University of California, Berkeley Mechanical Engineering

George Johnson

Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering

6149 Etcheverry Hall
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-1740
gcjohnson@berkeley.edu
(510) 642-3371

For more information see: Current Classes Taught

Professor Johnson’s research can be broadly categorized as materials characterization at the intersection of mechanical engineering and materials science. The thrust of his effort is to under-stand macroscopic material behavior in terms of its microstructure and to develop material models that accurately capture the response of a wide range of materials. His recent work falls into four areas: 1) microscopic modeling of failure modes in brittle materials, 2) understanding the failure of materials under impact loading, 3) developing macroscopic material models for the large-deformation response of metals, and 4) application of X-ray tomography with micron-level resolution to visualize the growth of damage in structural materials. Professor Johnson is also currently the Chair of the Board on Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS), a committee of the systemwide Academic Senate for the University of California.


Research Description:

Elasticity/plasticity, acoustoelasticity, instrumentation, materials behavior, materials characterization, sensors, texture analysis, thin shells deformation, ultrasonic stress analysis, x-rays.

 

Alexis Kaminski

Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Ho-Shang and Mei-Li Lee Faculty Fellow

6115 Etcheverry Hall
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-1740
kaminski@berkeley.edu

For more information see: Current Classes Taught
Alexis Kaminski Website

Alexis Kaminski is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. Alexis received her BSc (2010) and MSc (2012) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alberta, and her PhD (2016) in Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics from the University of Cambridge. Prior to joining UC Berkeley in 2021, she worked as a postdoc in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University and at the University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory.

 

November 2021 – update for graduate recruitment: I am recruiting PhD students to start in fall 2022! For more information, please see https://akkaminski.github.io


Research Description:

Stratified flows, hydrodynamic instabilities, transition to turbulence, mixing and entrainment, internal waves, non-normal stability, upper-ocean dynamics, physical oceanography, geophysical and environmental fluid dynamics.

 

Key Publications:

AK Kaminski, KR Helfrich, and J Pedlosky 2020 An experimental investigation of the Rossby two-slit problem. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 893, A4.

J Tu, D Fan, Q Lian, Z Liu, W Liu, A Kaminski, and W Smyth 2020 Acoustic observations of Kelvin-Helmholtz billows on an estuarine lutocline. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 125(4), JC015385.

AK Kaminski and MR Flynn 2020 Modal decomposition of polychromatic internal wave fields in arbitrary stratifications. Wave Motion 95, 102549.

AK Kaminski and WD Smyth 2019 Stratified shear instability in a field of pre-existing turbulence. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 862, 639-658

AK Kaminski, CP Caulfield, and JR Taylor 2017 Nonlinear evolution of linear optimal perturbations of strongly stratified shear layers. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 825, 213-244.

RM Sahuri, AK Kaminski, MR Flynn, and M Ungarish 2015 Axisymmetric gravity currents in two-layer density-stratified media. Environmental Fluid Mechanics 15(5), 1035-1051.

AK Kaminski, CP Caulfield, and JR Taylor 2014 Transient growth in strongly stratified shear layers. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 758, R4.

CJ Prend, GR Flierl, KM Smith, and AK Kaminski 2021 Parameterizing eddy transport of biogeochemical tracers. Geophysical Research Letters 48, e2021GL094405.

AK Kaminski, EA D’Asaro, AY Shcherbina, and RR Harcourt 2021 High-resolution observations of the North Pacific transition layer from a Lagrangian float. Journal of Physical Oceanography 51, 3163-3181.

Ken Kamrin

5130 Etcheverry Hall
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-1740
kkamrin@berkeley.edu
(510) 643-4978

For more information see:

Ken Kamrin received a BS in Engineering Physics with a minor in Mathematics at UC Berkeley in 2003, and a PhD in Applied Mathematics at MIT in 2008.  Kamrin was an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard University in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences before joining the Mechanical Engineering faculty at MIT in 2011, where he was appointed the Class of 1956 Career Development Chair.  After 13 years as a professor at MIT, Ken joined the UC Berkeley Mechanical Engineering faculty in 2024.  Kamrin’s research focuses on constitutive modeling and computational mechanics for large deformation processes, with interests spanning elastic and plastic solid modeling, granular mechanics, amorphous solid mechanics, and fluid-structure interaction.  Kamrin’s honors include the 2010 Nicholas Metropolis Award from APS, the NSF CAREER Award in 2013, the 2015 Eshelby Mechanics Award for Young Faculty, the 2016 ASME Journal of Applied Mechanics Award, and the 2022 MacVicar Faculty Fellowship from MIT.  He sat for three years on the Board of Directors of the Society of Engineering Science and serves as an associate editor for the International Journal of Solids and Structures, Granular Matter, and Computational Particle Mechanics.

To view Dr. Kamrin’s CV, please click here.


Homayoon Kazerooni

Professor of Mechanical Engineering

6147 Etcheverry Hall
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-1740
kazerooni@berkeley.edu
(510) 642-2964

For more information see: Berkeley Robotics & Human Engineering Laboratory
Current Classes Taught

Dr. Kazerooni is a professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, where he also serves as the director of the Berkeley Robotics and Human Engineering Laboratory. With more than 30 years of mechanical engineering experience and a doctorate degree from MIT, he is a leading expert in robotics, control sciences, exoskeletons, medical devices, human-machine systems and augmentation, bioengineering, mechatronics design, and intelligent assist devices.  Prior to his more well-known research on lower extremity exoskeletons, Dr. Kazerooni led his team at Berkeley to successfully develop robotics systems that enhanced human upper extremity strength.  The results of this work led to a new class of Intelligent Assist Devices (IAD) that are currently marketed worldwide by leading material handling corporations for use by manual laborers in distribution centers and factories globally.  

 

Dr. Kazerooni’s later work focuses on the control of human-machine systems specific to lower human extremities. After developing BLEEX, ExoHiker, and ExoClimber–three load-carrying exoskeletons–his team at Berkeley created HULC (Human Universal Load Carrier). It is the first energetically-autonomous, orthotic, lower extremity exoskeleton that allows its user to carry 200-pound weights in various terrains for an extended period, without becoming physically overwhelmed.  The technology was licensed to Lockheed Martin. Dr. Kazerooni has also developed lower-extremity technology to aid persons who have experienced a stroke, spinal cord injuries, or health conditions that obligate them to use a wheelchair.  His medical exoskeletons, Ekso and Phoenix have successfully allowed those who have been paralyzed to walk, stand, and speak face to face with peers in an upright position. The technologies related to Ekso and Phoenix are licensed to Ekso Bionics and suitX. 

 

In addition to his teaching work and research experience in academia, Dr. Kazerooni is also an entrepreneur. In 2005, he founded Ekso Bionics (eksobionics.com), which went on to become a publicly-owned company in 2014 and now supplies medical exoskeleton (Ekso) to a great number of rehabilitation centers worldwide.  Later he founded suitX (suitx.com), a VC, industry, and government funded company that provides industrial and medical exoskeletons.  suitX was acquired by Ottobock, the largest European medical device company in late 2021.

 

Dr. Kazerooni has won numerous awards including Discover Magazine’s Technological Innovation Award, the McKnight-Land Grant Professorship, and has been a recipient of the outstanding ASME Investigator Award. His research was recognized as the most innovative technology of the year in New York Times Magazine. He has served in a variety of leadership roles in the mechanical engineering community and was notably the editor of two journals: ASME Journal of Dynamics Systems and Control and IEEE Transaction on Mechatronics. A recognized authority on robotics, Dr. Kazerooni has published more than 200 articles to date, delivered over 130 plenary lectures internationally, and is the inventors of over 200 patents.


Research Description:

Bioengineering, robotics, control systems, mechatronics, design, automated manufacturing and human-machine systems

 

Key Publications:

To view a list of Professor Kazerooni’s publications, please visit the Berkeley Robotics & Human Engineering Laboratory’s website.

Tony M. Keaveny

Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering

5124 Etcheverry Hall
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-1740
tonykeaveny@berkeley.edu
(510) 390-1626

For more information see: Bone Biomechanics Lab
Current Classes Taught

Tony Keaveny is a Professor in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering at the University of California at Berkeley, and the director of the Berkeley Orthopaedic Biomechanics Laboratory. Dr. Keaveny received his B.E. (1984) degree in Mechanical Engineering from University College Dublin, Ireland, and his M.S. (1988) and Ph.D. (1991) degrees, also in Mechanical Engineering, from Cornell University. He spent one year (1990-1991) as a Maurice Mueller Post-Doctoral Fellow in Orthopaedic Biomechanics in the Orthopaedic Biomechanics Laboratory at Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, after which he joined the permanent staff there as a Senior Research Associate (1991- 1993). At the same time, Dr. Keaveny was appointed an Instructor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School and joined the faculty of the Harvard/M.I.T. Health Sciences and Technology Program. He left Boston and joined the Berkeley faculty in 1993, at which time he established the Berkeley Orthopaedic Biomechanics Laboratory.

 

Dr. Keaveny has served as Principal Investigator on an NIH FIRST Award and several NIH R01 and R21 grants, a Whitaker Biomedical Engineering Research Grant, an NSF CAREER Award, and numerous industrial grants. In 1996, he received the YC Fung Young Investigator Award from the Bioengineering Division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He was the 2010 winner of the Van C. Mow Medal. As director of the Berkeley OBL, Dr. Keaveny directs and supervises all research in the laboratory, and acts as the faculty research mentor for all students.


Research Description:

Biomechanics: mechanical behavior of bone, finite element modeling and experimentation, design of bone-implant systems, tissue engineering

 

Key Publications:

To view a list of Professor Keaveny’s publications, please click here.

Kyriakos Komvopoulos

Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering

5143 Etcheverry Hall
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-1740
kyriakos@me.berkeley.edu
(510) 642-2563

For more information see: Current Classes Taught

Research Description:

Theoretical and numerical studies in nano/microscale contact mechanics, tribology, mechanical behavior of thin-film structures, deposition and characterization of ultrathin films by sputtering and filtered cathodic vacuum arc methods, stress analysis, fracture, and adhesion of dynamic microdevices, plasma-assisted surface modification of biopolymers, surface chemical functionalization for enhanced biocompatibility and cell activity, mechanotransduction effects at the single-cell and tissue levels, and electrospun fibrous scaffolds for tissue engineering.

 

To learn more about Professor Komvopoulos’ research, please click here.

 

To view a list of Professor Komvopoulos’ supervised graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and visiting scholars, please click here.

 

To view a biographical sketch of Professor Komvopoulos, please click here.

 

To view the content of courses taught by Professor Komvopoulos, please click here.

Key Publications:

To view a list of Professor Komvopoulos’ publications, please click here.

George Leitmann

Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering
Professor Emeritus of Engineering Science

320 McLaughlin Hall
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-1700
gleit@berkeley.edu
(510) 642-3984

For more information see:

To view Professor Leitmann’s CV, please click here.


Research Description:

Economics, planning, dynamics systems, control theory, optimal control, dynamic games, & robust control, applications engineering, mechanical systems, business administrations, biological systems

 

Key Publications:

To view a list of Professor Leitmann’s publications, please click here.

Dorian Liepmann

Professor of Mechanical Engineering and BioEngineering

280 Hearst Memorial Mining Building
University of California at Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-1762
liepmann@berkeley.edu
(510) 355-8353

For more information see: Liepmann Lab
Current Classes Taught

Research Description:

BioMEMS, microfluid dynamics, experimental biofluid dynamics, hemodynamics associated with valvular heart disease and other cardiac and arterial flows.

 

Key Publications:

2015

 

2014

  • Aran, K., Paredes, J., Yau, J., Srinivasan, S., Murthy, N. and Liepmann, D.  (2014) “An Enzyme-Free Digital Biosensor for Detection of Reactive Oxygen Species.” The 18th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (MicroTAS), San Antonio, TX. October 26-30, 2014
  • Paredes, J., Chooljian, M., Fink, K.D., and Liepmann, D. “Rapid fabrication method for plastic microfluidic devices with embedded 2D and 3D microelectrodes and its application to electroporation and cell lysis on chip.” The 18th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (MicroTAS), San Antonio, TX. October 26-30, 2014
  • Aran, K., Paredes, J., Acharya, A., Yau, J., Liepmann, D. and N. Murthy. “A Novel ROS Responsive Polymer Based Lab-on-a-Chip Sensor for Detection of Circulating Lipid Hydroperoxides” BMES, San Antonio, TX, October 22-25, 2014.
  • Paredes, J., Fink, K.D., Chooljian, M., and D. Liepmann. “Integrating 2D and 3D Microelectrodes in Plastic Microfluidic Devices Allowing Spatial and Temporal  Control of Electric Fields for Detection or Stimulation.” BMES, San Antonio, TX, October 22-25, 2014.
  • Aran, K., Paredes, J., Lee, K., Acharya, A., Liepmann, D. and N. Murthy. “A Battery-less Pressure Driven Smart Pill for Oral to Systemic Protein Delivery.” BMES, San Antonio, TX, October 22-25, 2014.
  • Fink, K., Paredes, J. and Liepmann, D. (2013) The Role of Erythrocyte Size and Shape in Microchannel Fluid Dynamics. American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA.
  • Kim, T. N., Goodwill, P. W., Chen, Y., Conolly, S. M., Schaffer, C. B., Liepmann, D., & Wang, R. A. (2012). Line-scanning particle image velocimetry: an optical approach for quantifying a wide range of blood flow speeds in live animals. PloS one, 7(6), e38590.
  • Gharib, M., Azizgolshani, H., Gharib, M., & Liepmann, D. (2011). Combined Electro-chemical Stimulation to Reduce the Required Current for Muscle Contraction. FASEB Journal, 25, 1051-39.
  • Gulati, S., Dutcher, C. S., Liepmann, D., & Muller, S. J. (2010). Elastic secondary flows in sharp 90 degree micro-bends: A comparison of PEO and DNA solutions. Journal of Rheology (1978-present), 54(2), 375-392.
  • Thakar, R.G., Cheng, Q., Patel, S., Chu, J., Nasir, M., Liepmann, D., Komvopoulos, K. and Li, S. (2009) Cell-Shape Regulation of Smooth Muscle Cell Proliferation. Biophysical Journal 96(8):3423-3432.
  • Häfeli, U. O., Mokhtari, A., Liepmann, D., & Stoeber, B. (2009). In vivo evaluation of a microneedle-based miniature syringe for intradermal drug delivery. Biomedical microdevices, 11(5), 943-950.
  • Gulati, S., Muller, S. J., & Liepmann, D. (2008). Direct measurements of viscoelastic flows of DNA in a 2: 1 abrupt planar micro-contraction. Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, 155(1), 51-66.
  • Liepmann, D., Pisano, A., Stoeber, B., & Zimmermann, S. (2008). U.S. Patent No. 7,415,299. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
  • Gulati, S., Liepmann, D., & Muller, S. J. (2008). Elastic secondary flows of semidilute DNA solutions in abrupt 90° microbends. Physical Review E, 78(3), 036314.

 

To view a list of Professor Liepmann’s publications from previous years, please visit the Liepmann Lab website.

Dennis K. Lieu

Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering

5128 Etcheverry Hall
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-1740
dlieu@berkeley.edu
(510) 642-4014

For more information see: Current Classes Taught

D.Eng Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, 1982
Major Field – Dynamics and Control, Minor Fields- Mechanical Design, Business Administration
Thesis- “Dynamics of the Turning Snow-Ski”
Advisor- Prof. C.D. Mote, Jr.

 

MS Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, 1978
Thesis- “Design of an Electronic Ski-Binding with Biofeedback
1977 University of California Regents Fellowship

 

BS Mechanical Engineering (with honors), University of California at Berkeley, 1977

 

Professor Dennis K. Lieu was born in San Francisco in 1957. He is a 1974 graduate of Lowell High School.  He pursued his higher education at the University of California at Berkeley, where he received his BSME in 1977, MSME in 1978, and D.Eng. in mechanical engineering in 1982. His major field of study was dynamics and control. His graduate work, under the direction of Prof. C.D. Mote, Jr., involved the study skier/ski mechanics and ski binding function.

 

After graduate studies, Dr. Lieu worked as an advisory engineer in the disk file industry with IBM San Jose, where he directed the specification, design, and development of mechanisms and components in the head-disk-assemblies (HDA) of disk files. He directed the design and control of high performance DC brushless motors and control of spindle and structural vibration in the IBM 3390 disk file. In 1988, Dr. Lieu joined the Mechanical Engineering faculty at UC Berkeley. His interests include applied research in the mechanics of high speed electro-mechanical devices, and the mechanics of magnetically, electro-magnetically, and eddy current generated acoustic noise and vibration. He currently supervises approximately 6 graduate students in the Electro-mechanical Design Laboratory in 2163 Etcheverry Hall. At the University, Prof. Lieu teaches courses in Engineering Graphics and Design of Electro-mechanical Devices. He also leads a special seminar class in the design of protective equipment for sports.

 

Prof. Lieu holds a 3rd degree black belt in taekwondo, and is a martial arts instructor at UC Berkeley. His interest in biomechanics and sport equipment design has led to many seminars and papers on these topics. Prof. Lieu was the recipient of a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award in 1989, the Pi Tau Sigma Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1990, and the 1992 Berkeley Distinguished Teaching Award, which is the highest honor for teaching excellence on the U.C. Berkeley campus. Prof. Lieu is a member of Pi Tau Sigma, Tau Beta Pi, and Phi Beta Kappa. His professional affiliations include ASEE and ASME.


Research Description:

Acoustics, actuators, electromechanical devices, magnetics, rolling elements, spindle motors, structural mechanics.

 

Liwei Lin

Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering
James Marshall Wells Academic Chair
Co-Director, Berkeley Sensor & Actuator Center

5135 Etcheverry Hall
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-1740
lwlin@berkeley.edu
(510) 643-5495

For more information see: Lin Lab
Lin Home Page
Current Classes Taught

2006 – 2009  Vice Chair – Graduate Study, Mechanical Engineering Department, University of California at Berkeley

2004  Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department, University of California at Berkeley

2001  Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department, University of California at Berkeley

1999  Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department, University of California at Berkeley

1996  Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Michigan

1994  Associate Professor, Institute of Applied Mechanics, National Taiwan University

1993  Senior Research Scientist, BEI Electronics Inc.

1993  PhD, Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley

1991  MS, Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley

1986  BS, Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University


Research Description:

MEMS (Microelectromechanical Systems); NEMS (Nanoelectromechanical Systems); Nanotechnology; design and manufacturing of microsensors and microactuators; development of micromachining processes by silicon surface/bulk micromachining; micromolding process; mechanical issues in MEMS including heat transfer, solid/fluid mechanics, and dynamics.

 

Key Publications:

For a list of Professor Lin’s publications, please click here.

Fai Ma

Professor of Applied Mechanics

6127 Etcheverry Hall
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-1740
fma@berkeley.edu
(510) 643-6527

For more information see: Current Classes Taught

To view Professor Ma’s CV, please click here.


Research Description:

Dynamical Systems with Inherent Uncertainties, Vibration, Damping and Hysteresis

 

Key Publications:

To view a list of Professor Ma’s publications, please click here.

Simo Mäkiharju

Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering

6119 Etcheverry Hall
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-1740
makiharju@berkeley.edu

For more information see: FLOW Lab
Current Classes Taught

Simo A. Mäkiharju is an Associate Professor at UC Berkeley.  Prof. Mäkiharju’s undergraduate studies were in Energy Technology at the Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. In 2005 he received his Mechanical Engineering M.Sc. from the Ohio State University and his Ph.D. in 2012 from the University of Michigan. His graduate research focused on the reduction of hydrodynamic drag by gas injection and the development of a time-resolved x-ray densitometry imaging system for the study of multiphase flows. He continued at the University of Michigan as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow (2012-2014) and as an Assistant Research Scientist (2014-2015) investigating single- and multiphase flow mixing in channel flows while continuing the development of x-ray based 2D and 3D flow measurement techniques. Starting as an Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley in January of 2016, he is continuing to pursue his research interest in advancing the physical understanding of high-Reynolds number single- and multiphase flows through experimental research, primarily through the development and use of advanced experimental techniques.


Research Description:

One of the central objectives of Professor Mäkiharju’s research is to advance the physical understanding of high Reynolds number single- and multiphase flows primarily through experimental research, and through the development and use of advanced experimental techniques. Multiphase flows are encountered in almost every aspect of modern life, including offshore applications, biological flows, energy production, chemical processing, and naval hydrodynamics. Specific topics Professor Mäkiharju has worked on include the reduction drag on marine vehicles, mitigation of damage and noise caused by cavitation in naval and industrial applications, and efficient handling of single- and multiphase flows in energy production applications.

 

Key Publications:

To view a list of Professor Mäkiharju’s publications, please click here.