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 and the 2024 School of Engineering Tenure-track Teaching + Research Award at Rice.
Email: geoff.wehmeyer (at) rice.edu
Office: MEB 213
Phone: 713-348-2130
Graduate Students
Katie Barcak
Katie Barcak graduated with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Aerospace Engineering from Baylor University in 2024. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at Rice University. Her research interests are heat transfer mechanisms in a space application.
Email: kb151 (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. Lorenzo is the recipient of a DOE IBUILD Fellowship focused on applications of thermal switching devices for building thermal management.
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
Jiun-Hung Yi
Jiun-Hung Yi received both his B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from National Taiwan University in 2021 and 2023, respectively. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at Rice University. His research interests include micro/nanoscale heat transfer and solid state physics
Email: jy155 (at) rice.edu
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
Wesley Wright
Wesley is a M.S. student in Mechanical Engineering at Rice University. He earned his B.S. in MECH at Rice in 2024. His research interests include modeling and measurements of heat transfer in carbon nanotube fibers.
Email: whw4 (at) rice.edu
Undergraduate Researchers
Aliya Belay
Aliya is a senior 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
Andrew Dahm
Andrew Dahm is currently a senior Mechanical Engineering B.S. major at Rice University. His research interests focus on computational methods for analyzing heat transfer and fluid dynamics.
Email: ajd14 (at) rice.edu
Fredrick Mungai
Fredrick is a senior Mechanical Engineering major at Rice University. His research interest focuses on modelling heat transfer problems like natural convection of periodically heated fluid systems.
Email fgm1 (at) rice.edu
P.J. Rawlins
PJ is a junior undergraduate majoring in Mechanical Engineering and Physics. His current research focuses on applications of carbon nanotube materials to hot-wire anemometry. He is also interested in the development of sustainable technologies.
Email: pjr6 (at) rice.edu
Lab Alumni
Graduate students:
Prof. Trevor Shimokusu (2024, Ph.D.). Next position: Tenure-track faculty, University of Hawaii
Dr. Yingru Song (2024, Ph.D.). Next position: Postdoctoral researcher, Purdue University
Ajay Garg (2022, M.S.). Next position: Blue Origin
Postdoctoral scholars:
Dr. Qing Zhu (2023). Next position: Helix Earth Technologies
Undergraduate researchers:
Lindsay Wright (2024). Next position: Ph.D. student, Cornell University.
Hemish Thakkar (2024). Next position: Ph.D. student, Princeton University.
Katie Hart (2024). Next position: Ph.D. student, Purdue University. NSF GRFP Honorable Mention.
Wesley Wright (2024). Next position: M.S. student, Rice University.
Pooja Sashital (2023). Next position: Rice Undergraduate.
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. NSF GRFP Recipient.
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.