University of North Texas 
Smart Material Lab
The Smart Material Lab (SML) in the University of North Texas (UNT) is focused on
design, analysis, and experiments for piezoelectric devices used for sensing, energy
harvesting, and structure health monitoring applications. This group has conducted
research in the measurement of linear/nonlinear material constants for a variety of
piezoelectric crystals, high temperature material test methodology, modelling and
experiment of novel sensing and energy harvesting mechanism, and structure health
monitoring in harsh environments. The technology we have developed addresses critical
national needs in the monitoring of power plants, manufacturing process and control,
aerospace propulsion systems, oil and gas exploration, and other applications. The
group’s research is funded by National Science Foundation (NSF), Army Research Office
(ARO), Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Energy (DoE) and UNT.
Open Positions
Research Assistantships (MS or PHD level) are available in modeling and experimentation of smart material and devices. Candidates should have a Bachelor/Master's degree in engineering mechanics, mechanical engineering or electrical engineering with good academic standing and should have some experience in the following:
- Fundamental knowledge of smart material (such as piezoelectric materials) theory and modeling,
- Knowledge in LABVIEW or MATLAB- based experiment test,
- Fundamental knowledge of solid mechanics, and
- Sensor circuit development.
Interested applicants should send a detailed C.V. and transcript to Prof. Zhang at haifeng.zhang@unt.edu.