RR Reza Rashidi, PhDEngineering Design · Research · Education

Research & Publications

Design, metamaterials, sensing technologies, and engineering-learning infrastructure.

Current work combines design, manufacturing, instrumentation, data, and student-centered experimentation.

Research interests

Connected areas of inquiry

AI-enabled engineering designAdvanced manufacturingMechanical metamaterialsSensors & instrumentationMEMS & structural health monitoringEnergy harvestingBiomedical devicesEngineering education

Current research

Projects and student teams

Each project card pairs a concise public summary with the participating student researchers.

AI-enabled engineering design platform concept

AI-enabled engineering design platform

The project is developing an AI-guided design-methods coach integrated with openly licensed, multimodal instructional modules. The platform will provide contextual prompts, help students select and justify methods, support reflection on trade-offs, and improve accessibility and instructional consistency in the MAE 451–494 senior design sequence. AI augments faculty instruction rather than replacing it; the platform is not intended for automated grading or surveillance.

Students: Hadley Douglas (MAE); Bryce Lin and Sai Krishna Arthanari (CSE). The MAE student leads the mechanical design development, while the CSE students support LLM development for the AI-enabled design platform. Co-advising with R. Ayyalasomayajula.

Metallic and polymeric orthodontic brackets

Customizable metallic and polymeric orthodontic brackets

Two complementary studies compare bracket geometry, slot accuracy, surface finish, torque transfer, mechanical integrity, fatigue, manufacturability, and cost. The metallic track evaluates stainless-steel CNC machining, metal additive manufacturing, and EDM slot cutting. The polymeric track evaluates CNC and SLA-based fabrication using candidate biocompatible dental resins. Both tracks combine CAD, FEA, dimensional inspection, microscopy, mechanical testing, and design iteration.

Students: M. Howlader — metallic brackets; R. Costello — polymeric brackets; P. Ohri — undergraduate research support. Co-advising with A. Gurav and S. Makowka.

Mechanical metamaterial prototype

Mechanical metamaterials and architected structures

Undergraduate projects explore how geometry can create mechanical memory, snap-through and buckling instabilities, contact-controlled thermal pathways, interlayer coupling, and programmable structural behavior. Students formulate mechanism-based design rules, identify the closest prior work, develop CAD and simplified FEA, fabricate 3D-printed prototypes, and collect repeatable force–displacement, deformation, thermal, and control data.

Students: B. Alcera, Z. Walsh, J. Gaston, J. Do, G. Zou, and M. Saeed.

Portable piezoelectric crack detection and autonomous repair device

Piezoelectric crack detection, analysis, and autonomous repair

A compact wireless device combines a surface-mounted PZT transmitter–receiver pair with an onboard adhesive-delivery mechanism. An Arduino drives guided waves, compares received signals with an intact-plate baseline, streams data for MATLAB analysis, and actuates a motor-driven valve when an anomaly is detected. The 3D-printed housing integrates sensing, batteries, electronics, reservoir, tubing, and actuation. ANSYS simulations and steel-plate experiments support the detection method, while adhesive release and amplitude recovery demonstrate a practical step toward joining structural-health monitoring with localized active mitigation.

Students: A.J. Hildreth, O.C. Manley, D. DeFord, D. Tantalo, D. Albicker, and J. Clement.

Funding

Selected awarded and sponsored initiatives

The initiatives below highlight selected awards and sponsored projects. Additional engineering and senior-design projects have received support from local industry and community partners.

InitiativeSponsorSupport
AI-Enabled Open Instructional System for Accessible and Scalable Engineering DesignSUNY Academic Innovation Grant$30,000
GlobalFoundries senior design projectsGlobalFoundries$11,000
Electric-powered endurance-racing boatsASNE / Office of Naval Research$31,000 in cumulative
Design validation and material selection of Navy field boxesIndustry project through TCIE$15,000
Senior Design Lab upgradeTCIE$50,000

Publications

Selected journal articles and conference proceedings

Use the filters or search field to explore publications. The downloadable CV contains the complete detailed list and additional presentations.

Complete CVGoogle ScholarORCIDASEE author page