Meet Our Team
The ASMME Research Group was established in 2017 in the School of Engineering in NUI Galway in order to help advance the thriving manufacturing sector in Ireland.
Dr. Noel Harrison is a lecturer and Programme Director for the Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Mechanical Engineering in the School of Engineering at NUI Galway since 2016. His primary teaching areas are manufacturing and materials, and he coordinates the capstone Mechanical Engineering projects in the Degree and Masters programmes. His research experience includes applied and fundamental research and he has a track record in advanced computational mechanics, experimental testing, material characterization, additive manufacturing (AM or 3D printing) of metal, composite and polymer feedstock, and 3D microscopy. He has also invented, patented (EU and US) and licensed novel AM- inspired medical device technology into industry. Dr. Harrison is a Funded Investigator in the SFI Research Centre (I-Form) for Advanced Manufacturing and a Principal Investigator in the Irish Composite Research Centre, IComp. He has developed the Advanced Manufacturing Lab within the Alice Perry Engineering Building. In 2021, he was appointed Chair of the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) committee NSAI/TC 049/SC 02 “Additive Manufacturing” which mirrors the ISO/TC 261 (cooperating with ASTM F42) committee where future industry standards in AM are defined. In parallel to AM process technology and materials research, Dr. Harrison has an interest in robotics research (including robotics enabled multiaxial 3D printing) and teaching content.
Sinéad’s first engineering manufacturing role was with Novo Nordisk Engineering in Copenhagen, working as an intern on the introduction of new manufacturing production lines for pharmaceutical products and medical devices. After graduation, she continued working in world-leading healthcare manufacturing (Abbott & Allergan (Botox)).
Sinéad has always had a keen interest in sustainability, and how engineering can change the world for the better. She worked in community development, started a social enterprise and a project on female entrepreneurship for social inclusion.
Subsequently completed a PhD on the development of a Sustainability and Eco-Innovation framework for manufacturing SMEs (EUFP7 FutureSME project). She worked at UL and did some consulting for a while, which led to a corporate consulting role at Business in the Community, working with many global companies on sustainability strategies.
Sinéad teaches a broad scope of subjects to all engineering disciplines (and sometimes business) students at all levels – and is always working on bringing sustainability to the classroom. Her area of research is sustainable manufacturing, sustainable business and the circular economy and collaborates with industry and other global researchers.
Sinéad has always had a keen interest in sustainability, and how engineering can change the world for the better. She worked in community development, started a social enterprise and a project on female entrepreneurship for social inclusion.
Subsequently completed a PhD on the development of a Sustainability and Eco-Innovation framework for manufacturing SMEs (EUFP7 FutureSME project). She worked at UL and did some consulting for a while, which led to a corporate consulting role at Business in the Community, working with many global companies on sustainability strategies.
Sinéad teaches a broad scope of subjects to all engineering disciplines (and sometimes business) students at all levels – and is always working on bringing sustainability to the classroom. Her area of research is sustainable manufacturing, sustainable business and the circular economy and collaborates with industry and other global researchers.
Originally from Spain, Carlos holds a B.Eng Industrial Engineering specialized in Industrial Chemistry and a M.Eng Materials Engineering from Rey Juan Carlos Univesity (URJC-Madrid). Additionally, he holds a second M.Sc Structural Materials for New Technologies from URJC-Madrid and Carlos III University of Madrid.
Carlos also accumulates both academic and industrial experience within the manufacturing and quality control of composite materials related to the aerospace, construction, energy and maritime sectors, having worked in companies such as AIRBUS or for the University of Limerick inside the FIBRESHIP EU-H2020 Project, which aims to overcome the current market challenges and technology gaps to make viable the building of commercial vessels longer than 50 m in composite materials.
Currently he is conducting an investigation in the framework of a “Career-FIT” & Marie Sklodowska-Curie COFUND awarded grant under the supervision of Dr Noel Harrison from NUI Galway, Dr Terry McGrail (IComp Director at UL) and Tomás Flanagan (Managing Director at ÉireComposites). His research interest deals with the development of thermoplastic composite risers for offshore platforms manufactured by Automated Tape Placement (ATP) with a dual-purpose, to allow safer and deeper oil & gas extraction while delivering CO2 underground to prevent massive carbon emissions to the atmosphere.
Eimear graduated from University of Galway in 2014 with a Bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering. She was then awarded College of Engineering and Irish Research Council scholarships, in conjunction with GE Power UK, to characterise the high temperature cyclic behaviour of a next generation material. Following the award of her Ph.D., Eimear then undertook various postdoctoral projects in the areas of additive manufacturing, design and experimental testing in University of Galway and Atlantic Technological University Galway. Eimear is now a Research Fellow in Zimmer Biomet as part of an SFI Industry RD&I Fellowship Programme on the Sustainable Additive Manufacturing of Orthopaedic Implants.
Pouyan is a postdoctoral researcher in the Dept. of Engineering and Informatics at NUI, Galway. He obtained a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tehran, Iran. His PhD research was in composite materials and experimental-numerical modelling of determining nano-composite adhesive joints strength. In his PhD dissertation, a new expression of formation of the cohesive & bridging zone and a new traction-separation model were presented. Currently, he is a funded investigator at National University of Ireland, Galway and the IComp researching in degradation of composites – Decay project.
Brian received his Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering in 2020 from NUI Galway. During the final year of his degree, he competed a project on the development of lightweight metallic lattice crash structures using additive manufacturing. Brian’s PhD project aims to develop and apply next generation product design tools that exploit the design freedoms associated with AM processes, and optimisation for in process and in-service conditions. The tools will be initially tested on structural optimisation challenges such as conformal cooling channels and lattice structures, and later to industrial design challenges. He is currently funded by the College of Science and Engineering Research Scholarship.
Cherrelle graduated from Southern New Hampshire University in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science. In 2020, she graduated from NUI Galway with a master’s in Environmental Leadership. Her master’s thesis titled, “End-of-Waste Criteria – Helper or Hindrance for the Circular Economy in Ireland”, analysed Ireland’s progress towards circularity and the potential regulatory barriers to achieving circularity in Ireland. During, and after, her time as a master’s student, Cherrelle worked as an Environmental Manager in the Anaerobic Digestion industry.
Cherrelle is now undertaking a Hardiman scholarship-funded PhD in Industrial Engineering. Her research aims to significantly reduce the gap in knowledge of the sustainability of bioplastics, focussing on environmental health and persistence of microplastics and nanoplastics resulting from bioplastic degradation in the environment. This research project will be supervised by Drs Noel Harrison and Sinead Mitchell of ASMME.
Juliana graduated from Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in Metallurgical engineering. She was then awarded a scholarship by Capes to develop her master thesis in environmental technology. In her masters she developed an eco-friendly hydrometallurgical methodology to recover silver from e-waste. Juliana is now a Research Assistant in the MIDRONE project at the University of Galway. In this project, she is performing the Life Cycle Assessment of the drone frame production in carbon fibre composite and the drone delivery system.
Omid is a research associate in the Department of Engineering at the University of Galway. In 2019 year, he received the PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tehran, Iran. His PhD study was damage sensing in the adhesive joints by using Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene Nanoplatelets. In his PhD dissertation, Electrical impedance measurement, A novel structural health monitoring method, was employed in the smart adhesive joint to characterise crack propagation. Omid also worked on this project as a research assistant in Austria (2017 -2018) at Klagenfurt University and in collaboration with the CTR Carinthian Tech Research AG. After his PhD, he worked as a research engineer in several design and manufacturing companies. Currently, he is working as a research associate in the MIDRONE project at the University of Galway. In this project, he is working on recycling of industrial thermoplastic composite wastes using additive manufacturing technology.
Alumni
ASMME Group PhD Graduates
Yuhui Tu graduated with a Bachelor degree in Material Forming & Control in NJUST China, and holds an MSc in Material Sciences and Engineering from UoB UK. Yuhui is developing electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) based crystal plasticity model including microstructural-sensitive capabilities for grain size effect and anisotropic texture study. Meanwhile, phase-field method is integrated with the developed finite element model to construct process-structure-property framework of additive manufactured metals.
Geng Yaoyi finished his undergraduate study in 2017 and obtained two degrees: Materials Forming and Controlling from Harbin Institute of Technology (China) and Mechanical Engineering at NUI Galway (Ireland). Yaoyi’s PhD project is focused on developing a design tool for fabrication of microstructure functional graded materials (FGMs) via powder bed fusion (PBF-AM). Single-step FGM manufacture strategies are being designed and tested for Ti4Al6V. He is also working on a dislocation based constitutive model in Abaqus for two phase titanium, together with stress/strain gradient hardening model.
Wenyou Zhang holds an MSc in Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering from Xi’an Jiaotong University, China. His research project was on the design & fabrication of Biomimetic multi-phased scaffolds for ligament-to-bone fixation. He obtained his Bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering at Shandong Agriculture University, where he researched the design and analysis of a spiral-slope combined displacement mechanism. He also held the position of Director of 3D Printing Lab in Qingdao R&D Institute developing novel AM technologies. Wenyou is currently a PhD student funded by the Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship. His research focuses on Computational Modelling of Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB), residual stress, deformation, and experimental measurement of additive manufactured Ti6Al4V.
ASMME Group Research Staff Alumni
Eric graduated from the GMIT in 2008 with an Honours Bachelor Degree in Mechanical Engineering. Since then he has completed over 8 years of industrial experience centred around machine design and manufacturing. Recently he has completed a Masters in Mechanical Engineering at National University Ireland, Galway. Here he completed a thesis based on R&D in Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing) with a focus on Poly Ether EtherKetone (PEEK) polymer to create an inherent functional gradient using material extrusion. Currently, he is a funded Composite Researcher on the ComSense Project in the ASMME at NUIG, developing next-generation embedded sensor technology for composite components.
Tobias was a researcher in the department of Mechanical Engineering at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He obtained both his Bachelor and his Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering at NUIG. He was an IComp funded researcher at NUIG investigating microstructural functionally graded polymers and PEEK 3D printing. This research combined material science, additive manufacturing and electronics in the development of material extrusion device capable of printing PEEK.
Researchers co-supervised by ASMME PIs
Saviour completed his PhD in Mechanical Engineering under the supervision of Dr Mingming Tong, co-supervised by Dr Noel Harrison
