ASME is proud to present the current research in the Mechanical Engineering department (as of 2025).
Mechanical Engineering Lab Groups
Preston: Preston Innovation Lab
Focus on efficiency and technology, thermodynamics and heat transfer, fluid mechanics and interfacial phenomena, soft materials and actuators, magnetic levitation, and more
Schaefer: Energy Systems Lab
Analysis, design and optimization of multi-scale energy systems. This research relies on a solid basis of thermofluid modeling, augmented by a small experimental verification program.
Ghorbel: Robotics and Intelligent Systems Lab
Dynamic systems and control, robotics, and biomedical engineering systems
Nagarajaiah Research Group
Structural dynamic systems, smart structures system identification, sensing and monitoring under earthquakes, wind and waves, seismic protection and applied nanotechnology related to sensing.
O’Malley: Mechatronics and Haptic Interfaces Lab
In addition to traditional dynamic systems, controls, and mechatronics research, the MAHI Lab focuses on mechanisms to enhance human performance through physical human-robot interactions, such as for robotic rehabilitation and prosthetics.
Tezduyar: Team for Advanced Flow Simulation and Modeling
Focuses on the computational analysis in fluid mechanics, fluid-structure interaction, biomechanics, aerospace engineering, and aerodynamics of ground vehicles. Dr. Tezduyar’s graduate students at Rice University coauthored over 40 ISI-indexed journal articles since 2007 (see the table). His MS students, on the average, each coauthored approximately 4 ISI-indexed journal articles.
Mechanical Engineering Research by topic
Find out more at Research | Mechanical Engineering | Rice University.
Aerospace Engineering
YILDIZ BAYAZITOGLU
PEDRAM HASSANZADEH
ANDREW MEADE
POL D. SPANOS
TAYFUN E. TEZDUYAR
Biomedical Systems
YILDIZ BAYAZITOGLU
B.J. FREGLY
FATHI GHORBEL
PETER B. LILLEHOJ
MARCIA O’MALLEY
DANIEL PRESTON
POL D. SPANOS
TAYFUN E. TEZDUYAR
RAUDEL AVILA
Computational Fluid Dynamics
JOHN E. AKIN
YILDIZ BAYAZITOGLU
PEDRAM HASSANZADEH
C. FRED HIGGS III
ANDREW MEADE
LAURA SCHAEFER
POL D. SPANOS
TAYFUN E. TEZDUYAR
ENERGY & THE ENVIRONMENT
YILDIZ BAYAZITOGLU
FATHI GHORBEL
PEDRAM HASSANZADEH
C. FRED HIGGS III
DANIEL PRESTON
LAURA SCHAEFER
TAYFUN E. TEZDUYAR
GEOFF WEHMEYER
RAUDEL AVILA
FLUID-STRUCTURE INTERACTION
DANIEL PRESTON
TAYFUN E. TEZDUYAR
MECHANICAL, DYNAMICS, & cONTROLS
JOHN E. AKIN
MATTHEW BRAKE
B.J. FREGLY
FATHI GHORBEL
PEDRAM HASSANZADEH
MARCIA O’MALLEY
SATISH NAGARAJAIAH
DANIEL PRESTON
POL D. SPANOS
TAYFUN E. TEZDUYAR
RAUDEL AVILA
MechanicAL DESIGN & ROBOTICS
JOHN E. AKIN
B.J. FREGLY
FATHI GHORBEL
MARCIA O’MALLEY
DANIEL PRESTON
RAUDEL AVILA
THERMO-FLUID SCIENCES
YILDIZ BAYAZITOGLU
PEDRAM HASSANZADEH
C. FRED HIGGS III
PETER B. LILLEHOJ
ANDREW MEADE
DANIEL PRESTON
LAURA SCHAEFER
TAYFUN E. TEZDUYAR
GEOFF WEHMEYER
TRIBOLOGY
MATTHEW BRAKE
C. FRED HIGGS III
DANIEL PRESTON