New faculty profile: Oluwaseyi Balogun
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
For Oluwaseyi Balogun, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and civil and environmental engineering, McCormick was the place to be. "The excellent scholastic standards, research pedigree, and collaborative atmosphere are very attractive to me," says Balogun, whose research interests are in the areas of optical metrology and materials characterization. "I am truly excited to be in the midst of top-notch engineers and scientists."
Balogun first came to Northwestern as a postdoctoral fellow in 2007. When a position opened in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Balogun applied and found himself in a world where new ideas and interdepartmental collaborations abound. "It has really motivated me to expand my envelope of knowledge," he says. "Northwestern University has provided me with a unique opportunity to facilitate the continued development of reliable and sustainable engineering structures for high-performance applications through research."
Balogun and his graduate student are working to develop advanced optical tools to assess the structural integrity of engineering structures and predict their in-service reliability and performance.
He is currently developing an optical microscopy system that can be used for the noninvasive mapping of local mechanical and thermal properties in micro- and nanostructured materials used in microelectronic devices, high-temperature coating applications, sensors, and energy-storage devices. The microscopy system uses a laser source for the local generation and detection of thermoelastic waves. Through the measurement of the interaction of the thermoelastic waves with the surface and interior structure of a material, Balogun can determine the elastic and thermal properties with high precision, in addition to probing the internal structure of the material for various types of structural defects that may alter the expected physical behavior of the material.
Balogun is also interested in the application of the microscopy system for the mapping of deeply buried nanoscale defects in microelectronics devices. These defects may adversely affect the functional performance and reliability of these devices. At the moment, the characterization of deeply buried nanoscale structural defects in microelectronic devices remains a formidable challenge as the component density of these devices continues to increase.
While the optical microscopy system Balogun is developing is tailored for the characterization of small-scale structures, he is also interested in the development of optical sensors for monitoring the structural health of large-scale civil infrastructures including bridges, dams, and levies.
In the meantime, Balogun is collaborating with a faculty member at McCormick to develop optical fiber and ultrasonic sensors for monitoring the dynamic mechanical response of civil bridges. "The goal of this undertaking is to develop diagnostic and predictive tools for estimating the functional lifetime of aging civil infrastructures," he says. "This is a new and exciting area of research that directly impacts society."
