Principle Investigator
Dr. Jianxiong Li
Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Phone: 979-862-1073
Email: jianxiong_li@tamu.edu
Office: MEOB 321
Biography:
Dr. Jianxiong Li joined the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering as a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in Fall 2025. Prior to this appointment, he was a Postdoctoral Associate in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University (2022–2025). He earned his Ph.D. in Welding Engineering from The Ohio State University, where he received the prestigious Presidential Fellowship. Earlier in his academic career, he was recognized as an Outstanding Graduate during his master’s studies at Tianjin University.
Dr. Li’s research spans welding and joining, cold spray additive manufacturing, extreme mechanics, and materials design through mechanical alloying/cryomilling. He has authored or co-authored over 25 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals such as Nature Communications Materials, Journal of Materials Science & Technology, Journal of Manufacturing Processes, Scripta Materialia, and Materials Science and Engineering: A. Additionally, Dr. Li has served as a reviewer for numerous prestigious journals, evaluating more than 100 manuscripts.
Graduate Students
Soham Makawana, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2026 Fall-Present
Soham Makwana joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University as a Ph.D. student in Fall 2026. He received his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University and his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Gujarat Technological University, India. During his master’s, his research focused on additive manufacturing of lignin-based materials using direct ink writing and laser-induced carbonization to fabricate conductive carbon structures. His research interests include additive manufacturing, material characterization, experimental mechanics, and advanced manufacturing processes.
Brenden Bush, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2025 Fall-Present
Brenden Bush returned to the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department for an MS after earning a BS in Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University in May 2025, during which he served as a peer teacher, supporting students in materials, computer-aided design, and mathematics. In his previous research at Sandia National Laboratories, he integrated controlled negative-triaxiality tests with dynamic finite-element analysis to improve the predictive accuracy of compression, shear, and puncture failure models. Brenden specializes in dynamic simulation, experimental mechanics, and advanced characterization of engineered materials.
[We have openings! Please send email to me at Jianxiong_li@tamu.edu. Please apply through this link]
Undergraduate Students
Cooper Martin, Mechanical Engineering, Honors Undergraduate, 2026 Spring-present.
Tiancheng Zheng, Mechanical Engineering, Honors Undergraduate, 2026 Fall-present.