We investigate how light, chemistry, and autonomous experimentation can be combined to discover functional materials for next-generation devices and systems.
Current as of July 2026
Principal Investigator
Özgür Keleş, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Özgür Keleş is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science at UNC Charlotte. He earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering from Middle East Technical University and a Ph.D. in Materials Engineering from Purdue University.
Our research program develops parallel ultrafast synthesis and nanomanufacturing approaches for functional materials and devices in energy, photonic and electronic, and biomedical systems, with a focus on reliability. The group combines laser processing, time-resolved measurements, mechanics, materials characterization, and physics-informed computation to design, select, and interpret experiments.
Our work has received both an NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award and an award from the National Endowment for the Arts—an uncommon combination reflecting my efforts to integrate materials research, visualizations, engineering education, and community engagement. Other funding includes DOE, NSF MRI, local government, and industrial partners.
Current research team
The group’s current work connects laser nanomanufacturing with molecular-scale interpretation of polymer and quantum-dot systems.
Yejajul Hakim, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher · 2026–present
Laser nanomanufacturing and the development of programmable experimental workflows.
Swapnil S. Bamane, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher · 2025–present
Atomistic and multiscale modeling of polymer and quantum-dot composite systems.
Jawad M. Rubayat Dhrubo
PhD Researcher · 2025–present
Molecular-dynamics workflows for polymer and nanocomposite structure–property studies.
Safin Kaosar Saad
Incoming PhD Researcher · 2026
Planned focus: laser nanomanufacturing.
Alumni and former researchers
22
Former postdoctoral
and group members
11
Senior-design projects
23 students
26
Undergraduate
research students
3
High-school
research students
Former postdoctoral researcher
Prathamesh P. Deshpande, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher · 2022–2024
Reactive molecular-dynamics methods for quantum-dot thermosets, synthesis–structure relations, and mechanical response.
Former group researchers
21 people across 18 research projects.
- Timothy Tan — Ti-6Al-4V beams and lattices, 2024.
- Robert Chan-Jobe — toughening mechanisms in quantum-dot nanocomposites, 2024.
- Andres Duarte — automated discovery of quantum-dot nanocomposites, 2024.
- Tiffany Alcantara — reliability of biomimetic additively manufactured thermoplastic composites, 2024.
- Skhandesh Srinivasan Ganesh Iyer — additively manufactured short-fiber composites, 2022.
- Suryanto Phienanda — transfer learning for fracture-strength prediction, 2021.
- Andrew Dina — ceria-zirconia containing graphene quantum dots, 2020.
- Yosune Casana — textured aluminum-oxide ceramics, 2020.
- Shreeya Mahadevaswamy and Mustafa Yavuz — natural-language analysis of materials-science publications, 2020.
- Christopher Strawn and Yinchuan He — machine-learning identification of strong porous materials, 2020.
- Praneeth Varma Alluri — fracture-strength prediction in porous ceramics and glasses, 2019.
- Eric H. Anderson — porosity in fused-deposition-manufactured polymers and composites, 2019.
- Alex K. Cress — recycling and reliability of additively manufactured ABS, 2019.
- Cheng-Lun Wu — porosity and Bouligand structure in fused-deposition-modeled ABS, 2019.
- Stephanie Luke — fracture of continuous-glass-fiber-reinforced nylon, 2019.
- David Soares — hierarchical 3D-printed continuous-glass-fiber-reinforced nylon, 2019.
- Saishruthi Swaminathan and Tejash Shah — fracture-toughness prediction in porous materials, 2018.
- Ghazal Mowlavi — build orientation in PolyJet-printed acrylic-based polymers, 2018.
Mentoring archive
The complete historical rosters are retained below. Open a category to view names and years.
Senior-design teams — 11 projects, 23 students
- 2022 — Gabriella Sandoval and Cameron Ojeda; collaboration with NASA.
- 2021 — Iman Bayat.
- 2021 — Dana Morrar and Akram Al-Zughoul.
- 2020 — Anthony Cerezo and Toni Liang.
- 2020 — Andrian Tantiono and Szu Ning Tung.
- 2020 — Dishan Perera.
- 2019 — Crystal Pereira and Janaye Marshall.
- 2018 — Ruchi Gaur, Shreejit Padmanabhan, and Matthew Linzmeyer; sponsored by Jabil Inc.
- 2017 — Barry Mulingtapang, Nicholas Tomas, and Jimmy Huynh; sponsored by Jabil Inc.
- 2017 — Pamela Rochelle Ong, Kalkidan Zewdu, and Daniel Fok; sponsored by Jabil Inc.
- 2016 — Skhandesh Srinivasan and Timothy Langston; sponsored by Jabil Inc.
Undergraduate researchers — 26 students
- 2022–2024 — Ismet Gurleroglu and Rafael Padilla.
- 2021 — Benjamin Ard and Nasheed Zarif.
- 2020 — Joseph Drapal, Jia Pelpa, and Jinann Alzaghari.
- 2019 — Julian Degery, Andrew Dale Sy, Afrah Siddiqi, and Vincent Brubaker-Gianakos.
- 2018 — Mina Tavakolzadeh, Ruth Sosa, Khao Bao, Nedah Basravi, and Joe Lau.
- 2017 — Rachel Mixon, Jordan Helledy, Julio De Pereda, Lisette Romero, and Jimmy Huynh.
- 2016 — David Macias, Caleb Blevins, and Daniel Fok.
- 2015 — Nicholas Barcenas and Daniel Sprys.
High-school researchers — 3 students
- 2023 — Ayan Bhatia.
- 2018 — Julia Hunt.
- 2017 — Arvind Kumar.
Joining the group
Confirmed openings will be listed here. Prospective students, postdoctoral researchers, and collaborators whose interests align with the group’s current work may send a concise note describing the fit, together with a CV and representative work.