Undergraduate Research Opportunities

Project Title	Faculty Name	Research Area	Start Date
Acid degradation of polymeric materials for dissolvable packaging	Vincent Torres	Polymer chemistry/material science	Fall 2026
Advancing Design Science with Additive Manufacturing of Shape Memory Alloys for Extreme Environments	Elzbieta Sikora	environmental degradation of engineering materials	Summer 2026
AI based discovery of protein materials	Melik Demirel	synthetic biology/materials science	Spring 2026
Atomistic Modeling of New Materials (2 positions)	Vincent Meunier	Computational atomistic materials	Spring 2026
Characterization of materials the comprise permafrost across the electromagnetic spectrum.	Michael Lanagan	Electrical properties of permafrost	Spring 2026
Computational modeling of wave propagation in complex materials	Christopher Kube	Additive Manufacturing and Ultrasonics	Spring 2026
Corrosion monitoring with ultrasound and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy	Andrea Arguelles	Ultrasound, Mechanics, Materials Characterization	Spring 2026
Ethical Concerns and Governance Strategies in Multimodal Brain and Behavioral Data Use, Sharing, and Analysis	Laura Cabrera	Ethical and societal implications of emerging technologies	Spring 2026
Extreme engineering	Daniel Whisler	experimental mechanics	Spring 2026
Fabrication of low-cost carbon-carbon composite precursor system	Vincent Torres	Polymer chemistry/material science	Fall 2026
Guided wave interactions with damage in materials	Cliff Lissenden	ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation	Fall 2026
Hybrid Finite-Element/Analytical Algorithm for Inverse Problems	Albert Segall	Inverse Calculations aka, Cause from Effect	Spring 2026
Mathematical Models of Brain Multi-Physics	Corina Drapaca	Engineering Science and Mechanics/Mathematics	Spring 2026
Multiplexed Molecularly Imprinted Polymer (MIP) Biosensor for Simultaneous Cytokine and Lactate Detection in Sweat	Farnaz Lorestani	Wearable and flexible Biosensor	Spring 2026
Quantum magnetometers for deep space exploration	Patrick M Lenahan	Additive Manufacturing and Ultrasonics	Summer 2026
Synthesis of smart materials for polymer additive manufacturing	Vincent Torres	Polymer chemistry/material science	Fall 2026
Transmission-mode geometric phase	Akhlesh Lakhtakia	Geometric phase and nanoscale thin films	Spring 2026
Ultrasound for assessing structure and properties of 3D printed parts	Christopher Kube	Additive Manufacturing and Ultrasonics	Spring 2026
Understanding limitations on wide band gap semiconductor devices in outer space environments with magnetic resonance techniques.	Patrick M Lenahan	quantum sensors, solid state materials physics	Summer 2026

About

The Penn State Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics (ESM) is an internationally distinguished department that is recognized for its globally competitive excellence in engineering and scientific accomplishments, research, and educational leadership.

Our Engineering Science program is the official undergraduate honors program of the College of Engineering, attracting the University’s brightest engineering students. We also offer graduate degrees in ESM, engineering mechanics, engineering at the nano-scale, and an integrated undergraduate/graduate program.