu |

Dr. Siller Carrillo is an Assistant Professor and Manufacturing ET Program Coordinator in Mechanical Engineering.  He earned his Ph.D in Technological Innovation in Process and Product Engineering from the Jaume I University in Spain, and holds M.Sc. and B.Sc. degrees from Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico, in the fields of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering respectively. His research areas include advanced manufacturing processes, additive manufacturing, micro-manufacturing and metrology.

Srinivasan Srivilliputhur

| Faculty Page | Google Scholar | Srinivasan.Srivilliputhur@unt.edu |

Dr. Srivilliputhur is a Professor in Materials Science and Engineering. His research interests include developing high-fidelity interatomic potentials for large-scale atomistic simulations and atomistic modeling of deformation behavior and defect physics, irradiation effects in materials, phase transformations, and structure property-relations in metals and alloys. Prior to his service at UNT, Dr. Srivilliputhur was a technical staff member in the Materials Science Division at Los Alamos National Lab.  He received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington, Materials Science and Engineering in 1998 and completed postdoctoral studies in the Theoretical Division at Los Alamos National Lab in 2002.

Hong Wang

| Faculty Page | Google Scholar | Research | Hong.Wang@unt.edu |

Dr. Wang is a professor in the Department of Chemistry. She is a synthetic organic chemist. Her research interests lie on synthetic methodology development and design/development of novel organic materials for applications in medicines and organic electronics. She received her doctorate from University of California at Davis. She conducted her post-doctoral work at Stanford University and The Scripps Research Institute.

Yuanxi Wang

| Faculty Page | Google Scholar | Research | yuanxi.wang@unt.edu |

Dr. Wang is an assistant professor in the UNT Physics Department. He received his Ph.D. degree at Penn State University. His research focuses on developing first-principles computational materials theory, as applied to 2D materials like graphene and layered compounds. His most recent interests include defect-based qubits in 2D semiconductors, exciton physics in 2D materials, and modeling large-area growth of highly crystalline 2D crystals. His work also involves tight collaborations with experimentalists across multiple disciplines, with focus on the optical, mechanical, transport, and catalytic properties of 2D materials.

Yuzhe Xiao

| Faculty Page | Google Scholar | yuzhe.xiao@unt.edu |

Dr. Xiao is an Assistant Professor in Physics.  He received his Ph.D. degree in Optics from the University of Rochester.  His research focuses on nonlinear optics, nanophotonics, quantum plasmonics, and thermal radiation.  His research group conducts both theoretical and experimental research in optics and applied physics.  In particular, his group explores the mid-infrared properties of materials using infrared spectroscopy and thermal-radiation spectroscopy. 

Marcus L. Young

| Faculty Page | Google Scholar | The X Lab | Marcus.Young@unt.edu |

Dr. Young is an Associate Professor and the Associate Department Chair for Undergraduate Programs in Materials Science and Engineering. His research group develops, processes, and characterizes structural metallic materials, with a special interest in shape memory alloys, multi-component alloys, porous metallic foams, thermo-mechanical testing, and high strain rate testing. He earned a doctorate in materials science engineering from Northwestern University.

Weihuan Zhao

| Faculty Page | Google Scholar | Research Profile | ZØE | Weihuan.Zhao@unt.edu |

Dr. Zhao is an Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering. Previously, she was working as a postdoctoral appointee in the Energy Systems Division at Argonne National Laboratory. Her research areas are in Thermal-Fluid Sciences, including heat transfer, thermodynamics, and fluid dynamics. She focuses on heat transfer and CFD simulations by using programming languages as well as the commercial software (i.e., COMSOL, etc.). She is also capable of building heat transfer/fluid dynamics experiments in the lab. Dr. Zhao obtained her Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University.