Lab Personnel
Alberto Aliseda
PACCAR Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Alberto Aliseda is the PACCAR Professor in Mechanical
Engineering at the University of Washington, where he has been
in the faculty since 2006. Prior to the UW, he spent 7 years
at the University of California, San Diego, where he obtained
his PhD and did postdoctoral research in Mechanical and Bio
Engineering. He is the recipient of the NSF CAREER award and
the USGS Director's Award.
Originally from Spain, he earned a B.S./M.S. in Aerospace
Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid. His
current interests focus on biomedical flows, with an emphasis
on the role of fluid mechanics on cardiovascular physiology,
in health and disease, as well as on turbulent multiphase flows,
including energy conversion and environmental problems such as
cloud microphysics, liquid atomization and marine renewable
energy. He is a Visiting Professor at the Laboratoire des
Ecoulements Geophysiques et Industriels (LEGI) in Grenoble,
France and at the Center for Healthcare and Biomedical Engineering,
Mines Saint-Etienne, France.
Kee-Onn Fong
Postdoctoral Researcher
Kee Onn Fong joined the lab as a postdoctoral researcher in June 2021, after obtaining his Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota where he studied preferential concentration and clustering of solid inertial particles in gas flows. Currently, he works on experiments in two-fluid atomization and droplets in turbulent air. His research interest centers around multiphase flows and its applications in energy, health and the environment. Beyond the lab, he is interested in astronomy and regularly volunteers at outreach and educational events.
Kurt Sansom
Ph.D. Student
Kurt joined the lab in August of 2014. He received a BSE (2008) and MSE (2010) from the University of Alabama Huntsville in Mechanical Engineering. Previous to joining the lab, Kurt's experience includes V&V for Ballistic Missile defense, and working as a biomedical test engineer for the startup company HeartFlow.
His current work in the lab includes creating patient specific data for a doppler ultrasound simulator and developing experimental and computational comparisons with 4D flow MRI sequences.
Currently his interests include biomechanics of the cardiovascular system, coupling reduced order models with high fidelity simulations, numerical methods, predictive medicine, and verification and validation of patient specific non-invasive assessments.
Rodrigo Osuna Orozco
PhD Student
After receiving a B.Sc. in physics from the University of New Mexico, and an M.Sc. in Earth sciences from the University of California in San Diego, Rodrigo joined the department of mechanical engineering as a doctoral student in September 2016.
His current research is in the area of multiphase flows. He works experimentally in electrostatic actuation and control of coaxial flow atomization. His research also includes efforts to explore the impact of shear induced migration and margination on thrombogenicity.
Laurel Marsh
PhD Student
After studying rockets, renewable energy, and appropriate technology to meet basic needs for rural communities in her home state of Mississippi, Laurel began a graduate program at the University of Washington. A short summer project on renewable energy led to her joining the Multiphase and Cardiovascular Flow lab. Here she determined the focus of her PhD dissertation: studying flow alterations in endovascularly treated cerebral aneurysm. The collaborative aspect of engineers working closely with neurosurgeons and research scientists reminded her of the interdisciplinary work she was drawn to while working on her undergraduate student rocketry design team.
Excited to probe further into these issues and explore new methods of studying cerebrovascular flow, she reached out to Prof. Dr.-ing. Dominique Thévenin and Dr. -ing. Philipp Berg. After agreeing to host her, she applied and was accepted to the U.S. Fulbright Student program. This will allow her to work at STIMULATE for 10 months before finishing her PhD program. Fulbright specific: she will continue investigating flow alterations occurring after flow-diverting stent and/or coil embolization device in cerebral aneurysms. She employs Lagrangian particles, to both porous media and treatment-resolved simulations, which further elucidate results gained by Eulerian metrics. While at STIMULATE, she will be working on projects including stented aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations (AVMs), and other cerebrovascular flow scenarios. Tracer particles, fluid-structure interaction (FSI), and fast-deploying virtual stents are just some of the aspects she hopes to incorporate into these upcoming studies and her future work.
Syed Faisal
PhD Student
After attaining his BS in Mechanical Engineering at National Institute of Technology, Warangal, Syed moved to Seattle to work with Dr. Alberto Aliseda. He began work in idealized aneurysm geometries and is currently involved in the development of a catheter fluid system. His main focus is using computational fluid dynamics to understand blood flows and to develop new technologies inspired by fluid physics.
Ting Ting (Maria) Yang
PhD Student
Tingting (Maria) Yang joined the lab as a master's student in June 2018 after earning her bachelor’s degree of aviation engineering in Xian, China. After engaging in various projects from aviation engines to electrohydrodynamics, she is now pursuing her interests in multiphase and turbulent flow related to cardiovascular dynamics. Most recently, she is working on the project involving numerical simulation of flow patterns in a deforming ventricle.
During her PhD, she will continue to develop numerical methodologies to simulate flow patterns inside a beating heart. Her aim is to use engineering insight to improve existing treatments for patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases.
Marissa Miramontes
PhD Student
Marissa joined the lab in August of 2018 after graduating with a B.S. in Bioengineering with a focus in Biomechanics from the University of California San Diego. Her previous work at UCSD entailed intraventricular flow mapping in patients using color Doppler echocardiography data. This work lead her to pursue a Ph.D. in the field of cardiovascular fluid mechanics and working with Professor Aliseda.
She is currently conducting research on the effects of Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVADs) on the hemodynamics in the left ventricle to improve patient outcomes. She is conducting experiments using Particle Image Velocimetry to visualize the flow in a mock flow loop simulating an LVAD-implanted ventricle.
After graduate studies, Marissa hopes to have a career advancing medical technology in the field of cardiology and adding insight into the progression and treatment of cardiovascular diseases through biomechanics research.
Angela Straccia
PhD Student
Angela started her graduate school adventure in September 2018. Since receiving her B.S. in mechanical engineering from Brown University, she has served with City Year Boston - an AmeriCorps program - as well as worked as an applications engineer and team leader for three years at COMSOL - a multiphysics simulation software company.
As a PhD student, she aims to leverage computational fluid dynamics simulations to better characterize the risk of stroke in patients with left ventricular assist devices. In her free time, she likes rock climbing, traveling and cooking up a storm.