Lab Director & Principal Investigator
Yang Liu, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
The City College of New York
Steinman Hall, Room 253
275 Convent Avenue
New York, NY 10031, USA
Tel: (212) 650-7346
Email:
yliu7@ccny.cuny.edu
Dr. Yang Liu is currently an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at CUNY – The City College of New York. He obtained his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from Iowa State University (ISU) in 2016 and B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Beihang University (BUAA) in 2011. His current research interests include multiphase flow and heat transfer in additive manufacturing, plasma-droplet interactions, blast/shock-surface interactions, high-speed multiphase interactions driven by blast/shock, aircraft icing physics and anti-/de-icing technologies, and unsteady multiphase flow in energy devices. Dr. Liu has published 1 book, 2 book chapters, ~50 peer-reviewed journal papers, and more than 100 conference papers in the field of thermal fluids. He has received several awards in recent years, including the CET Outstanding Faculty Research Award, The ASME MFTC Best Paper Award, The ASME FMITC Best Presentation Award, and Best CET Research Poster Competition Award.
Current Team Members
PhD Students
Xiaoxiao (Eva) Zhang
Xiaoxiao (Eva) is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at The City College of New York. Her research is focused on the dynamic and thermal behaviors of colloidal droplet in freezing-based inkjet 3D printing processes.
MD Sohaib Bin Sarwar
Sohaib is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at The City College of New York. His research is focused on the multi-state inter-phase transport processes and thermal energy transfer during interactions between plasma discharge and supercooled droplets.
Sandeep Kumar
Sandeep is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at The City College of New York. His research is focused on the plasma-assisted hydrogen production. Outside of the lab, he enjoys music and games.
Jooi Choi
Jooi is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at The City College of New York. She is working on the flow-structure interactions of aerodynamically coupled oscillators and offshore wind farm aerodynamics.
Petr Lelikov
Petr is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the City College of New York. He received his B.E. and M.E. in Electrical Engineering from CCNY. He is working on plasma discharge characterization in interactions with droplets.
Master Students
Kevin Herrera Murgas
Kevin Herrera Murgas is an M.S. student in Mechanical Engineering at The City College of New York (CCNY). He holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Universidad Libre in Bogotá, Colombia. His research interests include mechanical design, vortex-induced vibrations, and renewable energy systems.
Bedirhan Baydin
Bedirhan is a master's student in Mechanical Engineering at CCNY. His background is in design and manufacturing. In the lab, he is working on freezing based 3D printing techniques.
Abu Sayeed
Abu is a master’s student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at The City College of New York. He received his B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from CCNY. His research focuses on using Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) plasma for dust removal.
Undergraduate Researchers
Ahmad Mudaser Barekzai
Ahmad Mudaser Barekzai is a junior pursuing a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering at The City College of New York. He has experience in manufacturing and digital fabrication, including work in medical physics research and fabrication at CCNY.
Kennedy Betances
Kennedy is a junior pursuing a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering at CCNY. Her interests include renewable energy technologies and sustainable engineering. At the ExAM-Flow Lab, she studies emerging de-icing technologies. In her free time, Kennedy enjoys thrifting, lifting, and listening to metal music.
Briant DeJesus
Briant DeJesus is a junior pursuing a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering at The City College of New York. His research interests center on renewable energy and the Hydrogen Economy. In the ExAM-Flow lab, he is investigating the combined use of hydrophobic coatings and plasma for deicing mechanisms. Outside the lab, he spends his time playing baseball and rooting for the Mets.
Lab Alumni
Former Postdoctoral Researchers
Dr. Jorge Ahumada Lazo
Current position: Head of Implementation at Las Noas
Dr. Jorge Ahumada Lazo was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the City College of New York from 2023 to 2025. He obtained his PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland Baltimore County in 2024. Prior to that, he earned a M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering and a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from New Mexico State University in 2018 and 2015, respectively.
Dr. Haipeng Zhang
Dr. Haipeng Zhang was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the City College of New York from 2023 to 2026. He received his Ph.D. degree and M.S. degree in Mechanical & Materials Engineering from the University of Nebraska‐Lincoln in 2022 and in 2018, respectively, and his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Kitami Institute of Technology, Japan in 2007. He also worked for the pump department at the Beijing Office (China) of the KUBOTA Corporation between 2009 to 2015.
Former PhD Students
Dr. Andrei Fershalov
Andrei graduated with a PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 2026. He is currently a Lead Engineer - Aero Dynamics at GE Vernova
Dr. Juan Pablo Montoya Rincon
Juan Pablo graduated with a PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 2024. He is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Princeton University.
Former Master Students
Ted Jerzy Misztal
Jerzy graduated with a Master of Engineering in 2025. He is currently a Thermal Systems Design Engineer at GE Aerospace.
Andro Abdelmalek
Andro graduated with a Master of Engineering in 2023. He is currently a Building Energy and Emission Auditor at NYC Department of Buildings.
Parker Zieg
Parker graduated with a Master of Engineering in 2022. He is currently a Senior Reentry Mechanical Design Engineer at Lockheed Martin Space.
Former Undergraduate Researchers
Navdeep Badhan
Navdeep was an undergraduate researcher from 2024 to 2026. He is currently an Engineer in the Edison Engineering Development Program at GE Aerospace.
Pieter Orlandini
Pieter was an undergraduate researcher from 2023 to 2026. He is currently a PhD student of Chemical Engineering at CCNY.
Daniel Struk
Daniel was an undergraduate researcher from 2024 to 2026. He is currently a PhD student of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University.
Denise Morocho
Denise was an undergraduate researcher from 2024 to 2026. He is currently a Design Engineer at Boeing Phantom Works.
Jacob Goldsmith
Jacob was an undergraduate researcher from 2025 to 2026. He is currently a Mechanical Engineer.
Reem Eldakhakhany
Reem is an undergraduate student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at The City College of New York.
John Santana
John is an undergraduate student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at The City College of New York.
Tasfia Kabir Pushpita
Tasfia was an undergraduate researcher from 2023 to 2025. She is currently a Reliability Engineer Co-Op at Dupont.
Laiba Laisee
Laiba was an undergraduate researcher from 2023 to 2024. She is currently a Mechanical Engineer at Bloom Energy.
Mohammed Arman
Mohammed was an undergraduate researcher from 2022 to 2023. He is currently a Structural Design Engineer at Blue Origin.
Danielle Flores
Danielle was an REU undergraduate researcher in summer 2022. She is currently a Medical Student at the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine.
Zach Pakulniewicz
Zach was an undergraduate researcher from 2021 to 2022. He is currently an electrical designer and engineer at EXP.
Last Updated: 08/29/2026 08:53