Self-sensing materials—materials that change their electrical properties in response to damage, strain, environmental conditions, etc.—have much potential for fully autonomic sensing. This potential is amplified by the fact that many currently used materials (e.g., carbon fiber-reinforced polymers, CFRPs) exhibit self-sensing. To date, work in this area has focused overwhelmingly on simple lab conditions such as isolated strain sensing. Real aerospace systems operate in complex and highly multi-physical environments (e.g., combined mechanical, thermal, and moisture loading). Virtually no work has been done to understand how self-sensing materials respond to such realistic and combined-loading conditions. The goal of this work is to understand self-sensing in CFRPs, a representative self-sensing material, subjected to multi-physical loading. You will lead a combination of experimental, computational microscale modeling, and macroscale analytical modeling activities to achieve this goal. The techniques and instruments derived through this work are expected to be generalizable to new material systems. This research will be an important step towards full autonomous sensing in aerospace systems, which can be used to guide mission profiles while simultaneously reducing inspection and labor costs.

This is a funded post-doctoral position supported by a three-year project sponsored by the Air Force of Scientific Research (AFOSR). It will involve collaboration opportunities with researchers at the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) through an existing cooperative research agreement between the PI and AFRL. A start date during the Fall 2026 term is desired.

Documented expertise in fiber-reinforced composite characterization (e.g., measuring elastic properties), the ability to independently lead and troubleshoot research, and excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Experience with self-sensing materials, electrical properties and characterization of materials, computational modeling, experimental design, measurement theory, basic circuit analysis, composite manufacturing, optimization techniques, and tensor analysis.

This project is led by Dr. Tyler Tallman, the Ervin O. Stitz Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University. Dr. Tallman’s research experience is at the intersection of material multi-functionality, embedded sensing, and inverse problems applied to nondestructive evaluation, aerospace systems, hypersonic materials, space structures and materials, human health monitoring, and manufacturing processes. More information can be found at https://engineering.purdue.edu/TNTLabs. Dr. Tallman is also committed to holistic post-doctoral enrichment through training on grant writing, research communication and dissemination, student mentorship, curriculum development and teaching, etc. 

To apply: Please send your CV (including sections on relevant projects and a complete list of publications), contact information, a list of references, and up to three papers highlighting your prior work to Dr. Tallman at ttallman@purdue.edu with the subject line “Post-doctoral application."

 

Posted June 04, 2026