Three MEAM faculty will present their research. Come and learn about their exciting research, ask questions, and learn about research opportunities.
Prof. Hongyi Xu joined the University of Connecticut in February 2019 as an Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering. His research interests include Computational Design and Deep Generative Design of Microstructures and Structures, Design for Digital/Cyber Manufacturing, and Uncertainty Quantification. Prior to joining UConn, Dr. Xu received his PhD from Northwestern University in 2014, and worked for Ford Research and Advanced Engineering from 2014 to 2019. Dr. Xu’s research contributions have been recognized with the 2024 ASME Design Automation Young Investigator Award, the NSF CAREER Award, and invited participation in the 2023 National Academy of Engineering EU-US Frontiers of Engineering Symposium.
Prof. Chao Hu received his B.E. in Engineering Physics from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, in 2007 and his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2011. He worked first as a Senior Reliability Engineer and then as a Principal Scientist at Medtronic in Minnesota from 2011 to 2015; he joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Iowa State University in 2015 and worked first as an Assistant Professor and then as an Associate Professor from 2015 to 2022. He is currently a Collins Aerospace Professor in Engineering Innovation and an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Hu’s research interests are engineering design under uncertainty, lifetime prediction of lithium-ion batteries, and prognostics and health management. He serves as the Associate Editor for Engineering Optimization, representing the North American region, a Review Editor for Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization, and an Associate Editor for the ASME Journal of Mechanical Design and IEEE Sensors Journal.
Prof. Ji Ho Jeon joined our school as an Assistant Professor in August 2024. He earned his B.S. in Automotive Engineering from the University of Bath in 2014, followed by a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Seoul National University (SNU) in 2021. He further advanced his academic career as a postdoctoral fellow at SNU from 2021 to 2022 and as a research engineer at the Georgia Institute of Technology from 2023 to 2024. His research spans a diverse array of areas, including high-rate and large-scale composite manufacturing processes, recycling and repair of composite materials, and metal-composite joining processes. Additionally, he has expanded his research portfolio to include metal additive manufacturing processes and innovative surface post-processing techniques.