Matt 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 investigates a wide range of problems in solid mechanics that couple to other fields, such as electronics, chemistry, electrochemistry, and biology. Current areas of interest include mechanics of materials for energy storage and conversion, deformation and fracture of soft materials, coupled electro-chemo-mechanics, and mass transport in materials. His recent research has spanned a wide range of applications, including rechargeable batteries, irradiated materials for medical device applications, plants for bioenergy production, neuromorphic computing, biodegradable polymers, and 3D printing.
CV
Email: m-pharr@tamu.edu
Postdoctoral Researchers
Diyar Jamal (2024 – )
Diyar holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Boğaziçi University (Istanbul), an MS in Materials Processing from KTH (Sweden), and a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Texas A&M. With a strong background in academia, Diyar has taught at various universities and is currently leading innovative research projects focused on polymers recycling and upcycling, advancing electron beam technology, and integrating carbon nanoparticles into construction materials. Additionally, he is pioneering the development of AI models tailored for materials science.
Email: diyarjamal@exchange.tamu.edu
Ph.D. Students
Aditya Natu (2023 – )
Aditya earned his B.E. and M.Tech in mechanical engineering from Savitribai Phule Pune University and Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, respectively, before starting his PhD in 2023. He is now figuring out how electron beam treatment changes polymer behavior and if it’s a good idea to blend these polymers into concrete. He doesn’t want the plastic packaging of your candies to end up in a landfill. Will he succeed? Stay tuned to find out!
Email: adityanatu@tamu.edu
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
M.S. Students
Undergraduate Students
James O’Donnell (2024 – )
Riley McNew (2024 – )
Jake Isakson (2023 – )
Johnny Koithan (2023 – )
Rachel Lee (2023 – )
Alumni
Ph.D. Alumni
Jungho Shin (2024), Ph.D. “Electro-chemo-mechanics of Several Pure Metal Anodes for Rechargeable Batteries.”
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
Frankie Watson, REU Student (2024)
Jacob Purcell, REU Student (2024)
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)