Two NSF-funded graduate research assistantships in computational structural mechanics and optimization

Highly qualified applicants are sought for two graduate research assistant positions in the areas of computational structural mechanics and design optimization.  The selected candidates will enroll in a PhD program in engineering and work with a team of researchers at the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems (CAVS) in the Bagley College of Engineering at Mississippi State University.

Applicants must have a bachelor of science degree (and preferably a master’s degree) in aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, engineering mechanics, or materials science/engineering. Preferred candidates will have a strong background in structural mechanics, solid mechanics, or design optimization.

The two candidates will work on a three-year research project funded by the National Science Foundation. This project will involve research on novel computational methods for modeling of microstructure-property relations, multiscale based constitutive models, finite-element modeling and simulation of nonlinear structural responses, modeling of material and structure uncertainties, and optimization of hierarchically decomposed probabilistic multilevel systems.

The research objective of this project is to develop a computational design tool for multilevel optimization of hierarchical product-material systems under uncertainty. Through systematic decomposition of computational material models, microstructure-property relationships can be tailored to satisfy competing system-level design goals such as performance, reliability, and robustness. A consistent top-down cascading of requirements and bottom-up propagation of capabilities and uncertainties that span length scales ranging from nano-to-micro, micro-to-meso, and meso-to-macro is desired. Development of advanced metamodels for approximation of cause-effect relationships will enhance the efficiency of the design tool while addressing key optimization concerns related to highly nonlinear and noisy responses. Cyberinfrastructure will be used to integrate the components into a comprehensive tool, effectively forming a virtual organization for multidisciplinary research. The effectiveness of the design tool will be evaluated by investigating a number of benchmark problems.

If successful, the results of this research will enhance modern engineering design methodology by expanding our knowledge of material microstructure design as an integral part of the product design process. This research will provide a platform for the exploration and understanding of interactions among the elements of material microstructure and their sensitivities to external influences (e.g., static or dynamic loading). Moreover, it will result in the development of a sophisticated cyberinfrastructure and associated technologies which will contribute toward the ability to design products with vastly different classes of materials such as advanced lightweight alloys, nanophased fiber-reinforced polymer composites, metal-matrix composites and powder metals.

Each selected candidate will work in one of two research tracks as categorized by the following areas of activity:

1) Microstructure-property relations, uncertainty analysis, and finite-element simulation
2) Probabilistic design, multilevel optimization, metamodeling, and cyberinfrastructure

Each candidate will receive full financial assistantship plus full tuition waiver.  Interested candidates should send their resumes to Prof. Masoud Rais-Rohani at Masoud@ae.msstate.edu.  International applicants must have a minimum TOEFL score of 550 or equivalent and must have taken the GRE in the last two years. Both positions are available starting on January 1, 2009.