People 

Timothy Yap is a postdoctoral scholar. He received his Ph.D. from UT Austin. He received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UT Austin. Timothy studies design and processing of additively manufactured composites. 

Email: tiyap@ucsd.edu  

Pratik Koirala is a postdoctoral scholar. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UT Austin and his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Kathmandu University, Nepal. Pratik studies manufacturing defects and bonding in rapidly manufactured thermoplastic composites. 

Email: pkoirala@ucsd.edu   

Yunus Buzkart is a Ph.D. student at Istanbul Technical University and is currently a visiting researcher at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). His research focuses on the fabrication and characterization of high-performance thermoplastic composites and blends, including PEEK and PEI matrices.   

Email: ybuzkart@ucsd.edu 

Athena Aber is a Ph.D. student in Structural Engineering Department at UC San Diego. Before joining UC San Diego, she received her B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UT Austin. She is currently working on colloidal assembly of suspensions and mechanics of 2D material films. 

Email: jaber@ucsd.edu

Gehan C Jayatilaka is a Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering at UT Austin. He received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UT Austin. He is currently working on mechanics of 2D material films for multifunctional applications. 

Email: gehan.jayatilaka@austin.utexas.edu 

Saeed Khaleghi is a Ph.D. student in the Structural Engineering department at UC San Diego. He received his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering  from University of Tehran and his B.S. from Iran University of Science and Technology. He is currently working on understanding fast processing of thermoplastic composites.

Email: khaleghi@ucsd.edu 

Joseph Kirchhoff is a Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering at UT Austin. Before joining UC San Diego, he received his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Purdue University. Joseph is co-advised by Professors Tehrani (UCSD) and Ghattas (UT Austin). He is working on bonding in thermoplastic composites and digital twins for composites processing. 

Email: kirchhoff@my.utexas.edu 

Ali Koohi Esfahani is a Ph.D. student in the Structural Engineering department at UC San Diego. He received his M.S. in Structural Engineering from Yazd University and his B.S. in Materials Science from Isfahan University of Technology. He is currently working on numerical simulation of crystallization in semi-crystalline polymers during the additive manufacturing process.

Email: akoohiesfahani@ucsd.edu 

Homayoun Mousa Mirabad is a Ph.D. student in the Structural and Materials Engineering department at UC San Diego. He received his M.S. in Materials Engineering from Sharif University of Technology and his B.S. from University of Maragheh. Mirabad's current research focuses on the fabrication and characterization of advanced carbonaceous conductors. 

Email: hmousamirabad@ucsd.edu 

Yohannes Bekele is an M.S. student in the Mechanical Engineering Department at UT Austin. He received his bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from UT Austin. He is currently exploring multi-layered copper-graphene composites for space applications. He is co-advised with Prof. Cullinan at UT. 

Email: yohannesbekele140@utexas.edu 

Andrew Cai is an M.S student in the department of Structural Engineering. Before that, he received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UC San Diego. He is currently working on characterization of thermoplastic composites joined by induction welding techniques.

Email: a6cai@ucsd.edu

Samuel Choi is an M.S. student in the department of Structural Engineering. Before that, he received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UT Austin. He is currently exploring modeling of laser-assistaed automated fiber placement (AFP).  

Email: sac022@ucsd.edu 

Rachel A Paddock is an M.S. student in the Mechanical Engineering Department at UT Austin. Before that, she received her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UT Austin. She is currently exploring manufacturing of copper-graphene composite wires for space applications. Rachel is co-advised with Prof. Cullinan at UT. 

Email: rachelpaddock1999@utexas.edu 

Aaron Kang  is a second year undergraduate student in the Department of Structural Engineering at UC San Diego. He is currently researching multifunctional films based on 2D materials. 

Email: a3kang@ucsd.edu

Skyler Kindred  is a fourth year undergraduate student in the Department of Structural Engineering at UC San Diego. She is currently working on bonding and manufacturing the thermoplastic composites for Automated Fiber Placement machines 

Email: skindred@ucsd.edu 

Michelle Lee is a second year undergraduate student in the Department of Structural Engineering at UC San Diego. She is currently researching multifunctional films based on 2D materials. 

Email: mil085@ucsd.edu

Libang Wang is a fourth year undergrad student in the Department of structural Engineering at UC San Diego. He is currently researching bonding in thermoplastic materials and their mechanical behavior for AFP.

Email: liw023@ucsd.edu  

Sindhu Perubotla is a third year undergraduate student in the Mechanical and Aerospace department at UC San Diego. She is the lab manager in the Tehrani Group. 

Email: sperubotla@ucsd.edu