People


Matt Pharr 2Matt Pharr

Dr. Matt Pharr is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University (with a courtesy appointment in Materials Science & Engineering).  He did his Ph.D. with Zhigang Suo and Joost Vlassak at Harvard University and a postdoc with John Rogers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on mechanics of materials, specifically materials for energy storage and conversion, deformation and fracture of soft materials, mechanics of stretchable electronics, mechanics of irradiated materials, coupled electro-chemo-mechanics, biomechanics of plants, and mass transport in materials.

Email:  m-pharr@tamu.edu

CV


Ph.D. Students

Dongyun (Aiden) Kang (2022 – )

Aiden received his BS in Mechanical Engineering in University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2019. His research focuses on fabrication and characterization of materials for neuromorphic computing and corresponding mechanical phenomena in these systems. His research interests include inspection of stress/damage during operation and how mechanical loading influences phase transitions in these systems.

Email: dongyun2@tamu.edu

 

Victor Balcorta (2021 – )

Victor earned his BS in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas at El Paso. In Fall 2021 he joined Dr. Pharr’s group. His research interests focus on using different nanoindentation techniques to understand the chemo-mechanics of energy storage materials. He also contributes to the development of 3D-printed electrode materials for sodium-ion batteries.

Email: vhbalcortam@tamu.edu

 

 

Devleena Samanta (2021 – )

Devleena received her B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from Manipal University, India where she focused on automotive design engineering. She joined Dr. Pharr’s group in Fall 2021. Currently she is working on biodegradable polymers for human surgical implants. Her current research interests include experimental and theoretical solid mechanics, polymers, and biomaterials. Besides research, she enjoys painting, writing, reading, learning random useless facts and skills, and building lego models in her free time.

Email: devleena.samanta@tamu.edu

 

Jungho Shin (2020 – )

Jungho was born and raised in Busan, Korea. He received his BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering at Korea University, where he studied nanomaterials synthesis and its electrochemical applications. He joined Dr. Pharr’s group in summer 2020. His current research interests are mechanical and electrical properties of secondary battery systems.

Email: jungho.shin0912@tamu.edu

 


M.S. Students


Undergraduate Students

Jake Isakson (2023 – )

Johnny Koithan (2023 – )

Rachel Lee (2023 – )


Alumni

Ph.D. Alumni

Md Kamrul Hasan (2022), Ph.D. “Mechanical Characterization of Irradiated Polymers for Medical Applications.”

 

 

 

Omid Zargar (2022), Ph.D. “Biomechanical Behavior of Bioenergy Sorghum and the Influence of Thigmomorphogenesis.”

 

 

Yuwei Zhang (2021), Ph.D., “Chemo-Mechanics of Functional Thin Films for Lithium-ion Batteries and Neuromorphic Computing Devices.” 

 

 

 

 

Seunghyun Lee (2020), Ph.D., “Mechanical Behavior of a Silicone Elastomer, Elastomer Composites, and a Natural Composite.” 

 

 

 

 

M.S. Alumni

Cole Fincher (2020), M.S., “Small Scale Mechanical Behavior of Metal Electrodes.” 

 

 

 

Haley Turman (2019), M.S., “Investigation of the Effect of Annealing on Irradiated Alloy 718.” 

 

 

 

Garrett Hardin (2018), M.S., “Mechanics of electrodes in high-capacity lithium-ion batteries.” 

 

 

 

 

Undergraduate Alumni

Carter Jensen (2023)
Matt Coburn (2022 – 2023)
Elliot Manuel (2022 – 2023)
Chris Resendiz (2022)
Becca Cunningham (2022)
Aaron Cozart (2022 – 2023)
Eric Roth (2022)
Carlos Parra (2022)
Adam Pipe (2021 – 2022)
Christian Jaramillo (2021)
John Rios (2021 – 2022)
Saaransh Verma (2021 – 2022)
Jessica Ganley (2021)
Karla Molina (2020 – 2021)
Puneet Kohli (2020 – 2021)
Chiedu Nwaobi (2020 – 2021)
Bill Wang, High School Student (2019 – 2020)
Michael Ecker-Randolph, REU Student (2019)
Temitayo Odunuga, REU Student (2019)
Kyriakos Avraam, Visiting Student from Cyprus (2019)
Carl Reiser (2019 – 2020)
Luke Perkins (2019)
Edward Gaffney (2019 – 2020)
Arjun Rao (2019)
James Chin (2019)
Andrew Buske (2019)
Mark Olvera (2019)
Daniel Claybaugh (2018 – 2020)
Raquel Muyshondt (2018 – 2022)
Arber Shasivari (2018 – 2019)
Edwin Torres (2018 – 2019)
Maria Lydia Ioannides, Visiting Student from Cyprus (2018)
Daniela Ojeda, REU Student (2018)
Russell Rowe, REU Student (2018)
Jonah Noureddine (2018)
Paco Falcon (2018)
Kylie Nielson (2017 – 2018)
Aaron Garcia (2017 – 2018)
Justin Coe (2017 – 2018)
Scott McProuty (2017 – 2018)
Brenda Cancino (2017 – 2018)
Cole Fincher (2016 – 2017)
Geoffrey Garner (2016 – 2017)
Taiwo Odetola (2017)
Garrett Swenson, REU Student (2017)
Valdemar Solis (2017)