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Two grants awarded to Dr. Zanjani for research projects

Dr. Mehdi Zanjani, assistant professor in the MME department, has recently received two grants for his research projects. Dr. Mehdi Zanjani

One project, titled Computational Investigation of Mechanical and Thermal Behavior of Dynamically Cross-linked Polymer Composites, received a grant from the American Chemical Society (ACS) Petroleum Research Fund. This project focuses on polymer-based materials with modified properties, and Dr. Zanjani and his team study these materials by investigating the effect of polymer network architecture on material properties using computational models. Through this research, the team is attempting to engineer materials that are soft in nature, but at the same time demonstrate good mechanical strength and thermal behavior for application areas such as aerospace and robotics materials.

The second project, titled A New Mechanism for Metal Isotope Fractionation Induced by Natural Solid-State Ion Conduction, is in collaboration with Dr. John Rakovan, professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of Geology and Environmental Earth Science. With this grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the two teams combine experimental and computational methods to look into metal isotope fractionation through solid-state ion conduction: an important phenomenon observed in silver wire growth with many interesting applications in materials science.

By Jenna Calderón, CEC Reporter