(4bw) Thermo-Mechanics for Energy and Environmental Applications

Tackling climate change and its effects on our environment is a vital issue facing our society and represents a major challenge for engineers and scientists in all disciplines. The development of new materials with tuned mechanical/thermal properties to be used in sustainable energy technologies is a major aspect of the quest to a more sustainable future, together with improved understanding of extreme naturally occurring events, which are increasingly exacerbated by human activities.

I envision a laboratory where research is deeply motivated and guided by the necessity to provide new means for clean and sustainable energy while limiting anthropogenic environmental issues. My plan is to develop an interdisciplinary research group where contributions from fluid mechanics, solid mechanics, rheology, chemical and material engineering will help provide advanced tailored experimental and theoretical tools to address these vital societal needs. My lab will work on the fundamentals and applications of thermo-mechanics for different classes of unconventional materials, either manufactured to achieve specific tasks, such as tunable suspensions to be used as gas carriers, or geomaterials that are important to our environment, such as snow, ice and soil.

My long-term research goal is to develop a fundamental understanding of the multi-scale, multi-physics behavior of energy materials and geomaterials, bringing together experiments, theory and simulations to further both fundamental scientific aspects of material behavior as well as related engineering applications. My lab will develop new experimental techniques combined with continuum mechanics theories to understand, and eventually predict, the behavior of these complex materials in real applications of interest. To this end, my research plans in the short term will focus on: (i) synthetic clathrate hydrates for transport and storage of gases (such as hydrogen or methane) and carbon dioxide sequestration; (ii) extreme environmental and major natural events; more specifically, a) landslides and avalanches, with particular emphasis on the sudden loss of strength and consequent fluidization of soil or snow beds; and b) glacier dynamics, with emphasis on designing lab-scale experiments that will be informative of larger scale phenomena to bridge the current gap between theoretical/numerical analysis, accomplished within the realm of applied mathematics, and extensive field experiments pursued by glaciologists.

Research Experience:

Multidisciplinary work has been a constant throughout my academic career. I started as an undergraduate in Energy Engineering at the University of Bologna (Italy) working on bulk superconductors for energy storage, then moved to microfluidics for my Master to study electro-osmotic flows and pumps. I did my PhD in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT with Prof. Gareth McKinley on soft phase-change materials where I turned my attention to dynamics and rheology of suspensions of interest for the energy sector. Currently, I am a Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Material Science and Engineering at MIT with Prof. Cem TaÅŸan, working on microstructure-property relation for alloys with improved hydrogen embrittlement resistance and chemo-mechanics of solid-state Lithium batteries. Working at the interface of fluid/solid mechanics, rheology, chemical and material engineering has allowed me to gain expertise with many different experimental tools (from rheometry, thermo-analyses and local dynamics to AFM and SEM imaging), while also acquiring a strong theoretical background. Working with complex materials to tackle challenging societal needs requires a strong interdisciplinary mindset and I believe that my experience provides me with the right platform to develop a fundamental understanding of the complex thermo-mechanical behavior of energy materials and geomaterials.

Teaching Interests and Experience:

As a PhD student in Mechanical Engineering at MIT I had the opportunity to be teaching assistant for the graduate class 2.25 "Advanced Fluid Mechanics" for one semester with Prof. Gareth McKinley. Based on the class evaluation that I received at the end of the semester, I was nominated for and received the Wunsch Foundation Silent Hoist and Crane Award for Outstanding TA. At the end of my PhD I wanted to be involved more directly with teaching, and since graduation I have been instructor for 2.001 "Mechanics and Materials I" (MechE, MIT) every semester until Spring 2021. I explored many different aspects of teaching: preparing normal lectures, recitations and labs, demos for class, writing exams and mentoring students. I have had the privilege of interacting with many talented leading instructors and co-instructors, and helped navigating the transition to remote teaching during the Spring and Fall of 2020, including adapting the Guided Discovery lab sessions to be fully remote.

As a faculty, I look forward to teaching classes in fluid mechanics, transport processes, interfacial phenomena and soft matter, both at the undergraduate and graduate level. I am particularly keen in contributing to the curriculum by collaborating with other Faculty and Instructors to introduce hands-on guided lab experiences in fundamental engineering subjects for sophomores and juniors. I believe that introducing a guided hands-on component to fundamental classes, where concepts are learned “by experimenting” instead of on the board, would be quite beneficial to undergraduate students.

The most important goal that I have as a teacher is being able to transfer to my students "how to approach a problem", more than its solution. I enjoy combining classic lectures with modern tools: the former allow me to transfer physical concepts and their mathematical description, while the latter help me to keep students engaged, for example using live concept questions, or relax the atmosphere for a light break, through relevant movies, pictures or demos. Alternating the two methods I can create a sort of rhythm to the lecture that aims at retaining students’ attention and engagement.

Selected Publications:

1. M. Geri*, B. Keshavarz*, T. Divoux, C. Clasen, D. Curtis and G.H. McKinley, “Time-Resolved Mechanical Spectroscopy of Soft Materials via Optimally Windowed Chirps”, Phys. Rev. X, 8, 041042 (2018).
2. M. Bouzid*, B. Keshavarz*, M. Geri, T. Divoux, E. Del Gado and G.H. McKinley, “Computing the linear viscoelastic properties of soft gels using an Optimally Windowed Chirp protocol”, J. Rheol, 62, 1037 (2018).
3. M. Geri, B. Keshavarz, G.H. McKinley, and J.W.M. Bush, “Thermal delay of drop coalescence”, J. Fluid Mech, 833(1), R3 (2017), (Journal of Fluid Mechanics video abstract, most read article on Research- Gate in the Mechanical Engineering Department of MIT, week of November 19, 2017).
4. M. Geri, R. Venkatesan, K. Sambath, and G.H. McKinley, “Thermokinematic memory and the thixotropic elasto-viscoplasticity of waxy crude oils”, J. Rheol., 61(3), 427-454 (2017), (Journal Cover & most read article on ResearchGate in the Mechanical Engineering Department of MIT, week of April 15, 2018).
5. M. Geri, M. Lorenzini, and G.L. Morini, “Effects of the channel geometry and of the fluid composition on the performances of DC electro-osmotic pumps”, Int. J. Thermal Sci., 114-121 (2012).
6. E. Perini, G. Giunchi, M. Geri, and A. Morandi, “Experimental and Numerical Investigation of the Levitation Force Between Bulk Permanent Magnet and MgB2 Disk”, IEEE Trans. Applied Superconductivity, 19(3), 2124-2128 (2009).