Ali Beheshti, Ph.D., Principal Investigator

Ali Beheshti is currently an Assistant Professor and director of Tribology and Surface Mechanics Lab in the Mechanical Engineering Department, George Mason University. His research interests are inspired by the impending need for sustainable design and operation as well as prolonging the lifecycle of advanced components especially focusing on surface mechanics.  The current objective and focus of his lab is on tribology (science of lubrication, wear and friction), and contact and interfacial mechanics at different scales. The pivot of his research is centered around performance of advanced materials and components such as super alloys as well as additively manufactured parts under extreme environments.

Prior to joining Mason, he was an Assistant Professor at Texas State University-Lamar for 2.5 years and a visiting Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Louisiana State University in December 2013. At George Mason and Lamar Universities he has secured near $600K in research funding from federal and state agencies (Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, and Port of Beaumont). He is the recipient of Texas State University Junior Faculty Merit Award in 2017. He has authored and coauthored near 35 peer-reviewed journal papers in highly reputable journals such as Mechanics of Materials, Materials and Design, Applied Mechanics-ASME, Tribology International and Solar Energy. He is also serving as a reviewer for several journals and served as NSF panelist, chair and co-chair for several conferences sessions such as ASME, Tribology Frontiers, and STLE as well as severed as a session organizer for K-12 STEM activities.

 Email: abehesh@gmu.edu     Tel: (703) 993-5638            Curriculum vitae

Sepehr Salari, Research Associate

Sepehr is a research associate. He completed his PhD in mechanical engineering from George Mason University. He graduated from the university of Tehran and majored in biomedical engineering. His research interests are tribological behavior of polymers, contact mechanics and 3D fabrication.  He is now working on modeling of the tribological behavior of High temperature alloys under the supervision of Dr. Beheshti. Through his research, he learned multitude of skills and worked with Nanoindentation, tribometer, SEM, XRD, Profilometers, Microhardness and skilled in finite element analyis (ABAQUS), and Python scripting.

Email: ssalari2@gmu.edu              Linkedin

Manisha Tripathy, PhD Student

Manisha Tripathy is a Ph.D. student in the Mechanical Engineering department at George Mason University. She completed her Master’s in Mechanical Engineering from Lamar University in 2017.  Prior to that, she worked for 3 years as an Assistant Manager in Maruti Suzuki India Limited, the largest automobile company of India. She, also, has wide international exposure having handled projects and responsibilities at the parent company, Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan.

Curiosity and an innate desire to explore the unknown and uncharted territories of science & engineering are the two most compelling reasons why Manisha decided to pursue a career in research. Her current research interests include multiscale modeling and simulation of rough contact between surfaces and mechanical and tribological characterizations of additively manufactured Inconel alloys. Outside of her lab habitat, she would be often found playing drums, creating interesting rock drum fills, or pondering over questions like “order in chaos, or chaos in order,” etc. Skills: MATLAB, AUTOCAD, Unigraphix, Catia, ANSYS (Workbench, APDL, FLUENT) etc.

Email: mtripat@gmu.edu                LinkedIn 

 Shaheen Mahmood, PhD Student                                        

 Shaheen is a PhD student in the Mechanical Engineering Department at George Mason University since Spring 2022. He graduated from Bangladesh University of  Engineering and Technology (BUET). Before joining at the George Mason University, he worked for seven years as a mechanical engineer in Ashuganj Power Station Company  Limited, one of the largest power generation companies in Bangladesh. His research interests include tribology, contact mechanics and simulation. He likes travelling and loves to play soccer. Skills: AutoCAD, FLUENT, MATLAB, Abaqus etc.

Email: mmahmo20@gmu.edu

Aditya Pulipaka, Undergrad Student

Aditya Pulipaka is a Junior Mechanical Engineering student at George Mason University. He is an undergraduate researcher, who is currently working on the Design, Development, and Characterization of 3D Printed Hydroxyapatite (HA) Polyether Ether Ketone (PEEK) to potentially apply these findings towards biomedical applications.

Email: apulipak@masonlive.gmu.edu

Violetta Rostobaya, Undergrad Student

Violetta Rostobaya is a Senior Mechanical Engineering student at George Mason University. Her undergraduate research focuses on mechanical and tribological properties of 3D printed polymers in bodily fluid simulated environment.  This research involves use of Polyether Ether Ketone (PEEK) in composition with Hydroxyapatite (HA) for biomedical applications.

Email: vrostoba@gmu.edu

Sidney Boakye, Undergrad Student

Sidney Boakye is a Senior Mechanical Engineering student at George Mason University. He is a funded undergraduate researcher who will be conducting a study on the Surface Degradation Study of Additively Manufactured (3D-Printed) ABS Polymer for Naval Applications. Sidney also has previous experience in 3D printing, working as a Mechanical Systems intern for Northrop Grumman. There he was part of the Additive Manufacturing team and used 3D printing to help improve spacecraft construction process.

Email: sboakye@gmu.edu

Alexander Stuart, Undergrad Student

Zan is a Senior Mechanical Engineering student at George Mason University. He is currently working as an undergraduate research assistant. His research interests include additive manufacturing, tribology, and metallurgy. 

Email: astuart6@gmu.edu

Daniel A Hernandez, Undergrad Student

My name is Daniel Hernandez and I am a Junior Mechanical Engineering Student at George Mason University. I am an undergraduate researcher who will be continuing a study on the Surface Degradation of Additively Manufactured (3D-Printed) ABS Polymers for Naval Applications. For the past few years, I have been involved with the robotics clubs at George Mason University and other schools. Where I have been able to develop and share insight on the technical documentation of robot designs and the usage of various CAD practices.

Email:dherna6@gmu.edu

High School Students

Spandan Das

Spandan Das is a Senior at James W Robinson High School. He is a researcher who conducted a study on How Varying Infill Densities & Infill Patterns of Polylactic Acid (PLA) affect the Tensile Strength of a 3D Print. Spandan also has previous experience in 3D printing, working as an intern for TitanOneZero. There he was part of the Internal Research and Development team and used 3D printing to prototype and test 3D printed external hulls and fins of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). 

Alumni

	Zack Turner Undergrad Student,     Current: University of Colorado		Tyler Hawley, Undergrad Student     Current: George Mason University
	Alejandro Garcia, Undergrad Student, Spring 2020   Current: EY-Parthenon		Jose Manuel Crego Lozares, Undergrad Student, Spring 2020   Current: Master student at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
	Manuel Martinez Garay, Undergrad Student, December 2019   Current: Airbus		John Recktenwald, Undergrad Student, May 2020   Current: Test & Evaluation Solutions
	Parthkumar Patel, Master Student, December 2017 Current: Thermodynamic Design and Manufacturing		Akshay Patel, Master Student, December 2017 Current: Lindsayca Inc
	William Schneider, Undergraduate Student, May 2017 Current: Raytheon		Amartya Rishin Rupak, Master Student (MS), December 2017 Current: Texas First Industrial Corporation
	Amr Anwar Soliman, Master Student, December 2016 Current: Knorr Brake Company		Md Saifur Rahman, Master Student, December 2016 Current: Ph.D. student at Texas A&M University