New chair of mechanical engineering named

The University of Akron News

07/31/2013

Sergio Felicelli

Sergio Felicelli, Ph.D., has been named chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Akron’s College of Engineering.

"Dr. Felicelli is a proven leader in both research and academics, and we are excited to have him join our leadership team," said George K. Haritos, dean of the College of Engineering. "Throughout his career, he has demonstrated dedication to the success of his students and enthusiasm for his research in the area of computational modeling. With Sergio leading our outstanding mechanical engineering faculty and staff, we are well positioned to continue building on the tremendous growth the department has experienced over the last several years. I am very pleased to welcome Dr. Felicelli to our faculty."

Felicelli most recently served as the Coleman and Whiteside professor of mechanical engineering and associate director of the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems at Mississippi State University (MSU), where he worked for 9 years.

Before joining MSU, he worked for 17 years for the Argentine Atomic Energy Commission, where he was head of the Computational Mechanics Division, and more than two years for the Crystals Division of Saint-Gobain High Performance Materials in Northborough, Massachusetts.

Felicelli has worked for over two decades in the area of computational modeling of solidification processes, with particular application to casting, welding, and additive manufacturing. He has also led several projects involving multi-scale transport phenomena, nano-fluidics, magnesium alloys, and tire heating.

He is the author of some of the pioneer works in computer modeling of freckle segregation during solidification, having written several journal articles in the area of macrosegregation and porosity defects in solidification processes and more than 100 peer-reviewed publications during his career. He has directed funded research projects related to casting and solidification, additive manufacturing, and large-scale parallel simulations of microstructures, among other subjects. His work has been sponsored by NSF, DoE, DoD, NASA, and industry, with a total funding of over $15M as PI or co-PI.

Felicelli received his bachelor's and master’s degrees in nuclear engineering from Instituto Balseiro (Argentina) and a Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Arizona.