People

Wave Propagation

Faculty

Pablo A Tarazaga

Professor

Dr. Tarazaga’s efforts concentrate in the wide areas of structural vibration. He has focused in areas such as: the creation of net wave propagation of finite structures with no reflection, modeling of multi-physics systems, large scale instrumentation, signal processing and smart material applications. His work has been applied to the railroad industry, smart buildings, bio-inspired cochlear sensors, high energy laser weapon systems and to improve the cybersecurity of additive manufactured parts. The majority of his work spans both theoretical and experimental practices.

PhD Students

Kevin Lieb

kevinlieb@tamu.edu

Kevin Lieb is a PhD student in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University. He is working towards experimental aerodynamic, structural, and acoustic testing of a potential treatment for the leading-edge slat. Current work focuses on the development of a high-resolution, low-cost acoustic beamforming system. Kevin works with the M2AESTRO Laboratory under Dr. Darren Hartl, https://maestrolab.tamu.edu/.

Trevor Turner

trevor.turner@tamu.edu

Trevor Turner is the lab manager of the FAST Lab and a PhD student in the J. Mike Walker ’66 Mechanical Engineering Department at Texas A&M University where he also obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. His current research focuses on multi-axis pyroshock testing using resonant plates and the design of a tunable resonant plate capable of accommodating a variety of shock spectra. This work is supported and funded by the Kansas City National Security Campus operated by Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies, LLC.

Sarah Johnson

smjohnson@tamu.edu

Sarah Johnson is a PhD student in the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University. She earned her Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering at Clemson University. Her current research focuses on characterizing nonlinear elastic material vibrations as a nondestructive evaluation technique and is funded by Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Mennatallah Fawzy

mennatallah.fawzy@tamu.edu

Mennatallah Fawzy is a PhD student in the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University. She also earned her bachelor’s in mechanical engineering at Texas A&M University at Qatar. Her current research focuses on the manipulation of particles using ultrasonic vibrations in air, and its applications in additive manufacturing.

Walker Pierce

walkerpierce@tamu.edu

Walker Pierce is a Ph.D. student in the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University, where he also earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. His current research focuses on understanding the strengths and weaknesses of single- and multi-axis testing methods for environmental qualification and is currently funded by the Texas A&M College of Engineering Graduate Merit Fellowship.

Nicholas Sandoval

npsandoval12@tamu.edu

Nicholas Sandoval is a PhD student in the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University. He earned his Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering at New Mexico State University. His current research is funded by Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Texas A&M University Nuclear Security Office, focusing on acoustic nondestructive testing (NDT) of additively manufactured lattice structures based on digital twins.

Masters Students

Caleb Fryer

cifryer@tamu.edu

Caleb Fryer is a master’s student in the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University. Caleb is a first-generation Aggie, graduating with his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M. He is currently researching the optimization of identifying elastic characteristics of compact powder tablets through Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy (RUS).

Luke Nester

lsnester@tamu.edu

Luke Nester is a master’s student in the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University, where he also earned his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. His research is funded by Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Texas A&M University Nuclear Security Office, focusing on using nonlinear resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (NRUS) to non-destructively characterize bonded interfaces.

Josh Bartlett

jbartlett21@tamu.edu

Joshua Bartlett is a master’s student in the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University, where he also earned his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. His current research is funded by Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Texas A&M University Nuclear Security Office, focusing on the application of Continuous Scanning Laser Doppler Vibrometry (CSLDV) to non-destructively characterize various material test specimens using resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS).

Kartikay Shukla

Kartikay10@tamu.edu

Collaborators

Christopher B Williams

cbwilliams@vt.edu

He is the Director of the Design, Research, and Education for Additive Manufacturing Systems (DREAMS) Laboratory in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech. His Additive Manufacturing (AM) expertise spans innovations in (i) AM processes and materials; (ii) design methodologies and tools to guide AM use (i.e., “Design for Additive Manufacturing”); and (iii) cyber-physical security for AM.

Mohammad Albakri

mohammad.albakri@qatar.tamu.edu

Mohammad Albakri received his Ph.D. degree in Engineering Mechanics from Virginia Tech in 2016 and his Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in 2011. His research interests are in the area of structural dynamics and smart materials with applications in nondestructive evaluation and advanced manufacturing. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation and the Federal Railroad Administration.

Website

Google Scholar

Serkan Gugercin

gugercin@vt.edu

Dr. Gugercin is a professor in the Department of Mathematics and the Division of Computational Modeling and Data Analytics (CMDA) in the College of Science at Virginia Tech. His research focuses on developing theoretical analysis and computational frameworks for constructing high-fidelity reduced models that are much easier to simulate yet approximate the original system accurately for a wide range of operating conditions.

Personal Website

Google Scholar

Visiting Scholars

Benjamin Richard

benjamin.richard@2026.icam.fr

Benjamin Richard was a visiting scholar from ICAM Toulouse, France, where he pursued a Master’s degree in General Engineering (class of 2026). During his five-month stay at the FAST Lab, he developed a vibration-based impact detection system using a ping pong table as an experimental platform, contributing to research on structural monitoring and activity localization.

Hugo da Silva e Sousa

hugo.da-silva-e-sousa@2025.icam.fr

Dimitri Boguta

dimitri.boguta@2025.icam.fr

Dimitri was a French engineering student at ICAM Toulouse and an apprentice at Siemens Mobility, where he is responsible for the axles of the metro trains deployed in Bangkok. He spent five months at the FAST Lab working on his master’s thesis about a Time Reversal project, which aimed to focus wave energy to knock over a LEGO figurine placed on an aluminum plate.

Philippe Cardosa de Miranda

philippe.cardoso-de-miranda@2024.icam.fr

Philippe Cardoso de Miranda was a French visiting scholar staying with us for 4 months. In France, he is a student at the ICAM engineering school in Lille. At the same time, he completed an apprenticeship within the L’Oréal Luxe division where he has managed production and lean management projects for three years. During this period with us, he is working on the mechanisms for cooling fluids through waves, resulting in a project to manufacture a self-cooling mug.

Nelson Njomo

Nelson was a French exchange student. He is currently pursuing his Masters in General Engineering at ICAM France, Lille. Nelson worked as an apprentice product Engineer at BOSCH France. His work focused on modal analysis and MATLAB simulation. He worked closely with Dr. Alajlouni on developing and testing a new localization and tracking technology based on floor vibration.

Clément DelGorgue

clement.delgorgue@2022.icam.fr

Clément DelGorgue was a French visiting scholar staying with us for 5 months. He was an engineering student at the ICAM school of engineering in Vendée, graduating in September 2022. At the same time, he was an apprentice for Airbus in Toulouse where he does KPIs and automation project management.

Former Faculty

Jeremy Kolansky

Dr. Jeremy Kolansky was a Research Assistant Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Texas A&M University. His research was predominantly in the intersection of laser weapon systems and mechanical vibration. He has a background in quantum cryptography, ground vehicle dynamics, parameter estimation and system identification, signal processing, mechanical vibration, smart materials, radar systems, tracking algorithms and electronic warfare.

Sa’ed Alajlouni

saed@hu.edu.jo

Sa’ed Alajlouni is currently an associate professor at the Hashemite University, Jordan. He was a senior TEES research engineer at the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University. Before joining the FAST lab, he was an assistant professor in the department of Mechatronics Engineering at the Hashemite University, Jordan. His research interests include impact localization, input-force estimation (inverse problems), signal processing, optimization, algorithm development, and data-driven engineering in general. He has a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech (focus: signals, systems, and controls), an MSc in Electrical Engineering from Texas Tech University, and a BSc in Mechatronics Engineering from the Hashemite University.

Skriptyan Syuhri

skriptyan.syuhri@unej.ac.id

Skriptyan Syuhri was a Fulbright Visiting Researcher at J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, UK. His research explores the utilization of travelling waves in finite structures and their applications in engineering devices to enhance the performance and efficiency of mechanical systems.

Former Students

Lucas Spies

lspies@tamu.edu

Dr. Spies received his PhD from the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University. He earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Universidad Tecnologica Nacional, FRSF, Argentina. He worked for three years as an undergraduate student researcher at the Fluid Dynamics lab (FLOW) in the ME department at UTN-FRSF. He was involved in the study, design, and manufacturing of vertical-axis wind turbines. He also holds a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech. As part of his work, he developed a Machine-learning-based tool to predict Tire-Pavement Interaction Noise (TPIN) using both Tire and Pavement parameters. His research focuses on the physics behind the flow-induced noise phenomenon in head wearables, consumer electronics, and hearing aid devices. This work was funded Meta.

Sourabh Sangle

sangle96@tamu.edu

Dr. Sangle received his PhD from the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS) Pilani, India. His research focused on Cyber-Physical System integrity and security with electro-mechanical impedance. His work titled “High-frequency Modal Synthesis for Impedance Measurements”, showcases the implementation of electromechanical impedance measurements for unique part identification and physically informed structural health monitoring. His work was funded by the National Science Foundation.

Google Scholar

Jeriel Jammullamudy

jkjammullamudy@tamu.edu

Jeriel Jammullamudy was a M.S. student in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Texas A&M University. He earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University and began working at Radiance Technologies, Huntsville, AL specializing in high energy laser (HEL) testing. During his time in Huntsville, AL he developed specialized techniques to characterize beam wavefront in lab settings and conducted down-range testing of HEL to determine effectiveness. His research focused on spatially resolved acoustic spectroscopy (SRAS) and its integrability with additive manufacturing processes.