Pulickel M. Ajayan, Ph.D, Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor in Engineering, received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University.  His research focuses on the development of functional nanostructured materials for variety of applications. His research group looks at the materials science and engineering aspects of  these novel materials with three different focused application areas: nanomaterials in energy generation and storage, multifunctional  composites and nano-enabled bio-mimetic systems, and nanoelectronics, nanosensors, active nanosystems.

Dr. Bayazitoglu joined Rice University, Houston, in 1977 and, since 1996, has been H.S. Cameron Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science. She received her bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering at Middle East Technical University (Ankara, Turkey) in 1967. She earned her master's and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1969 and 1974, respectively.  Her current research interests include container-less processing of materials, solution to electromagnetic radiation equation, molecular dynamics studies for nano heat transfer, micro-channel fluid and heat transfer, and bio heat transfer.

Franz R. Brotzen, Ph.D.

Andrew Dick received his B.S. and M.S. through an accelerated dual degree program at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, College Park. His research interests are in the areas of dynamics, vibrations, and signal analysis. He is particularly interested in nonlinear phenomena, both understanding it and developing means to use it to the benefit of the system. Much of his work has focused on nonlinear behavior in micro-scale systems with specific applications to piezoelectric micro-resonators and atomic force microscopy. Within his work, Dr. Dick utilizes reduced order modeling, perturbation methods, nonlinear analysis, numerical simulations and experiments. He is an NSF fellow and a member of ASME.

Brent C. Houchens
Ph.D.

Brent Houchens received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.  His research interests are in the areas of fluid mechanics, heat transfer and magnetohydrodynamics modeling.  He studies bulk semiconductor crystal growth processing and fundamental fluid flows.  This work involves surface tension effects including thermocapillary driving,  and electromagnetic effects including magnetic stirring and damping. 

Jun Lou
Ph.D.

Jun Lou obtained B.E. and M.S. degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from Tsinghua University and Ohio State University, respectively, and his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Princeton Materials Institute at Princeton University. His research interest lies in the following areas: Materials related issues and device developments for MEMS/NEMS applications; Size effects in mechanical integrity and electrical properties of metallic nanostructures; Interfacial behavior of NT/NW reinforced nanocomposites; Novel nano-fabrication methods with implications for Bio-nano interactions and sensing applications.

Rex B. McLellan, Ph.D., Professor of Materials Science, received his Ph.D. from Leeds University. He is an active researcher in thermodynamics, kinetics, and statistical mechanics of metallic solid solutions and is an internationally recognized authority in his field. He has published and lectured extensively at universities and laboratories throughout the world. Dr. McLellan is a member of the ASM, the AIMME, and the society of Sigma Xi, and is a Distinguished Scientist of Tau Beta Pi.

David McStravick, Professor in the Practice of Mechanical Engineering, received his PhD from Rice University. Before joining the Rice faculty, he worked in research groups developing new products for the oil industry resulting in 15 U S patents. Dr. McStravick’s teaching duties at Rice have included courses on machine design, statics & dynamics, engineering design, and lab courses on fluid and power systems. Also, he leads student teams in year long design projects. His research interests are in the areas of design, engineering education, and virtual labs.  He is a Professional Engineer (Texas) and has done extensive forensic work as an expert witness. Dr. McStravick is a member of the ASME, ASEE, and SPE.