Faculty and Staff

Biography

Michael Abbott joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Santa Clara University in 2024. He holds a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from UC Santa Barbara as well as M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from UC Berkeley. Prior to joining academia, he also worked at Angstrom Designs and Northrop Grumman (Goleta) developing automated ground test equipment for satellites. His research lies at the intersection of robotics, haptics, and biomechanics and aims to develop novel assistive technologies to tackle complex problems in healthcare and robotics. Recent projects include integrating a continuously variable transmission into body-powered prostheses and characterizing the haptics of cable-driven upper-limb grasp assistance devices. Outside of the lab and classroom, Michael enjoys playing music in his makeshift studio, practicing Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and exploring Bay Area nature spots.

Biography

Dr. Ayoubi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Santa Clara University. He graduated from the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University. His general areas of expertise are multibody dynamics, nonlinear, optimal, and intelligent control of aerospace vehicles. His research is focused on spacecraft dynamics and control. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), a senior member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a senior member of the American Astronautical Society (AAS), and a member of the AIAA Intelligent Systems Technical Committee. He is also an Associate Editor of the AIAA Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets and the ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control.

Biography

Dr. Fabris has a background in fluid dynamics and thermal science involving the development of optical experimental techniques and has an equivalent interest in numerical modeling. At Santa Clara, Dr. Fabris has co-developed the microscale boiling laboratory to study high-speed nucleation and bubble growth processes, and spray cooling mechanisms. Dr. Fabris has also been active on the Thermal and Electron Nanoscale Transport project testing thermal interface materials and developing non-contact reflectance-based temperature measurement techniques for thin film and carbon nanostructure conductivity measurements. He is also working on the development of spectral element techniques for modeling. He has organized national workshops in direct liquid cooling (2006), a forum on energy use and policy (2001), and was invited to the Japan-America Frontiers of Engineering (2007) organized by the National Academy of Engineering. Dr. Fabris has over 60 refereed publications, $3.9M in total funding (PI and Co-PI), and has received NSF support for education and curriculum development.

Biography

Dr. Sina Heydari joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Santa Clara University in 2023. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from University of Southern California and he holds a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology. His research focuses on fluid dynamics, with an emphasis on fluid-structure interactions and their applications to biological systems, such as schools of fish. An emerging area of his work integrates fluid-structure interaction models with data-driven approaches to optimize the energy efficiency of bioinspired systems.

Biography

Biography

Dr. Christopher Kitts is a Professor at Santa Clara University where he serves as the Director of the Robotic Systems Laboratory and as the Associate Dean of Research and Faculty Development for the School of Engineering. He is also the Director of the Center for Robotic Exploration and Space Technologies, a multi-institution consortium of academic institutions focusing on aerospace research and education and which is located at the NASA Ames Research Park. In addition, he holds an Associate Researcher appointment at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, in conjunction with whom he and his students develop several advanced marine robotic systems. Dr. Kitts is also the Mission Operations Director for a series of NASA small spacecraft, which are controlled on-orbit by students in the Robotic Systems Laboratory.

At Santa Clara, Prof. Kitts runs an aggressive field robotics program specializing in the design, control, and teleoperation of a highly capable robotic system for scientific discovery, technology validation, and engineering education. These systems include underwater vehicles, clusters of land rovers, autonomous aircraft, and microspacecraft. These systems provide unique experimental opportunities for demonstrating research innovations in multi-robot systems, model-based anomaly management, and other research topics within the Lab. This program has been funded at a level of millions of dollars over the past five years and includes sponsors such as NSF, NASA, NOAA, the US Geological Survey, the US Air Force, the US Navy, BMW, Lockheed-Martin, Nike, and Intel. Highlights of the program include robotic-based scientific discoveries, such as evidence of tsunami waves in Lake Tahoe, and unique engineering accomplishments, such as controlling a series of NASA spacecraft for advanced space biological research. Students also are using the Lab’s robots to learn how to provide cost-effective engineering services, such as monitoring the health of local wineries, inspecting solar panel installations, and performing environmental surveys.

Prof. Kitts’ professional experience includes work ranging from a research engineer to an operational satellite constellation mission controller, and he has held appointments as an officer in the U.S. Air Force Space Command, as a NASA contractor with Caelum Research Corporation, as a DoD Research Fellow at the U.S. Phillips Laboratory, as a founder and the Graduate Student Director of Stanford University’s Space Systems Development Laboratory, and as a technical consultant. He holds degrees from Princeton University, the University of Colorado, and Stanford University. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Biography

Ph.D., University of Texas, Arlington, 2015. Research Interests: Structural Mechanics, Mechanical Design, Finite Element Simulations, Composite Mechanics, and Thin-walled Structures

Biography

Robert Marks studied materials science at UC Berkeley from 1992-2003, where he earned bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in the field. He began teaching in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at SCU in 2011, and his primary teaching interests are concentrated in the department’s materials focused on graduate and undergraduate courses. He also teaches courses on mathematical methods for engineers (MECH 102) and engineering thermodynamics (MECH 121). Prior to coming to SCU, he worked as a process engineer in the Chemical Mechanical Planarization Division of Applied Materials and held postdoctoral positions at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA and UC Berkeley. He has authored 13 scholarly publications, and his current research interests are in examining the kinetic and thermodynamic behavior of the morphology of multi-phase materials systems.

Biography

Professor Godfrey Mungal was born and raised in Trinidad, West Indies and received his undergraduate education in Engineering Science at the University of Toronto (B.A.Sc. 1975, Hons.) and his graduate education in Aeronautics at the California Institute of Technology (M.S. 1977, Ph.D. 1983). He also served on the faculty of the University of the West Indies from 1975-76 as a lecturer in Mathematics, and as a post-doctoral research fellow from 1983-85 at the California Institute of Technology, before joining Stanford University. He has served as director of the High-Temperature Gasdynamics Laboratory from 1993-97, the Associate Chair for Student Services in Mechanical Engineering from 1997-2001, the Associate Dean for Graduate Policy from 2002-2005 and a Stanford Resident Fellow from 2001-2007. He became Professor Emeritus at Stanford University in 2007. Since September 2007 he serves as the Sobrato Professor and Dean of Engineering at Santa Clara University.

Biography

Ph.D., Santa Clara University, 2017. Research Interests: Multirobot Systems, Field Robotics, Humanitarian Engineering

Biography

Dr. On Shun Pak is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and (by courtesy) Applied Mathematics. Dr. Pak received his B.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hong Kong in 2008 and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, San Diego in 2013. He then continued his research as a post-doctoral research fellow at Princeton University, before joining the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Santa Clara University in 2014. He is also affiliated with the Center of Applied Mathematics and Statistics at the New Jersey Institute of Technology as an external faculty member. Dr. Pak's research lies in fluid mechanics. He employs tools of applied mathematics to investigate both fundamental problems in fluid mechanics and its applications across different disciplines. His current research interests include: low-Reynolds-number flows, biological flows, microswimmers, and complex fluids. Visit Dr. Pak's research group page here.

Biography

Elaine Scott joined the School of Engineering in August 2019, becoming the first female dean in the history of the School. She also holds the John M. Sobrato Endowed Professorship. Scott comes to Santa Clara University from the University of Washington in Bothell, where she was the founding dean of the School of STEM. Prior to that, she led the growth of the engineering programs at Seattle Pacific University and helped establish the Virginia Tech–Wake Forest School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences and its related graduate degree programs. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agricultural engineering from the University of California, Davis, and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering and agricultural engineering from Michigan State University. She has served as a professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech, Seattle Pacific University, and the University of Washington, Bothell.

Among her many accolades, Scott is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, was named the Academic Engineer of the Year by the Puget Sound Engineering Council, and received Distinguished Engineering Alumni Awards from Michigan State University and from the University of California, Davis.

Biography

Dr. Panthea Sepehrband joined Santa Clara University in 2012. She received her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Waterloo in 2010 and followed her research as a postdoctoral fellow at the same university. Her research is mainly focused on the development of a new generation of materials with specific properties through a synergy of multi-scale computational modeling and experimental analysis. She has authored over 20 journal and conference publications in the area of materials modeling and microstructural development.

Biography

Michael's research is in the area of computational solid mechanics with a focus on finite elasticity, the mechanics of thin films and membranes, and parallel computing. Recent projects include modeling rupture in biomembranes and the design and analysis of auxetic metamaterials.

Michael has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University as well as M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from U.C. Berkeley. Prior to joining SCU, Michael was a Mechanical Specialist at Northrop Grumman Marine Systems (Sunnyvale, CA) working on the structural dynamics of missile launching systems and developing analysis software. This was followed by a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Harvard Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, which included research into auxetic structures for gas turbine applications for Rolls-Royce Energy (now a part of Siemens).

Biography

Jun Wang was a Postdoctoral Associate of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University at Buffalo-SUNY and received his B.S. at Xi’an Jiaotong University, China. His research interests are Data-Driven Design and Manufacturing, Physics-Driven Design, Generative Design, and Design for Additive Manufacturing. His current work is at the intersection of Machine Learning, Engineering Design, and Advanced Manufacturing. He has explored research areas in Computational Geometry, Design and Optimization, FEA, Additive Manufacturing, Machine Learning, and Computer Vision.

Biography

Pete Woytowitz, Ph.D., P.E. is currently an Academic Year Adjunct Lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering teaching courses in Finite Element Analysis, Advanced Vibrations and Computed Aided Engineering. He is also Director of Computational Mechanics at Arevo Labs.  His specializations include finite element modeling of structural and thermal problems, composite materials and software development.  Prior to joining Arevo he was Director of Computational Modeling & Reliability at Lam Research Corporation.  He previously worked at companies including Failure Analysis Associates, Ford Aerospace and Communications Corporation and Boeing Commercial Airplane Company. He received his BSME from University of Maryland, MS Engineering (Santa Clara University), Degree of Engineer (Stanford University) and his Ph.D. (ME) from Santa Clara University in 1993.

Biography

Dr. Xiaoou ‘Hannah’ Yang is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Santa Clara University. She received her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Georgia in 2024 and her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Florida Institute of Technology in 2019. Her research area is in advanced manufacturing and system design, with a focus on human-AI interaction in manufacturing settings to advance cyber-physical-social systems. She is also interested in developing computational model-based approaches to optimize collaborative team construction for workforce development. Throughout her career, she is actively involved in ASME (The American Society of Mechanical Engineers), and in ASEE (American Society for Engineering Education).

Biography

Summary:
Earned Journeyman papers as a machinist: and worked more than thirty years for large companies in a research and development atmosphere as a tool and model maker, supervisor, designing and fabricating precision prototype components for computer hardware development, robotics, optical, thermal, and physics experiments. I hold full time/part-time community college instructor credentials in industrial, machine, and related technologies. Served my community for many years as a part-time instructor at San Jose City College while working a fulltime job.

I have experience as a light rail vehicle maintenance instructor, four of those years as dual classification instructor/supervisor; training and supervising light rail mechanics and others on their own shifts, operating within a union environment, and often creating original training packages.

Google inc.:
Started in 2007 as Google’s first machinist. I designed and built their first machine shop, purchased machines, worked with the City of Mountain View and vendors to permit, mount, provide power, air, and coolant filtration. Started with myself and 1000 sq. ft. and grew it to accommodate 12 machinists in 20,000 sq. ft. I provided the design and fabrication of complex prototype electro / mechanical components, testers, and tooling for engineering projects for Cloud storage, Street View, self-driving vehicles, Android phones, tablets, Chromebooks, Android Auto, and many other development projects. I enjoyed working with and training new engineers in the safe operation of machine tools of all kinds. I created a maker-space within Google where employees could experiment with their own ideas or build personal projects, which included a woodshop, machine shop, welding shop, and electronics lab.

Aoptix Technologies:
I served at Aoptix technologies an adaptive optical startup as a model maker responsible for the design and fabrication of complex precision prototype adaptive optics systems, free space data communications devices, and biometric systems. I fabricated optical/electrical/mechanical components, tooling, and fixtures for development projects. I programmed setup and maintained computer numerical control machine tools. I coordinated all shop related functions to include inspection of all parts produced in the shop, the purchase of tooling, plating and, heat-treating functions. I worked with DXF files in AutoCAD, and preformed job estimations for Aoptix and outside vendors.

San Jose City College:
Served 28 years as a part-time instructor of all phases of machine technology for the Applied Science Division of San Jose City College. I instructed students of all ages and origins in the safe, efficient operation of machine tools, evaluated, and counsel students. I prepared course curricula, lesson plans, and training materials for lathe, milling, FIRST robotics, blueprint reading and precision measurement. I consistently earned outstanding performance evaluations from students, staff and “0” safety mishaps.

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority:
Served 13 years as a light rail vehicle Maintenance Instructor/Supervisor I trained and supervised light rail mechanics and other disciplines in the safe and efficient maintenance and repair of light rail vehicles, related vehicle systems, vehicle test equipment, maintenance shop equipment and procedures, and all mandated safety and environment topics. I prepared course curricula, lesson plans, and training materials on a large number of subjects, and maintained training records.

Education and Credentials:
Certificate of Apprentice Journeyman (8320 hours)
State Instructor Credentials in Industrial, Machine, and Related Technologies from UC Berkeley extension.
State of California Limited-Service Credential ( #268063) Valid for Life/ Part-time
State of California Instructor (#249292) Valid for Life / Full time

Biography

Provides administrative support to the Department Chair and faculty, assist students with departmental issues, and serve as the first point of contact for various internal and external constituencies.