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Engineering Research at Dartmouth

Dartmouth engineering researchers work within an integrated community of experts in their fields, unencumbered by departmental divisions. Our faculty and students are versatile thinkers who can define a problem, place it within the broad social and economic contexts, and articulate a clear vision for a human-centered approach toward a solution.

Most research projects are collaborations that integrate one or more engineering disciplines with other sciences. Students working in these labs learn important lessons about the interconnectedness of the world and develop both depth and breadth that make them innovators and leaders in emerging technologies.

Research by Program Area

Biological/Chemical

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Biomedical

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Electrical/Computer

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Energy

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Materials Science

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Mechanical/Operations/Systems

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Research by Activity

Culture of Collaboration

Dartmouth Engineering is a close-knit community of scholars with a broad range of expertise. The culture of collaboration extends across the hall, across campus, and beyond. Many research projects engage colleagues from other institutions such as Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Geisel School of Medicine, Tuck School of Business, Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies, and CRREL, as well as industry—and offer numerous research opportunities for undergraduates.

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Research Quick Takes

Glacier Surges & Floods

Research Scientist Aleah Sommers (pictured) and Professor Colin Meyer won a two-year ~$180,000 NASA grant to work with international collaborators in Pakistan to study the influence of water flowing at the base of glaciers in High Mountain Asia. "Improved understanding of subglacial drainage has great potential benefit for hazard prediction and water resources, in terms of how they are likely to change with continued warming," says Sommers.

Best Oral Presentation

PhD student Roman Vasyltsiv received a "Best Young Researcher Oral Presentation" certificate at the International Conference on 3D dosimetry in Aarhus, Denmark. Roman presented his work on detection of radiation dose delivery in real time from ultra-high dose rate proton therapy systems using scintillation meshes applied to the patient's surface and ultra-fast cameras.

Materials for Flexible Transparent Electronics

Professor Will Scheideler collaborated with Professor Kenji Nomura of UCSD to write a review titled "Advances in Liquid Metal Printed 2D Oxide Electronics," published in Advanced Functional Materials. Their paper highlights recent advances in ultrathin liquid-metal-derived 2D semiconductors for high-performance flexible circuits, display technology, and neuromorphic computing.

Travel Fellowship

Postdoc and lecturer Kasia Warburton was selected for a Thomas Hughes Fellowship to attend the 2024 International Congress on Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (ICTAM) in Korea in August, sponsored by the National Academies. She will present an invited talk on fluid mechanical challenges for sustainability and climate change titled, "Evolving permeability of sub- and supra- glacial flow."

Best in Physics

PhD student Megan Clark Th'21 is first author on a submission named "Best in Physics" for the National American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Annual Meeting & Exhibition to be held in Los Angeles in July. The submission is titled "Anesthetic Concentration, Type, and Duration in Murine Model to Play an Essential Role in Tissue Oxygenation and Reproducibility of the Flash Effect." Coauthors include Arthur Pétusseau Th'23 and professors David Gladstone, Brian Pogue, Petr Brůža, and Jack Hoopes.

resident performing a suturing task using a da Vinci Single Port

Oral Retractor for Robotic Surgery

PhD researcher Yuan Shi, alum Xiaotian Wu '14 Th'19, Professor Ryan Halter, and Adjunct Professor Joseph Paydarfar co-authored "An Imaging-Compatible Oral Retractor System for Transoral Robotic Surgery," published in Annals of Biomedical Engineering. "This device enables artifact-free imaging, which makes intra-operative image guidance possible," said Shi. "We are getting ready to use this novel retractor system in a clinical study at DHMC."

Best Innovation Award

Professor Vikrant Vaze received the "Best Innovation" award at the Airline Group of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies' (AGIFORS) 2024 Crew Management Study Group Meeting in Modena, Italy. Vaze earned the award with a technical presentation titled "Integrated Crew Recovery Using Optimization and Machine Learning." Said Vaze, "This research combines interpretable machine learning with optimization to obtain high-quality airline recovery solutions rapidly and transparently."

Promising Material Properties

PhD student Weiru Chen, Research Associate Yihuang Xiong, and Professor Geoffroy Hautier co-authored "The Defects Genome of Janus Transition Metal Dichalcogenides" published in Advanced Materials. "This work combines advanced characterization techniques and modeling to precisely identify, at the atomistic scale, the defects in an important 'Janus' 2D material," says Hautier. "This is an important step toward better control and understanding of this technologically promising material."

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