The Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) welcomes five new faculty members to its already impressive ranks.
Dr. Levent Guvenc joins the department as the newest faculty member at the Center for Automotive Research. He received his B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Bogazici University in Istanbul, his M.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Clemson University, and his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from The Ohio State University. From 1996-2011, he worked in the mechanical engineering department of İstanbul Technical University, where he was the director of the European Union Framework Programme 6 funded Center of Excellence on Automotive Control and Mechatronics. He was the department chair of mechanical engineering at Istanbul Okan University from 2011-2014. Guvenc was the founder and director of Mekar Mechatronics Research Labs, and coordinator of team Mekar in the 2011 Grand Cooperative Driving Challenge.
His current research interests concentrate on applied robust control, mechatronics, cooperative mobility of road vehicles, automotive control, and control applications in AFM. He is a member of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) Technical Committees on Automotive Control, Mechatronics and Intelligent Autonomous Vehicles, and the IEEE Technical Committees on Automotive Control and Intelligent Vehicular Systems and Control. He was also elected as an ASME Fellow earlier this year.
Dr. Kiran D’Souza is an assistant professor in the
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and works in the Gas Turbine Laboratory of the Aerospace Research Center at The Ohio State University. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan. Following graduation, he continued his research in Michigan as a postdoctoral researcher, and research scientist. His doctoral research focused on damage detection in nonlinear systems using augmented system models, and sensitivity enhancement using nonlinear feedback excitation.
His postdoctoral work shifted from fundamental nonlinear dynamics to structural dynamics, and the modeling of turbomachinery. As a research scientist, his projects expanded to include developing parametric reduced order models (ROMs) for battery packs, forecasting bifurcations in nonlinear systems, designing and analyzing systems using dynamic networks, and creating compact ROMs for turbine rotors with large blends. D’Souza is extending his turbomachinery research, expanding his computational and analytical approaches, and participating in ongoing experimental work at the Gas Turbine Laboratory.
Dr. Jonathan Song is an assistant professor in the
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and principal investigator of the newly established Microsystems for Mechanobiology and Medicine Laboratory at The Ohio State University. He is also a member of the Solid Tumor Biology Program at OSU’s Comprehensive Cancer Center. He received his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Prior to arriving at OSU, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Edwin L. Steele Laboratory for Tumor Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard Medical School.
His research interests include using an integrated microsystems approach to study vascular biology and the tumor microenvironment, microscale technology for biology and medicine, biomechanical determinants of new blood vessel growth and remodeling, and development of microphysiological systems for screening of therapeutics for oncology.
Dr. Marat Khafizov is an assistant professor in the
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at The Ohio State University. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Rochester. His current research interests are in the understanding of physical properties of materials developed for sustainable energy applications. Prior to joining OSU, he was a research scientist at Idaho National Laboratory where he conducted research aimed at understanding of thermal and corrosion properties of nuclear fuel material. At OSU, he directs the laboratory for Thermal Properties of Materials for Extreme Environments.
Sandra Anstaett Metzler received her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University in 1983. Dr. Metzler received her M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and her D.Sc. in Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis in 1997 and 2000, respectively. Dr. Metzler worked in the automotive industry for General Motors, beginning as a high-school intern in the Engineering Test Garage and continuing through her undergraduate career and the first year of professional practice. Dr. Metzler then worked in the medical device and pharmaceutical industries for approximately 10 years before returning to graduate school at Washington University. Dr. Metzler completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Washington University in Biomedical Engineering, after which she worked in the consulting arena for the past ten years. In 2011 she began teaching Capstone Design in the mechanical engineering curriculum within the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at The Ohio State University, in addition to continuing her consulting practice. In January, 2014 Dr. Metzler moved to full-time teaching responsibilities at Ohio State, where she continues to teach Capstone Design, as well as several other courses in the Design and Manufacturing group within the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
