Haq named director of Michigan State’s Composite Vehicle Research Center

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Professor Mahmood Haq has been named the new director of the Michigan State University Composite Vehicle Research Center (CVRC).

An associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, Haq specializes in structural engineering and mechanics of materials. The CVRC, which is based in Lansing, Michigan, is a center of excellence for the research, design, and implementation of composites. The center’s initial focus was on air, ground, marine, and space applications. Today, work sectors include automotive, wind-energy, power storage, infrastructure, and sport equipment industries, a Jan. 13, 2023, announcement from MSU said.

“CVRC’s roadmap is three-pronged – advancing manufacturing technologies, creating lighter and safer vehicles, and developing STEM leaders and a trained workforce,” Haq is quoted saying in the news release. “CVRC’s future is cross-disciplinary and requires a systems-level approach on the integration of innovation from multiple areas,” he explained.

Michigan State is considered a leader in the area of composites and Haq noted that it has a complete ecosystem for research and innovation starting from the atomic-scale to material level to prototype level, and all the way to assembly line production.

“The facility is a self-contained and fully equipped composites manufacturing and testing laboratory. It has an attached high-bay area for vehicle demonstrator projects. It is a perfect opportunity for industry collaboration,” Haq said.

A Ph.D. from MSU in 2009, Haq joined the faculty in 2012, and currently holds adjunct professor positions in MSU’s departments of Chemical Engineering and Material Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering.

His research interests include multi-material joining, additive manufacturing, non-destructive evaluation (NDE), multi-scale reinforced hybrid/tailorable composites, sustainable and green composites, and computational simulation of materials and structures, the press release said.

His research includes funding from U.S. Army Tank Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC, formerly TARDEC), U.S. Army Research Lab (ARL), Office of Naval Research (ONR), U.S. Department of Energy (DoE), US National Science Foundation (NSF), Eaton Research Labs, and American Chemistry Council (ACC). His research grants exceed $10 million. He holds five patents, has 40+ peer reviewed articles, 200+ conference papers, and 25+ invited talks.

Among other projects, he leads a team that is designing and developing a lightweight, all-electric, all-terrain, autonomous vehicle for the U.S. Army Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC).