University of Nevada Las Vegas
AFRL ML-RCP Partner Institution Strengths & Capabilities
Contact Information
Name: Dr. Mohamed B. Trabia
Title: Associate Dean for Research, Graduate Studies, and Computing and Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Email: Mohamed.trabia@unlv.edu
Research
Please select the research areas in which your institution currently engages.
a. Structural materials
Contact:
Mohamed B. Trabia, Associate Dean for Research, Graduate Studies, and Computing and Professor of Mechanical Engineering Phone: (702) 895-0957 / email: Mohamed.Trabia@unlv.edu
Brendan O’Toole, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering Phone: (702) 895-3885 / email: Brendan.otoole@unlv.edu
Research areas:
Structural analysis
Failure analysis
Experimental mechanics
Structural dynamics
Modeling of components response to explosive
Impact analysis
Material characterization
Component testing
b. Functional materials & applications
Contact:
Kwang Kim, Distinguished Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Phone: (702) 774-1419 / email: Kwang.kim@unlv.edu
Research areas:
Li-ion battery materials for high power and energy density
Comprehensive evaluation of battery cells – performance, lifetime, and safety
Materials synthesis and coin cell assembly
Battery cell assessment
c. Manufacturing technology
Contact:
Jaeyun Moon, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering Phone: (702) 895-5611 / email: jaeyun.moon@unlv.edu
Research areas:
Thermoelectric nanomaterials and device fabrication
Nanostructured light-absorbing coatings for advanced Concentrating Solar Power (CSP)
Photocatalysts for solar energy conversion
Electrical and thermal properties of inorganic and hybrid (inorganic-organic) materials
Materials synthesis and coin cell assembly
Battery cell assessment
Contact:
Shubhra Bansal, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering Phone: (702) 895-2720 / email: Shubhra.bansal@unlv.edu
Research areas:
Performance and reliability of thin film photovoltaic devices
PV module and device reliability
Physics-based life prediction models for design and materials control
Energy conversion and storage
Contact:
Han-Jae (Jeremy) Cho, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering Phone: (702) 895-4701 / email: Jeremy.cho@unlv.edu
Research areas:
Liquid-vapor phase-change heat transfer for enhanced thermal management
Soft polymeric materials for efficient heat and mass transfer
Solar-powered atmospheric water harvesting
d. Electro-optical sensing
Contact:
Ke-xun (Kevin) Sun, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Phone: (702) 774-1486 / email: ke-xun.sun@unlv.edu
Research areas:
GaN semiconductors and devices
Radiation-hard electronics, optoelectronics, and imaging systems
Optics and diffractive optics
Ultrafast lasers and electronics
High Energy Density Physics (HEDP) diagnostics
Science payload instruments
e. Control, power, & thermal management systems
Contact:
Yi-Tung Chen, Chair and Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering Phone: 702-895-1202 / email: yitung.chen@unlv.edu
Research areas:
Coupled mass, electron, and charge transport in lithium-ion flow batteries
Development of efficient and durable rechargeable batteries with bilayer oxygen ion conducting electrolyte and nano-structured electrodes
Multi-physics model coupled transport and reaction processes in battery
Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) simulation of gas transport in Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) electrode
SOFC interconnect design
Numerical heat and mass transfer related to thermal system design
Renewable energy
High temperature heat exchanger and decomposer design
Corrosion modeling
Fuel cells (PEMFC and SOFC)
2. Are there any emerging areas of research your institution is actively seeking to develop?
Cybersecurity
Contact:
Yoohwan Kim, Professor, Department of Computer Science Phone: (702) 895-5348 / email: yoohwan.kim@unlv.edu
Research areas:
Secure protocol development for software and network applications
Critical infrastructure / smart grid / SCADA security and privacy
Wireless mesh network routing and security
Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack prevention
Secure and reliable communication scheme for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
Cybersecurity data analytics
Security for cryptocurrency and blockchain
Contact:
Ju-yeon Jo, Professor, Department of Computer Science Phone: (702) 895-5873 / email: juyeon.jo@unlv.edu
Research areas:
Secure and reliable communication protocol for UAVs
Critical infrastructure / smart grid security
Man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack with a tempered SSL certificate detection
Thwarting distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks
Digital search warrant
Transportation security imaging and secure communication software development
Big Data
Contact:
Kazem Taghva, Professor and Chair, Department of Computer Science Phone: (702) 895-0873 / email: Kazem.taghva@unlv.edu
Research areas:
Databases
Machine learning
Information retrieval
Contact:
Mingon Kang, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science Phone: (702) 895-4884 / email: mingon.kang@unlv.edu
Research areas:
Data science, machine learning, big data analytics
Deep learning: interpretable & integrative
Integrative analysis of multiple types of data such as image and text data
Medical image analysis
Document layout analysis
Contact:
Beiyu Lin, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science Phone: (702) 895-4707 / email: beiyu.lin@unlv.edu
Research areas:
Data science
Big data analytics
Machine learning
Integrative analysis of multiple types of data
Adaptive systems
3. Does your institution have any internal research centers or participate in any research consortia? Center for Materials and Structures: Brendan O’Toole, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering Phone: 702-895-3885 / email: brendan.otoole@unlv.edu http://www.egr.unlv.edu/~bj/CMS/CMS_Home.htm
Standard material characterization and component testing
Materials tested include steel alloys, titanium, ceramics, foams, polymer composites, additive manufactured materials, plastics, reinforced polymer concrete, dental materials, biological tissue, etc.
Center for Energy Research: Yi-Tung Chen, Chair and Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering Phone: 702-895-1202 / email: yitung.chen@unlv.edu https://www.unlv.edu/cer
The Center for Energy Research (CER) focuses on research, information exchange, and education in energy topics. Issues of particular interest to our geographical region include such general topics as:
Solar energy and green buildings, including lighting, heating, cooling, and various means of power generation including solar thermal and solar PV.
Solar hydrogen including fuel cell issues, and vehicle applications.
Nuclear energy for a broad range of applications including advanced reactor designs and hydrogen production.
Wind energy with emphases on wind machines (design and applications), site selection, and power assessments.
Solar materials for a variety of applications including metamaterials.
Thermoelectrics: thermoelectric materials and device fabrication technologies. Performance evaluation of thermoelectric modules.
Spectrally-selective coating materials: development of coating materials and structure modification technology for desired optical properties.
Development of wide bandgap thin-film materials for high efficiency (> 30%) tandem solar cells at < $0.4/W. Defect engineering, degradation analysis and lifetime prediction for photovoltaic devices.
Battery energy storage systems
Operation and control of microgrids
Electric power quality
Voltage regulation issues in power distribution system
4. Please provide a list of relevant facilities and equipment.
See Appendix A: Capabilities Statement below.
Center for Materials and Structures: Brendan O’Toole, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering Phone: 702-895-3885 / email: brendan.otoole@unlv.edu
Instron 8830 Electromechanical Single Screw Test, 100 kN (22,500 lb) axial capacity, 1500°C inert gas furnace
100 kN (22,500 lb) axial capacity, 1500°C inert gas furnace
MTS Hydraulic Axial/Torsion Fatigue Test System, 250 kN (55,000 lb) capacity, 1000°C inert gas furnace, 2-zone heating capability
ATS Series 2330 Lever Arm Creep Test Systems (quantity 4)
Instron Dynatup Instrumented Drop Weight Impact System
Charpy Pendulum Impact Tester (equipped with furnace)
2-stage gas gun for ballistic impact (20-caliber projectiles up to 7.5 km/s)
United Test Systems Electromechanical Test System
TGA/DSC; Lindberg Furnace (1200°C); Lindberg Thermal Aging Oven
Composite and Polymer Fabrication Facilities
Autoclave (200°C, 100psi); vacuum assisted resin transfer molding; wet lay-up; tooling fabrication;
Polyurethane foam mixing and injection system
Center for Energy Research (CER): Yi-Tung Chen, Chair and Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering Phone: 702-895-1202 / email: yitung.chen@unlv.edu
The Solar Site is a facility located on the northwestern portion of the UNLV campus.
Two Amonix high concentration PV systems (approximately 50 kW and 70 kW)
A dish concentrator system (approximately 90-kW thermal energy)
Full meteorological instrumentation (including solar characterization devices such as normal incidence pyrheliometers, UV radiometers, pyranometers, 300 to 1,700 nm spectrometers) UNLV CER is part of the NREL MIDC network
Several solar lighting devices, including one hybrid device
Façade evaluation facility for In Situ characterization of fenestration devices
Cameras (including visible cameras with neutral density filters and infrared cameras)
Several IV tracers (including a 1,000V IV tracer that can measure up to 100 kW)
Several data loggers, peripherals, and sensors (including temperature, humidity, water/air flow, heat flux, power meters, etc.)
Other items, including trackers, spectrometers, calorimeters
Several solar thermal elements, including several types of solar water heating devices and solar stills
Variety of PV panels including monocrystalline, polycrystalline, amorphous crystalline, 3X concentration PV systems, bifacial array, and a 10-kW polycrystalline grid-connected system
Arid regions building test facility (two identical buildings, one for construction modifications, and one for control)
Active Materials and Smart Living Laboratory: Kwang Kim, Distinguished Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering Phone: (702) 774-1419 / email: Kwang.kim@unlv.edu
Mini-SEM
Digital optical microscope
Diamond DMA
TGA machine
Diff. scanning calorimeter
FT-IR spectrometer
UV-Vis spectrophotometer
Instron mechanical tester
Contact angle meter
Injection molders
Protomat PCB machine
Vibration test system (TIRA)
CCD laser sensor
Electrospinning system
Spin coater
HR laser displacement sensor
High temperature furnace
Vacuum capabilities
Flow control: MKS mass flow meters with computer controls
Thermal control: immersion heaters, a 5 kW cooler/heater
Energy and Environmental Materials Lab: Jaeyun Moon, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering Phone: (702) 895-5611 / email: jaeyun.moon@unlv.edu
Glove box with gas purification that enables control <1ppm oxygen and moisture and planetary ball mill with a capacity of 2 or 4 jars (up to 100mL each).
Inert gas environment for polymer synthesis
Centrifuge capable of maximum 15,000 rpm Ultrasonic cell (500W) and vacuum oven for inorganic materials fabrication
Thermoelectric properties characterization: micro-controllable probe station, high precision power supply and data acquisition units
Electronic Materials and Reliability Laboratory: Shubhra Bansal, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering Phone: (702) 895-2720 / email: Shubhra.bansal@unlv.edu
UV-Vis spectrophotometer, QEXL, optical microscope
Thermal co-evaporation, solution processing, ovens, solar simulator, ATLAS XXL+ weathering chamber, Solartron 1260A impedance analyzer, Janis ST-100 cryostat
Laboratory for Security Science and Engineering: Ke-xun (Kevin) Sun, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Phone: (702) 774-1486 / email: ke-xun.sun@unlv.edu
TOPAS traveling wave optical parametric amplifier (white light generation and traveling wave amplification, widely tunable 190 nm – 20,000 nm, femtosecond pulse width determined by pump pulse, and computer controlled automated tuning)
Quantronix femtosecond higher power laser (795 nm fiber laser seeded chirped pulse amplifier, pulse width: 150-200 fs, energy per pulse: 2.5 mJ, and repetition rate: 1 kHz)
Thales Q-switched Nd: YAG lasers (2 units), base band wavelength: 1064 nm (built-in doubler 532 nm, pulse energy: 3J /pulse max at 1064 nm, and repetition rate: 50 Hz max)
Sacher semiconductor lasers
AIGaN laser diodes with external cavity resonator (single mode, single frequency operation, external cavity frequency locker, laser head #1; 30 mW at 405 nm, and laser head #2: 5 mW 372 nm)
Apollo pulsed ruby laser with customized optics layout
a pulsed Nd
YAG laser
THz generation and detection; semiconductor parameter analyzer
40 GHz spectrum analyzer
40 GHz sweeping signal generators
30-port vacuum chamber
Bournlea 10-kV pulser; nanosecond/sub-nanosecond electrical, optical, and X-ray detection
Da Kine Lab: Han-Jae (Jeremy) Cho, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering Phone: (702) 895-4701 / email: Jeremy.cho@unlv.edu
Elveflow piezo flow regulator with millisecond pressure control capabilities
Plasma cleaner
Optical isolation table
Mini-SEM
Digital optical microscope
Diamond DMA
TGA machine
Diff. scanning calorimeter
FT-IR spectrometer
UV-Vis spectrophoto-meter
Instron mechanical tester
Contact angle meter
3D printers
Injection molders
Protomat PCB machine
Vibration test system (TIRA)
Milli-Q water purification
CCD laser sensor
Electrospinning system
Spin coater
HR laser displacement sensor
High temperature furnace, tube furnace, etc.
5. Does your institution have a relationship with any other academic institution or research organization(s) that enables your access to their facilities and equipment?
a. NVEnergy: Tony F. Sanchez III, Executive Vice President Business Development & External Relations Phone: (702) 402-5680 / email: tsanchez@nvenergy.com
b. Southwest Gas: Jerry Schmitz, P.E., Vice President Engineering Staff Phone: (702) 876-7112 / email: jerry.schmitz@swgas.com
6. Has your institution collaborated with Department of Defense in the past? Yes
7. Is your institution involved in any federal STEM funding efforts? Yes
8. This program requires documentation (i.e. theses, dissertation, presentations, etc.) to go through the AFRL public affairs review process. Would this present a challenge for your institution? No
Research Administration and Compliance
9. Is your institution registered with the US State Department Directorate of Defense Trade Controls? No
10. Does your institution currently perform Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI/ NIST 800-171 compliant) research? No
11. Does your institution currently perform research subject to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations? No
12. Does your institution have a DoD Facility Security Clearance (FCL)? No
ML-RCP Program Expectations
13. The objective of the AFRL ML-RCP is to enable and enhance the research capabilities of the HBCU’s/MSIs through collaborative research efforts with AFRL. What would be necessary for you to receive to meet this objective?
In 2015, UNLV became the first four-year institution in Nevada to reach a Latinx enrollment of 25 percent, meeting the U.S. Department of Education’s definition of a Hispanic Serving Institution. The university also meets Minority Serving Institution requirements as an Asian-American, Native-American Pacific-Islander-Serving Institution. More than a third of UNLV’s students are the first in their families to attend college. For several years, UNLV was selected as one of the top five universities in the U.S. News & World Report’s annual listing of the nation’s most diverse universities for undergraduates. UNLV’s high percentage of Latinx students currently sits at approximately 32 percent. More than 65 percent of UNLV’s undergraduates identify as part of a racial or ethnic minority.
With the recent launch of the new Kerkorian School of Medicine and continued growth in the STEM disciplines, research activities are on the rise at UNLV. This commitment is reflected in the recognition of UNLV as one of the top research universities in the nation by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. UNLV first reached the prestigious Carnegie “R1” or “Very High Research” classification in December 2018.
We believe this partnership will provide our undergraduate and graduate students with opportunities for collaboration with top scientists and engineers, as well as opportunities to serve in some of the most prestigious R&D facilities. This potential collaboration will meet the DoD goals of diversifying the workforce, especially in the STEM areas.
If you are on NIPR, below is a direct link to the Research Capabilities document.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fEBIiS5Or1bViWobYx4pUj-LtuH9Bb16HWGMedP1FX0/edit?usp=sharing
