Energy Transport Research Lab

Nenad Miljkovic

Assistant Professor of Mechanical Science and Engineering

Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, MIT, 2013
M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, MIT, 2011
BASc in Mechanical Engineering, University of Waterloo, 2009

Phone: (617) 981-9247

Email: nmiljkov@illinois.edu

Address: 105 South Mathews Avenue, MEL 2136, Urbana, IL 61801

CV, UIUC MechSE, Google Scholar, Linkedin, ResearchGate

Soumyadip Sett

Soumyadip "Deep" Sett received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) in 2016 where he worked under the guidance of Dr. Alexander Yarin. His doctoral thesis focused on dynamics of thin surfactant films and aqueous foam. He also worked on fabricating nonwoven nanomaterials from biopolymers and their applications as self-healing composites, filtration membranes, and scaffolds. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Power Engineering from Jadavpur University, India where he worked on thermodynamic stability of IC engine. In the ETRL, Deep is working on enhanced condensation heat transfer of low surface tension fluids.

Email: ssett3@illinois.edu

Address: 105 South Mathews Avenue, MEL 2139, Urbana, IL 61801

Longnan Li

Longnan Li received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Sogang university in South Korea in 2017 where he worked under the quidance of Dr. Daejoong Kim. His doctoral thesis focused on the performance of oscillating heat pipes (OHPs) for low grade energy harvesting. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Water Supply and Sewerage Engineering from the Northeast Petroleum University, China. In the ETRL, Longnan is studying the enhanced anti-icing performance of superhydrophobic coatings for air-source heat pump applications.

Email: longnan@illinois.edu

Address: 105 South Mathews Avenue, MEL 2226, Urbana, IL 61801

Aihua Liu

Aihua is a visiting scholar from China. She received her B.E in Mechanical Engineering from Wuhan University of Technology in 2005 and her PhD from Wuhan University of Technology in 2013. She is currently an associate professor in Wuhan University of Technology. At the ETRL, she is studying droplet impact on ultra-supercooled surfaces.

Email: lisaflyi@illinois.edu

Address: 105 South Mathews Avenue, MEL 2226, Urbana, IL 61801

Seyed Mohammad Reza Razavi

Mohammad is a visiting scholar from Iran. He is currently a PhD student at the School of Polymer Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology (IUT). He received his M.S. in Polymer Engineering from Arak University (AU) in 2013. His current research at the ETRL and for his PhD focuses on preparation and investigation of anti-biofouling polymeric coatings by creating natural plant-based superhydrophobic surfaces.

Email: smrazavi@illinois.edu

Address: 105 South Mathews Avenue, MEL 2228, Urbana, IL 61801

Xiao Yan

Xiao is a visiting PhD student sponsored by the China Scholarship Council. He is from the Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology (INET), Tsinghua University, China. He received his B.E. in nuclear science and technology from Harbin Engineering University in 2013. His doctoral thesis focuses on the condensation heat transfer on micro/nano-structured surfaces under circumstances relating to power plants. In the ETRL, he is currently working on the condensation heat transfer of low-surface-tension fluids.

Email: yanx16@illinois.edu

Address: 105 South Mathews Avenue, MEL 2426, Urbana, IL 61801

Dong Niu

Dong is a visiting PhD student sponsored by the China Scholarship Council. He is a PhD student at Xi'an Jiaotong University, China. His current research at the ETRL focuses on the simulation of micro/nanoscale heat transfer during dropwise condensation using molecular dynamics. Apart from research, he likes to play basketball and swim.

Email: dongniu@illinois.edu

Address: 105 South Mathews Avenue, MEL 2426, Urbana, IL 61801

Patrick Birbarah

Patrick received his B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from the American University of Beirut (Lebanon) in 2014 with High Honors, and his M.S. in Mechanical Science and Engineering from UIUC in 2016. His current research focuses on improving condensation heat transfer on nanomanufactured superhydrophobic surfaces.

Email: birbara2@illinois.edu

Address: 1304 W Springfield Avenue, DCL 2270, Urbana, IL 61801

Shreyas Chavan

Shreyas received his B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B), India, and his M.S. in Mechanical Science and Engineering from UIUC in 2016. His current research focuses on development and characterization of micro/nanostructured surfaces for anti-frosting. Apart from research, he likes to spend time trekking and other adventurous activities.

Email: schavan2@illinois.edu

Address: 105 South Mathews Avenue, MEL 2424, Urbana, IL 61801

Alperen Gunay

Alp received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Middle East Technical University (Ankara, Turkey) in 2014 with High Honors, and his M.S. in Mechanical Science and Engineering from UIUC in 2016. He is interested in sustainable energy solutions, heat transfer and thermodynamics. He is currently working on solar systems with aerogels.

Email: agunay2@illinois.edu

Address: 105 South Mathews Avenue, MEL 2424, Urbana, IL 61801

Moonkyung Kim

Moonkyung Kim received his B.S. with summa cum laude honors in Mechanical Engineering from Hanyang University in 2014, and his M.S. in Mechanical Science and Engineering from UIUC in 2016. His research interests lie in understanding micro and nano scale phase change heat transfer. He is working on fabrication of superhydrophobic surfaces using various techniques and materials.

Email: mkim194@illinois.edu

Address: 105 South Mathews Avenue, MEL 2139, Urbana, IL 61801

Hyeongyun Cha

Hyeongyun Cha received his B.S. in Mechanical Science and Engineering from UIUC in 2014, and his M.S. in Mechanical Science and Engineering from UIUC in 2016. Hyeongyun's current research focuses on the study of functional coating degradation using scanning probe microscopy techniques.

Email: cha10@illinois.edu

Address: 105 South Mathews Avenue, MEL 2424, Urbana, IL 61801

Jesus Sotelo

Jesus Sotelo received his B.S. in Mechanical Science and Engineering from UIUC in 2015. Jesus' current research focuses on the development of nanoengineered surfaces to study nucleation-mediated flooding delay during condensation.

Email: sotelo2@illinois.edu

Address: 105 South Mathews Avenue, MEL 2139, Urbana, IL 61801

Junho Oh

Junho Oh received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 2013, and M.S. in 2015, both from Sungkyunkwan University (Seoul, Korea). He is interested in wetting phenomena and phase change heat transfer. Junho’s research currently focuses on nature-inspired wetting phenomena and electronics cooling.

Email: junhooh2@illinois.edu

Address: 1304 W Springfield Avenue, DCL 2270, Urbana, IL 61801

Hanmesh Gunnam

Hanmesh Gunnam received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from College of Engineering, Guindy(CEG) (earlier under the name of University of Madras) in 2015. He is currently working on frost growth analysis on extreme wettability materials.

Email: gunnam2@illinois.edu

Address: 105 South Mathews Avenue, MEL 2139, Urbana, IL 61801

Kalyan Boyina

Kalyan Boyina received his B.S in Mechanical Engineering from Oklahoma State University-Stillwater in 2014, and his M.S. in Mechanical Science and Engineering from UIUC in 2016. He is working on fabricating and testing large scale (> 20 cm) superhydrophobic heat exchangers to study their anti-icing and frosting performance.

Email: boyina2@illinois.edu

Address: 105 South Mathews Avenue, MEL 2139, Urbana, IL 61801

James Carpenter

James Carpenter received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Missouri-St.Louis/Washington University in Saint Louis (joint degree) in 2015. His research interests include sustainable energy solutions, thermal efficiency enhancements of engineering systems, and the application of nano-scale heat transfer concepts to achieve both. Currently, his research focuses on ice-bridge formation on superhydrophobic surfaces. He enjoys reading, exercise, and mindfulness practices.

Email: jscarpe2@illinois.edu

Address: 105 South Mathews Avenue, MEL 2422, Urbana, IL 61801

Alex Wu

Alex Wu received his B.S. in Mechanical Science and Engineering from UIUC in 2016. His research focuses on studying the fundamental degradation mechanisms of hydrophobic coatings using novel scanning probe microscopy techniques.

Email: alexwu2@illinois.edu

Address: 105 South Mathews Avenue, MEL 2422, Urbana, IL 61801

Keith Coulson

Keith received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology (Rolla, MO) in 2016. He is interested in two-phase cooling and is currently working on flexible heat pipes and nano engineered surfaces intended to improve condensation. Keith is co-advised by Professor Sanjiv Sinha.

Email: kcoulso2@illinois.edu

Address: 1304 W Springfield Avenue, DCL 2270, Urbana, IL 61801

Tianyu Yang

Tianyu received her B.S. in Engineering Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering from Tsinghua University in 2016. She is interested in Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Sciences, especially at the micro/nano scale. Her current work focuses on the development of efficient thermal switches and buffers. Tianyu is co-advised by Professor William P. King.

Email: tianyuy2@illinois.edu

Address: 1304 W Springfield Avenue, DCL 2270, Urbana, IL 61801

Junyoung Ahn

Jun is currently a junior in the Mechanical Science and Engineering Department at UIUC. He is working with a senior graduate studnet on biphilic surface research. In his spare time, he likes to work out.

Anand Thamban

Anand is a visiting summer undergraduate researcher from the Mechanical Engineering Department of the National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, India. His research interests include sustainable and renewable energy.

Irene Andsager

Irene is currently a junior in the Liberal Arts and Sciences Physics Department at UIUC. She is interested in sustainability and improving energy efficiency and hopes one day to be a teacher. In her spare time she enjoys camping and sewing.

Yangxue (Sherry) Yu

Yangxue (Sherry) is currently a sophomore majoring in Mechanical Engineering and minoring in Electrical Engineering. She is interested in thermal sciences and energy efficiency. She is currently conducting research in the HVAC icing mitigation strategies.

Sabrina Yin

Sabrina is currently a junior in the Mechanical Science and Engineering Department. She is developing jumping-droplet vapor chambers for high power density electronics thermal management as part of the POETS NSF center. She enjoys playing cello in her free time.

Naveen Nagarajan

Naveen is currently a senior in the Mechanical Science and Engineering Department at UIUC. He is working on aerogel-based solar-thermal energy systems in collaboration with a graduate student. In his free time, he likes to play and watch sports.

Sean Ebihara

Sean is currently a senior in the Chemistry/Chemical Engineering Department at UIUC. He is working on industrial applications of graphene, as well as, the improvement of large scale graphene synthesis methods.

Deokgeun "Daniel" Park

Deokgeun is currently a junior in the Mechanical Science and Engineering Department at UIUC. He is studying droplet growth on superhydrophobic surfaces in the presence of non-condensables.

Jason Yang

Jason is currently a senior in the Mechanical Science and Engineering Department at UIUC. He is investigating durability of a variety of hydrophobic coatings and understand nano-engineered surface degradation in collaboration with a graduate student. He enjoys hands-on work and problem solving.

Juo-Yun Chen

Juo-Yun is currently a junior in the Mechanical Science and Engineering Department at UIUC. She is studying the condensation behavior of low-surface tension fluids in collaboration with a graduate student. She enjoys playing tennis and baking in her free time.

Mateusz Lopez

Mateusz is currently a sophomore in the Engineering Physics Department at UIUC. He is passionate about energy and sustainability. He is currently researching doped aerogels for controllable radiative properties for solar thermal applications.

Carter Wood

Carter is currently a sophomore in the Mechanical Science and Engineering Department at UIUC. Sophomore in the Mechanical Science and Engineering Department at UIUC. He is currently developing transparent aerogels for solar thermal applications. He is interested in renewable energy and plays volleyball in his free time.

Sang A. Lee

Sang A. is currently a junior in the Mechanical Science and Engineering Department at UIUC. She is currently studying condensation nucleation dynamics on smooth and structured surfaces.

Yujin Chang

Yujin is currently a senior in the Mechanical Science and Engineering Department at UIUC. She is working with a graduate student to study droplet impact on flexible superhydrophobic surfaces.

Derek Dai

Derek is currently a junior in the Mechanical Science and Engineering Department at UIUC. He is working with a graduate student to study icing performance on superhydrophobic evaporators.

Marisa Gnadt

Marisa is currently a junior in the Mechanical Science and Engineering Department at UIUC. She is working with a graduate student to study transparent aerogel sythesis.

Peter Sokalski

Peter is currently a junior in the Mechanical Science and Engineering Department at UIUC. He is working with a graduate student to study biphilic surface defrosting performance.

Leicheng Zhang

Leichang is currently a junior in the Department of Thermal Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, China. She is a visiting summer student working in the ETRL on flash condensation with a graduate student.

Patricia B. Weisensee

Patty completed her PhD in the ETRL in December of 2016 while being co-advised by Professor William P. King, working on micro- and nanostructured omniphobic surfaces for droplet-based heat transfer applications. She is curently an assitant professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Washington University in Saint Louis.

Email: p.weisensee@wustl.edu

Address: Green Hall, Office 3156, 1 Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130-4899

Yukihiro Yokoyama

Yukihiro was a visiting scholar in the ETRL from the Japanese Patent Office during July 2015 - June 2016. While at the ETRL, he studied hydrocarbon adsorption based wettability change of rare earth oxide surfaces using XPS and TOF-SIMS techniques. Hiro is now back at the JPO in Japan.

Email: yokoyama-yukihiro@jpo.go.jp

Baojin Qi

Baojin was a visiting scholar from China during January 2017 - January 2017. Dr. Qi received his B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from the Zhejiang University (ZJU) in 2005, and later obtained his PhD from the State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering at East China University of Science and Technology in 2011. Currently, he is an associate professor in Xi'an Jiaotong University.

Email: bjqi@xjtu.edu.cn

William Moy

William graduated with a B.S. in Mechanical Science and Engineering at UIUC. He worked in the ETRL during his senior year (2014-2015) studying fabrication of scalable metal oxide nanostructured surfaces for phase change heat transfer applications. He is now an Operational Engineer for the Watlow Electric Manufacturing Company.

Email: WMoy@Watlow.com

Maneesh Nallapaneni

Maneesh was a summer undergraduate researcher from the Mechanical Engineering Department at National Institute of Technology Warangal (NITW) India. He worked in the ETRL in 2015. His research involved anti-icing techniques using superhydrophobicity. He is currently a graduate student in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Northwestern University.

Saketh Undurty

Saketh was an undergraduate researcher in the ETRL during the fall of 2014 and Spring of 2015. He conducted research with a graduate student on scalable fabrication of metal oxide nanostructured surfaces for phase change heat transfer applications.

Michael Atten

Michael was an undergraduate researcher in the ETRL during the winter, summer, and fall of 2015. He conducted research with a graduate student on synthesis of aerogels for solar-thermal energy systems. He is now a full time Graduate Student in the MechSE department at UIUC.

Alexander Pauls

Alexander was an undergraduate researcher in the ETRL from fall 2014 to summer 2016. He conducted research with a graduate student on improving condensation heat transfer on nanomanufactured superhydrophobic surfaces.

Micheal Ye

Michael was an undergraduate researcher in the ETRL during the summer of 2015. He worked with a graduate student to develop a novel optical method to measure the in-situ velocity of moving droplets and bubbles.

Hannah Xu

Hannah was an undergraduate researcher in the ETRL during September 2014 to December 2015. She studied jumping droplet dynamics on nanostructured superhydrophobic surfaces in collaboration with a graduate student.

Steven Yeung

Steven was an undergraduate researcher in the ETRL during September 2014 to December 2015. He studied condensation heat transfer through individual droplets on hydrophobic and superhydrophobic surfaces. He is currently pursuing his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at MIT.

Chen Zhong

Chen was an undergraduate researcher in the ETRL during September 2014 to December 2015. She studied jumping droplet dynamics on superhydrophobic surfaces. He is currently a graduate student in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Stanford University.

Qian Wang

Qian was an undergraduate researcher in the ETRL during September 2014 to June 2016. He studied droplet nucleation dynamics during condensation. He is currently a graduate student in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Stanford University.

Jeffrey Jun

Jeffrey was an undergraduate researcher in the ETRL during January 2016 to June 2016. He helped build and instrument a box vacuum chamber for phase change heat transfer measurements in collaboration with a graduate student.

Shreyas Hegde

Shreyas was a summer (2016) undergraduate researcher from the Mechanical Engineering Department at National Institute of Technology - Suratkal, India. His research involved experimentally studying the frost/defrost performance of hybrid wetting surfaces. He is curently pursuing his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Duke University.

Kishan Kumar

Kishan was a summer (2016) undergraduate researcher from the Mechanical Engineering Department at National Institute of Technology - Suratkal, India. His research involved experimentally studying the frost/defrost performance of large scale superhydrophobic evaporators for HVAC heat pump applications.

Jingcheng Ma

Jingcheng was a visiting (2016) undergraduate researcher from the Mechanical Engineering Department in Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. He worked on the analysis of water droplet impact on vibrating elastic superhydrophobic surfaces. He is currently pursuing his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at UIUC.

Yunbo Wang

Yunbo was a visiting (2016) undergraduate researcher from the Mechanical Engineering Department in Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China. He experimentally measured the droplet distribution during condensation on liquid infused surfaces.

Junjiao Tian

Junjiao was an undergraduate researcher in the ETRL during January 2015 to June 2016. He worked on droplet impact experiments on flexible superhydrophobic surfaces.

Nitish Singla

Nitish was an undergraduate researcher in the ETRL during January 2015 to June 2016. He worked on experimentally measuring the individual droplet freezing time during condensation frosting.

Ryan O'Sullivan

Ryan was an undergraduate researcher in the ETRL during the summer of 2016. He worked with a graduate student to help build an experimental vacuum chamber.

Dong Hoon Kang

Dong Hoon was an undergraduate researcher in the ETRL during January 2015 to June 2016. He worked with a graduate student to collect and analyze data for jumping droplet dynamics on nanostructured superhydrophobic surfaces.

So Hyeon 'Leah' Youn

Leah was an undergraduate researcher in the ETRL during January 2015 to June 2016. She worked with a graduate student to develop spin-coat based nanoengineered surfaces.

Jorge Anaya

Jorge was an undergraduate researcher in the ETRL during the summer of 2016. He worked with a graduate student to help build an experimental vacuum chamber.

Nealay Kalita

Nealay was an undergraduate researcher in the ETRL during the summer and fall of 2016. He worked with a graduate student to develop transparent aerogel solar thermal absorbers.

Jacky Tam

Jacky was an undergraduate researcher in the ETRL during the summer of 2016. He worked with a graduate student on condensation heat transfer measurements.

Chengpu Li

Chengpu was an undergraduate researcher in the ETRL in 2016. He is currently working as a Mechanical Enigneer at EnCore Aerospace in Los Angeles, CA.

Jae Min Chun

Jae Min was an undergraduate researcher in the ETRL in 2015 and 2016. He received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Science and Engineering in 2016 and is continuing on to his doctoral degree at UIUC.

Zhaoer Li

Zhaoer was an undergraduate researcher in the ETRL in 2015 and 2016. He received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Science and Engineering in 2017 and is continuing on to his doctoral degree at the University of Michigan.

Jonah Nguyen

Jonah was an undergraduate researcher in the ETRL in from May 2016 to January 2017. He received his B.S. degree in Agricultural and Biological Engineering in June 2017. At the ETRL, he studied the antimicrobial properties of insect wings in collaboration with a graduate student.