William P. King
William P. King, Ph.D. is Professor and Ralph A. Andersen Endowed Chair in the Grainger College of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, and in the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, Department of Biomedical and Translational Biosciences. He also holds courtesy appointments in the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering.
Dr. King’s research focuses on manufacturing and advanced materials, microsystems and nanotechnology, and heat transfer. Technologies developed in his laboratory are widely used in the in the automotive, medical, aerospace, pharmaceutical, and semiconductor industries to develop new materials and product designs and to support manufacturing processes. Dr. King has published 266 journal articles and holds 20 U.S. patents.
Dr. King was the founding Chief Technology Officer at the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (DMDII) at UI LABS in Chicago, IL, one of the first institutes in the U.S. National Network for Manufacturing Innovation and now known as MxD. Dr. King was co-Founder and Chief Scientist at Fast Radius, which was designated a Lighthouse Factory by the World Economic Forum, one of the world’s best digital factories. Fast Radius helped more than 1500 organizations develop end-use applications of additive manufacturing.
Dr. King received a Ph.D. from Stanford University and completed the Program for Leadership Development at Harvard Business School.
Dr. King’s awards include the PECASE award from the White House and the ASME Gustus-Larson Award for accomplishment in Mechanical Engineering. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Physical Society (APS), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), SME International (formerly Society of Manufacturing Engineers), and the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).
Office:
4409 Mechanical Engineering Laboratory
Telephone:
217-244-3864
Fax:
217-244-9956
Email:
wpk@illinois.edu
PhD Students
 | Samuel Tsai Samuel Tsai received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from National Taiwan University in January 2020. His undergraduate research focused on fracture and crack propagation in brittle biomaterial. He joined Professor King’s group in the Fall of 2020, where he will be focusing on developing a jumping mechanism from soft materials. Office: Email: |
 | Miles Bimrose Miles Bimrose received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Notre Dame in May 2020. His undergraduate research focused aerosol jet printing of functional materials. He joined Professor King’s group in the Fall of 2020, where he will be focusing on developing smart automation and metrology for digital manufacturing. Office: Email: |
 | Robert Stavins Robert Stavins received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois in May 2020. His undergraduate research was focused on device design for soft tissue mechanical testing. He joined Professor King’s group in the Summer of 2020. His current work revolves around the design and testing of microfluidic diagnostic devices. Office: Email: |
 | Hyeongkeun Kim Hyeongkeun Kim received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering and a dual major in Bio and Brain Engineering from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in February 2020. His undergraduate studies focused on lab-on-a-chip technology and robotic systems. He joined Professor King’s group in the Fall of 2020, where his project focuses on digital manufacturing of soft materials. Office: Email: |
 | Soonwook Kim Soonwook Kim received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Korea University in 2016. He worked briefly under the guidance of Professor Gaurav Bahl prior to switching to Professor King’s group. He is interested in high power density electro-thermal system design, thermal switching and routing, and thermal management. Soonwook is co-advised by Professor Nenad Miljkovic. Office: Email: |
 | Christopher Conway Christopher Conway received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University in May 2022. His undergraduate research focused on the nonlinear dynamics of bolted joints. He joined Professor King’s group in the Fall of 2022. His current work focuses on applying machine learning methods to smart manufacturing. Office: Email: |
 | Ilan Pinkus Ilan Pinkus received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institue in May 2023. His undergraduate research focused on autonomous and additive manufacturing. He joined Professor King's group in the Fall of 2023. His current work focuses on topology optimization for thermal management applications. Ilan is co-advised by Professor Nenad Miljkovic. Office: Email: |
 | Woo Young Park Woo Young received his B.S. in Mechanical Science and Engineering from UIUC in 2019. Prior to joining the King's group, he worked on several projects in the semiconductor package industry with Samsung Electronics for 3 years. Woo Young is working on electronics cooling research, with a focus on interconnects and data centers. He is co-advised by Professor Nenad Miljkovic of Mechanical Science and Engineering. Office: Email: |
 | Omar Zaki Omar received his BSc with High Honors from Cairo University in 2019 while being the valedictorian of his class. He also received his MSc from Cairo University in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on heat transfer and air conditioning. Prior to joining Professor King's group, he worked on research projects with entities such as ORNL, KAUST, and UNIDO related to HVAC&R applications. His research mainly focuses on heat transfer and air conditioning applications both on a component level and on a system level. His research at UIUC with Professor King is concerned with applying additive manufacturing technology in heat transfer applications to achieve higher performance when compared with conventional heat exchanger technologies. He is co-advised by Professor Nenad Miljkovic. Office: Email: |
 | Amari Meddling Amari Meddling received his BS in mechanical engineering from Tennessee State University in 2023. His undergraduate research focused on designing and simulating microfluidic flow splitters. He joined Professor King's research group in the fall of 2023, where he will be focused on simulating thermal management systems. Office: Email: |
Masters Students
 | Animesh Singh Animesh Singh received his B.Tech. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in August 2020. He is interested in controls, robotics, image processing and their application into manufacturing processes. His current work in King Lab focuses on applying image processing techniques to smart metrology. Office: Email: |
Alumni
Ph.D. Alumni
Bikram Bhatia received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois in 2014. His dissertation was “Nanometer-Thick Oxide Films for Pyroelectric Energy Conversion.” He is currently on faculty at University of Louisville.
Andrew Cannon received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois in 2009. His dissertation was “Investigating Wetting Characteristics on Microstructured Surfaces for Superhydrophobicity and Metal Microcasting.” He is currently with 1900 Engineering, a company that he founded.
Joseph L. Charest received the Ph.D. degree from Georgia Institute of Technology in 2007. His dissertation was “Topographic and Chemical Patterning of Cell-Surface Interfaces to Influence Cellular Functions.” He is currently with Biogen.
Sihan Chen received the PhD Degree from the University of Illinois in 2019. His dissertation was, “Tip-Based Nanolithography and Application to Molybdenum Disulfide Devices.”
Elise Corbin received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois in 2013. Her dissertation was “Detection of Mass, Growth Rate, and Stiffness of Single Breast Cancer Cells using Micromechanical Sensors.” She is currently on faculty at University of Delaware.
Jonathan Felts received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois in 2013. His dissertation was “Tip-Based Nanomanufacturing and Metrology of Heterogeneous Nanostructures.” He is currently on the faculty at Texas A&M University.
Patrick Fletcher received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois in 2011. His dissertation was “Electro-Thermal Nanoprobes for Nanometrology and Nanofabrication.” He is currently with Seagate.
Kyle Grosse received the Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois in 2014. His dissertation was, “Nanometer-Scale Temperature Measurements of Phase Charge Memory and Carbon Nanomaterials.” He is currently with the Raytheon Company.
Siva Gurrum received the Ph.D. degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2005. His dissertation was “Compact Models for Interconnect-level Thermal Management.” He is currently with Texas Instruments.
Huan Hu received the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois in 2014. His dissertation was, “Tip-based Nanofabrication for Nanoelectromechanical Systems.” He is currently on faculty at Zhejiang University.
Hoe Joon Kim received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois in 2015. His dissertation was “Advanced Materials Integration and Thermal Operation of Heated Microcantilevers and Microcantilever Arrays.” He is currently on the faculty in the Department of Robotics Engineering at Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute Of Science and Technology (DGIST).
Beomjin Kwon received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois in 2013. His dissertation was “Development of Microcantilever Mid-Infrared Detectors and Sources and their Application in Infrared Spectroscopy.” He is currently on faculty at Arizona State University.
Jungchul Lee received the Ph.D. degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2007. His dissertation was “Fabrication, Characterization, and Application of Multifunctional Microcantilever Heaters.” He is currently on the faculty at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).
Nicholas Maniscalco received the Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois in 2014. His dissertation was “Design and Performance Characterization of High Power Density Air-Cooled Compact Condenser Heat Exchangers.” He is currently with the Raytheon Company.
Davis McGregor received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinios in 2022. His dissertation was “Metrology Automation and Geometric Analysis for Additive Manufacturing.” His is currently working at Fast Radius Inc.
Hyunkyu Moon received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois in 2020. His dissertation was “Design and Performance Characterization of Novel Heat Exchanger Geometries Enabled by Additive Manufacturing.” He is currently with Samsung.
Brent A. Nelson received the Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2007. His dissertation was “Nanoscale Thermal Processing using a Heated Atomic Force Microscope Cantilever Tip.” He is currently on the faculty of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Northern Arizona University.
Sezer Ozerinc received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois in 2015. His dissertation was “Microscale Mechanical Characterization in Extreme Environments.” He is currently on the faculty at Middle East Technical University.
Keunhan Park received the Ph.D. degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2007. His dissertation was “Thermal Characterization of Heated Microcantilevers and a Study on Near Field Thermal Radiation.” He is currently on the faculty in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at University of Utah
James Pikul received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois in 2015. His dissertation was “Design and Fabrication of Higher Power Microbatteries and High Specific Strength Cellular Solids from Bicontinuous Microporous Hierarchical Materials.“ He is currently on the faculty in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics at University of Pennsylvania.
Natalya Privorotskaya received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois in 2009. Her dissertation was “Microcantilever Sensors for Biochemical Detection and Analysis.” She is currently with Intel.
Matt Rosenberger received the Ph.D. degree from University of Illinois in 2016. His dissertation was “Probing local thermal, mechanical, and optical properties utilizing dynamic cantilever response in contact mode atomic force microscopy.” He is currently on the faculty at Notre Dame.
Harry Rowland received the Ph.D. degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2007. His dissertation was “Thermomechanical Manufacturing of Polymer Microstructures and Nanostructures.” He is currently at Endotrinix Inc., a biomedical device company that he founded.
Suhas Somnath received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois in 2014. His dissertation was “Fundamentals of Heat Transfer and Thermal-Mechanical Control for Improved Atomic Force Microscopy.” He is currently on staff at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Patricia Weisensee receive the Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois in 2016. Her dissertation was “Droplet interactions with micro-and nanostructured surfaces for advanced heat transfer applications.” She is currently on the faculty in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Washington University in St. Louis.
Tianyu Yang received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois in 2021. Her dissertation was “Controlling Heat Transfer in Electronic Packaging using Thermal Switches and High Power Thermal Buffers.” She is currently a postdoctoral research scholar at Northwestern University.
M.S. Alumni
Mehmet Aydin received the MS Degree from the University of Illinois in 2020. His thesis was, “Microfluidic Diagnostics from Continuous Liquid Interface Production Additive Manufacturing.”
Mete Bakir received the M.S. degree from the University of Illinois in 2014.
Jangho Choi received the M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois in 2014. His thesis was “Pyroelectric Emission from PZT Emitter Coupled with a Silicon Heater.”
Marcus T. Eliason received the M.S. degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2007. His M.S. thesis was “Combined Micro and Nano Patterning for Cell Substrates.”
Andrew T. Gardner received the M.S. degree from the University of Illinois in 2008.
Fabian T. Goericke received the M.S. degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2008. His thesis was “Design and Fabrication of Piezoresistive Cantilevers”
Tanya L. (Wright) Haberman received the M.S. degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2005. Her thesis was “Fabrication and Testing of Heated Atomic Force Microscope Cantilevers.” She is currently with Southwest Research Institute.
Patrick Harrell received the M.S. degree from the University of Illinois in 2009. His thesis was “Design and Optimization of Moldable Microstructures for Structural Color Generation.”
Matthew Kasper received the M.S. degree from the University of Illinois in 2010. His thesis was “Nanothermal Analysis with Heated Microcantilevers.”
Youngjoon Koh received the M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois in 2014. His thesis was “Modeling of Joule Heating and Thermoelectric Transport in Thin Film Silicon for SJEM Measurement.”
Joseph Liu received the M.S. degree from the University of Illinois in 2013. This thesis was “Heated Atomic Force Microscope Cantilever with High Resistivity and Improved Temperature Sensitivity for Nanotopography Sensing.” He is currently with Texas Instruments.
Ryan McLaren received the M.S. degree from the University of Illinois in 2009. His thesis was “Thermal Conductivity Anisotropy in Molybdenum Disulfide Thin Films.” He is currently with Globe Motors.
Ashwin Ramesh received the M.S. degree from the University of Illinois in 2012. His MS thesis was “Friction Characteristics of Microtextured Surfaces under Hydrodynamic Lubrication.” He is currently with Lam Research.
Jessica Remmert received the M.S. degree from the University of Illinois in 2007. Her M.S. thesis was “Nano Thermal and Contact Potential Analysis with a Heated Atomic Force Microscope Tip.”
Shubham Saxena received the M.S. degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2006. His thesis was “Nanolithography on Thin Films using a Heated Atomic Force Microscope Cantilever Tip.”
Katarina Struckmann received the M.S. degree from the University of Illinois in 2016. Her MS thesis was “The influence of internet-enabled devices on manufacturing: collaboration and cybersecurity.”
Eduardo Torrealba received the M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois in 2013. His thesis was “Droplet Repellency of Microfabricated Surfaces in Saturated Environments.”
Postdoctoral Alumni
Hanna Cho received the Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois in 2012. During the period 2012-2013 she was a postdoctoral research associate at University of Illinois. She is currently on the faculty at Ohio State University.
Zhenting Dai received the Ph.D. degree in Physics from Georgia Institute of Technology in 2006. During the period 2007-2010 he was a postdoctoral research associate at University of Illinois. He is currently with Intel.
Kyoung Joon Kim received the Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland College Park in 2006. During the period 2006-2007 he was a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Illinois.
Byeonghee Lee recieved the Ph.D. degree in Mechanical engineering from Seoul National University in 2010. During the period 2011-2012 he was a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Illinois.
Myunghoon Seong received his Ph.D degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2009. He worked on parallel topography imaging with large heated cantilever arrays as a postdoctoral research assosicate at the University of Illinois.
Fuzheng Yang received the Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Connecticut in 2002. During the period 2005-2007, he was a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Illinois. He is currently with Caterpillar.
Yan Wu received the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois. During the period 2007-2009, she was a postdoctoral research associate in at the University of Illinois. She is currently on the faculty at University of Wisconsin Platteville.
