Four Questions for Assistant Professor George Moutsanidis

Prior to joining the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering as an assistant professor in August 2025, George Moutsanidis had been an assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Stony Brook University’s College of Engineering and Applied Sciences for five years. As a new faculty member, he looks forward to building a strong research group while mentoring students and collaborating with his School of Engineering colleagues. 

After earning BS and MS degrees in civil engineering, your PhD from UC San Diego is in structural engineering and computational science. What prompted this switch? 

Towards the end of my MS studies, I realized I was very keen on applied mathematics; yet I was still interested in engineering, and particularly structural engineering. Computational science is a discipline that lies at the intersection of engineering and applied math – thus my PhD degree enabled me to be involved in both of these areas. 

Are you working on any research projects? 

I currently have two funded projects. The first, supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), focuses on developing advanced physics-based computational tools to quantify the impact of extreme hydrodynamic events on structural components.  

The second, funded by the US Department of Energy, is a collaborative project with multiple principal investigators. My role is to develop computational tools to study marine hydrokinetic turbine blades under flow conditions and to identify configurations that maximize energy extraction.  

Will your students be involved in your research? 

I hope to engage students by involving them directly in my research projects so they can gain hands-on experience with computational tools and see how theory connects to practical applications. Additionally, I currently have one PhD student working with me in my computational lab. 

What do you most enjoy about the MAE department and the School of Engineering? 

So far, I’ve really enjoyed the collegiality of the MAE faculty, who are not only experts in their fields, but who are also very supportive. I’ve also been impressed by the students. Their high level of engagement, the many active student clubs, and their overall enthusiasm for engineering make the department a lively and inspiring place to be.