Jan. 13, 2023
Haq named director of MSU’s Composite Vehicle Research Center
Mahmood Haq has been named the new director of the Michigan State University Composite Vehicle Research Center (CVRC). He is an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, specializing in structural engineering and mechanics of materials.
MSU’s CVRC is a center of excellence for the research, design, and implementation of composites.
“CVRC’s roadmap is three-pronged – advancing manufacturing technologies, creating lighter and safer vehicles, and developing STEM leaders and a trained workforce,” Haq said.
Located at 3610 Forest Road, near the University Club in Lansing, 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.
“CVRC’s future is cross-disciplinary and requires a systems-level approach on the integration of innovation from multiple areas,” he explained. “MSU is a leader in the area of composites and 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,” he added.
Haq received his Ph.D. at MSU in 2009 and joined the faculty in 2012. He 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.
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).
“The possibilities with composites are endless,” Haq added. “CVRC has grown into an asset for the industry, faculty, students, the university, and the nation.”
