The CDI Lab is pleased to welcome Andrew Fletcher as our newest PhD student as of Fall 2021. Andrew joins us from the University of California at San Diego, where he completed his bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering. During his undergraduate studies, Andrew gained valuable experience in multidisciplinary design optimization under the guidance of UCSD […]
Author Archives
Prof. Kai James Selected as a 2021 NCSA Faculty Fellow
Prof. Kai James has been chosen as a 2021 Faculty Fellow by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. This prestigious distinction is awarded annually to faculty and researchers at the University of Illinois who are using high-performance computing in bold and innovative ways. The program provides one year of seed funding for collaborative projects with […]
Congratulations Dr. Anurag Bhattacharyya and Dr. Ziliang Kang!
I am pleased to announce that earlier this week, CDI Lab PhD students Anurag Bhattacharyya and Ziliang Kang successfully defended their PhD dissertations. Anurag’s dissertation presented a novel framework for hierarchical design of self-actuating shape-memory polymer mechanisms, while Ziliang’s dissertation introduced an original design methodology for computational synthesis of shape-memory alloy mechanisms for soft robotics […]
CDI Lab Welcomes 3 New Graduate Students
The CDI Lab is pleased to welcome three new graduate students, Corey Parrott, Lee Alacoque, and Bello Waheed Babatunde. Corey and Lee will be starting their PhDs in August, and Waheed will begin his master’s degree. Corey joins us from Lockheed Martin Corporation, where he performed stress analysis of aircraft structures. Prior to working at […]
Prof. James Selected as a Speaker for the USACM Virtual Summer Seminar Series
Prof. Kai James was selected as one of ix speakers in the Virtual Summer Seminar Series hosted by the US Association for Computational Mechanics. Prof. James presented the CDI Lab’s latest research on topology optimization of self-actuating shape-memory polymer mechanisms. The full presentation can be viewed here.
CDI Lab PhD Student, Prateek Ranjan Presents Research at AIAA SciTech Forum
CDI Lab PhD Student, Prateek Ranjan, presented his latest paper titled “Mission-Adaptive Lifting System Design using Integrated Multidisciplinary Topology Optimization” at the 2020 AIAA SciTech Forum on June 16th. The paper discussed a coupled aero-structural optimization framework for the design of a mission adaptive airfoil. This year’s forum was moved to an online virtual format […]
Prof. James Named Inaugural Scott White Aerospace Engineering Faculty Fellow
Kai A. James, assistant professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been named the inaugural Scott White Aerospace Engineering Faculty Fellow. This appointment provides faculty support for an individual who conducts research in materials, a field for which its namesake, Professor Scott White, was globally recognized. James […]
CDI Lab research on non-pneumatic tires featured in a “Poplular Mechanics” article
The research of Prof. Kai James and former University of Illinois Master’s student Yeshern Maharaj is featured in a new article on popluarmechanics.com. Check it out here!
Prof. Kai James and Colleagues Awarded $6 mil. NASA Grant
Prof. Kai James is part of a team of 16 researchers from across the US that has been awarded a six million dollar grant as part of NASA’s University Leadership Initiative. The team, led by Prof. Phil Ansell, also from the university of Illinois, will investigate the design of a novel electric aircraft fueled by […]
Welcome Pat and Ghanedra!
The CDI Lab is pleased to welcome two new students, Ghanendra Das and Patrick Kelley, both of whom will join the group as master’s students this fall. Ghanendra joins us from Safran Aerospace India, where he worked as a repair, design and stress engineer focusing on aircraft landing gear. Prior to this, he attended The […]