Mechanical Engineering Faculty
Learn from renowned innovators in mechanical engineering.
Sunniva Collins, Program Director
Associate Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Focus Areas: Design for manufacturing, steel metallurgy, heat treatment, surface engineering, fatigue analysis, fatigue of metals, welding, material analytical methods
Courses: EMAE 480
Sunniva Collins joined the faculty of the Case School of Engineering at Case Western Reserve University in March 2013, where she teaches Materials, Design, and Manufacturing courses. Prior to CWRU, Collins was employed by Swagelok Company for 18 years in technical specialist and engineering management positions. Collins received her doctorate and master’s degree in materials science and engineering from Case Western Reserve University and her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan. She has worked to develop key standards on welding, surface finish requirements, and corrosion test methods for the semiconductor equipment industry. She has also instructed courses for ASME on Bioprocessing Equipment (BPE) and for the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineers (ISPE). Her recent research concerns surface hardening of austenitic stainless steels by low temperature carburization. Collins is a Fellow of ASM International (FASM) and Alpha Sigma Mu, and serves as ASM’s President in 2014-2015. Her research interests include Design for manufacturing; steel metallurgy; heat treatment; surface engineering; and failure analysis.
Richard Bachmann
Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Focus Areas: Biologically inspired robots
Courses: EMAE 481
Richard Bachmann's research is in biologically inspired terrestrial robots. He has also done some work in micro air vehicles and has been teaching for about 8 years.
Education:
- Ph.D. – Case Western Reserve University, 2009
- M.S. Mechanical Engineering – Case Western Reserve University, 2000
- B.S. Mechanical Engineering, B.A. Physics – Case Western Reserve University, 1995
Umut A. Gurkan
Warren E. Rupp Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Focus Areas: Red blood cell mechanics, biofluid mechanics, microfluidics, electrophoresis
Courses: EMAE 456
Umut A. Gurkan is leading the CASE Biomanufacturing and Microfabrication Laboratory (CASE-BML) at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). Inspired by modern advanced manufacturing methods, the primary focus of CASE-BML is developing micro/nano-scale technologies and biomanufacturing complex, multiscale biological systems for blood cell research, cardiovascular medicine, orthopaedics, musculoskeletal research, regenerative medicine, and advanced cell therapies.
Steve Hostler
Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Focus Areas: Red blood cell mechanics, biofluid mechanics, microfluidics, electrophoresis
Courses: EMAE 456
Steve Hostler is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace engineering at CWRU and an affiliated faculty member of the Great Lakes Energy Institute (GLEI). GLEI's vision is to empower our faculty, students, and partners to catalyze breakthroughs in energy sustainability that address the most pressing problems facing our world. Dr. Hostler has been with the Case School of Engineering since 2018. His research focuses on the development and characterization of novel thermal management materials. Prior to joining the faculty at CWRU, Dr. Hostler spent eight years developing CO2-based heat engines as a Senior Systems Engineering at Echogen Power Systems. He led the technical team modeling, designing, building, and testing a kW-class heat engine targeted at industrial waste heat recovery (converting waste heat into electricity). His work at Echogen resulted in seven patents. Dr. Hostler received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Caltech in Pasadena, CA and his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from CWRU in Cleveland, OH.
Jaikrishnan R. Kadambi
Professor Emeritus, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Focus Areas: Experimental fluid mechanics, multiphase flows, laser diagnostics, bio-fluid mechanics, turbomachinery
Courses: EMAE 460
Jaikrishnan Kadambi, PhD, joined the faculty of the School of Engineering at Case Western Reserve University in 1985 where he is currently an Emeritus Professor of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. He and his group have developed a refractive index flow loop to study slurry flow in pipes and slurry pumps using laser based instrumentation, particle image velocimetry (PIV) and laser Doppler anemometry (LDA). He has developed a pulsatile heart flow loop which simulates the flow of blood through heart. PIV and LDA are used to study the flow of blood through prosthetic valves, stents and third ventricle. His group has studied flow field in various blood pumps and has been involved in the study of thermo-acoustic power and refrigeration systems. He has more than 100 refereed publications. Prior to joining Case, he was a Senior research Engineer at Westinghouse Research Laboratories, Pittsburgh, Pa where he developed a unique steam cascade to obtain losses in turbine blade passages. Prof. Kadambi is a Fellow of American Society of Mechanical Engineers and is also an Adjunct Staff of the Biomedical Engineering Department at the Cleveland Clinic.
Bo Li
Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Focus Areas: Solid and computational mechanics, meshfree methods, failure processes in solids, biomechanics, thermo-fluid-structure interaction, high performance computing
Courses: EMAE 450
Dr. Bo Li is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Case Western Reserve University. He received his Ph.D. in Aeronautics from California Institute of Technology in 2009. Dr. Li joined the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at CWRU as an Assistant Professor in 2013. Prof. Li's research focuses on solid and computational mechanics, meshfree methods, failure processes in solids, biomechanics, thermo-fluid-structure interactions and high-performance computing. Dr. Li has published a number of peer-reviewed articles in prestigious journals, such as Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, Mechanics of Materials, and International Journal of Fracture, etc. Dr. Li is a recipient of the National Science Foundation Early Career Award for predictive modeling and simulation-based certification of additive manufacturing of metals in 2016.
Roger Quinn
Arthur P. Armington Professor of Engineering, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Focus Areas: Biologically inspired robotics, agile manufacturing systems, structural dynamics, vibration and control
Courses: EMAE 487
Roger D. Quinn is an Arthur P. Armington Professor of Engineering at Case Western Reserve University. He joined the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department in 1986 after receiving a Ph.D. (1985) from Virginia Tech and a M.S. (1983) and B.S. (1980) from the University of Akron. He has directed the CWRU Biorobotics Laboratory since its inception in 1990. His research, in collaboration with biologists, is devoted to the development of robots and control strategies based upon biological principles. Dozens of robots have been developed either to improve robot performance with biological principles or model animal systems. He has authored more than 250 full-length publications and holds ten patents on practical devices resulting from his work. His biology-engineering collaborative work on behavior based distributed control, robot autonomy, human-machine interfacing, soft robots, and neural control systems have each earned awards.
Additional Faculty
Through core coursework and electives, you may take courses with the following faculty:
