Research Laboratories and Facilities

The Advanced Materials and Structures Lab (AMSL) is a series of labs that manufacture and/or characterize a variety of hard composites such as carbon fiber, glass fiber, and Kevlar in addition to soft composites such as biological specimens like neurons and grey/white matter. Instruments include a variety of Instron tensile/compressive test machines, an Autoclave, Nanoindentation testers, and a split-Hopkinson pressure bar. The AMSL also implements Finite Element computer simulation methods used to model and predict the behavior of these materials.

The electrohydrodynamics (EHD) research group at Rutgers University focuses on studying electric-field mediated flow and transport processes within both fluidic devices and bio-electrolytic systems. With a synergistic combination of analytical, computational, and experimental efforts, we aim to explore the exciting interface between engineering and biological sciences, to both advance fundamental understanding and spawn technological innovations.

The Emil Buehler Aerospace Lab is a two-story testing space for drones and aerospace projects.

Recent advances in machine learning – personal robots, automatic cars, and even brain-controlled prostheses – have set the stage for robotics to make real and meaningful advances to our quality of life. The Robotics Lab provides space and infrastructure for research and development for enhanced systems ultimately impacting manufacturing, agriculture, elder assistance, home automation, vehicle automation, and more.  Located in Richard Weeks Hall of Engineering, the lab is a multi-disciplinary space that provides students and faculty a dedicated space for collaboration and innovation.

The research of this lab focuses on understanding the mechanisms that govern piezoelectric and dielectric material electro-mechanical and chemical performance and projects relating to engineering education.

We develop advanced manufacturing, soft materials, flexible electronics, fluid-based centrifugal processing, design, sensors, mechatronics.

We work at the interface between Transport Phenomena-Fluid Mechanics- and Statistical Physics -Stochastic Processes- investigating the transport of suspended particles in complex systems. Our objective is to develop a fundamental understanding of transport at small scales by combining theory and numerical simulations with experiments. The goal is to create micro & nanofluidic devices with improved capabilities over conventional systems, in fields such as separation sciences.
 

The vision of the New Jersey Advanced Manufacturing Initiative is to serve as a national nexus point of the public-private innovation ecosystem in AI manufacturing. Three core objectives of this Fraunhofer-style AI Manufacturing Institute are to support fundamental research, engage the manufacturing industry, and foster education and workforce development at the intersection between AI and advanced manufacturing. Our interdisciplinary and synergistic team (20+ faculty) has four research thrusts including advanced manufacturing, sensing network (e.g., 5G), machine learning, and advanced control. The ongoing research projects have broad impacts on aerospace, healthcare, tooling, automotive, energy, and materials industries. The state-of-the-art machine tools, metrology equipment, and materials testing facilities in the 3,000 ft² NJAMI offer excellent opportunities for meeting our core objectives.

Retinal detachment is a common and serious medical condition that results in loss of vision and affects upwards of 25,000 people a year in the U.S. alone. The Ocular Mechanics Theory Team at Rutgers develops mechanics based theory and mathematical models of the pathology, as well as of corrective procedures. The retina is a thin, multilayered tissue that lines the back of the eye on the inside of the globe. The retina spans the posterior of the eye, including the vicinity of the optic nerve, and its purpose is to receive light that the lens has focused, convert the light into neural signals, and send these signals to the brain for visual recognition. Because of the retina's vital role in vision, damage to it can cause permanent blindness. The condition of retinal detachment, where the sensory retina typically detaches from the retinal pigment epithelium, can prevent the retina from receiving or processing light. This prevents the brain from receiving this information, thus leading to blindness. Detachment can be induced by a variety of causes. The theory and models developed by the OM Theory Team, in collaboration with retina surgeons at Rutgers – Robert Wood Johnson, are intended to ascertain a precise understanding and characterization of the mechanisms involved in the pathology under various conditions and, thus, to establish a new paradigm for clinical treatment.
 

The Rutgers Rapid Automated Prototyping and Integrated Design Laboratory (R2APID) is a 3D Printing Center operated by the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering. It is available to serve the Rutgers University community as well as commercial entities.

Conceptual design, modeling/simulation, optimization, control, manufacturing and testing/validation of smart-material based multi-physics systems. Piezoelectric materials and shape-memory alloys are among the materials that are studied. Applications include aircraft systems such as multi-rotor drones, fixed-wing, flapping-wing, and rotary-wing aircraft, energy-conversion and harvesting systems, soft/compliant robotics, manipulators and biomechanical systems, and mobile biomedical devices.

We are focusing on fundamental problems in advanced technologies in laser applications and energy transport, especially those that interface with emerging areas such as life sciences and nanotechnology.