Stony Brook University senior Andrew Nwuba, majoring in Mechanical Engineering in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, began doing research in his sophomore year when he joined two different research groups within the department — one specializing in fluid mechanics and the other focused on solid mechanics.
In Professor Carlos Colosqui’s research group, Andrew investigates the behavior of fluids, quantifies data-powder wettability, contact angles and surface tension in MATLAB, and seeks to develop new technologies related to hydrophobic materials. In Professor Fu-pen Chiang’s research group (where Andrew worked until April 2018), he worked on laser speckle interferometry to measure the strain and roughness of objects.
Andrew’s advice to other students: “Get involved, and get involved early. Doing research definitely helped me get an internship. There’s maybe not as much of a push for engineers to do research but it definitely helps you to learn new things and to expand your knowledge. Second, it has also given me a better idea of what graduate school is like. Finally, it’s a good thing to do because research requires you to be independent, which is helpful in essentially everything that you do.”
Andrew has also been involved in off-campus research endeavors. In Summer 2018, he participated in CalTech’s WAVE Fellows program in Pasadena, California, where he conducted research on Real-Time Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), investigating flow questions related to aerospace vehicle design, such as reduction of drag, noise, and structural loading, and gained experience in high-performance computing and writing parallel PIV software for experimental testing. In Spring 2017, Andrew participated in the Google BOLD Immersion Summit; he also gave an oral presentation titled, “Current Efforts Toward Separation of Water and Oil in Capillary Diodes,” based on his work in the Colosqui research group for SURC 2017, an undergraduate research conference held at Suffolk County Community College.
Andrew is December’s URECA Researcher of the Month.
Add comment