The following is a list of currently available funding opportunities for graduate students in the school. Please note this list is not exhaustive, and interested applicants are encouraged to contact our faculty to inquire about funding opportunities not listed here.
| Title/Project | PhD student in Computational Fluid Dynamics and Flow Control |
| Hiring professor | Dr. Chang Liu |
| Research group’s website | https://changliulab.engineering.uconn.edu/ |
| Level | PhD (research assistantship) |
| Research area(s) | Computational Fluid Dynamics, Nonlinear Dynamical Systems, Control Theory, Hydrodynamic Stability and Transition to Turbulence, Wall-Bounded Shear Flows |
| US citizenship required | No |
| Target starting date | August 23, 2027 |
| Position description | This PhD research project will be on the topic of “Nonlinear stability, input-output analysis, and control of time-varying shear flows”. This project will develop new analysis tools that can accurately characterize and predict time-varying flow behavior beyond the limitations of existing approaches. The methods will be applied to flow scenarios with complex time dependence relevant to transport vehicles and thermal management systems.
The potential candidate needs to have (1) a strong mathematical background, such as partial differential equations, linear algebra, numerical analysis, and control theory, (2) a strong fluid dynamics background, such as turbulence, hydrodynamic stability, and nonlinear dynamical systems, and (3) strong coding capabilities in Python, MATLAB, etc. |
| Additional details | |
| Contact | Email Prof. Liu at chang_liu@uconn.edu with CV and unofficial transcripts. If there are publications, attach the PDF files of all publications. If there are coding projects hosted on GitHub, include the GitHub link in the email. |
| Title/Project | Predictive methodology development for Organic Matrix Composite materials fatigue behavior |
| Hiring professor | Dr. Rajiv Naik |
| Research group’s website | https://engineering.uconn.edu/faculty/me/rajiv-naik/ |
| Level | MS (research assistantship) |
| Research area(s) | Fatigue of composite materials |
| US citizenship required | Yes |
| Target starting date | January 1, 2027 |
| Position description | Develop improved damage accumulation models and fatigue life prediction methodologies that consider the different damage mechanisms and their evolution and interaction during fatigue loading. The development and evolution of fatigue damage can be quite different for unidirectional tape laminates and woven fabric composites. In unidirectional tape laminates, fatigue damage initiates by the formation of matrix cracks and fiber/matrix interface debonding leading to fiber pull-out from the matrix. Further damage evolution consists of fiber breakage and unstable delamination growth, leading to accelerated damage propagation and final failure. In woven composites damage appears as intra-yarn cracks in the transverse yarns, inter-yarn debonding between warp and weft yarns, fiber failure in the longitudinal yarns and subsequent yarn failures leading to final failure.
Task 1: Literature review of existing fatigue life modeling approaches for OMC materials. Task 2: Develop and verify mechanism-based fatigue life modeling approach for unidirectional tape laminates. Task 3: Extend the above mechanism-based approach to model fatigue life in woven composites. |
| Additional details | |
| Contact | Email Prof. Naik at rajiv.naik@uconn.edu |