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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José's google scholar
Stacie Takase
Administrative Support
STakase@caltech.edu
(626) 395-3389
Postdoctoral Scholars and Visiting Associates

Anna Gorgogianni
Postdoctoral Scholar in Mechanical and Civil Engineering
I hold a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and a B.S.-M.Eng. in Civil Engineering-Structural, from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, in Greece. My doctoral studies have focused on numerical modeling of quasibrittle fracture with continuum approaches, and on addressing the issue of spurious mesh sensitivity of finite element simulations in both the deterministic and stochastic settings. As a postdoctoral scholar in Professor Andrade's Complex Systems Modeling Group, I am expanding my research in discrete approaches to fracture, geomechanics, data-driven computational mechanics, and multiscale modeling.
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Anna's ResearchGate

Jacinto Ulloa
Postdoctoral Scholar in Mechanical and Civil Engineering
I received my Ph.D. from KU Leuven, Belgium, focusing on variational models for non-associative plasticity and fracture. In general, my research experience involves the modeling of failure mechanisms in solid materials, including fracture, fatigue, and multi-physics problems, and the spatiotemporal analysis of environmental processes. My current work in Prof. Andrade's group mainly focuses on the micromechanics of complex dissipative processes in granular media. Aside from research, I enjoy socializing, traveling, music, movies, and sports.
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Jacinto's google scholar
Graduate Students

Rigoberto Moncada López
I obtained my B.S. in Civil Engineering at UNITEC, Honduras and received my master's degree in Civil-Geotechnical Engineering from Tohoku University, Japan. Currently, I am pursuing my Ph. D. in Civil Engineering at the Computational Geomechanics group from Caltech. My research interests include modeling of granular media and interaction with pore fluid, unsaturated granular response, stress state variation in granular materials and computational analysis of failure and shear banding. My prior research experience included granular erodibility, landslide mapping using GIS and remote sensing and slope stability.
Currently I am working on Discontinuum Modeling of Ice Sheets and Sea Ice, combining interparticle contact, thermal effects, particle breakage and fluid interaction.
During my free time I enjoy watching movies, jogging, eating out and traveling to new places.
My Researchgate Profile

Ziran (Rachel) Zhou
I received my B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. I am currently pursuing my PhD in Prof. Andrade's group. My research focuses on the analysis of dynamic response of MDOF structures in computational and experimental methods. Outside of school, I enjoy hiking, doing road trips and gaming.
Prior Members of Professor Andrade's Team
- 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