Dr. Kumar Shanmugam
Dr. Kumar Shanmugam Associate Professor

Contact Information
kumar.shanmugam@ku.ac.ae +971 (0)2 810 9239

Biography

Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Phone:  +971 55 609 6693

Kumar Shanmugam is an Associate Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Masdar Campus, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi. He obtained a Ph.D. in Solid Mechanics and Materials Engineering from University of Oxford in the Department of Engineering Science, and an MPhil in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Southampton. Dr. Shanmugam leads the Advanced Materials and 3D Printing (AM3DP) Lab at MI. His research interests revolve around Mechanics, Materials and Design with a focus on multiscale/multifunctional attributes, particularly in the context of Additive Manufacturing for energy efficient and sustainable applications. These research interests are reflected in his recent and ongoing research collaborations with MIT, Cambridge University, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Pacific Northwest National Lab, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), University of New South Wales, Lockheed Martin, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University and Borouge. In the last 6 years at Masdar, Kumar has generated more than USD 5M through external grants as a lead Principal Investigator and has been awarded the ADEK award twice for research excellence (A2RE 2015 and A2RE 2017). He also serves on the editorial advisory board of the International Journal of Adhesion and Adhesives and Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology. Kumar has edited a book, contributed 5 book chapters, and authored more than 100 journal articles and conference proceedings. He has advised/mentored about 35 higher degree research students (MS/PhD) and research staff (postdocs/research scientists) and supervised more than 15 overseas interns over the last 5 years. Eight of his former group members moved on to faculty positions. He has recently edited Special Issues (Functionally Graded Adhesively Bonded Systems; Mechanics of Composite Adhesive Joints and Repairs) for two key journals related to Mechanics of Adhesion and Adhesives. Kumar is a senior member of the AIAA, and a member of ASME, APS, ACS and Society for Adhesion and Adhesives, UK. Kumar has held research positions at both UC Santa Barbara and MIT before moving to Abu Dhabi and has held short visiting appointments at the University of Cambridge, MIT and NTU Singapore.



Teaching
  • FDN 414 Advanced Calculus
  • MEEG344 Mechanics of Materials
  • MEG 517 Continuum Mechanics
  • MEG 518 Advanced Mechanics of Solids & Materials
  • SSC 501 Spacecraft Systems and Design
  • MEG 624 Linear and Nonlinear Finite Element Method
  • MEEN 610 Applied Finite Element Analysis


Research
Research Interests

Mechanics (theoretical, computational and experimental), Materials and Design with a focus on Nanoscale, Multiscale and Multifunctional attributes, particularly in the context of Additive Manufacturing (AM), for energy efficient and sustainable applications.