Faculty Experts: Aerospace
Proximate to the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner assembly plant in Charleston and Gulfstream jet manufacturing facilities in Savannah, Ga., the University of South Carolina is actively working with those aerospace companies and others, including Airbus, Lockheed-Martin and Sikorsky as well as the U.S. Army Aviation Engineering Directorate.
Many faculty in the College of Engineering and Computing, the College of Arts and Sciences and the Darla Moore School of Business are engaged in important research that relates to the aerospace industry. Their interests and research foci follow:
Cognition, Attention, and Decision-Making
John Henderson, distinguished professor, director of the Institute for Mind and Brain
Henderson's research focuses on attention, perception, and visual cognition. He investigates how visual information is acquired, identified, retained in memory, and manipulated by the cognitive system to support thought and to guide behavior. An expert in eyetracking methods, his research combines eyetracking with computational modeling and neuroimaging (EEG and fMRI) to explore the neural underpinnings of human cognitive processes.
Contact: 803-777-4137 john.henderson@sc.edu
Svetlana Shinkareva, assistant professor, department of Psychology
Shinkareva is a quantitative psychologist whose research focuses on the development and application of quantitative methods to neuroimaging data. Her current interests include applying machine learning methods to fMRI data to study the neural basis of affect and semantic knowledge representation.
Contact: 803-777-4137 shinkareva@sc.edu
Amit Almor, associate professor of psychology and linguistics
Almor's research focuses on the relation between linguistic communication and the general cognitive systems of memory and attention. He investigates how various aspects of language production and comprehension relate to, and are affected and shaped by, memory, the attention processes and underlying neural circuits. His research combines techniques including behavioral testing, eye-tracking, and neuroimaging (EEG and fMRI).
Contact: 803-777-4137 almor@sc.edu
Jessica Green, assistant professor of psychology
Green’s research centers on identifying the neural underpinnings of attention and perception in multiple sensory modalities. She examines how information from our visual and auditory senses is integrated, how information in one sensory modality can alter attention and perception processes in another, and which brain areas control cognitive processes in multiple sensory modalities. Her research combines behavioural and neuroimaging techniques, especially EEG and fMRI, and simultaneous EEG-fMRI recordings.
Contact: 803.553.6828 jessica.green@sc.edu
Condition-based maintenance
Anthony Ambler, dean of the College of Engineering and Computing
Ambler has expertise in system design, test and quality of electronic systems, safety-critical electronic systems and condition-based maintenance (CBM) applied to electronics.
Contact: 803-777-6060 ambler@cec.sc.edu
Abdel Bayoumi, professor of mechanical engineering
Bayoumi conducts work in manufacturing processes; design for manufacturability and assembly; machinery diagnosis and prognosis; testing and reliability analysis; condition-based maintenance (maintenance when needs arise); and Health Monitoring Systems (HUMS).
Contact: 803-777-1845 bayoumi@cec.sc.edu
Bill Y.J. Chao, John Ducate Sr. professor of mechanical engineering
Chao works on assessment of the integrity of aerospace structures, including fracture, fatigue and life prediction; high temperature and pressure sensor development; life prediction of seals in aerospace structures and fuel line systems; and PEM (Polymer Electrolyte Membrane) fuel cell applications.
Contact: 803-777-5869 chao@cec.sc.edu
Jinkyu “JK” Yang, assistant professor of mechanical engineering
Yang developed a structural health-monitoring system for carbon-carbon composite thermal protection panels of space operation vehicles for his Ph.D. thesis in aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford University. He has conducted research on aerospace composite structures at Think Composites. He specializes in novel materials structures and sensor devices based on non-linear mechanics for aerospace, biomedical and civil applications.
Contact: jkyang@cec.sc.edu
Paul Ziehl, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering
Ziehl’s research focuses on structural health monitoring and non-destructive evaluation of composite and metallic aircraft (fixed wing and helicopters). His work’s emphasis is on damage algorithms and prognostics with piezoelectric sensing.
Contact: 803-777-0671 ziehl@cec.sc.edu
Future Fuels
Jochen Lauterbach, professor and Endowed Chair, SmartState Center of Economic Excellence in Strategic Approaches to the Generation of Electricity (SAGE), department of Chemical Engineering.
Lauterbach's research interests are heterogeneous catalysis and nanoparticle synthesis as applied to environmental processes and hydrogen generation for fuel cells. He employs advanced spectroscopic techniques to gain insight into molecular level processes on catalysts. He also develops and employs high-throughput screening methodologies for rapid discovery and optimization of catalyst formulations.
Contact: 803-777-7904 lauteraj@cec.sc.edu
John Regalbuto, professor and Endowed Chair, SmartState Center for Catalysis for Renewable Fuels, department of Chemical Engineering
Regalbuto studies the preparation of new catalysts for the production of hydrogen and alternative fuels from renewable sources for the transportation sector. His current efforts involve the use and comparison of different methods for synthesis of a variety of catalysts with high dispersion and to predict how much metal will be adsorbed by the oxide for a full range of liquid conditions. He is also investigating coupled methods for catalyst synthesis especially in the cases of bimetallic and bifunctional catalysts.
Contact: 803-777-5501 regalbuj@cec.sc.edu
Thomas Vogt, associate vice president for research, director of the NanoCenter, and Educational Foundation distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry
Vogt’s research interests are: crystallography; general structural chemistry; the chemical synthesis, structures and properties of metal oxides; and electron, x-ray and neutron diffraction techniques and instrumentation. His catalysis for hydrogen production and storage work focuses on photocatalysis for hydrogen storage materials, which may have practical application in renewable hydrogen fuel cells.
Contact: 803-777-1151 tvogt@mailbox.sc.edu
Sourav Banerjee, assistant professor of mechanical engineering
Banerjee’s research interests are smart and adaptive structures, material assessment, and health monitoring and characterization of structural and biological materials. He is also investigating the ultrasonic wave field in periodic structures; novel design and fabrication of phononic metamaterials, phononic sensors and multifunctional materials as well as structural health monitoring system integration, multi-scale acoustic imaging for engineering and biological materials; and an electromechanical model for energy harvesters / scavengers.
Contact: 803-777-4596 banerjes@cec.sc.edu
Krishna Mandal, associate professor of electrical engineering
Mandal’s specializations and research interests include photovoltaic solar cells, thin film device fabrication and characterizations, and crystal growth of binary and ternary semiconductors and scintillators. In addition, he is investigating solid-state nuclear detectors for radiation monitoring, bio-medical imaging, high-energy astrophysics, and bio-crystallography, THz sensors and detectors, and diode-pumped solid-state Mid- and LW-IR lasers.
Contact: 803-777-9548 mandalk@engr.sc.edu
Bihter Padak, assistant professor of chemical engineering
Padak's research focus is combustion; reaction kinetics and emissions control technologies. Her investigations emphasize the creation of novel materials systems, innovative sensing and actuation devices, and new NDE/SHM schemes to remove carbon dioxide and trace metals such as mercury, arsenic and selenium.
Contact: 803-777-7959 padak@cec.sc.edu
Jason Hattrick-Simpers, assistant professor of chemical engineering
Hattrick-Simpers' primary research focus is directed towards development and utilization of high-throughput strategies to expedite the discovery and optimization of new energy materials. His investigations center on identifying novel materials and designing rapid screening measurement techniques for hydrogen storage applications, catalysts for syngas production, and coal slagging gasification reactors.
Contact: 803-777-4693 simpers@cec.sc.edu
International business
Nancy Buchan, associate professor of international business
Buchan examines how to build trust and cooperation in cross-cultural business relationships. She also has developed a tool to assess communication and social interaction styles across cultures, which enables managers to work and communicate more effectively with their international partners.
Contact: 803-777-1781 nancy.buchan@moore.sc.edu
Tim Carroll, assistant professor of management
Carroll's areas of expertise are in competitive strategy formulation and strategy implementation. His research centers on issues in organization design and strategy, such as organizing for innovation, managing fast-track project teams, and the emergence of new organizational forms. He has provided consulting and executive education services to companies in the aerospace, banking, computer, construction, energy, engineering services, insurance, media, petroleum, pharmaceutical, railroad and restaurant industries, as well as several government agencies.
Contact: 803-777-5979 carroll@moore.sc.edu
Tatiana Kostova, Buck Mickel chair and professor of international business
Kostova's work focuses on management of multinational corporations. Her most significant scholarly contributions to the international business field are in the study of the institutional embeddedness of multinational firms. Her research examines how institutional and cultural differences impact important management outcomes such as cross-border transfer and diffusion of knowledge, global collaboration in research and development, "reverse innovation," legitimization of multinational firms and building productive social networks in complex organizations.
Contact: 803-777-5979 kostova@moore.sc.edu
Gerald McDermott, Associate professor of international business
McDermott analyzes the co-evolution of institutions and industrial networks, with special emphasis on innovation systems and high-performance networks. Much of his work focuses on developing countries. He also studies the development of transnational regulatory systems in a variety of industries (finance, food, autos) in Europe and Latin America.
Contact: 803-777-1035 gerald.mcdermott@moore.sc.edu
Kendall Roth, J. Willis Cantey chair for international business and economics
Roth’s research focuses on the strategic positioning of multinational corporations and the management of cross-border coordination and integration. His particular interest is examining models for how businesses successfully adapt to local economic, cultural and sociopolitical conditions.
Contact: 803-777-3604 kroth@moore.sc.edu
Marty Roth, chief innovation and assessment officer and professor in the Sonoco international business department
Roth’s areas of expertise include global corporate and marketing strategy. He teaches global marketing management, foreign market entry and growth and strategy courses in USC’s top-ranked international business graduate and undergraduate programs. He has led executive education programs on global strategy, scenario planning, marketing strategy, customer service, market research and program evaluation, customizing programs for companies such as BMW, Enodis, Fiberweb, Hillenbrand, Metso, Milliken, Nissan, Verizon and Xerox. Contact: 803-777-1569 mroth@moore.sc.edu
Manufacturing
Roger Dougal, professor of electrical engineering
Dougal investigates methods to integrate fuel cell power sources into aircraft systems. His work on multidisciplinary system design tools for ships also has applicability to aircraft systems.
Contact: 803-777-7890 dougal@cec.sc.edu
Tony Reynolds, professor of mechanical engineering
Reynolds directs a group of researchers whose projects address issues related to aerospace applications. The group focuses on friction-based processes for joining and production of metallic structures with special emphasis on friction stir welding of high strength aluminum and titanium alloys. Friction stir welding is a solid-state joining process with enormous potential for use in the production of unitized metallic structure, which leads to lower cost, lower weight, reduced part count and improved performance. The group is also developing a friction-based process that will improve the recyclability of metallic machining waste and provide low-cost feedstock for near-net shape, free-form fabrication processes offering further potential for improved structural performance at reduced cost. Current and recent sponsors from the aerospace industry include Spirit Aerosystems, Boeing Commercial Airplane Group, Lockheed-Martin, NASA, EADS-Airbus and Bombardier.
Contact: 803-777-9548 reynolds@cec.sc.edu
Materials
Victor Giurgiutiu, professor of mechanical engineering, director of the Laboratory for Active Materials and Smart Structures
Giurgiutiu's current research interests span adaptive materials, smart structures, structural health monitoring and mechatronics. His expertise includes aerospace structures, structural dynamics and vibration control, aeroelasticity and fluid-structure interaction.
Contact: 803-777-8018 giurgiut@cec.sc.edu
Prasun K. Majumdar, assistant professor of mechanical engineering
Majumdar has more than a decade of experience on heterogeneous structural composite materials for aerospace, civil infrastructure, naval and other applications. His research encompasses broad areas of mechanics, manufacturing and characterization, finite element analysis, stiffened structures, joints and interfaces, multi-physics, multifunctional composites, and long-term behavior (degradation mechanisms, durability, prognosis and life prediction). Majumdar is leading a research program (in collaboration with Boeing) to investigate the synergy of structural, electromagnetic and thermal effects. Contact: 803-777-0183 prasun@sc.edu
Kenneth Reifsnider, Educational Foundation professor of mechanical engineering and director of USC’s Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Program
Reifsnider’s current work focuses on materials for airframes (including a program for Boeing) and the durability and damage tolerance for aerospace composites. He was appointed by the White House to serve on the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Committee, and his appointment to the National Academy of Engineering was based on his work in aerospace materials. Before arriving at USC, Reifsnider held the Pratt & Whitney Chair in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Connecticut.
Contact: 803-777-0084 reifsnid@cec.sc.edu
Michael A. Sutton, Carolina distinguished professor of mechanical engineering
Sutton is the director of the South Carolina Center for Mechanics, Materials and Non-Destructive Evaluation and conducts research on a wide range of aerospace-related issues. Sutton has focused on the mechanics of aero-structures; development and application of noncontacting measurement methods, including 2-D and 3-D Digital Image Correlation; characterization of metallic and composite material response under dynamic and static loading conditions; and static and dynamic fracture of metallic and composite material systems.
Contact: 803-777-7158 sutton@cec.sc.edu
Materials Analysis
Michael Myrick, professor, department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Myrick is a specialist in the optics and spectroscopy of thin films, coatings, and powders. His laboratory’s optical techniques include infrared and near-infrared microspectroscopy, grazing angle specular reflection, diffuse reflection, fluorescence emission and excitation spectroscopy, optical trapping, and variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry. His work with thin film coating methods includes dip and spin-casting, thermal evaporation of metals, and reactive magnetron sputtering of metals and insulators.
Contact: 803. 777-5264 myrick@sc.edu
Materials Synthesis
Hans-Conrad zur Loye, David W. Robinson Palmetto professor, department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Zur Loye’s current research interests span functional ceramic materials, polymer nanocomposites and the crystal growth of complex oxides. His expertise includes the synthesis of new functional materials, structural characterization of single and polycrystalline materials, and structural predictions. His work on polymer nanocomposites focuses on enhanced dielectric properties for pulse power applications. He is a contributing member of the User Executive committee for HFIR and SNS at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Contact: 803-777-1934 zurloye@sc.edu
Polymer Nanocomposites
Brian Benicewicz, Educational Foundation Distinguished professor in chemistry and biochemistry, SmartState Endowed Chair in Polymer Nanocomposites, department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Benicewicz’ research interests are: Polymer-organic chemistry, new monomer and polymer synthesis, polymer nanocomposites, polymer membranes for fuel cells, electrically conducting polymers, liquid crystalline polymers, controlled radical polymerization. Currently, he is investigating new polymers for high temperature fuel cell membranes and developing organic and polymer synthetic chemistries used to create new methods of synthesizing polymers with properties not found in existing composite materials, as well as controlled radical polymerization techniques to design the interfacial properties of polymer nanocomposites.
Contact: 803-777-0778 benice@sc.edu
Supply-chain management
Sanjay Ahire, professor of operations management and associate director of the Center for Global Supply Chain and Process Management
Ahire is an expert in applied research and consulting in the areas of quality management, supply chain modeling, sourcing and logistical strategies and business process improvement. As a consultant, Ahire has worked with numerous manufacturing and service firms, including Cummins, Eaton, GE-Aviation, GM, Johnson & Johnson, MeadWestvaco, NCR, Walmart and Westinghouse Nuclear Fuels. Ahire's research in quality management has been widely cited, and his research is published in top journals including Management Science, Journal of Operations Management, Production & Operations Management, EJOR, and Decision Sciences.
Contact: 803-777-2647 Ahire@moore.sc.edu
Michael Galbreth, assistant professor of management science
Galbrethis a leading researcher in sustainable supply chain management. His current research focuses on the decision-making involved in taking back used products, which links pollution to a firm’s financial risk and its pricing of products with sustainable attributes. Galbreth, who was a 2010 Fulbright Scholar, has had numerous articles published in leading scholarly journals.
Contact: 803-777-4242 galbreth@moore.sc.edu
Jayanth Jayaram, Moore research fellow and professor of management science
Jayaram has worked extensively in the area of supply chain integration, addressing the challenges and problems that firms face in aligning their business processes with those of the supplier firms and end customers. In his latest research, he examines the effects of supplier risks on buyers’ operations. Both streams of his research have important implications for the aerospace industry because of the strong need for integration of products and processes as well as the need to evaluate risks of suppliers that firms in this industry tend to rely on heavily for their short-term and long-term strategic needs.
Contact: 803-777-5976 jayaram@moore.sc.edu
Jack Jensen, managing director of the Center for Global Supply Chain Management
Jensen is the managing director of the Center for Global Supply Chain and Process Management at USC. He consults regularly with public and private sector organizations on Lean and Six-Sigma process improvement projects, as well as capacity management, benchmarking and resource planning issues. Jensen’s research focuses on shop floor control, supply chain modeling and teaching innovation.
Contact: 803-777-6824 jensen@moore.sc.edu
Manoj Malhotra, Jeff B. Bates professor and chairman of the management science department
Malhotra is the founding director of the Center for Global Supply Chain and Process Management at USC. His research and teaching interests lie in the areas of supply chain design, operations strategy, supply chain integration and globalization of operations. He has led several executive education seminars as well as supply chain and process improvement projects with multinational corporations including Cummins, Metso, Sonoco, Verizon and Westinghouse.
Contact: 803-777-2712 malhotra@moore.sc.edu
