20 faculty and 34 courses in Mechanical Engineering at California Institute of Technology.
- Richard M. Murray, Thomas E. and Doris Everhart Professor of Control and Dynamical Systems and Bioengineering h-index 107
Notable: “Consensus Problems in Networks of Agents With Switching Topology and Time-Delays” (2004) · 12,727 citations
- Jean-Philippe Avouac, Earle C. Anthony Professor of Mechanical and Civil Engineering h-index 104
Geomechanics, Seismology, Geodesy, Remote Sensing Overview My research aims mainly at understanding better earthquakes, crustal deformation, and geomorphic processes. We use field observations, seismological and geodetic measurements, remo
- John F. Brady, Chevron Professor of Chemical and Mechanical Engineering h-index 76
Fluid mechanics and transport processes, complex and multiphase fluids Overview John Brady focuses on fluid mechanics and transport processes, and complex and multiphase fluids. Related News Professor John Brady Elected to the National Aca
- Chiara Daraio, G. Bradford Jones Professor of Mechanical Engineering h-index 72
Materials science, condensed matter physics, and solid mechanics Overview Prof. Daraio's work is focused on developing new materials with advanced mechanical and sensing properties, for application in soft robotics, wearable devices, and s
- Joel W. Burdick, Richard L. and Dorothy M. Hayman Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering h-index 71
Include: robotic locomotion, sensor-based motion planning algorithms, multi-fingered robotic manipulation, applied nonlinear control theory, neural prosthetics, and medical applications of robotics. Related News Innovations and Insights: Hi
Notable: “Effect of epidural stimulation of the lumbosacral spinal cord on voluntary movement, standing, and assisted stepping after motor complete paraplegia: a case study” (2011) · 1,212 citations
- Tim Colonius, Frank and Ora Lee Marble Professor of Mechanical Engineering h-index 63
Fluid dynamics: global instabilities, cavitation and bubble dynamics, aerodynamic sound. Control: closed-loop flow control and reduced-order modeling. Biomedical fluid dynamics: shock-waves, lithotripsy and ultrasound. Numerical methods: i
- Kaushik Bhattacharya, Howell N. Tyson Professor of Mechanical Engineering h-index 61
Mechanics of materials, continuum mechanics, active materials, shape-memory alloys, heterogeneous materials, density functional theory, neural operators, inverse problems of experimental inference Overview Professor Bhattacharya studies th
- Aaron Ames, Bren Professor of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, Control and Dynamical Systems, and Aerospace h-index 58
Center on robotics, nonlinear control, hybrid systems and cyber-physical systems, with special emphasis on foundational theory and experimental realization on robotic systems; his lab designs, builds and tests novel bipedal robots and prost
Notable: “Control barrier function based quadratic programs with application to adaptive cruise control” (2014) · 932 citations
- John O. Dabiri, Centennial Professor of Aeronautics and Mechanical Engineering h-index 53
Es on unsteady fluid mechanics and flow physics, with particular emphasis on topics relevant to biology, energy, and the environment. Current interests include biological fluid dynamics in the ocean, next-generation wind energy, and develop
Notable: “A tissue-engineered jellyfish with biomimetic propulsion” (2012) · 647 citations
- Austin Minnich, Professor of Mechanical Engineering h-index 48
Electronic and quantum materials, thin films, plasma and atomic layer processing, microwave low-noise amplifiers, superconducting electronics Overview Professor Minnich's research focuses on the growth and processing of thin-film electroni
- Nadia Lapusta, Lawrence A. Hanson Professor of Mechanical Engineering h-index 41
Fracture and frictional processes, computational mechanics, failure of geomaterials in the presence of fluids, physics of earthquakes, induced seismicity Overview Professor Lapusta studies friction and fracture phenomena on both fundamenta
Notable: “Elastodynamic analysis for slow tectonic loading with spontaneous rupture episodes on faults with rate‐ and state‐dependent friction” (2000) · 675 citations
- Jose E. Andrade, George W. Housner Professor of Mechanical and Civil Engineering h-index 38
Energy, infrastructure, defense, and space Overview Professor Andrade's research focuses on developing a fundamental understanding of the multiscale and multiphysical behaviors of complex systems—everything from granular matter to energy s
- Guillaume Blanquart, Professor of Mechanical Engineering h-index 30
Hypersonics, combustion, laminar & turbulent flames, subgrid scale modeling, computational fluid dynamics Overview Guillaume Blanquart focuses on modeling the interactions between combustion processes and turbulent flows. At the center
- Gunter Niemeyer, Teaching Professor of Mechanical and Civil Engineering h-index 28
Notable: “Telemanipulation with Time Delays” (2004) · 537 citations
- Melany L. Hunt, Dotty and Dick Hayman Professor of Mechanical Engineering h-index 26
Multi-phase flows, carbon dioxide capture, convective heat and mass transfer Overview Professor Hunt focuses on the transport and mechanics of multiphase systems including granular and particulate flows, fluidized beds, porous media, and r
Notable: “Particle–wall collisions in a viscous fluid” (2001) · 369 citations
- Monica Kohler, Research Professor of Mechanical and Civil Engineering h-index 26
Earthquake engineering, damage detection, seismic tomography, wave propagation, and real-time internet-of-things seismic arrays Overview Professor Kohler's research uses technological advances in sensor and internet-of-things developments
Notable: “Mantle Heterogeneities and the SCEC Reference Three-Dimensional Seismic Velocity Model Version 3” (2003) · 141 citations
- Xiaojing Fu, Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Civil Engineering h-index 18
Multiphase flow in porous media, phase-field modeling, reactive transport, fluid-solid coupling, hydrology, cryosphere, subsurface engineering Overview Ruby Fu studies the physics of multiphase fluid mechanics through porous media and how
Notable: “Wettability and Lenormand's diagram” (2021) · 130 citations
- Domniki Asimaki, Professor of Mechanical and Civil Engineering h-index 17
Soil dynamics, wave propagation, scattering effects, regional ground deformation, soil-foundation-structure interaction Overview Professor Asimaki's research combines geotechnical engineering, computational mechanics and structural dynamic
- Michael Mello, Teaching Professor of Mechanical and Civil Engineering h-index 13
Es on pressure-shear plate impact (PSPI) experiments and the development of interferometric measurement techniques with Prof. G. Ravichandran's research group; and Laboratory Earthquake investigations with Prof. Ares J. Rosakis. He is also
Notable: “Identifying the unique ground motion signatures of supershear earthquakes: Theory and experiments” (2010) · 85 citations
- Soon-Jo Chung, Bren Professor of Control and Dynamical Systems
Es on autonomous vehicles, aerospace robotics, and space autonomous systems, and in particular, on the theory and application of control, estimation, learning-based control and planning, and navigation of autonomous vehicles. Related News
Notable: “ContractionPPO: Certified Reinforcement Learning via Differentiable Contraction Layers” (2026)
Faculty counts are directory headcounts; the named list may be a subset. h-index shown only for ORCID-backed or high-confidence OpenAlex matches. Data as of 2026-07-02.