Asheesh Ravikumar Lanba
Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Education
- PhD (Engineering Science & Mechanics) Pennsylvania State University, University Park 2015
- BEng (Mechanical Engineering) Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 2009
Research Interests
Dr. Lanba is the principal investigator of the Lasers and Materials Engineering (LAME) research group at USM. The group conducts a wide variety of research in advanced materials applications, LATscan applications and image analysis. More specifically, the group conducts research with shape memory alloy (SMA) applications, bio-inspired composites, LATscan imaging of plants, insects and mammalian tissue, and LATscan image analysis for feature segmentation/classification.
His primary PhD research involved establishing structure-property-function relationships for novel NiTiNb SMAs to enable their use in strengthening concrete bridge girders. This research was funded by the US Department of Transportation. He has made discoveries in the phase transformation behavior of commonly used nitinol SMAs and has developed engineering applications for the same. He has also worked to successfully develop and commercialize laser ablation tomography (LATscan). LATscan is a 3D imaging and analytical tool that uses high powered lasers to precisely ablate thin surface sections, while they are imaged at the same time. The technology has found success in many fields that include plant science, entomology, life sciences, material science and pharmacology to name a few.
Dr. Lanba teaches materials science and mechanics-based courses at the University of the Southern Maine, and conducts research in advanced materials, laser ablation tomography (LATscan) and image analysis. He is also leading the USM effort to absorb the Composites Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL), a non-profit analytical laboratory that offers expertise for manufacturing, process development and optimization for different kinds of materials. He is also involved with USM’s K-16 CubeSat research and development program, and they are having a CubeSat design competition this semester for middle- and high-school students called UCDC 2021.
He obtained his PhD in Engineering Science and Mechanics from the Pennsylvania State University in 2015. In graduate school, he also taught Engineering Statics, Dynamics, Strength of Materials and Experimental Stress Analysis, and mentored undergraduate researchers. Over the past three years he has worked as the Chief Operating Officer at L4iS, a startup that commercializes laser-based innovations. He obtained his B.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering from the Nanyang Technological University (or NTU) in Singapore, with a final year specialization in Aeronautical Engineering. In Singapore, he interned at ExxonMobil, working with the reliability engineering team at the intermediates and aromatic refinery.
Outside of work, Dr. Lanba is an avid hiker, mountain biker, cinephile and cynophile. He also played cricket for NTU at the national and inter-varsity level in Singapore.
Selected Publications
- Cunha Neto, I.L., Hall, B., Lanba, A., Blosenski, J. and Onyenedum, J.G, (2023). Laser ablation tomography (LATscan) as a new tool for anatomical studies of woody plants. New Phytologist, 239(1), p. 429-444, Issue Cover
- Huber, A.E., Haft-Javaherian, M., Berg, M., Lanba, A., Lorthois, S., Bauerle, T.L. and Nishimura, N., (2023). A multivariate network analysis of ring-and diffuse-porous tree xylem vasculature segmented by convolutional neural networks. bioRxiv, pp.2023-01.
- Lanba, A., Hall, B. and Huff, W., (2022). Laser Ablation Tomography for Rapid Three-Dimensional Tissue Imaging and Analysis. Journal of Engineering and Science in Medical Diagnostics and Therapy, 5(4), p.041006.
- Lehnert, M.S., Lanba, A., Reiter, K.E., Fonseca, R.J., Minninger, J., Hall, B. and Huff, W., (2022). Mouthpart adaptations of antlion larvae facilitate prey handling and fluid feeding in sandy habitats. Journal of Experimental Biology, 225(19), p.jeb244220.
- Halter, J.M., Seeley, C.P., Lanba, A. - GASTROCUTANEOUS CLOSURE DEVICE, App. No. 16/893,380, Filed on 2020-06-04
- S.J. Eaton, A. Lanba, J. Qualls, D. Fransiscus, T. Werner, H. Kguyen and C. Bailey. “CubeSat Design Competition to Foster K-12 STEM Participation in Maine”. Proceedings of the ASEE 2022 Annual Conference 2022 Paper #36862
- Morrison III, W.R., Lanba, A., Hall, B. and Bruce, A., (2020). Novel implementation of laser ablation tomography as an alternative technique to assess grain quality and internal insect development in stored products. Journal of Stored Products Research, 86, p.101552."
- Hall, Benjamin T. & Lanba, A. (2019). Three-Dimensional Analysis of Biological Systems via a Novel Laser Ablation Technique. Journal of Laser Applications, 31(2), p.022602.
- Dilibal, S., Hamilton, R.F. & Lanba, A. (2017). The effect of employed loading mode on the mechanical cyclic stabilization of NiTi shape memory alloys. Intermetallics, 89, 1-9.
- Lanba, A., & Hamilton, R. F. (2015). The Impact of Martensite Deformation on Shape Memory Effect Recovery Strain Evolution. Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, 46A, 3481-3489.
- Hamilton, R. F., Lanba, A., Ozbulut, O., & Tittmann, B. (2015). Shape Memory Effect in Cast versus Deformation-Processed NiTiNb Alloys. Shape Memory and Superelasticity, 1, 117-123.
- Ozbulut, O.E., Hamilton, R.F., Sherif, M.M. and Lanba, A., (2015). Feasibility of self-pre-stressing concrete members using shape memory alloys. Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, 26(18), 2500-2514.
- Michaels, S.C., Moses, K.C., Bachmann, R.J., Hamilton, R., Pena-Francesch, A., Lanba, A., Demirel, M.C. and Quinn, R.D., 2015, July. Biomimicry of the manduca sexta forewing using SRT protein complex for FWMAV development. In Conference on Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems (pp. 86-91). Springer, Cham.
Education
- PhD (Engineering Science & Mechanics) Pennsylvania State University, University Park 2015
- BEng (Mechanical Engineering) Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 2009
Research Interests
Dr. Lanba is the principal investigator of the Lasers and Materials Engineering (LAME) research group at USM. The group conducts a wide variety of research in advanced materials applications, LATscan applications and image analysis. More specifically, the group conducts research with shape memory alloy (SMA) applications, bio-inspired composites, LATscan imaging of plants, insects and mammalian tissue, and LATscan image analysis for feature segmentation/classification.
His primary PhD research involved establishing structure-property-function relationships for novel NiTiNb SMAs to enable their use in strengthening concrete bridge girders. This research was funded by the US Department of Transportation. He has made discoveries in the phase transformation behavior of commonly used nitinol SMAs and has developed engineering applications for the same. He has also worked to successfully develop and commercialize laser ablation tomography (LATscan). LATscan is a 3D imaging and analytical tool that uses high powered lasers to precisely ablate thin surface sections, while they are imaged at the same time. The technology has found success in many fields that include plant science, entomology, life sciences, material science and pharmacology to name a few.