Advanced Engine Control Laboratory
The Advanced Engine Control Laboratory conducts research in the areas of modeling and control of advanced internal combustion engines and development of clean and efficient utilization of alternative fuels. Current research projects include: control and analysis of high-efficiency dual fuel engines; integrated control of engine and after-treatment systems; design and analysis of advance compression ignition engines; and vehicle powertrain analysis.
Advanced Manufacturing Innovative Research Lab
The Advanced Manufacturing Innovative Research Lab (AMIR) focuses on the design and advancement of novel alloys and compounds that are suitable for fusion-based or non-beam-based additive manufacturing techniques. Specifically, we are engaged in both fundamental and applied research concerning laser-beam powder bed fusion and binder jet 3D printing processes. Additionally, we investigate post-processing treatments, particularly surface engineering and heat treatment, to gain insights into the microstructural changes and mechanical behavior of materials. Ultimately, our goal is to facilitate effective machine learning across diverse materials, processes, and imaging methods, thereby promoting enhanced efficiency in this field.
Advanced Manufacturing and Innovative Research Lab
Autonomous Control Systems Lab
Autonomous Control Systems Lab focuses on developing optimization and control strategies for different systems, including autonomous vehicles, connected and automated vehicles, powertrain systems, and robotic applications. Researchers in this lab focus on developing optimal finite horizon control methods, stochastic and robust optimal finite horizon methods, and learning-based control methods for constrained uncertain systems.
Autonomous Control Systems Lab
Center of All-Solid-State Batteries
The Center of All-Solid-State Batteries (CASSB) for a Clean Energy Society at Illinois Tech was established in 2022 with funding from National Science Foundation (NSF). The project team, composed of more than 10 international partners from the U.S., European Union and Canada, is led by Rowe Family Endowed Chair Professor in Sustainable Energy Leon Shaw, director and principal investigator of CASSB. The goal of CASSB is to investigate and integrate conventional and unconventional charge storage mechanisms to achieve ultrahigh specific energy, high power, long cycle life ASSBs with intrinsic safety. CASSB will lay a solid foundation for design, synthesis and fabrication of high-performance ASSBs at scale in the future. Through collaboration with our industrial partners, we will expedite technology translation from laboratory discovery to commercial products. By working with the City of Chicago, we will launch a workforce development program, offering short courses and workshops to mid-career employees and underrepresented minorities, which can accelerate transition of the workforce into clean energy, electric vehicle, and energy storage industries.
Center of All-Solid-State Batteries
Computational Systems Engineering Lab
The Computational Systems Engineering Lab explores the theoretical foundations and methods of the systems engineering discipline as the complexity of systems keeps growing. Our current focus is to investigate how systems engineering practices respond to ever-increasing available data, which is highly interconnected and interdependent. We study the data centricity of systems engineering practices to design and develop sustainable and smart systems as the enterprises become more competitive. We currently focus on aerospace systems; however, we are also interested in exploring these research areas in different domains.
Computational Systems Engineering Lab
Control Systems Laboratory
The Control Systems Laboratory focuses on optimal controller synthesis for different cyber-physical systems. Some of the major research topics include: fuel-efficient control of connected and autonomous vehicles; energy-efficient control of hybrid electric vehicles; computationally efficient and safety-preserving controller design for cyber-physical systems; and driver-specific advanced driver-assistance system development.
Dynamic Testing Laboratory
The Dynamic Testing Laboratory (DTL) has been established with high-speed diagnostic and data acquisition systems for high-strain-rate constitutive testing and impact failure characterization of materials. The new DTL complements existing servo-hydraulic, drop tower, and high-temperature-testing facilities in the mechanical, materials, and aerospace department's solid mechanics labs and provide the capability to investigate the mechanical response of solids in a wide range of strain rates and temperatures, and under both uni-axial and multi-axial loading conditions.
Experimental Turbulent Flows Laboratory
The Experimental Turbulent Flows Laboratory (ETF Lab) performs state-of-the-art measurements of turbulent flows using an array of techniques including (but not limited to) force transducer measurements, pressure sensors, particle image velocimetry (PIV), particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) and Schlieren imaging. Topics of interest include: particle-laden turbulence, turbulent gusts and unsteady aerodynamics, sparse sensing, and aeroacoustics. The ETF Lab uses a variety of facilities including the National Diagnostics Facility (NDF), the Andrew Fejer Wind Tunnel, the Mark Markovin Wind Tunnel, a supersonic slide-block wind tunnel, and a newly designed large-scale zero-mean turbulence box facility.
Heat Transfer Research Laboratory
Heat Transfer Research Laboratory activities are centered around computational and experimental heat transfer, fluid mechanics, and combustion with an application focus in gas turbines and heat exchangers. Current research projects include inquiry in the areas of turbine blade cooling and aerodynamics; heat exchanger research; and flow structure interaction.
Laboratory for Crystal Growth
Research in the Laboratory for Crystal Growth is focused on the growth and characterization of semiconductor single crystals, heat and mass transfer phenomena occurring during crystal growth, and measurement of the relevant thermophysical properties. Techniques used for single crystal growth include Brigman, Czochralski, zone refining, and physical vapor transport. Experimental studies are supported by numerical modeling. Current research is supported by grants from CASIS-NASA and NASA-SUBSA.
Laboratory of Semiconductor Compounds and Alloys
Research in the Laboratory of Semiconductor Compounds and Alloys is focused on the growth of wide band-gap semiconductor single crystals for application in radiation detectors and heat and mass transfer phenomena in the processing of semiconductors, as well as measurement of their thermophysical properties. Techniques used for single crystal growth include Brigman, Czochralski, Zone Refining, and Physical Vapor Transport methods. Experimental studies are supported with numerical modeling. Current research is supported by grants from CASIS-NASA and NASA-SUBSA.
Laboratory of Semiconductor Compounds and Alloys
Navigation Laboratory
The Navigation Laboratory (NavLab) was established in 1999 as a center for research, development, and testing of advanced navigation, guidance, and control systems. Major areas of current research activity in this lab focus on satellite-based navigation systems, including GPS and Differential GPS (DGPS), high-integrity navigation algorithms, fault detection and isolation, and distributed navigation systems. Research programs have been sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration, United States Navy, U.S. Air Force, the Boeing Co., Northrop-Grumman, and IIT Research Institute.
Nonsmooth Robotics Laboratory
The Nonsmooth Robotics Lab addresses fundamental problems and design challenges in generating desired motions for robots with nonsmooth dynamics when getting themselves or an object from one location to the next. We take a dynamical systems approach, where we attempt to leverage the equations of motion to design motion templates or primitives for generating a library of desired trajectories. We use these insights to design performant numerical methods to solve open problems in, for example, bipedal locomotion. A core part of the lab is testing our theory and software libraries on experimental platforms to validate our work.
Robotics Laboratory
Robots have recently graduated from structured laboratories to outdoor environments with varying and unstructured terrain. In order to be highly mobile and effective in these settings, robotics research will need to shift its focus to understanding the underlying physics of robot/terrain interaction and creating design methodologies for mechanically robust robots capable of multiple modes of locomotion such as running, leaping, and climbing. Current robotics lab research focuses on electrostatic gecko-like adhesives for climbing, perching, and manipulation; navigation integrity for self-driving cars and other mobile robots; and multi-modal locomotion.
Space Weather Laboratory
Research in the Space Weather Laboratory focuses on space weather forecasting through imaging and estimation of the dynamics of the upper atmosphere. Particular interest is given to developing methods of using radio waves from Global Navigation Satellite Systems such as GPS for remotely sensing the ionosphere, using tomography and data assimilation of these measurements for improved atmospheric prediction.
STEM Laboratory
The STEM Laboratory is a group of experimental material scientists at Illinois Tech who study the transport of charge (electrons or holes) and heat (phonons) in semiconductors. The goal is to understand and be able to manipulate how the electrons and phonons move through a solid form of the foundation of a semiconductor and essentially through every part of electronic devices. The question is critical to numerous areas of material research including thermoelectrics; photovoltaics (solar cells); battery; flexible electronics; and more.
Thermal Processing Technology Center
The Thermal Processing Technology Center (TPTC) at Illinois Tech provides a forum for industry/university cooperative research involving innovative materials processing, alloy development, material characterizations, mechanical property investigation, advanced manufacturing, and energy storage technology. The TPTC has a wide range of equipment and facilities all of which are available to support TPTC-member-sponsored research projects or for use under a fee-for-service scheme. In both cases, high-quality basic and applied research of interest to industry is performed cost-effectively.
Thermal Processing Technology Center
Wave Laboratory
Wave Laboratory researchers are working on understanding dynamic systems through theoretical, computational, and experimental tools. One of the recent efforts is to explore the application of modern deep learning tools to problems in mechanics and physics. For example, eigenvalue computations using convolutional neural networks is the very first application of such tools to any mechanics problem. A major research focus is on understanding the propagation of waves in complex microstructured solids and liquids and creating materials that can be used to control their temporal and spatial characteristics. Other topics of interest include dynamic systems related to solid structures, such as aerodynamically induced flutter instabilities and control.