“This is a great number as IE usually gets one selected every two or three years in the past, and is an indication of the ascending quality of our Ph.D. students under superior quality of faculty mentorship and supervision,” said Richard Liu, professor and associate head of industrial engineering.

Of the seven students from the IE program nominated by the faculty this year, three (Yang Guo, Ji Li and Martin Zhang) were nominated by the IE committee appointed by Abhijit Deshmukh, James J. Solberg Head of Industrial Engineering. The College of Engineering elected Yang Guo and Ji Li as the recipients of the award which covers tuition and fees along with an annual stipend of $18,000 with a supplement of $1300 to assist in covering medical insurance.

The two Ph.D. students, Ji Li and Yang Guo, have Dr. Gary Cheng and Dr. Chandrasekar as their respective major professor.

Ji Li's research focuses on developing laser based nano-micro scale manufacturing processes, such as nano/micro forming and punching, which can be applied in building small technical products and devices. "By making use of laser ablation generated shock pressure and mold with nano/micro scale cavities, 3-dimensional nano/micro shapes have been successfully generated in thin metal foils. The same pressure can also be applied on nanowires, bending the nanowires into desired shapes. Our method provides a simple, unique, and one-step approach in massive forming and machining of nanostructures," said Ji Li.

Yang Guo’s research work is to study the plastic deformation level and microstructure on machined surfaces, and their controllability through machining parameters. The approach he uses to characterize deformation is high speed imaging analysis, complemented by strength and microstructure analysis. According the Guo, “The result from this work is very useful for understanding surface integrity in machining and engineering surface properties. It also provides valuable information for improvement of machining models.”