5/29/2026
Written by
An impressive group of graduate students from MechSE were selected to the 2026-27 cohort of Mavis Future Faculty Fellows (MF3).
The MF3 program in The Grainger College of Engineering facilitates the training of the next generation of great engineering faculty, focusing on three main components of research, teaching, and mentoring. MF3 Fellows have an opportunity to develop and enhance their skills in these core areas through various professional development activities in preparation for a successful academic career.
Asif Ahmed
PhD student in mechanical engineering
Advisor: Professor Nenad Miljkovic
Education: BSc in mechanical engineering, Military Institute of Science and Technology; MS in mechanical engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Research: My research focuses on advanced shape memory alloy processing, materials characterization, and the development of zero-GWP solid-state elastocaloric cooling systems. In collaboration with NASA and Barrow Green, LLC, I am working on next-generation refrigerant-free cooling technologies with potential applications in aerospace systems, clean energy technologies, and data center thermal management.
“The Mavis Future Faculty Fellows Program will be an important step in my professional development. It will help me strengthen the leadership, communication, teaching, and mentoring skills needed to lead an academic research group in the future. My long-term research vision is to develop advanced thermal technologies using smart materials, bridging materials science and thermal systems to enable cleaner more efficient, and sustainable cooling and energy solutions.”
Catalina Bastias
PhD student in mechanical engineering
Advisor: Assistant Professor Callan Luetkemeyer
Education: BS in biomedical engineering (2023), University of Colorado Boulder; MS in mechanical engineering (2026), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Research: My research focuses on understanding uterine-driven infertility issues with the goal of identifying potential mechanical biomarkers that link uterine dysfunction to infertility.
“The MF3 program aligns directly with my long‑term goal of becoming a faculty member by providing structured training in areas that are often hard to access as a graduate student. My interdisciplinary work in women’s health has shown me how essential diverse perspectives are in academia, and MF3 offers the framework to strengthen the skills I need to contribute meaningfully in that space. The program will help me refine my teaching and mentoring practices while preparing for the full scope of faculty responsibilities. Overall, MF3 will give me the tools, clarity, and professional development needed to build a sustainable academic career grounded in impactful research and mentorship.”
Pranto Karua
PhD student in mechanical engineering
Advisor: Assistant Professor Lili Cai
Education: Bachelor’s degree (2019) in mechanical engineering; master’s degree (2022) in mechanical engineering, Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET), Bangladesh
Research: My research focuses on additive manufacturing of multifunctional radiative cooling materials, integrating adaptive thermoregulation, human-motion sensing and energy harvesting for next generation smart wearables and buildings.”
“This fellowship will help me develop the skills necessary to build a successful academic career where I can contribute meaningfully through impactful research, teaching, and mentorship.”
Sena Pekol
PhD student in mechanical engineering
Advisor: Professor Huseyin Sehitoglu
Education: BS in mechanical engineering (2020) and MS in mechanical engineering (2023), Bilkent University, Turkey
Research: My research focuses on computational modeling of defect-mediated deformation mechanisms in crystalline materials, particularly twinning and dislocation behavior in HCP metals.
“I am honored to be selected as an MF3 Fellow for the 2026-2027 academic year. I believe the MF3 program will help me further develop my mentoring, teaching, and research skills, while also giving me the opportunity to learn from faculty and peers across different engineering disciplines.”
Sri Sridhar
PhD student in mechanical engineering
Advisor: Associate Professor Shelby Hutchens
Education: BE in aeronautical engineering, Anna University, India. Started in the aerospace master’s program at Illinois in 2022, before transferring to MechSE for PhD in 2023
Research: My work is on mechanical failure characterization in soft materials. My work understands the fundamental principles of fracture mechanics in soft-rubbery materials, specifically the interdependent relationship of friction and fracture via needle insertion and cutting mechanics. The work can be applied in development of soft materials for medical applications like wearable devices, designing tools in food science and medicine. Insights from my work can be helpful in advancing soft robotic controls as well. I recently won the Alan Gent Award from the Adhesion Society.
“I intend to pursue a career in academia and with every opportunity I get, I have been developing my knowledge and skills I need to establish a career as an academic faculty. I am very passionate about teaching and fundamental scientific research and mentoring new researchers. I believe that a profession that can do all of them is an academic faculty. Although I understand the culture and overall logistics behind being a faculty, there are still many parts of the equation I have yet to learn, including initiating collaboration, writing grants, starting my own lab, etc. I hope to learn these through this Mavis fellowship program. I personally cannot find a lot of peers who are wanting to start a career in academia, so I am excited to meet fellow graduate students who also have similar aspirations and learn from one another. I am also hoping to form some long-lasting relationships and collaboration through this program.”
Dongyoung Yoon
PhD in mechanical engineering
Advisor: Associate Professor Arend van der Zande (MechSE and MatSE)
Education: BS in mechanical engineering (2021) and MS in mechanical engineering (2023), Yonsei University (Seoul, South Korea)
Research: I study how mechanical control in 2D materials can be used to program electronic behavior. In these systems, small changes in structure, such as strain or stacking order, can produce large changes in measurable electrical properties. I am especially interested in sliding ferroelectricity in transition metal dichalcogenides, where the stacking order can set polarization states. By understanding how stacking and domains evolve under mechanical and electrical perturbations, I aim to develop reliable ways to tune polarization and transport for low-power and reconfigurable electronic functions.
“The MF3 fellowship will help me prepare for an academic career by giving me structured training in the parts of faculty life that are not developed through research alone. I hope to use the program to build a clearer roadmap for becoming an independent principal investigator, including how to define a research vision, and communicate it to broad audiences. The fellowship will also help me strengthen my teaching and mentoring approaches, especially in guiding students to become both doers and thinkers.”
Omar Zaki
PhD student in mechanical engineering
Advisor: co-advised by Professor Bill King and Professor Nenad Miljkovic
Education: BSc (2019, Valedictorian) and MSc (2023) in mechanical engineering, Faculty of Engineering at Cairo University
Research: My research focuses on the development of innovative heat exchanger designs enabled by additive manufacturing, electronics cooling for next-generation data centers, and applying machine learning to model the physics of boiling, work funded by the U.S. Navy and ARPA-E.
The MF3 fellowship will be transformative for my goal of becoming a faculty member at a top-tier research university, it will help me sharpen my teaching and mentoring skills, gain experience in grant writing, and build the professional network needed to launch an impactful academic career.