Advisor: Andrei Zagrai

Andrei Zagrai, Associate Professor, Chairman of the Department of Mechanical Engineering
NEW MEXICO INSTITUTE OF MINING AND TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Dr. Andrei Zagrai received his Bachelor and Master of Engineering degrees from Taganrog State University of Radio-Engineering (Russia) and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from University of South Carolina, USA. His doctoral studies at USC were focused on developing the electro-mechanical impedance structural health monitoring technology. During the course of graduate research, he conducted research on vibration-based diagnostics and analytical methods for predicting local structural dynamic behavior. Upon graduation, Andrei joined Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey, USA, as a postdoctoral associate. At Stevens, he utilized vibration methods for detection of buried landmines and contributed to development of nonlinear ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation (NDE) technologies. In fall 2006, Dr. Zagrai joined the faculty of Mechanical Engineering at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Andrei’s current research is concentrated on intelligent structures incorporating structural health monitoring (SHM) networks, sensors, actuators, information processing schemes and data classification algorithms. He has shown a long-standing interest in fundamental aspects of the electro-mechanical transformation in smart materials and practical applications of such materials for structural identification, control and diagnosis. Andrei’s recent research highlights include development of innovative magneto-mechanical impedance technology for condition assessment and exploring embedded ultrasonics for structural health monitoring of space system. Dr. Zagrai’s research team has conducted first known active piezoelectric SHM in space environment during sub-orbital space flight and in stratosphere on a high altitude Dr. Zagrai has been awarded two patents in the field of structural health monitoring and diagnostics: 8,671,761 and 6,996,480. He has published more than 80 technical papers and has received a number of national and international awards such as the Achenbach Medal for contribution to the advancement of the field of Structural Health Monitoring, Presidential and other scholarships, as well as two best paper awards conferred by the Acoustical Society of America (American Institute of Physics) and SPIE-organized International Symposium on NDE for Health Monitoring and Diagnostics. Andrei is an active member of several professional societies, including the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). Dr. Zagrai has served as a general chair of ASME conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems and has been recently elected to the steering committee of ASME Aerospace division.

Andrei also serves on international Adaptive Structures Technical Committee of AIAA and international Adaptive Structures and Material Systems Technical Committee of ASME.