Lab Members

Jennifer Franck

Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Affiliate Appointment in Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics & Civil and Environmental Engineering

jafranck@wisc.edu

Education:
B.S. Aerospace Engineering, University of Virginia
M.S. Aeronautics, California Institute of Technology
Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, California Institute of Technology

Post-Doctoral Scholars


Ben Smith

Post-Doctoral Scholar in Mechanical Engineering 
Co-advised with Prof. Till Wagner, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
Ph.D. Mathematics (2023), University of Leicester
M.Sc. Physics (2017) Cardiff University
B.Sc. Mathematics (2016) University of Plymouth
Research Focus: wave-ice interactions ; lake bio-physical processes

Graduate Students


Caelan Consing

M.S. Student in Mechanical Engineering 
B.S. Mechanical Engineering (2023) University of the Philippines Diliman

Research Focus: Marine Hydrokinetic energy ; cross-flow turbines


Trevor Dunt

Ph.D. Student in Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics 
DoD SMART Scholar
B.S. Physics (2019) University of Northern Iowa

Research Focus: Bio-inspired flows; fluid-structure interactions; machine learning tools in hydrodynamics


Sara Hartke

Co-advised with Prof. Nimish Pujara
Ph.D. Student in Civil and Environmental Engineering 
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
B.S. Mechanical Engineering (2020) University of Texas, Dallas

Research Focus: Surface waves and turbulence in marine energy harvesting


Rithwik Kandukuri

Ph.D. Student in Engineering Mechanics 
B.S. Mechanical Engineering (2022), Mahindra Ecole Centrale (India)

Research Focus: Simulations of varying kinematics within cross-flow turbines; overset mesh


Bingfei Yan

Ph.D. Student in Mechanical Engineering 
M.S. Fluid Mechanics (2023), University of Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China
B.S. Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (2020), Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China

Research Focus: aerodynamics; gust-foil interactions

Undergraduate Researchers


Austin Brey

Undergraduate Researcher
B.S. Engineering Mechanics (2027)

Research Focus: wake interaction and modeling


Alex Kress

Undergraduate Researcher
B.S. Engineering Mechanics (2026)

Research Focus: Aerodynamics of morphing, rotating and moving airfoils


Varun Nathan

Undergraduate Summer Researcher
B.S. Aerospace Engineering, Purdue (2027)

Research Focus: Fluid-structure interactions among multiple oscillating foils


Scott Russell

Undergraduate Researcher
B.S. Engineering Mechanics (2024)

Research Focus: OpenFOAM open-source libraries

Lab Alumni

degree awarded; first position after CFPM lab

Graduate Students

Soundarya Ramasubramanian: M.S. Mechanical Engineering, UW-Madison (2023)
Product Engineer at Siemens, Portland OR

Bernardo Luiz Rocha Ribeiro: Ph.D. Engineering Mechanics, UW-Madison (2023)
Postdoctoral Fellow in Unsteady Aerodynamics, University of Campinas, Brazil

Mukul Dave: Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, UW-Madison (2022)
Lawrence-Berkeley National Lab, National Energy Research Scientific Computing (NERSC) Postdoctoral Fellow, Berkeley, CA

Riley Bridges: M.S. Engineering Mechanics, UW-Madison (2022)
Engineer, Jacobs Space Exploration Group at Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL

Kate Lyons: Ph.D. Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics, UW-Madison (2021)
Thermal-Hydraulics Engineer, X-Energy, Washington, DC

Alejandro Gonzalez Calvet: Visiting Scholar UW-Madison; M.S. Aeronautical Engineering, Uni. Politècnica de València (2019)
Glovo, Product Data Analyst, Barcelona, Spain

Divya Jaganathan: Sc.M. Engineering, Brown University (2018)
PhD student, International Center for Theoretical Sciences, Bengaluru, India

Xiaoyue Zhao: Sc.M. Engineering, Brown University (2017)
Applications Engineer, COMSOL, Shanghai City, China

Ka Ling Wu: Sc.M. Engineering, Brown University (2015)
PhD Student École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne ‐ EPFL

Alex Czulak: Sc.M. Engineering, Brown University (2015)
Mechanical Engineer, Robert Bosch LLC, Waltham, MA

Koketso Makhafola: Sc.M. Engineering, Brown University (2014)
Senior Engineer, Willdan Energy Solutions, Dallas, TX

Justin Morse: Sc.M. Biomedical Eng, Brown University (2014)
Electrical Engineer, Ximedica, Providence, RI

Undergraduate Researchers

Xinyi (Shirley) Zhang: B.S. Engineering Mechanics, UW-Madison (2024)
PhD Student at Purdue

Julia Thormann : B.S. Engineering Mechanics, UW-Madison (2024)
Lockheed Martin, New Jersey

Austin Howk: B.S. Engineering Mechanics, UW-Madison (2023)
Engineer, Nuclear Power Division, Sargent and Lundy, Chicago, IL

Vineet Pasumarti: B.S. Mechanical Engineering, UW-Madison (2023)
Structural Analysis Engineer, Boeing, Huntington Beach, CA

Hanqi DongB.S. Mechanical Engineering, UW-Madison (2023)
PhD Student UT-Austin

Riya AgrawalVisiting Researcher; B.Tech. Mechanical Engineering (2023) United College of Engineering and Research
Graduate Student, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

Mikihisa Yuasa:  B.S. Engineering Mechanics, UW-Madison (2021)
PhD Student UIUC

Kirby Heck:  B.S. Engineering Mechanics, UW-Madison (2021)
PhD Student MIT

David Burkhart:  B.S. Applied Math and Engineering Physics, UW-Madison (2020)
Engineer, Oshkosh Corporation, Madison, WI

Aneesh Heintz: Sc.B. Mech Eng, Brown University (2018)
PhD Student, Cornell University

Arianne Spaulding: Sc.B. Mech Eng, Brown University (2018)
Mechanical Engineer, Amazon Robotics, Boston, MA

Noemaikealohaiku`ulei (Noe) Lum: Sc.B. Mech Eng, Brown University (2018)
Grad Student, UC-Berkeley

Matthew Shorter: Sc.B. Mechanical Engineering Brown University (2017)
PhD Student, MIT

Isabel Scherl: Sc.B. Mech Eng, Brown University (2017)
PhD Student, University of Washington

Filip Simeski: Sc.B. Mech Eng, Brown University (2017)
PhD Student, Stanford University

Aryssa Medina: Sc.B. Mech Eng, Brown University (2015)
Lead Assembly Operations Engineer, Pratt & Whitney, Hartford CT

Evan Roelke: Sc.B. Mech Eng, Brown University (2015)
PhD Student, Georgia Institute of Technology

Sarah Frank: Sc.B. Mech Eng, Brown University (2014)
PhD Student, University of California-Berkeley

Joo Yeon Jung: Sc.B. Biomedical Eng, Brown University (2014)