With state-of-the-art infrastructure and equipment, our Mechanical Engineering research laboratories and centers develop embedded-AI and autonomous systems, reduce failure and prolong critical components life, improve health care, enable advanced water treatment and more energy-efficient systems.
Research Centers
Mason Autonomy and Robotics Center (MARC)
Launched in 2024, the MARC is a multidisciplinary research hub that advances innovation in robotics, autonomous systems, and responsible AI. MARC serves as a collaborative center for developing safe, adaptive, and human-centric technologies that bridge theoretical research with real-world applications.
The research at MARC include embedded AI and autonomy, robotics development using technologies such as autonomous drones and quadrupedal robots, and human-machine interaction focused on safe and effective collaboration between people and machines. MARC also emphasizes interdisciplinary research by integrating computer science, engineering, psychology, and philosophy to address the ethical and policy implications of artificial intelligence.
Research Labs
Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Laboratory (AMML)
AMML focuses on manufacturing and analysis of new emerging and multifunctional materials.
The main research outcome of this lab is the synthesis of additively manufactured materials based on high-temperature and high-performance polymers as well as biodegradable composites and fibers. These new emerging materials have applications in many industries, especially in textile, energy, and biomedical. The lab is equipped with 3D printers for high-temperature polymers, composites compounders, speed mixers, abrasion testers, injection molding machines as well an Electromechanical Universal Test Machine.
Collaborative Robotics, Autonomy, and Dynamics Lab (CRADL)
CRADL conducts research at the intersection of robotics, control, and intelligent systems, with a focus on how autonomous agents operate in complex and uncertain environments. The lab studies both cooperative and competitive multi-agent systems, where teams of robots—and in some cases humans and robots—must coordinate, make decisions, and adapt under limited information and communication. CRADL integrates control theory, game theory, and machine learning to develop models and algorithms for decision-making, coordination, and interaction in multi-agent settings. In parallel, the lab explores bio-inspired robotics, drawing from natural systems to design efficient and adaptive mechanisms, and develops hands-on experimental platforms, including robotics competitions, that connect theoretical ideas with practical implementation and system-level design. Through this combination of theory, design, and experimentation, CRADL advances autonomous systems for applications in robotics, cyber-physical systems, and human–robot interaction.
Computational Hemodynamics Lab
The Computational Hemodynamics Lab investigates the role of hemodynamics (blood flow) in cerebrovascular diseases. In particular, 3D image-based computational fluid dynamics is used to model blood flows in cerebral arteries on a patient-specific basis. The focus of our research is mainly on cerebral aneurysms and ischemic strokes.
Dong Group
The Dong Group has strong interests in the following areas: advanced materials synthesis (nanomaterials, polymer, and their hybrid and hierarchical composites); advanced materials enabled energy devices (flexible solar cells and integrated energy devices); advanced material enabled water treatment technologies (water desalination and water decontamination). Researchers are also working on multiple interdisciplinary topics.
EMPOWER Laboratory
The Enabling Mobility through Patient Oriented Wearables and Robotics (EMPOWER) Laboratory develops robotic and prosthetic devices for individuals who have experienced a neurological injury or amputation. Researchers in the lab seeks to use these robotic and prosthetic devices to:
- Evaluate and assess sensorimotor control.
- Retrain sensorimotor function.
- Assist with the execution of daily activities of living.
EMPOWER also explore the design of novel soft actuation strategies for exoskeleton and prosthetic devices.
Nano/Microscale Transport Engineering Laboratory (nTEL)
nTEL investigates the fundamental physics underlying nano and microscale transport phenomena in fluids, especially involving interfaces and electric fields. The work will enable the design of better sustainable energy systems, more energy-efficient and affordable wastewater treatment methods, and even improved treatments for diseases like cancer.
Nanomaterials Manufacturing and Mechanics Lab
Micro/Nano Mechanics and Photonics with Nanomaterials Laboratory, also called the Kang Lab, conducts fundamental research on micro/nanoscale mechanics and photonics with nanomaterials for innovations in nanobiosensors. Researchers explore broad fields including nanophotonics, optofluidic, optoelectronics, and plasmonics to create innovations in advanced materials and manufacturing for high-performance, low-cost sensor devices. The research aims to develop advanced, high-performance materials with new functionalities in mechanical, optical, and electrical properties.
Reliability and Mechanics of Failure Lab (RMFLab)
RMFLab investigate how materials break under stress. The overarching theme of this research group is to explore the effects of complex microstructure on emergent physical properties in engineering materials. Exquisite control over microscopic properties, such as local elastic anisotropy or the geometry and topology of the microstructure, enables the design of functional local mechanical properties.
Rezai Microfluidics and Sensors Laboratory
The Rezai Microfluidics and Sensors Laboratory focuses on advancing the fundamental understanding of fluid interactions with biological and chemical particulate matter at the micro- and nano-scale, and translating this knowledge into innovative lab-on-a-chip technologies and point-of-need sensors. The lab develops microfluidic platforms, biosensors, and micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) for point-of-need detection, health monitoring, energy harvesting, and environmental applications. Research activities include manipulation and analysis of cells, organisms, and microparticles in controlled microenvironments, as well as the design of integrated optical and electrochemical sensing systems using functional polymers and nanomaterials. These efforts enable new solutions for biomedical diagnostics, food safety, water quality monitoring, and critical minerals exploration, with an emphasis on scalable, efficient, and real-world deployable microsystems.
Tribology and Surface Mechanics (TSM) Lab
The TSM Lab investigates surface and interfacial mechanics as well as friction and wears phenomena from nano to macro scales.
The research seeks to increase energy efficiency and materials durability in systems with moving components operating especially in harsh environments (e.g., very high temperatures or corrosive environments). The equipment in this lab will enable researchers to perform precise multiscale contact, friction, and wear tests at temperatures up to 2000 ºF. The TSM Lab also explore advanced surface engineering techniques to improve the durability and performance of new materials, e.g., additively manufactured (3D printed) polymers and metals.
Vessel Dynamics Laboratory
The Vessel Dynamics Laboratory capitalizes on George Mason University’s unique waterfront facility at the Potomac Science Center. The research team’s focus is on computational and experimental studies to better understand the dynamics and hydrodynamics of manned and unmanned vessels.
