Moneesh Upmanyu
Professor,
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Contact
- mupmanyu@northeastern.edu
- 467C Egan Research Center
360 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
Social Media
Office
- 467C EC
- 617.373.3186
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
- 2022 Faculty Research Team Award
- 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
Selected Research Projects
- Computational Studies of Nanocrystal Growth
- – Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation
- DMREF: Engineering Strong, Highly Conductive Nanotube Fibers Via Fusion
- – Co-Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation
- Enhanced Stability and Mechanics of Ultra-Fine Grained Metals via Engineered Solute Segregation
- – Principal Investigator, US Army Research Office
- Microstructure-Sensitive Modeling and Experimentation of Single Particle Impact During Cold Spray of Metallic Particles
- – Co-Principal Investigator, Army Research Office
Department Research Areas
Selected Publications
- Gao, S., Hong, S., Park, S. et al. Catalyst-free synthesis of sub-5 nm silicon nanowire arrays with massive lattice contraction and wide bandgap. Nat Commun 13, 3467 (2022).
- 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
May 14, 2025
Patent for Origami-Inspired Morphing Wing Design
MIE Professor Moneesh Upmanyu was awarded a patent for “Variable morphing wing using surface actuated origami folds.”
May 09, 2025
New Computational Model Enables Alloy Design for Real Materials
MIE Professor Moneesh Upmanyu’s new research paper, “Solute-drag Forces From Short-time Equilibrium Fluctuations of Crystalline Interfaces,” was selected as an Editor’s Pick by the Journal of Applied Physics. He discovered a faster, cost-efficient, and more accurate computational model for alloy design of real materials.
Aug 01, 2024
Using Sulfur Crystals on Mars To Make New Discoveries
MIE Professor Moneesh Upmanyu says the recent discovery of pure sulfur on Mars—a first for the Mars Science Laboratory mission—could lead to more discoveries as the sulfur crystals may provide information on how the surface of Mars evolved over time and help scientists reconstruct the history of the planet.
Oct 07, 2022
Ultra-Small Silicon Nanowires Could Revolutionize Semiconductor Industry
MIE Professors Yung Joon Jung and Moneesh Upmanyu have discovered a new, highly dense form of silicon that could revolutionize the semiconductor industry. Their research was published in Nature Communications.
Jun 24, 2022
Jung and Upmanyu Develop First Silicon Nanowires that Operate as an Ultrawide-bandgap Semiconductor
The research of mechanical and industrial engineering professors Yung Joon Jung and Moneesh Upmanyu on “Catalyst-free synthesis of sub 5nm silicon nanowire arrays with massive lattice contraction and wide-band gap” has been published in Nature Communications. The researchers developed silicon nanowires that operate as an ultrawide-bandgap (UWBG) semiconductor—a first in the world of silicon, potentially revolutionizing the integration of etched silicon nanowires into UWBG device applications.
Apr 15, 2022
Faculty and Staff Awards 2022
Congratulations to all the winners of the faculty and staff awards, and to everyone for their hard work and dedication during the 2021-2022 academic school year.
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.