Current and former postdocs



Alessandro Gabbana April 2024 - Present; Alessandro is A Director's Funded Postdoctoral Fellow and CNLS Fellow
B.S., Computer Science, Università degli studi di Ferrara, Italy, 2013
M.S., Computational Science and Engineering, Umeå universitet, Sweden, 2015
Ph.D., Physics and Applied Mathematics, European Joint Doctorate: Università degli studi di Ferrara, Italy, and Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Germany, 2019
Postdoctoral Researcher, Università degli studi di Ferrara, Italy, 2019-2020
Postdoctoral Researcher, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands, 2020-2024


Michael Woodward February 2024 - Present
B.S., Mathematics, Northern Arizona University, 2013
M.S., Mathematics, Northern Arizona University, 2020
M.S., Applied Mathematics, University of Arizona, 2020
Ph.D., Applied Mathematics, University of Arizona, 2023


Alexander Hrabski October 2023 - Present
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2018
M.S., Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2020
Ph.D., Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2023


Cale Harnish October 2022 - Present
B.S., Physics, Indiana University South Bend, 2012
M.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, 2018
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, 2022



Robert Chiodi June 2022 - August 2023
(co-mentor; with Peter Brady, CCS-2, Andrew Sornborger and Michael McKerns, CCS-3)
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Darmouth, 2014
M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Cornell University, 2017
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Cornell University, 2020
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2020-2022
First position after postdoc: Scientist, LANL.


Colin Towery October 2020 - October 2022
(co-mentor; main mentor: Juan Saenz, XCP-4)
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, 2010
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, 2018
Postdoctoral Scholar,University of Colorado, Boulder, 2018-2020
Current position: Affiliate, LANL.


Yifeng Tian May 2019 - March 2022
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, 2013
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Michigan State University, 2019
Current position: Postdoc, CCS-3/LANL.


Denis Aslangil September 2019 - August 2021
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey, 2012
M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Lehigh University, 2015
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Lehigh University, 2019
First position after postdoc: Assistant Professor, University of Alabama.


Nek Sharan April 2019 - August 2021
(co-mentor; main mentor: Peter Brady, CCS-2)
M. Tech & B. Tech., Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, 2011
Ph.D., Aerospace Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2016
Postdoctoral Scholar, Caltech and NASA JPL, 2016-2019
First position after postdoc: Assistant Professor, Auburn University.


Arvind Mohan April 2018 - April 2021
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Government College of Engineering, India, 2011
M.S., Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, Ohio State University, 2013
Ph.D., Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, Ohio State University, 2017
First position after postdoc: Scientist, LANL


Prakash Shrestha March 2019 - February 2021
(co-mentor; with Balu Nadiga and Peter Brady, CCS-2)
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Nepal, 2011
M.S., Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University, 2014
Ph.D., Aerospace Engineering, University of Minnesota, 2019
First position after postdoc: Scientist, NASA


Nairita Pal March 2019 - February 2020
B.S., Physics, Calcutta University, India, 2009
M.S., Physics, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, 2011
Ph.D., Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 2017
First position after postdoc: Scientist, LANL


Don Daniel February 2015 - November 2017
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Kerala, India, 2008
M.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, 2013
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, 2014
First position after postdoc: Scientist, LANL


Peter Brady March 2014 - March 2017
B.S., Physics and Mathematics, Houghton College, 2004
Ph.D., Aerospace Engineering, Arizona State University, 2011
Postdoctoral Scholar, Cornell University, 2011-2014
First position after postdoc: Scientist, LANL


Rebecca Bertsch August 2014 - June 2016
(co-mentor; main mentor: Robert Gore)
B.S., Physics, Colorado College, 2007
M.S., Aerospace Engineering, Texas A&M University, 2010
Ph.D., Aerospace Engineering, Texas A&M University, 2014
First position after postdoc: Scientist, LANL


Jon Baltzer May 2013 - November 2015
B.S.E., Mechanical Engineering, Arizona State University, 2005
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Arizona State University, 2012
Postdoctoral Fellow, Royal Military College of Canada, 2012-2013
First position after postdoc: Scientist, LANL


Zhaorui Li October 2012 - August 2015
B.S., School of Jet Propulsion, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (China), 1999
M.S., School of Jet Propulsion, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (China), 2002
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Michigan State University, 2008
Research Associate, Michigan State University, 2008-2012
Current position: Associate Professor, Texas A&M Corpus Christi


Jaiyoung Ryu November 2010 - March 2014
B.S., Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University (S. Korea), 2000
M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, 2004
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, 2010
Current position: Associate Professor, Korea University, S. Korea


Bertrand Rollin June 2009 - April 2014
(co-mentor; main mentors: Malcolm Andrews and Jon Reisner)
B.S., Mechanics, Universite de Poitiers (France), 2003
Diplome d'inginieur, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Ecole Nationale Superiure (France), 2005
M.S., Energetics, Universite de Poitiers (France), 2005
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, University of Vermont, 2008
Current position: Design Physicist, LLNL.


Tie Wei July 2009 - September 2012
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University of Science and Technology (China), 1993
M.S., Mechanical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology (China), 1996
Ph.D., University of Utah, 2004
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Pennsylvania State University, 2005 - 2009
Current position: Associate Professor, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology


Marion Vance 2010 - 2012
B.S.E., Mechanical Engineering, Arizona State University, 1998
M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Caltech, 2000
Ph.D., Arizona State University, 2008
Lecturer, Arizona State University, 2006 - 2010
First position after postdoc: Scientist, LANL


Arindam Banerjee 2006 - 2007
(co-mentor; main mentor: Malcolm Andrews)
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Jadavpur University (India), 1999
M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Florida Institute of Technology, 2002
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University, 2006
Current position: Professor and Dept. Chair, Lehigh University


Huidan Yu October 2006 - February 2009
B.S., Physics, Zhejiang Normal University (China), 1984
Ph.D., Physics, Peking University (China), 2001
Ph.D., Aerospace Engineering, Texas A&M University, 2004
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Texas A&M University, 2004 -2006
Current position: Associate Professor, Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis


Yunghee Kang October 2005 - December 2006
B.S., Mathematics, Dong-Guk University (S. Korea), 1993
M.S., Mathematics, Pulsan National University (S. Korea), 1996
Ph.D., Applied Mathematics and Statistics, State University of New York, Stony Brook
First position after LANL: Research Scientist, National Center for Computational Hydroscience and Engineering, University of Mississippi





Current and former Ph.D. students



Michael Woodward
November 2021 - Present
(co-thesis advisor with Prof. Michael Chertkov)
University of Arizona. Michael is the recipient of FY22 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) Fellowship and the 2023 LANL Distiguished Student Performance Award


Christon Hyett
November 2021 - Present
(co-thesis advisor with Prof. Michael Chertkov)
University of Arizona


Muhammad Shahadat
August 2019 - Present
(co-thesis advisor with Prof. Farhad Jaberi)
Michigan State University


Swapnil Majumder
October 2021 - Present
(thesis advisor Prof. Sharath Girimaji)
Texas A&M University


Yinmin Yiu
October 2020 - Present
(thesis advisor Prof. Peyman Givi)
University of Pittsburgh


Cody Cochran
October 2020 - Present
(thesis advisor Prof. Karel Matous)
University of Notre-Dame


Ankit Gautam
October 2020 - Present
(thesis advisor Prof. Ricardo Mejia-Alvarez)
Michigan State University


Kevin Cherng
February 2019 - Present
(thesis advisor Prof. Sanjiva Lele)
Stanford University



Cale Harnish
(co-thesis advisor with Prof. Karel Matous)
B.S., Physics, Indiana University South Bend, 2012
M.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, 2018
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, 2022
First position after Ph.D.: Postdoctoral Research Associate, CCS-2/LANL


Denis Aslangil (co-thesis advisor with Prof. Arindam Banerjee)
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey, 2012
M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Lehigh University, 2015
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Lehigh University, 2019
First position after Ph.D.: Postdoctoral Research Associate, CCS-2/LANL


Yifeng Tian (co-thesis advisor with Prof. Farhad Jaberi)
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, 2013
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Michigan State University, 2019
First position after Ph.D.: Postdoctoral Research Associate, CCS-2/LANL


Scott Wieland (co-thesis advisor with Prof. Peter Hamlington)
B.S., Mansfield University of Pannsylvania, 2012
Ph.D., University of Colorado, Boulder, 2018
First position after Ph.D.: Lecturer, University of Colorado, Boulder


Scott Reckinger
(co-thesis advisor with Prof. Oleg Vasilyev)
B.S., Actuarial Science, University of St. Thomas, 2006
B.A., Mathematics, University of St. Thomas, 2006
M.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, 2010
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, 2013
First position after Ph.D.: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Brown University
Current position: Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago





Summer students



Hunor Csala
(co-mentored with Arvind Mohan, CCS-2)
Summer student 2023
University of Utah


Joel Barnett
(co-mentored with Yifeng Tian and Yen Ting Lin, CCS-3)
Summer student 2023
University of California - Los Angeles


Joost Prince
(co-mentored with Vitaliy Gyrya, T-5)
Summer student 2022
University of Eindhoven


Chrismond Smith
(co-mentored with Brett Keenan, XCP-6)
Summer student 2021
University of Texas at San Antonio


Michael Woodward
Summer student 2020
University of Arizona


Criston Hyett
Summer student 2020
University of Arizona


Ronald Chan
Summer student 2019
Stanford University. Ronald is the recipient of the 2021 Andreas Acrivos Dissertation Award in Fluid Dynamics.


Emilio Torres
Summer student 2019, 2020
Arizona State University


Man Long Wong
Summer student 2016, 2017, 2018
Stanford University


Maxime Bassenne
Summer student 2017
Stanford University


Andrew Trettel
Summer student 2016, 2017
University of California, Los Angeles


Jesus Pulido July 2011 - Sept 2017
University of California, Davis


Samet Demircan
Summer student 2016
West Virginia University


Africa Ruiz Mora
Summer student 2015
University of Rochester


Cale Harnish
Summer student 2015
University of Notre-Dame


Aaron Haley
Summer student 2010
Missouri University of Science and Technology


Steve Martin
(co-mentored with Pat McCormick, CCS-1)
Summer student 2009, 2010
Ohio State University


Cavendish McKay
(co-mentored with Balu Nadiga, CCS-2)
Summer student 2005
University of Wisconsin