People
Faculty
José E. Andrade
George W. Housner Professor of Civil and Mechanical Engineering; Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering
Professor Andrade's research focuses on developing a fundamental understanding of the multiscale and multiphysical behavior of porous media, with especial application to geologic and engineered infrastructure materials.
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Postdoctoral Scholars and Visiting Associates
Adriana Daca
Postdoctoral Scholar in Mechanical and Civil Engineering
I received my Ph.D. from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, specializing in granular mechanics in reduced gravity, with a focus on wheel–soil interactions for planetary exploration rovers. Before joining Caltech, I worked as a Robotics Technologist at JPL, where I contributed to projects ranging from mobility concepts for future rovers to robotic sampling and manipulation systems. Currently, I am investigating the granular mechanics of rubble-pile asteroids through numerical simulations, with a particular focus on the asteroid Apophis, for a mission proposing to rendezvous with Apophis during its close approach to Earth in 2029. In my spare time, I enjoy rock climbing, hiking, and reading.
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Prior Members of Professor Andrade's Team
- Ziran (Rachel) Zhou Predictive Modeling of Architected Solids across Scales. Dissertation (Ph.D.), California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/cn82-z804. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechTHESIS:02242025-045741904
- Jacinto Ulloa, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan
- Rigoberto Moncada Lopez, Sea Ice Discrete Element Modeling: Melt and Fracture of Floes and Sheets
- Anna Gorgogianni, Postdoctoral Researcher at Cornell University
- Robert Buarque de Macedo Methods for Control of Granular Material Attributes.
- Siavash Khosh Sokhan Monfared, Postdoctoral Fellow at Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen and Visiting Scholar, Department of Physics, Harvard University
- John Harmon Predicting the Strength of Planetary Surfaces.
- Liuchi Li Linking Micro-Structure to Macro-Behavior of Granular Matter: From Flowing Heterogeneously to Morphing Adaptively.
- Konstantinos Karapiperis Multiscale, Data-Driven and Nonlocal Modeling of Granular Materials
- Raj Kumar Pal, Assistant Professor at Kansas State University
- Eloise Marteau, Technologist at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Laboratory Studies of Granular Materials Under Shear: From Avalanches
- Reid Kawamoto, The Avatar Paradigm in Granular Materials.
- Jason Marshall, Senior Principal FTL Systems Engineer at Northrop Grumman
- Shahrzad Roshankhah, Lecturer at Cal Poly Pomona & Cal State Long Beach, and Visiting Research Scientist at Caltech
- Utkarsh Mital, Ph.D. Candidate, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Energy Geosciences Division Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Understanding Micro- and Macro-Mechanics of Soil Liquefaction: A Necessary Step for Field-Scale Assessment.
- Keng-Wit Lim, Ph.D. Candidate, Senior Staff Engineer, Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, Los Angeles, California, 2015 Discrete Modeling of Granular Media: A NURBS-based Approach.
- Alex Jerves, Ph.D. Candidate, Microscopic Origin of Macroscopic Strength in Granular Media, Assistant Professor, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador, 2016 Microscopic Origin of Macroscopic Strength in Granular Media: A Numerical and Analytical Approach.
- Ryan Hurley, Ph. D. Student, Force chains, friction, and flow, Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University, 2016 Force Chains, Friction, and Flow: Behavior of Granular Media across Length Scales.
- Carlos Avila, Postdoctoral Fellow, Measurement and modeling of granular processes, Rector (President), Universidad IKIAM, Ecuador, 2013
- Qiushi Chen, Ph.D. Candidate, Multiscale modeling of failure in granular materials, Assistant Professor, Clemson University, 2011
- WaiChing Sun, Ph.D. Candidate, Multiscale framework for predicting the coupling between deformation and fluid diffusion in porous rocks, Assistant Professor, Columbia University, 2011
- Alfonso M. Ramos, Ph.D. Candidate, Instabilities in sands, Associate Professor, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia, 2010
- Ivan Vlahinic, Ph.D. Candidate, Poromechanical modeling of cement paste, Director, Data Science & Analytics at CKM, New York, 2010
- Nicolas Lenoir, Postdoctoral Fellow, In situ mechanical characterization of porous materials under loading, Imaging and Materials Group, Ecole des Ponts-UR Navier, Paris, France, 2010
- Priscilla Fonseca, Ph.D. Candidate (with H. Jennings), Characterization and modeling of calcium silicate hydrate, Assistant Professor, Drexel University, 2009
- Xuxin Tu, Postdoctoral Fellow, Multiscale modeling of granular matter, Assistant Professor, Zhejiang University, China, 2009 (deceased)
- Kirk Ellison, M.S. Student, Liquefaction modeling using finite element procedures, Senior Engineer, Arup, San Francisco, California, 2008
March 19, 2025