Multiple projects are available for MS students and undergraduate students interested in gaining research experience. Current research opportunities include:
1. HVAC
Explore how radiative and convective heat transfer principles can improve the efficiency of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. Students will model thermal loads, investigate selective emitter coatings for passive heat rejection, and analyze how building envelope properties affect energy consumption.
2. Battery thermal management
Lithium-ion batteries degrade rapidly under poor thermal conditions. Students will design and test passive cooling strategies — including radiative cooling surfaces and phase-change materials — to maintain optimal battery temperatures and extend cycle life in electric vehicle and grid storage applications.
3. Thermal diode
A thermal diode conducts heat preferentially in one direction, analogous to an electrical diode. Students will study phase-change materials (e.g., VO₂) and nanostructured interfaces to achieve asymmetric heat conduction, with applications in thermal logic and energy harvesting.
4. Radiative cooling
The sky is a natural heat sink. Students will design and characterize sub-ambient radiative cooling structures — materials that emit strongly in the atmospheric transparency window (8–13 µm) — and build outdoor test rigs to measure their real-world cooling performance.
5. Infrared thermal camouflage
Engineer metasurfaces whose thermal emission signature can be tuned to match the background, making objects invisible to infrared cameras. Relevant to defense and industrial inspection.
6. Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) emitters
Design spectrally selective thermal emitters that concentrate emission within the bandgap of a photovoltaic cell, increasing the efficiency of waste-heat-to-electricity conversion.
7. Smart windows with dynamic thermal control
Investigate electrochromic or thermochromic coatings (e.g., VO₂-based) for windows that switch between solar-transmitting and solar-blocking states, reducing building cooling loads.
If you would like to join our group, please email Prof. Ghanekar (alokghanekar@umbc.edu) with your background and research interests.