Dr. Eleonora Tubaldi Joins Mechanical Engineering Faculty

Dr. Eleonora Tubaldi joins the Department of Mechanical Engineering as an assistant professor. Tubaldi comes to the department with an extensive background in the interface of nonlinear dynamics, soft materials science and fluid-structure interactions for applications in biomechanics, prosthetic design, and nonlinear mechanical metamaterial.

Tubaldi’s research interests are inspired by nature’s complex relationships between soft materials, such as tissue, and their fluid interactions. From bacteria locomotion to blood traveling through cardiovascular vessels, these biological systems have soft structures that are deformed, or moved, by the surrounding fluids while in turn acting on those fluids confined in their flexible boundaries.

“Nature, through a long evolutionary history, exploits fluid-soft structure interaction, or FSSI, for designing highly efficient biological systems,” explained Tubaldi. “One of my research goals at UMD is to investigate these nonlinear FSSI intrinsic mechanisms to solve puzzling questions on these physical phenomena.”

According to Tubaldi, revealing new insights into nature’s strategies could also improve our design and modeling of biomechanical and biologically-inspired systems. Her goal is to create a Soft Dynamics research area where the creation of “soft, bio-inspired devices can mimic fast dynamical behaviors of living organisms in a controlled and repetitive fashion” such as flexible mobile devices inspired by the running and swimming motions of animals and insects.

In addition, some of Tubaldi’s recent research has shown how the nonlinear dynamics of soft cardiovascular vessels and prostheses is crucial in understanding their function and behavior, and she aims to design the next generation cardiovascular prosthesis based on its ability to mimic the nonlinear dynamics of native arteries conveying pulsatile blood flow.

Tubaldi has authored several peer-reviewed international journal papers, and she serves as an associated editor for Mechanics Based Design of Structures and Machines, and a reviewer of Journal of Fluids and Structures, International Journal of Nonlinear Mechanics, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Journal, and Computers in Biology and Medicine.

She is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Dynamics & Control System & Structures (DCSS) Technical Committee, and received the national scholarship Doctoral Research Quebec Merit Scholarship for Foreign Students (PBEEE) and Mechanical Engineering Doctoral Award (MEDA) at McGill University.

Tubaldi received her Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at McGill University (2017), her M.S. double degree diploma in aeronautical and aerospace engineering at Politecnico di Milano and École Polytechnique de Montréal (2013), and her B.S. in aerospace engineering at Politecnico di Milano (2010).

Published February 28, 2020