Characterization of Nanocomposites

Frank Abdi is the chief scientist of AlphaSTAR Corporation. He has over 35 years' experience in computer-based modeling and software development for a range of applications associated with advanced composite materials and structures, durability and damage tolerance, and aircraft certification. Before founding ASC, he worked at Boeing/Rockwell Aerospace advanced program. He has published more than 200 journal articles and conference papers. Dr. Abdi received a BS and MS in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan (1974-1975) and a PhD in mechanical engineering from the University of Southern California (1980). He currently serves as adjunct professor at UCLA and as visiting professor at Imperial College London. He is the recipient of several awards, including NASA Software of the Year (1999), R&D 100 (2000, 2015), US Senate Tibbets Award (2001), and NASA Columbia Accident Investigation Award (2003).

Mohit Garg is a material and structural research engineer at AlphaSTAR Corporation. His research interests are focused mainly on modeling of thermosets, thermoplastics, and nano-, micro-, and macro-level mechanics, including the theoretical background of continuum mechanics. He has to his credit several publications on the failure assessment of composite material systems of various configurations, the material systems ranging from nanoparticles, polymers, and metals to two- and three-dimensional composite and hybrid systems. He is equally capable of performing and improving fracture mechanics-based analyses subjected to static, fatigue, and impact-type problems. Garg received his BSc in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Austin (2003) and his MSc in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2005). His research projects have been accepted recently for publication in well-known journals.