Vibration and Acoustics Engineering Laboratory

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology.

The Vibration and Acoustics Engineering Laboratory (VAEL) is located in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology and led by Prof. Christopher Sugino. We study how to control and leverage the flow of mechanical energy for a broad range of engineering applications.

Acoustic and elastic waves are the transient transfer of mechanical energy, making them relevant to nearly all physical systems. They enable verbal communication and understanding, allow us to see and communicate underwater, and they transfer stress, strain, and motion between points, affecting the design of engineering structures. Increasingly, acoustic waves are used in the form of ultrasound for non-destructive testing, biomedical imaging and therapy, and surface-acoustic wave devices. In all of these examples, the ability to control acoustic waves has had broad societal impact, such as the creation of non-invasive ultrasonic therapies for essential tremor and Parkinson’s, better classroom design for learning in hearing-impaired children, and improved safety & reliability in wind turbines, aircraft, and other structures.

Thus, it is our group’s objective to develop new, more precise, and more comprehensive ways to manipulate acoustic waves.

Learn more about our current projects, publications, and current openings below.

openings

We are looking for motivated students interested in vibration and acoustics research. Background in vibration, acoustics, mechatronics, control theory, or electrical engineering is a plus. If you are interested in joining our group, please email your resume/CV to Prof. Christopher Sugino. Prospective graduate students should follow Stevens’ application process, requirements, and deadlines at the graduate admission webpage.

news

Jan 13, 2025 Our paper “Elastic nonreciprocity via nonreciprocal hybridization and destructive interference” is published in Physical Review Applied.
Sep 09, 2024 Prof. Sugino and co-authors receive the Adaptive Structures & Material Systems Best Paper Award in Structural Dynamics & Control for the journal article Digital programming of reciprocity breaking in resonant piezoelectric metamaterials published in Physical Review Research in 2023.
Aug 27, 2024 Bilal presents our work “Inverse design of non-local metamaterials with arbitrary non-reciprocal dispersion relations” at ASME IDETC/CIE 2024.
May 24, 2024 Prof. Sugino presents our work “Generalized Non-Reciprocal Dispersion in Non-Local Piezoelectric Metamaterials” at ICAST 2024.
Jan 18, 2024 Prof. Sugino receives the NSF CAREER Award (2024-2029) for his proposal titled “CAREER: Non-Local Metamaterials and Metasurfaces for Next Generation Non-Reciprocal Acoustic Devices” (total award: $650,081).

selected publications

  1. PRApplied
    Elastic nonreciprocity via nonreciprocal hybridization and destructive interference
    Muhammad Bilal Khan and Christopher Sugino
    Physical Review Applied, Jan 2025
  2. IJSS
    An analytical framework for bandgap formation in locally resonant piezoelectric metamaterial plates
    Christopher Sugino, Massimo Ruzzene, and Alper Erturk
    International Journal of Solids and Structures, Aug 2019
  3. JSV
    A general theory for bandgap estimation in locally resonant metastructures
    Christopher Sugino, Yiwei Xia, Stephen Leadenham, Massimo Ruzzene, and Alper Erturk
    Journal of Sound and Vibration, Oct 2017