Moneesh Upmanyu
Professor, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Office
- 467C EC
- 617.373.3186
Lab
- 009E FR
Research Focus
Computational techniques that span multiple scales, atomic- to continuum, to quantify the structure property relations in established and emerging material systems, both in technology and nature.
Education
- PhD (2001), Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan
Honors & Awards
- Schlumberger Faculty for Futures Award (with Maryam Golabchi)
- Outstanding Young Scientist, Recrystallization and Grain Growth Congress
- MRS Graduate Student Silver Medal
Teaching Interests
- Materials science and engineering
- Computational Materials science
- Kinetic phenomena in materials
- Engineering physics
Professional Affiliations
- American Association of Crystal Growth (AACG)
- Materials Research Society (TMS)
- Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS)
Research Overview
Computational techniques that span multiple scales, atomic- to continuum, to quantify the structure property relations in established and emerging material systems, both in technology and nature.
Department Research Areas
Selected Publications
- P. Waduge, J. Larkin, M. Upmanyu, S. Kar, M. Wanunu, Programmed Synthesis of Freestanding Graphene Nanomembrane Arrays, Small, 11(5), 2015, 597-603
- L. X. Lu, M. S. Bharathi, M. Upmanyu, Y. W. Zhang, Growing Ordered and Stable Nanostructures on Polyhedral Nanocrystals, Applies Physics Letters, 105, 2014, 1-6
- A. Shahabi, H. Wang, M. Upmanyu, Shaping van der Waals Nanoribbons via Torsional Constraints: Scrolls, Folds and Supercoils, Scientific Reports 4, 2014, 7004
- C. Wang, M. Upmanyu, Shear Accommodation in Dirty Grain Boundaries, Europhysics Letters, 106(2), 2014, 1-6
- E. T. Nilsen, R. Arora, M. Upmanyu, Thermonastic Leaf Movements in Rhododendron During Freezethaw Events: Patterns, Functional Significances, and Causes, Environmental and Experimental Botany, 106, 2014, 34-43
- Z. Ma, D. McDowell, E. Panaitescu, A.V. Davidov, M. Upmanyu, L. Menon, Vapor-Liquid-Solid Growth of Serrated GaN Nanowires: Shape Selection Driven by Kinetic Frustration, Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 1, 2013, 7294-7302

Mar 30, 2020
Using Behaviors of Rhododendron Plants in Robotics
MIE Professor Moneesh Upmanyu is studying how the leaves of rhododendron plants react to cold temperature changes to help him design smart, foldable structures.

Apr 25, 2016
Upmanyu Published in Nature Communications
An international collaboration involving MIE Associate Professor Moneesh Upmanyu's group recently published an article in Nature Communications on Non-equilibrium induction of tin in germanium: towards direct bandgap Ge1−xSnx nanowires.

Dec 16, 2014
Engineering Nanoscopic Knots
MIE Associate Professor Moneesh Upmanyu and PhD student Alireza Shahabi were featured in Scientific Reports for their bioinspired strategy for engineering knots in nanoscale filaments.

Aug 19, 2014
Fusing Nanotube Structures
MIE Associate Professors Yung Joon Jung, Moneesh Upmanyu, Carol Livermore-Clifford, and ECE Professor David Kaeli were awarded an $1.3M NSF grant to create high-performance carbon nanofibers.
Jul 29, 2014
Nanoscale Templating
MIE’s Ahmed Busnaina, Moneesh Upmanyu, & Sivasubramanian Somu were awarded a patent for “Highly organized single-walled carbon nanotube networks and method of making using template guided fluidic assembly”

Jun 27, 2014
Upmanyu Wins STIR Grant
MIE Associate Professor Moneesh Upmanyu's team won a $50K Short-Term Innovative Research (STIR) grant from the Army Research Office. This grant designs next-generation nanocrystalline metal alloys by engineering solute-interface interactions.
May 07, 2014
Dirt & Crystalline Interfaces
Advised by MIE Associate Professor Moneesh Upmanyu, PhD student Changjian Wang published an article in the EPL (Europhysics Letters) journal entitled “Shear Accommodation in Dirty Grain Boundaries”. The paper is based on simulations to study the effects of dirt on crystalline interfaces. Wang is part of Moneesh's Group for Simulation and Theory of Atomic-Scale Material Phenomena (stAMP), which […]

Oct 30, 2013
Upmanyu Featured on Cover
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Associate Professor Moneesh Upmanyu was featured on the cover of the Journal of Materials Chemistry C for his research of "Vapor-liquid-solid growth of serrated GaN nanowires: shape selection driven by kinetic frustration." Journal of Materials Chemistry C is a weekly journal in the materials field. The journal is interdisciplinary, publishing work of international significance on all aspects of materials chemistry […]
Oct 01, 2013
Dynamic Motions of Lead
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Associate Professors Moneesh Upmanyu and Yung Joon Jung were featured in Scientific Reports for their research in "Liquid metal nanodroplet dynamics inside nanocontainers." Scientific Reports is a primary research publication from the publishers of Nature, covering all areas of the natural and clinical sciences.

Jun 13, 2013
The science of sculpture, nano-style
The next breakthrough in highly efficient battery technologies and solar cells may very well be nanoscopic crystals of silicon assembled like skyscrapers on wafer-scale substrates. An important route for growth of these nanoscale “whiskers”—or nanowires—involves alloyed metal droplets. Moneesh Upmanyu, an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, has been using computational tools […]