Nikhil Admal

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. I am broadly interested in the multiscale modeling of materials at various length and times scales ranging from the atomic scale to the continuum scale. Currently, the focus of my research is on the study of recrystallization in refractory materials to increase their operating temperature, and development of first-principles strain gradient elastic models to include non-local effects relevant in micromechanical systems, and systems with defects. Click here for a more detailed description of my current and previous research work

Bio: I obtained my Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics from the University of Minnesota under the guidance of Prof. Ellad Tadmor. Subsequently, I was a Postdoc in the Materials Science and Engineering department at UCLA working with Prof. Jaime Marian. My CV can be found here.

Graduate Students

Jaekwang Kim

I am a PhD student in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics program at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. After obtaining my undergraduate degree from the Seoul National University, and a Master’s degree from UIUC, I joined Admal research group in Spring 2019. My interests lie in mathematical modeling of fully anisotropic grain boundary motion, and developing fast and efficient algorithms to simulate polycrystalline materials  in 3D.

Himanshu Joshi

I am Doctoral candidate in the Mechanical Science and Engineering Department at University of Illinois starting Fall 2019. I completed my undergraduate degree from Indian Institute of Technology (ISM) Dhanbad, followed by a Master’s degree from University of Illinois. My research focusses on developing an understanding of grain boundary motion through atomistic simulations, and developing a rigorous mathematical model of grain boundary motion on a continuum level using the underlying concept of disconnections.

Junyan He

I am a Ph.D. student in Mechanical Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. I obtained my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Utah in 2019 and 2020, respectively. I joined Dr. Admal’s research group in Fall 2020. My research project focuses on the theoretical development and numerical implementation of efficient algorithms to simulate the interaction between grain boundaries and bulk defects at the mesoscale during mechanical deformation of polycrystals.

Tusher Ahmed

I am a Ph.D. student in Mechanical Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. I completed my B. SC. and M. Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) in 2017 and 2019, respectively. I joined Dr. Admal’s research group in Spring 2021. My research focuses on the continuum and atomic scale modeling of graphene-metal interfaces formed  during chemical vapor deposition of graphene.