Iman Salehinia, Ph.D.

Education

• Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 2013
• M.Sc. in Solid Mechanics (Solid Design), Khajeh Nasir Toosi (KNT) University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, 2008
• B.Sc. in Solid Mechanical Engineering, Amir Kabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Tehran, Iran, 2004

Research Interests

• Mechanical design and manufacturing
• Engineering education
• Mechanical properties of thin films and engineered composite nanostructures
• Multiscale modeling using atomistic simulations, and finite element methods
• Structural defects in metals and ceramics, stochastic mechanical behavior
• Nanoindentation
• Carbon nanotubes
• Metal forming processes
• Wear and tribology

Honors

• Outstanding Teaching Award, NIU College of Engineering and Engineering Technology, 2025
• Mechanical Engineering Students Teaching Award, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2018.
• Mechanical Engineering Students Service Award, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2018.

Review Activities

• Reviewer of various journals including Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Mechanics of Materials, Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, JOM: the Journal of Minerals, Metals and Materials Society(TMS), Philosophical Magazine, Computational Materials Science, Acta Materialia, International Journal of Plasticity, Metals, International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, and Materials Today Communications
• Reviewer for National Science Foundation

Selected Publications

• Salehinia, Fundamental Atomistic Insights into Tunable Tribological Performance of NbC/Nb Films through Thickness and Depth Effects, Metals 2024, 14(1), 2;
• A.D. Snyder, I. Salehinia, Effect of Pore Defects on Uniaxial Mechanical Properties of Bulk Hexagonal Hydroxyapatite: A Molecular Dynamics Study, 2023, Int. J. Mol. Sci., 24 (2), 1535,
• M.M. Uddin, I. Salehinia, Scratch Resistant Behavior of NbC/Nb Nanolaminates: Insights from Molecular Dynamics Atomistic Simulations, 2023, J. Mater. Sci.
• Osama Mohsen, Daniel Mihalcea, Nathan Tom, Noah Adams, RC Dhuley, Michael I Geelhoed, Aaron McKeown, Venumadhav Korampally, Philippe Piot, Iman Salehinia, JCT Thangaraj, Tianzhe Xu, A field-enhanced conduction-cooled superconducting cavity for high-repetition-rate ultrafast electron bunch tion, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 2021, 1005, 165414.
• B. Abbasi, B. Muhunthan, I. Salehinia, H.M. Zbib, Nanoscale stick-slip behavior of Na-montmorillonite clay, Journal of Engineering Mechanics.
• A. Snyder, I. Salehinia, Study of Nanoscale Deformation Mechanisms in Bulk Hexagonal Hydroxyapatite under Uniaxial Loading using Molecular Dynamics, Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, 2020, 110, 103894.
• M. Woodall, G. Baechler, I. Salehinia, N.A. Pohlman, Mars Rover Rocker-Bogie Comparative Differential Study, International Journal of Innovative Research in Science, Engineering and Technology, 2020, 9 (4), 1874-1887.
• R.S. Dhumal, D. Bommidi, and I. Salehinia, Thermal conductivity of Metal-Coated Tri-Walled Carbon Nanotubes in the Presence of Vacancies- Molecular Dynamics Simulations, Nanomaterials, 2019, 9 (6), 809.
• D. Bommidi, R.S. Dhumal, and I. Salehinia, Study of the thermal conductivity of a metal-coated multi-walled carbon nanotube using molecular dynamics atomistic simulations, MRS Advances, 2019, 4 (8), 507-513.
• W. Yang, G. Ayoub, I. Salehinia, B. Mansoor, H. Zbib, The effect of layer thickness ratio on the plastic deformation mechanisms of nanoindented Ti/TiN nanolayered composite, Computational Materials Science, 2018, 154, 488-498.
• E. Hochmann, I. Salehinia, How convection on the substrate affects the thermal history of the build in direct laser deposition- Finite Element Analysis, The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 2018, 96, 3471-3480.
• A. Rasheed, I. Salehinia, Atomistic Simulation of Scratch Behavior of Ceramic/Metal (CerMet) Nanolaminates, MRS Advances, 2017, 2 (58-59), 3571-3576.
• W. Yang, G. Ayoub, I. Salehinia, B. Mansour, H. Zbib, Multiaxial tension/compression asymmetry of Ti/TiN nano laminates: MD investigation, Acta Materialia, 2017, 135, 348-360.
• M. Damadam, S. Shao, I. Salehinia, I. Mastorakos, G. Ayoub, H.M. Zbib, Strength and plastic deformation behavior of nanolaminate composites with pre-existing dislocations, Computational Materials Science, 2017, 138, 42-48.
• I. Salehinia, I. Mastorakos, H.M. Zbib, Effects of Defects on Hydrogen Diffusion in NbC, Applied Surface Science, 2017, 401, 198-205.
• M. Damadam, S. Shao, I. Salehinia, G. Ayoub, and H.M. Zbib, Molecular dynamics simulations of mechanical behavior in nanoscale ceramic–metallic multilayer composites, Materials Research Letters, 2017, 5, 306-313.
• W. Yang, G. Ayoub, I. Salehinia, B. Mansoor, H.M. Zbib, Deformation mechanisms in Ti/TiN multilayer under compressive loading, Acta Materialia, 2017, 122, 99-108.

Work Experience

• Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northern Illinois University, Aug. 2021-present
• Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northern Illinois University, Aug. 2015-Aug. 2021
• Clinical Assistant Professor, School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Washington State University, Aug. 2014-Aug. 2015
• Postdoctoral Research Associate, School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Washington State University, May 2013-Aug. 2014

Funding Agencies

• Department of Energy
• Fermi National Lab