Research

Research Vision

As the world accelerates toward an electrified and sustainable future, the demand for next-generation electro-mechanical systems has never been greater. These systems must be energy-efficient, precise, compact/power-dense, and highly reliable across a wide range of applications and power levels.

Achieving these ambitious targets requires addressing several complex and often competing objectives: eliminating reliance on critical rare-earth materials, ensuring sustainable material choices, and enabling circular supply chains through critical material recovery and recycling. These challenges cannot be solved in isolation and demand a holistic, inter-disciplinary approach.

My research is rooted in this systems-level thinking. I work at the intersection of electric machines, power electronics, and advanced physics-based control, with a deep focus on multi-physics interactions and system-level integration and optimization.

I push the boundaries beyond today’s state-of-the art by unlocking additional degrees of freedom in electric machines (using spatial harmonics), developing new multi-level power electronic drives, integrating cutting-edge methods from multi-physics modeling, multi-objective and topology optimization, AI/machine learning, model-based systems engineering, and materials science. This approach allows me to radically enhance the performance, efficiency, and sustainability of electro-mechanical systems to achieve improvements by orders of magnitude over current state-of-the-art solutions.

Broader Impacts

The outcomes of my research have far-reaching implications across sectors from electric transportation, energy generation systems, mechatronic systems, aerospace, and robotics, to industrial drives and next-generation manufacturing. By minimizing dependence on rare-earth materials and enabling efficient design and recycling practices, my work directly contributes to reducing environmental impact, improving energy equity, and securing critical material supply chains.

Beyond technical advancement, my research supports a sustainable, resilient, and circular economy, and helps shape a future where high-performance electro-mechanical systems are not only more capable, but also more accessible and environmentally responsible.

Select Funded Research Projects

1. Rare-earth-free Multi-harmonic Electric Machines

  • Funding Agency: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), ORNL-LDRD - Weinberg Fellowship
  • Funding: US$720k,3 years
  • Role: Single Principal Investigator (PI)
  • Performance improvements in rare-earth-free electric machines by using spatial harmonics and multi-physics design.
  • High-throughput computing and AI/ML techniques for electric machine multi-physics topology discovery and optimization.

2. High-reliability Drivetrain for Freight Vehicles

  • Funding Agency: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), EERE Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO)
  • Role: Key Contributor
  • Development of brushless electrically-excited synchronous machine using harmonics for high-reliability and rare-earth material reduction.
  • Use of AI/ML techniques for electric machine multi-physics optimization, and fault diagnosis / prognostics.

3. Advanced Recuperated Brayton Converter. with High-temperature for Efficient Power Conversion in Space (ARCHES)

  • Funding Agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
  • Role: Key Contributor
  • Ultra-high-speed (>50k rev/min) turbo-alternator and power electronic system analysis, optimization, and design.
  • Integrated concept to eliminate redundant components for improving system power density and reliability.

4. Electric Flightworthy Lightweight Integrated Thermally-enhanced Powertrain System (eFLITES)

  • Funding Agency: ARPA-E, ASCEND program
  • Role: Key Contributor
  • Multi-physics design of a new electric propulsion system (machine+power electronics + control) to electrify a narrow-body aircraft.

5. Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines (RISE)

  • Funding Agency: GE Aerospace / CFM International
  • Role: Key Contributor
  • Open-rotor hybrid-electric aircraft engine design.

6. High-speed Reluctance Rotors Enabled by Multi-material Additive Manufacturing

  • Funding Agency: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Office of Vice-Chancellor of Research and Graduate Education
  • Role: Post-doctoral Research Associate
  • Design and multi-physics optimization of the world’s first solid 3D-printed multi-material SynR machine rotor.
  • Hardware development and demonstration of 400% improvement in power density through this design.

7. Electrification of a Compact Track Loader

  • Funding Agency: U.S. Department of Energy, EERE Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO).
  • Role: Post-doctoral Research Associate
  • System architecture design and optimization to retrofit a commercial compact track-loader with the hybrid-electric system to electrify it.

8. Integrated Hybrid Electric-Hydraulic Drive Systems for Off-highway Vehicle Electrification

  • Funding Agency: U.S. Department of Energy, EERE Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO).
  • Role: Graduate Research Assistant
  • Design, multi-physics optimization, and prototype development of a new 20kW integrated electro-hydraulic actuator, power electronic drive, and control.
  • Hardware development and demonstration of over 150% improvement in power density over the state-of-the-art.

9. Design of a Conical Magnetic Bearing

  • Funding Agency: National Science Foundation (NSF).
  • Role: Graduate Research Assistant
  • Design of a conical magnetic bearing for fly-wheel energy storage.

10. Electric Machine Modeling Framework (eMach)

  • Funding Agency: Multiple - NSF, DOE, ARL.
  • Role: Graduate Research Assistant
  • An open-source software framework to design and optimize electric machines by interfacing with multiple FEA tools.