Principal Investigator
Geoff Wehmeyer
Geoff Wehmeyer is an assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering at Rice University. He received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2013 and his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 2018 before joining the faculty at Rice. His research group uses experimental and theoretical methods to understand and control heat transfer. His research has been recognized with a NSF CAREER Award (2022) and NASA STMD Early Career Faculty award (2019), and he was awarded the 2021 Sophia Meyer Farb Prize for Teaching at Rice.
Email: geoff.wehmeyer (at) rice.edu
Office: MEB 213
Phone: 713-348-2130
Ph.D. Students
Ariel Whitehead
Ariel Whitehead received her B.S. in Physics from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2021. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in the NHTL group at Rice University. Her research is focused on nanoscale temperature mapping using electron microscopes.
Email: aw78 (at) rice.edu
Lorenzo Castelli
Lorenzo Castelli graduated with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2021. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at Rice University and working in the NHTL group. His interests include Heat Transfer, Materials Science, and Fluid Mechanics.
Email: lc94 (at) rice.edu
Monisha Vijay Kumar
Monisha Vijay Kumar received her Integrated BS-MS degree from IISER, Thiruvananthapuram. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Applied Physics at Rice. Her research currently focuses on understanding the heat transfer mechanism in CNT fibers.
Email: mv38 (at) rice.edu
Ognyan Stefanov
Ognyan Stefanov graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in the Fall of 2020. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. His current research interests include thermal switches and heat transfer mechanisms in nano-devices. He hopes to apply the study of heat transfer and thermodynamics towards sustainable technologies.
Email: os17(at) rice.edu
Trevor Shimokusu
Trevor Shimokusu received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2019. He is interested in heat transfer and fluid mechanics, specifically for applications in energy systems. His current research focuses on switchable fluid thermal devices for improved thermal management.
Email: tjs14 (at) rice.edu
Yingru Song
Yingru Song graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2018 with a B.S. degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Currently he works as a PhD student in the NHTL group. His interests include nano-scale energy transport using both numerical and experimental tools.
Email: ys69 (at) rice.edu
Undergraduate Researchers
Lindsay Wright
Lindsay Wright is a Mechanical Engineering major at Rice University. She is interested in heat transfer as it applies to aerospace.
Email: lw76 (at) rice.edu
Pooja Sashital
Pooja Sashital is a senior majoring in Mechanical Engineering at Rice University. She is interested in heat transfer and fluid dynamics, and their applications to renewable energy.
Email: ps72(at) rice.edu
Hemish Thakkar
Hemish is a rising fifth year undergrad pursuing a BS in Mechanical Engineering and a BA in Chemistry.
His research interests include looking at fluid-surface interactions and selective wettability. His past research includes looking at the characterization of the nonlinear dynamical properties of jointed assembled structures.
Email: hbt3(at) rice.edu
Katie Hart
Katie is a senior in Mechanical Engineering at Rice University who is also
pursuing certificates in Engineering Leadership and Spanish. While her past research experience was in vibration testing methods of aerospace structures, she is interested in researching fluid dynamics with applications in the aerospace field.
Email: keh8 (at) rice.edu
Wesley Wright
Wesley is a senior Mechanical Engineering major at Rice University. His research interests include mechanisms of heat transfer at the micro and nano scales.
Email: whw4 (at) rice.edu
Aliya Belay
Aliya is a junior Mechanical Engineering major at Rice University. She is interested in heat transfer and carbon nanomaterials, and their applications in aerospace.
Email: ab155 (at) rice.edu
Lab Alumni
Graduate students:
Ajay Garg (2022, M.S.). Next position: Blue Origin
Postdoctoral scholars:
Dr. Qing Zhu (2023). Next position: Helix Earth Technologies
Dr. Vishal Zade (2022). Next position: Intel
Dr. Mojdeh Nazari (2020). Next position: Lam Research
Undergraduate researchers:
Callum Flemister (2023). SURF participant, Rice University.
Kate Doherty (2023). Summer REU participant, Rice University.
Rolando Gonzalez Alcorer (2023). SURF participant, Rice University.
Eduardo Garcia (2023). Nano-REU participant; B.S. student, UT Tyler.
Dylan Ueyema-Burke (2023). Next position: Capital One
Kaitlyn Zdrojewski (2023). Next position: Bell
Edward Walker (2023). Next position: Ph.D. student, Purdue University
Natan Rivera (2023). Next position: ARCO/Murray
Alexa Reyes (2022). Nano-REU participant; B.S. student, University of Houston
Alisa Webb (2022). Next position: Ph.D. student, MIT
Tyler Pitts (2022). Next position: M.S. student, Georgia Tech
Audrey Yao (2021) Next position: Rice Undergraduate
Andrea Fabila (2021). Nano-REU participant; B.S. student, UT Tyler.
Hociel Landa (2021). Next position: M.M.E. student, Rice University
J.P. Martinez Cordeiro (2021). Next position: Ph.D. student, University of Texas at Austin
Harry Liu (2021). Next position: Ph.D. student, Purdue University
Chima Adiole (2020). Next position: Rice Undergraduate.
K.J. Onyeagoro (2020). Next position: Rice Undergraduate.
Jacob Song (2019). Next position: Collins Aerospace.