Mechanical Science and Engineering at Illinois

The Grainger College of Engineering recently featured work by MechSE professor Gaurav Bahl and his research group, who have developed an electro-optic isolator — a device that lets light travel in only one direction through a photonic chip, passing forward with very low loss while blocking nearly all light moving backward.

This matters for data centers, which increasingly rely on light-based signal routing to support AI, cloud computing and high-performance computing. The best optical isolators today use magnetic materials that aren't suitable for integrated photonics. Bahl's team took a different approach, using electrically tunable lithium niobate with no magnets and no moving parts. The result performs on par with commercial off-chip isolators and offers thousands of times more tunability than earlier designs, meaning it can be adjusted to match whatever wavelength the rest of the system uses.

The work was recently published in Nature Communications.

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A highly tunable electro-optic isolator for signal routing in photonic integrated circuits MechSE Prof. Gaurav Bahl and his group have developed an electric-optic isolator for unidirectional light propagation. The compact, low-power and highly tunable design makes it ideal for optical signal routing in data centers.

Research papers authored by three of associate professor Craig Bradshaw’s graduate students were recently recognized as top among their peers.

During its annual conference this summer, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) awarded mechanical engineering PhD student Shahzad Yousaf the Best Paper Award of 2026 for “Development and performance evaluation of empirical models compatible with building energy modeling engines for unitary equipment,” published in ASHRAE’s peer-reviewed journal Science & Technology for the Built Environment.

Yousaf was first author on the paper alongside coauthors Bradshaw, Rushikesh Kamalapurkar, and Omer San.

At the International Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Conference, third-year mechanical engineering PhD student Ahmed Afifi was awarded second prize in the student paper competition. Afifi’s paper focused on a v***r compression heat pump cycle with solution circuit.

First-year PhD student Viyan Bade was awarded third prize in the student paper competition at the International Compressor Engineering Conference. His paper was on measurements of surface tension of refrigerant lubricant mixtures.

The competition is steep, with approximately 350 research papers submitted from around the world. The two conferences are part of a three-conference collection that take place simultaneously at Purdue University, referred to as the “Herrick Conferences.”

All three students are involved in research as part of the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Center, for which Bradshaw serves as the executive director.

Three of Bradshaw's students recognized for authoring best papers Mechanical engineering PhD students Shahzad Yousaf, Ahmed Afifi, and Viyan Bade were each recognized for authoring some of the top research papers among their peers. They are all advised by MechSE Prof. Craig Bradshaw.

Research developed in the laboratory of mechanical science and engineering professor Lili Cai helped address extreme urban heat through a high-profile deployment at the FIFA Fan Festival in Houston, Texas.

This summer, SolarMantle, a startup spun out of Cai’s research, partnered with the FIFA Sustainability Team and the City of Houston to deploy its passive cooling film on public infrastructure ahead of one of the world’s largest sporting events.

As cities worldwide face increasingly frequent and intense heat waves, passive daytime radiative cooling offers a promising approach to keep surfaces significantly cooler under direct sunlight, mitigating heat buildup and improving thermal comfort without consuming electricity. The FIFA deployment provided an opportunity to demonstrate these benefits under demanding real-world conditions. Treated roofs measured more than 40 degrees cooler than adjacent untreated metal roofs, highlighting the technology’s potential to improve public infrastructure resilience while reducing cooling demand in hot climates.

Read more: https://mechse.illinois.edu/news/stories/87212

The Grainger College of Engineering
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

From the lab to the world stage: Illinois cooling technology helps FIFA and Houston beat the heat This summer, SolarMantle, a startup spun out of Prof. Lili Cai’s research, partnered with the FIFA Sustainability Team and the City of Houston to deploy its passive cooling film on public infrastructure ahead of one of the world’s largest sporting events.

A total of 52 students, including 30 graduate students and 22 undergraduates, from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have been offered Graduate Research Fellowships from the National Science Foundation (NSF). An additional 26 students have been accorded Honorable Mention.

Four MechSE students were among those 52, with an additional two included on the Honorable Mention list:

Awardees: Amelia Maria Korveziroska Honeyville, Amar Koric, Jason Robinson, Jordan Westphal

Honorable Mention: Aarav Shah, Annika S. Srinivasan

Learn more: https://mechse.illinois.edu/news/87180

Ahead of today's World Cup Final between Spain and Argentina, Fast Company featured MechSE professor Bill King's work on the microstructure technology found in the players' shoes.

The tech in adidas' Predator cleats (worn by players like Spain's Pedri) was inspired by the way insect feet grip surfaces without damage. King's lab began developing the friction-engineered microstructures for defense and energy applications years before Adidas came calling, and the same core technology has since found its way into medical devices that help the body heal after surgery.

Read the full article: https://www.fastcompany.com/91575113/adidas-predator-cleats-engineering-material

adidas University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The Grainger College of Engineering FIFA World Cup Fast Company

A material in Spanish World Cup star Pedri's cleats could also repair your colon A microstructure technology designed by an engineer at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is making strides on and off the pitch.

Late professor emerita Judith Liebman was inducted this week in the International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS) Hall of Fame at their triennial meeting in Vienna. She was recognized for her pioneering contributions and significant achievements in the advancement of operational research around the world.

Illinois civil and environmental engineering professor emeritus Jon Liebman attended the meeting to accept the honor on behalf of his wife.

The IFORS Hall of Fame celebrates the significant contributions made by the OR pioneers and those who have followed in their footsteps. Inductees are chosen by a panel of presidents of IFORS member societies, members of the Administrative Committee of IFORS, the editors and members of the editorial board of ITOR, and individuals specially selected to provide historical perspective and geographical balance.

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Liebman honored for pioneering career, lifelong contributions to operations research The late professor emerita Judith Liebman was inducted into the International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS) Hall of Fame at their triennial meeting in Vienna. She was recognized for her significant achievements in the advancement of operational research around the world. Liebm...

At times, it might seem like the computing technologies that pervade the modern world are continually making a whirlwind of dizzying advances. But that isn’t always the case. Computer automation has long played a critical role in manufacturing, notably including the use of computer numerical control (CNC) to control machine tools. Yet despite the importance of CNC to industry, the fundamental approach underlying its use has remained unchanged for decades.

Placid Ferreira’s research group is now shaking up that status quo in a big way. They’ve introduced the Cloud-Direct NC (C-DNC) framework, which represents a fundamental rethinking of how machine control is done. The paper describing the framework just won a NAMRC Outstanding Paper in the Journal of Manufacturing Systems award, which was presented to the team at the 54th North American Manufacturing Research Conference (NAMRC).

In addition, through a new venture called ToolBit, Ferreira’s students Shivam Garg and A***n Shroff are in the process of commercializing one application of the framework: a technology they call Numerical Control as a Service (NCaaS). That effort has already won another two awards.

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Ferreira group kicking off a revolution in computer numerical control for manufacturing For decades, the architecture of computer numerical control (CNC), which is used for controlling machine tools in manufacturing, has barely changed. But Placid Ferreira’s group has now developed a fundamentally new approach in which much of the computational work is done in the cloud, opening up a...

Engineers have developed a new way to pull carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere using a process similar to charging and discharging a battery — an advance that could help address the planet’s excess CO2 problem.

A new collaborative study between MechSE scientists and Toyota focuses on direct air capture, a technology designed to reduce new emissions and remove CO2 that has already accumulated in the atmosphere. Instead of using heat to absorb and release CO2, as many carbon capture methods do, the new method uses electricity and water-based chemistry within an electrochemical device.

The results of the study by mechanical engineering and science professor Kyle Smith, Illinois graduate students Paul Rozzi and JeongA Lee, and Chip Roberts and Tim Arthur from the Toyota Research Institute of North America are published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

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New electrochemical device targets climate change by sucking CO2 out of air – News Bureau New electrochemical device targets climate change by sucking CO2 out of air July 9, 2026 8:26 am by Lois Yoksoulian Physical Sciences and Media Editor Earth and Environmental Sciences Engineering Share on Facebook Share on X Share via email U. of I. engineers Paul Rozzi, professor Kyle Smith and Jeo...

Many of the videos we've shared on our social channels over the past two years were produced by our student videographer, Rheanna Lewis.

While we were incredibly fortunate to have her create dynamic content for MechSE, Rheanna has always had her heart set on sports journalism. She recently graduated from the College of Media with a B.S. in Journalism and has accepted a position as a production assistant with ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut.

If you know Rheanna, you know this didn't happen by accident. It was the result of hard work, determination, and talent.

Congratulations, Rheanna! We are so proud of you!